I don't know which is worse of the two, but what I do see is that they are varying degrees of disillusionment. The one is a complete disregard and dismissal of faith, while the other feels there is some merit in the Christian faith but that somewhere along the line it got messed up, or that maybe it is simply to hard to live the Christian life in its truest, most pure form because it asks of the follower "too many" sacrifices.
Those "too many" sacrifices stem from the desire to have a foot in each camp, one in the camp of the popularity of the world and the other in the camp of the holiness of God. Unfortunately it can't be achieved without loss one way or the other. The popularity campers don't like being told that you've put them on hold because of.....GOD. And for sure God doesn't like being prioritised below anyone or anything. You end up covering your tracks and the truth from your "friends" (ie. lying, ...which God hates) because if they find out, then you're no longer popular and don't get invited to the "cool events and functions".
(Question: How does a person who knows Gods' word begin to blend other things with it, knowing that "God is a jealous God" and "Thou shalt have no other gods before me").
I also see something else that is a concern to me. That is, the taking of the Christian faith and doctrine and heaping up emotions and feelings on top of the genuine doctrine. It seems to me this occurs because in contrast to the world the Christian faith seems "bland" by appearance and the saved of God look at the world and ask "How do we even begin to compete"? "How do we make the Christian faith tantalising and look like a great choice"?I believe the answer here is that we DON'T compete. The Christian message is not one of this world but the next. We have no need to wind ourselves or anyone else into a frenzied state to make us "feel" like God is near and listening. Our feelings and emotions when it comes to God and the Christian life are very real and relevant but not to the point of trying to make us feel or think there is something there that really isn't.
It kinda boils down to the same thing as the mediæval monks flagellating themselves, only instead of tearing our backs open saying, "Woe, what a sinner am I?" we are reversing that. In this culture of positive spin and we pat ourselves on the back repeating "I am a good person, I know God loves me, I am a good person, I know God loves me". In this way, WE build up OUR self-esteem and begin to feel all warm and fuzzy but we begin to be blinded to the truth, which in turn means we no longer choose to see that we are sinners "saved by grace" but rather see that, we are not in need of "saving" because we are already "good" and "most certainly will be saved because of our own goodness".
Christ says ...."not so!"
Thing is, that people are still trying to solve their problems for themselves, and while we can solve many things here in our lives, Christ tells us that what we can't fix (and what needs fixing) is the eternal relationship, without his help. It is all about the "me" factor and that takes the glory from God. The feel good things are great for the now and they build up our self esteem and they make us think we can conquer the world but as Christ tried to tell us, "fear not the world for I have overcome the world".... "fear him who can kill the body and soul"
People are proud creatures and as the pinnacle of the creation, we were given dominion over everything else. Though, as the created, we are required to be humble before the almighty and submit to his will. Part of this is realising and admitting to God, to ourselves and others that we are ultimately not capable of saving ourselves from the scrap heap without Christ's intervention.
It truly is only by the grace of God and his desire to RESTORE his relationship with his creation that we can be saved from the terror and horror to come.
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