Beyond the Echo Chamber: Secular Alternatives to Religious Routines
What alternatives are there to: Prayer, Gospel Music, and Praise and Worship?
A common scripture in and among the Church of Pentecost is John 15:19,
If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
As such, this Church can hold characteristics and resemblances of a cult wherein it seeks to detach and remove its followers from the secular community and place them in a box that becomes their dissected version of the world.
In this post, I will focus on the following three activities which make up the culture of the church:
1) Prayer
2) Music
3) Praise and Worship
I will provide the secular alternative for each that has allowed me to maintain my freedom of thought, whilst still obtaining the core value proposition of the Pentecostal activity.
If you are someone transitioning away from Pentecostal doctrines, another Christian sect, or a cult-like religious group, this post will provide ideas on how you can modify your existing routines while still preserving the meaningful values you once found in those practices.
What is the key difference between the two?
Pentecostal practices create an echo-chamber. This creates a susceptibility towards becoming an anointed type of person in which you judge others outside of your group quickly and think of yourself as higher and egotistically more righteous than your neighbours. It creates an “us” versus “them” scenario, which is divisive and exclusionary.
The secular replacements encourage you to broaden your understanding of the world as you broaden your understanding of people, connecting to various facets of life. Rather than viewing the world as evil, you allow yourself to witness its richness and beauty.
Comment below
A. What activities do you participate in to avoid being in an echo chamber of any sort?
B. What activities have you found to replace old Christian practices but provide the same underlying value?
‘Connect to the Matrix’ Challenge
Pray without ceasing, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17. To what degree do you think prayer is referencing the secular version of prayer, i.e. hope, as supposed to the idea of prayer being about carving out time to meditate towards a heavenly father?