Can we have absolutes?, Absolutely

There is a theory that as time moves on and society changes, the church should change. Change to make it's message more palatable to society, to make it trendy, to make it less offensive, to ultimately water it down. I'm a Methodist not by theology or birth, but because it's where i choose to worship, because that is where my relationships with some great people are, people who help me grow and help me to understand God. My background is within Pentecostalism and i'm very grateful for that, and with my hand on my heart after lots of souls searching, i have come to a conclusion I'M A FUNDAMENTALIST. Stupidly i believe what the bible tells me about my God is the truth, that when it tells me he was born of a virgin it's true, that when it says he rose from the dead it's true. That when Jesus says" i am the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the father but through me" it's true. I'm not a liberal with regards to my faith, but my politics tend to be.

The war of words rages on, and on and on and on, and the church seems to have forgotten or worse still pushed to the back burner one of it's main responsibilities, that duty to make disciples. That is what we are called to do as church, to make disciples, not clones, Lord knows there does not need to be another Andy Richardson running around the place.
Have we lost our flavour, have we become dulled to the call of people to the foot of the cross, do we even bother. Yesterday i led a service in our circuit. During that service i made an appeal for people to get saved ( i still use that term) and led a prayer towards that effect. At the end of the service a gentleman told me in no uncertain terms, that "what you did is fine for other churches but in ours we do not make appeals". My initial response was gobsmacked, but once i had gathered my thoughts i thanked him for his input and left it at that, i'm an evangelist at heart and by ministry.

My concern for the church is that we have adapted to what the world want's instead of what Christ calls us to do, we have conformed to the world and it's practises and forgotten that we were told "not to be conformed to the world any longer, but conform to Christ". Personally i have no problem with so called Liberal christians, if it floats your boat great. But for me i need those absolutes, i need to know it's not a case of ifs and ands and pots and pans. Boundaries work in my life, they enable me to function, absolutes for my faith are essential for me to function in it. without those absolutes, it's too easy to be tossed on the winds of change, going where ever the popular opinion takes us, yes we grow, yes we adapt to a degree. But when we water down the very life giving water, to be popular, we fail.

This may cop me a load of flack, which seems to be the norm lately, but hey ho.