Chateau Lloyd

The other day I was driving around and upon noticing the tendency of Protestant churches to fully embrace rainbow flags (or even the new "trans" variants), I had to wonder: why even bother with different denominations?

The Lutherans had one, as did a United Methodist church as well as the Presbyterians down the street.

Luther's "reform" was supposedly about recreating the "early Church" of his imagination.  I don't think he meant that to include pagan sexual practices.  Similarly, the Wesleyan movement was a reaction against High Church Anglicanism and built upon achieving "personal holiness."  Apparently this now involves intersex threesomes or something.  As for the Calvinists, I suppose they at least can claim that sodomites were predestined, though why a loving, just God would create perverts to damn them defies logic.

All of which is to say, if the big things like sexual morality and the meaning of marriage are up to revision, who cares about the exact meaning of the Eucharist or the form of the worship service?  The core message is the same: God loves everyone, including sinners, and there's no need to repent.  It's really an extreme form of the Baptist approach that being a believer is enough, and its strange that far older denominations should have gone in that direction.

I suppose if that is the centerpiece of your current thought, that would get the most emphasis, and the rest would just be details.

That being said, as the military taught me, attention to detail in little things is important.  There's a clear progression from dressing like a slob to becoming a slob, and the same is true in matters of faith.  If one section of scripture is now irrelevant, why adhere to the other parts?  If, as their digital message boards proclaim: "I am good enough," then why not sleep in?  Why bother to provide financial support?

I suppose it is no accident that the collapse of mainline Protestantism has corresponded with the explosion of trendy non-profits who offer vague promises of virtue in exchange for a cash contribution.

Indeed, this is a huge contributor to Yard Sign Calvinism.  A half-century ago, those denominations were filled with active volunteers who combined faith and works.  Now lip service to the right cause is considered enough.