Seeing as this is my first post...I don't know what to write.

There is one thing that I have observed concerning the automotive world and how it relates to the church (All of you who can't stand my ramblings concerning autos, just wait). I recently heard that the federal government is thinking about making Electronic Stability Control (ESC) standard on all vehicles by 2011. I have a problem with this. ESC, in its most basic form, automatically applies the brakes to certain wheels when it detects things like wheel slippage. This is kind of cool. However, it adds weight and cost to the car. Also, the situations in which the ESC takes control of a good portion of your car are ones such as ice, rain, etc. For one, people shouldn't be out driving when there is ice and snow on the road. If they lose control because of black ice, they probably weren't paying careful enough attention to the road and taking the necessary precautions. If you lose control in the rain, you were either driving too fast or you hydroplaned. People are not to blaim for all of these things, but the conditions of the road serve their own warning. How does this relate to the church? I'll get there in a second. The problem with ESC is that when it is required on all vehicles, people will automatically have a false sense of security, making them more apt to make rash decisions such as driving too fast in the rain. The same thing was seen when the "child-proof" caps on medicine bottles came out. People had a false sense of security and left the bottles out in the open, which resulted in more infant deaths because of poisining and the like. We are letting things such as a computer system on a car take over when we make bad decisions. This has happened for the following reason: Most people do not enjoy driving anymore. This is because vehicles are seen as just a means for transportation. We live in such a hurried and lazy society that I believe the auto market is currently in a state of ruin. We don't use maps anymore, we have GPS. We have DVD players in our cars to occupy our time (please forgive me if I have stepped on any toes there). I have noticed that the colors which cars come in these days are usually limited to red, black, white, silver, and maybe champagne. This is because most people don't care too much about how their cars look. To most they are just tools for transportation. The car manufacturers are adjusting to the mindset of the people by coming out with poorly-designed, blandly-colored, and under-powered vehicles. It used to be that people would take their cars out on Sunday for a drive in the country because it was so fun.

Now, how does this relate to the church? Currently, a large number of churches have changed their look, style, and even their messages to conform to the ways of the world so as to attract more members. They are losing membership. This is because the churches have not been presenting messages that are biblically sound or true to God's word. People are leaving the church because, frankly, they are bored. This is evident because conservative-minded churches are flourishing. The churches that have liberal mindsets are having to adopt certain principles such as same-sex unions because they are dying as a denomination.

I just found that an interesting comparison between how auto manufacturers are making vehicles and how churches are starting to conform to the world.