Churches in Austria are losing their members just as they are in Germany. The shrinkage now seems to be getting the upper hand. With an appeal, the Evangelical Church in Austria is trying to persuade people to stay and return. However, the true message of the gospel does not come to the mind of the church, but rather sticks to the guidelines of Rome. Ecumenism leaves deep furrows.
Inhalt / Content
Appreciation of animals and nature is the focus
Just as people in Germany are turning their backs on their churches en masse, more and more church members are also fleeing in Austria. The Evangelical Church in Austria is trying to justify its existence in the face of the fleeing crowd. There are reasons to remain in the Church, so a call of the church.
A daily newspaper in Austria started an internet survey to find out the reasons for leaving the church. The answers were mixed, but had a common denominator: “I don’t need it, get rid of it”.
Church conveys “message about a better world”
In the Church’s view, these reasons were not enough. People have to look beyond their own noses. The church was not a service provider for self-interest. It is about much more than for the church itself. The church is there to convey the “message that has meant faith and hope for people for centuries”. It’s about nothing less than “the message of a better world”. The world mediated by the church describes a love for one’s neighbor that is not viewed as weakness, a compassion that is not devalued as “do-gooderism”. Appreciation prevails in this world, “also for animals and nature, because everything was created by God. That is the message of the kingdom of God”. The church is committed to this kingdom.
The commitment to the kingdom of God is also geared towards “the powerful” and is also a component of social welfare work, pastoral care, church services and also religious instruction. The church preserves Christian values and traditions.
Solidarity must support the church
The Church is one of the oldest institutions in the world and now it is all the more important not to turn our backs on the Church. In order for the church to exist, it must be supported and financed by a “community of solidarity”. Heinrich Böll tries to underline this: “I would prefer even the very worst Christian world to the best pagan one, because in a Christian world there is room for those for whom no pagan world ever gave room: for the crippled and the sick, the old and the weak .”
Not a word is mentioned about Jesus Christ
The Evangelical Church, Augsburg Confession and Helvetic Confession is a member of the World Council of Churches in Austria. A federation of 16 different denominations, including the Catholic and Old Catholic Churches. With the self-understanding of its task of conveying to people the “Kingdom of God on earth” and its “message about the appreciation of animals and nature”, the church only scratches the surface of its actual task and puts creation at the center. As might be expected, there is not a single word about Jesus Christ in this appeal.
Ecumenical thought gives up Babylonian wine
It would be the (original) task of the evangelical church to emphasize the absolutely central position of the Son of God. People have definitely been given the task of preserving animals and nature, but not raising them to a level that is above people. The course clearly points to an exaggeration of creation, to the point of an adorable nature. Pope Francis recently gave the steep template for this fatal development with his encyclical “Laudato si’“.
Who in ecumenism together with the Roman Catholic church acts as the mother of all particular churches, drinks the wine of Babylon with it.
Revelation 18:3:
For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.”
Bible verses from King James Version
