Disillunsionment With The Church Is Not New

I've been reading DeYoung and Klucks latest Why We Love The Church and just thought I share some quotes that really grabbed me.

"But the Jesus [Emergent's] like is almost certainly not the Jesus who calls sinners to repentance, claimed to be the unique Son of God, and died for our sins. He is almost certainly a nice guy, open-minded, spiritually ambiguous, and a good example. He is a guru Jesus who resembles Bono in a bathrobe. If the church is the problem, it is likely because the church gives shape and form to an otherwise malleable and hollow Christ."

"Before the unhappy masses exit the church, they should consider what it is they are actually leaving. Is it merely some bad experiences they are fleeing? Or does the unrest go deeper? If Christians are interested in a Christianity free from doctrine, demands, and damnation, they aren't just sick of the church and its unflattering quirks; they're tired of the Christian faith altogether."

"The church-leavers can feel good tithing to the nonprofit of their choice, never stopping to think that this superspiritual, supercool outfit has a board of directors and an accountant, and filed the paperwork to become a 501c3 back in the day[...] They bemoan the over-programmed church, but then think of a hundred complex, resource-hungry things the church should be doing[...] They wish the church could be more diverse, but then leave to meet in a coffee shop with other well-educated thirtysomethings who are into film festivals, NPR, and carbon offsets[...] They chide the church for not doing more to address social problems, but then complain when the church gets too political."

"I sometimes find, especially among peers, that authenticity is not a self-abasing means of growing in holiness, but a convenient cover for endless introspection, doubt, uncertainty, anger, and worldliness. So that if other Christians seems pure, assured, and happy, we despise them for being inauthentic."

"What if belonging to a church is more serious than, say, choosing whether the new laundry detergent is "right for you"? What if your difficulty with church was God's means of sanctifying you and the church, instead of separating the two of you? What if we aren't always the best judge of what will help us most in "living like Jesus"? What if, in addition to the church, we feel like marriage "diminishes" our relationship with Jesus? Or that poverty doesn't seem to be good for us spiritually? Or our children get in the way of our walk with God? What if we need something to guide us that is more sophisticated, more sure, and less subjective that our own "freedom filters"? An what makes us think that after nearly two thousand years of institutional church, Christians are suddenly free to jettison the church and try things on their own?"