{"id":1023,"date":"2003-03-26T16:06:14","date_gmt":"2003-03-26T16:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/march-qthe-sin-of-this-generationq\/"},"modified":"2014-02-02T07:04:12","modified_gmt":"2014-02-02T07:04:12","slug":"march-qthe-sin-of-this-generationq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/march-qthe-sin-of-this-generationq\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sin of This Generation"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Joe Shrader, PhD<\/span><\/p>\n

East Carolina University<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n
\n

Note:\u00a0 Dr. Joe Shrader is the editor’s brother.\u00a0 He received his Ph.D from Michigan State University and is an associate professor at ECU in Greenville, North Carolina.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The sin of this generation is selfishness.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It manifests itself by the disrespect shown the church elders.\u00a0 The arrogance of this generation in ignoring the elders of the church is not only wrong, it is sin.\u00a0 God commands us to listen and show respect for the elders of the church.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The leaders in today’s church, in many cases, are young, ignorant of experience and<\/span> scripture, and in the “warrior” stage of life. They are not elders.\u00a0 They disrespect the real elders in the church.\u00a0 They make decisions for the church based on business models, books written by “successful” Christian leaders, but not on THE book.\u00a0 The elderly are systematically\u00a0 excluded from the planning and decision making process.\u00a0 They can be outvoted, even shouted down at business meetings. The elderly know it is wrong to act that way and so they refuse to participate in the fighting. They believe it is better to be wronged than to offend their younger brothers.\u00a0 So the young get their way.<\/p>\n

God commands us to listen to our elders. He commands us to seek wise (Godly) counsel from them.\u00a0 These men and women have experiences that this generation has never even thought about much less had to deal with.\u00a0 They have been to war and watched their buddies die.\u00a0 They have killed men in defense of their country.\u00a0 Even worse, they have sent their sons to die.\u00a0 They have watched and helped as illness and disease have taken their brethren and family members.\u00a0 They have taken second mortgages to help a struggling church get started or get through tough times.\u00a0 They have dealt with church discipline and sin in the church.\u00a0 They have put their faith in God in difficult times.\u00a0 This is the group who mowed the lawn, trimmed the bushes, even cleaned the church as a part of their ministry.<\/p>\n

This selfish generation thinks that difficult times is building their new $400,000 house.\u00a0 \u201cAll those decisions to make, it just wears a person out.\u201d<\/p>\n

This generation knows nothing of sacrifice.\u00a0 In or out of the church.\u00a0 They have money, though they usually spend themselves into oblivion on things). Instead of getting involved in the ministry of helps, they hire someone to do all these things for them.\u00a0 They hire associate pastors for youth to teach their children, associate pastors of music to entertain them, and seniors pastors so they don’t have to get too involved with the old people, and even more pastors for anything else that the church might want.\u00a0 Heaven forbid that they would get involved in a ministry or the life of some needy family that might need for them to give up something in their busy schedule.\u00a0 This is the generation that puts their children in daycare and their parents and grandparents into nursing homes.\u00a0 (OK, assisted living.) They hire someone to do it so they can spend Saturday at the river without feeling guilty.\u00a0 After all, someone is<\/span> taking care of it. This generation is too busy working to pay for all the toys and their place at the river or lake.\u00a0 Oh, the impatience of youth.\u00a0 \u201cGot to have it all now.\u201d<\/p>\n

This generation uses the current business models to grow the church.\u00a0 Target audiences become the rich young couples with children.\u00a0 They will grow the church and pay for all the associate pastors.\u00a0 They will attract even more young, upwardly mobile, couples so we can pay for more associate pastors to do their ministry for them.\u00a0 They don’t go to the highways and hedges, they go to the upscale neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

This generation spends much more money on buildings, entertainment and programs, than on sending missionaries to a lost world.\u00a0 They misunderstand the whole Christian culture of sacrifice and helping others fulfill the Great Commission though their parents still understand it well.\u00a0 How many of these young people would encourage THEIR children to go to China, Africa or some other country as a missionary?\u00a0 Or would let their daughters marry some young preacher boy. \u201cWhat kind of a choice is that? I know it has to be done, but . . .\u00a0 just not my child.”<\/p>\n

Can you imagine this generation recruiting seniors to their church?\u00a0 Seniors are far too high maintenance:\u00a0 they need time, companionship, even transportation to church, the doctor’s office or grocery store.\u00a0 We can hire a seniors pastor for that.\u00a0 Old people are on fixed incomes, they may even have trouble paying their heat and electricity bills. How much can they give to help the church build that new playground?\u00a0 We might even have to help them pay their bills!\u00a0 You can’t build a church on the elderly.<\/p>\n

This generation has replaced spirituality with sincerity.\u00a0 \u201cWe really<\/span> <\/strong>believe this is best for the church so it must be what God wants.\u00a0 Why would we all agree if it isn’t God’s leading?\u201d\u00a0 All of this while ignoring the clear teachings of scripture because “it feels right”. Selfishness!<\/p>\n

This generation has no concept of the Christian church family (I Cor. 12, Acts 2).\u00a0 \u201cIf the old people don’t like it, they can just leave,\u201d\u00a0 I have been told. “We need to purge the church of the\u00a0 negative people” (i.e. those who disagree with them). “For every family that leaves, there will be others to replace them.”\u00a0 With young wage-earners no doubt. Sorrow is not in this generation’s paradigm.\u00a0 People leaving is just part of the business of the church.<\/p>\n

So this generation goes on its merry way, sincere in their ignorance, making the same mistakes their elders may have made.\u00a0 They ignore the wise voices available to them that would help them avoid making the same mistakes. They are too busy recruiting more young, arrogant sheep who will perpetuate their sin, all the while assuming success and God’s blessing because they have more people attending, and more staff, and a new Family Life Center . . .God help us!<\/p>\n

Daniel wouldn’t eat the meat.\u00a0\u00a0 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego stood their ground.\u00a0 Paul told Peter he was wrong “to the face”.\u00a0 \u00a0Popular is not always right.\u00a0 Our fathers did not decline to disagree with church leaders when they are demonstrating this selfishness.<\/p>\n

It is not too late.\u00a0 Commit to spending some time with your elders.\u00a0 Find an elderly saint, sit down and shut up!\u00a0 Listen to what God has done for them for 70 to 80 years.\u00a0 You might be amazed what God might teach you about faith, ministry and perseverance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Joe Shrader, PhD East Carolina University Note:\u00a0 Dr. Joe Shrader is the editor’s brother.\u00a0 He received his Ph.D from Michigan State University and is an associate professor at ECU in Greenville, North Carolina. The sin of this generation is selfishness.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It manifests itself by the disrespect shown the church elders.\u00a0 The arrogance of this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[123],"tags":[182,178],"class_list":["post-1023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-ministry-leadership","tag-sin-world-evil"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Sin of This Generation - Aletheia Baptist Ministries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/march-qthe-sin-of-this-generationq\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Sin of This Generation - Aletheia Baptist Ministries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Joe Shrader, PhD East Carolina University Note:\u00a0 Dr. Joe Shrader is the editor’s brother.\u00a0 He received his Ph.D from Michigan State University and is an associate professor at ECU in Greenville, North Carolina. The sin of this generation is selfishness.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It manifests itself by the disrespect shown the church elders.\u00a0 The arrogance of this […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/march-qthe-sin-of-this-generationq\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Aletheia Baptist Ministries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AletheiaBaptist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2003-03-26T16:06:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-02-02T07:04:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Book-Reviews-1024x1024.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/march-qthe-sin-of-this-generationq\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/march-qthe-sin-of-this-generationq\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c84c148cf6ad6dad73239862d157eda9\"},\"headline\":\"The Sin of This Generation\",\"datePublished\":\"2003-03-26T16:06:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-02-02T07:04:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/march-qthe-sin-of-this-generationq\/\"},\"wordCount\":1118,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Ministry \/ Leadership\",\"Sin \/ World \/ Evil\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Articles\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/march-qthe-sin-of-this-generationq\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/march-qthe-sin-of-this-generationq\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/march-qthe-sin-of-this-generationq\/\",\"name\":\"The Sin of This Generation - Aletheia Baptist Ministries\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2003-03-26T16:06:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-02-02T07:04:12+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/march-qthe-sin-of-this-generationq\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/march-qthe-sin-of-this-generationq\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/march-qthe-sin-of-this-generationq\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Sin of This Generation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/\",\"name\":\"Aletheia Baptist Ministries\",\"description\":\"Rick Shrader's Blog\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Aletheia Baptist Ministries\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/bible-study.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/bible-study.jpg\",\"width\":400,\"height\":277,\"caption\":\"Aletheia Baptist Ministries\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AletheiaBaptist\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c84c148cf6ad6dad73239862d157eda9\",\"name\":\"Admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/59cc005a956dbf76acc6e69f84740bfa5e18070c3be05501e63d94ffb5bdd402?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/59cc005a956dbf76acc6e69f84740bfa5e18070c3be05501e63d94ffb5bdd402?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Admin\"},\"url\":\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Sin of This Generation - Aletheia Baptist Ministries","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/march-qthe-sin-of-this-generationq\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Sin of This Generation - Aletheia Baptist Ministries","og_description":"By Joe Shrader, PhD East Carolina University Note:\u00a0 Dr. Joe Shrader is the editor’s brother.\u00a0 He received his Ph.D from Michigan State University and is an associate professor at ECU in Greenville, North Carolina. The sin of this generation is selfishness.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It manifests itself by the disrespect shown the church elders.\u00a0 The arrogance of this […]","og_url":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/march-qthe-sin-of-this-generationq\/","og_site_name":"Aletheia Baptist Ministries","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AletheiaBaptist","article_published_time":"2003-03-26T16:06:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-02-02T07:04:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":1024,"url":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Book-Reviews-1024x1024.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Admin","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/march-qthe-sin-of-this-generationq\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/march-qthe-sin-of-this-generationq\/"},"author":{"name":"Admin","@id":"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c84c148cf6ad6dad73239862d157eda9"},"headline":"The Sin of This Generation","datePublished":"2003-03-26T16:06:14+00:00","dateModified":"2014-02-02T07:04:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/march-qthe-sin-of-this-generationq\/"},"wordCount":1118,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["Ministry \/ Leadership","Sin \/ World \/ Evil"],"articleSection":["Articles"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/march-qthe-sin-of-this-generationq\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/march-qthe-sin-of-this-generationq\/","url":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/march-qthe-sin-of-this-generationq\/","name":"The Sin of This Generation - Aletheia Baptist Ministries","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2003-03-26T16:06:14+00:00","dateModified":"2014-02-02T07:04:12+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/march-qthe-sin-of-this-generationq\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/march-qthe-sin-of-this-generationq\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/march-qthe-sin-of-this-generationq\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Sin of This Generation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/","name":"Aletheia Baptist Ministries","description":"Rick Shrader's Blog","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/#organization","name":"Aletheia Baptist Ministries","url":"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/bible-study.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/bible-study.jpg","width":400,"height":277,"caption":"Aletheia Baptist Ministries"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AletheiaBaptist"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c84c148cf6ad6dad73239862d157eda9","name":"Admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/59cc005a956dbf76acc6e69f84740bfa5e18070c3be05501e63d94ffb5bdd402?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/59cc005a956dbf76acc6e69f84740bfa5e18070c3be05501e63d94ffb5bdd402?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Admin"},"url":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1023"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4510,"href":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023\/revisions\/4510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}