Why do extreme theological liberals and universalists even bother?

[ParticularWife]

The Bishop Spong type is what I mean: people who don't believe in anything recognizable as the God of the Bible, or the philosophers, who clearly feel more at home in a political rally than a pulpit, who think Hell isn't real and Jesus was just some cool dude.
Aside from destructive infiltration work at the hands of Satan (my theory), what is the purpose of claiming to be Christian and going to church if you believe this stuff? The answer is that, eventually, they don't: liberal denominations tend to implode value too long.
I know a guy who claimed to be a Christian Atheist for years, even wrote a book on it, but at some point had the honesty to stop calling himself a Christian and admit the attempt was a failure.
If you don't believe Christ died for your sins, you're not a Christian and should not be accepted by a church as a member.

 

[DaveXR650]

Ninety percent of what we do is cultural, and even unconscious. Churches are filled with people who go to church because that's what you do, and everyone in your social circle is going too. There used to be advantages to being a member of a respectable church for business contacts or even to put on one's resume. It showed stability and normalcy. Those reasons are disappearing due to cultural instability, there is less local control over who gets jobs and top positions in communities, and there is a net negative connotation to being a serious Christian nowadays.

Plus, there are many more leisure activities, from the gun club to golf to dirt bikes to fishing to kids sports to camping that have exploded in the past 50 years. But as a result, those who do still go to church are more apt to be truly hungry for spiritual things and genuinely seeking God. So you see churches that teach in a serious manner and even do some theology thriving. And people are noticing this. Apparently, it's in England too, as a couple of posters on here have said. Our own church has just started a building program because it is now too small. The church where we used to go and where some of my kids still go has a pastor that preaches long, dry sermons, heavy on theology and verse by verse exposition, with no frills and no entertainment emphasis - and it's packed and growing.