ReligiousTolerance.org refers to some predictions made by Bishop John Shelby Spong about the future of the church. His predictions and my comments follow:
Church attendance is in decline worldwide.
Actually, it is increasing. Attendance by those of Bishop Spong’s persuasion is declining worldwide.
Books used in worship, prayers, and liturgy are starting to reject the concept that God is “an external power capable of being manipulated by the prayers of the faithful.”
Churches that use such books are in serious and rapid decline.
The loss of priestly authority and priestly respect will continue.
Yes, I think it will.
Lay people will “preside at the Eucharist during the next century, even in Catholic circles.”
Quite possibly.
Worship “will not be oriented toward an external God but toward the world of our human community.”
Only at New Age events.
The church will direct its energy towards the seeking of truth, rather than defending its previously determined, narrow, definition of truth.
Jesus said, “I am the truth.” Churches which seek Jesus will thrive.
The church will reject many traditional beliefs, such as the Christmas star, the angels visiting the shepherds, the wise men, the physical resuscitation of Jesus, the angels rolling away the stone from the tomb, bodies that appear and disappear, etc.
There is no sign of the church wanting to follow Bishop Spong’s lead in this regard.
Rituals which recognize the transitions of life will have to be recreated. Baptism has been “so filled with the theistic language of a supernatural deity as to be repugnant to an increasing number of believers today.” It will become a “ritual that calls each candidate to be all that that person was created to be.”
Probably not on this planet.
The ritual of the mass in which bread and wine are converted into the body and blood of Jesus will be replaced by the original Christian ritual, the shared meal – open to all who are hungry.
Quite possibly.