lil debe

Break/alter faith
I think it depends on how central faith is to one's personal identity, I forget what the psychological term is, sense of self or something. Definitely personal trauma could jolt one out ("why did God do this, I go to church every week and tithe") but it can bring people in too.

Jesus's personal appearance
The problem with needing Jesus to appear, I think, is that he (arguably) already did. So should he appear 2x to every person forever? I think it still wouldn't be enough. People would just adapt to that and say "Nah gotta be 3x for me." Further, since God saves based on faith, irrebutable concrete evidence would actually work adversely to (my interpretation of) his goals. I think his stance is, I've given you what you need, make your own choices and be accountable for them. Jesus, of course, wants to save everyone and help everyone, but God still ultimately calls the shots.

Further, the bible says that he will come 2x, 1x was the freebie to teach us all what we need to know and die for our sins, the 2nd time is ballgame--no more second chances, no more information, no more teaching; when he comes the 2nd time the river card hits and everyone shows their cards. So he won't come again until then.


Communism/socialism
Communism is a form of govt based on a classless society including common ownership of the means of production (factories, etc.) and the absence of private property. It would be like a commune, where everyone pitches in and shares.

Socialism isn't a form of govt but an economic model, basically the opposite of capitalism. The means of production are commonly owned. Production would be determined by some sort of council, probably a bunch of experienced workers or something.

AFAIK, these pretty much only work in theory because they completely ignore human nature. Human nature is that some people work really hard and some people are lazy. Some people waste assets and others conserve/improve them. If you don't reward excellence and punish incompetence, there is no reason to excel. For example, in Soviet Russia, each farm had a quota of wheat to produce. Once the farm hit its quota, it let the rest rot--why bother, they won't get paid any more.

I don't see how (mainstream) religion relates to either. Classes clearly exist in religion (pastor, sinner, etc.) and AFAIK (mainstream) religion does not attempt to control/direct means of production (i.e. the Catholic Church has not purchased Ford Motors).

Odds and Ends
I think religion has a lot to offer if one adapts it to one's life, instead of being bullied into a specific way of adopting it. At one old church, they ambushed everyone single and under 30 by giving them a Promise Ring and having them promise, in front of the whole church, to stay a virgin until marriage. I think that engenders animosity. On the other hand, I've also seen prayer sessions for sick people, and emotional support.

My view of what the church should do
Well this will be an interesting little section. My main theory is that churches should operate like businesses in the sense that they should take the strategy of "winning the consumer," instead of taking the moral superiority route ("you need to be here; you should adapt to us and not the other way around").

Let's pretend: What if a church built a small movie theatre inside, bowling lanes, pool tables, air hockey, foosball, a nice cappucino machine, etc. Do you think people, especially young people, would voluntarily hang out there? Hell yes. If people are there, might they either be more receptive to the message, or start to find themselves feel closer to the religion, or both? I think the answer is clearly yes. So why not change the business strategy and woo the consumer instead of bludgeoning them into moral submission and grudging tolerance/acceptance?

The main point to reach people and try to help them and be accessible to them. Jesus didn't stay in one place and say "You should listen to me because you are all bad." He traveled around, he healed people, he made them food and water, he made them an important part of his movement (see John the Baptist).

This is, in my opinion, the church's most dramatic failure (excluding the child porn problems, which I can't even begin to address). Many congregations's responses to declining attendance is more fire and brimstone--do you really think that will bring people back?