They Like Jesus but not the Church Part two

The Church is Judgmental and Negative

Dan Kimball shares a sad truth about what’s happening in churches today.  He talks about how servers in restraunts hate working on Sundays because “those church people don’t tip well and always complain.”  I can honestly attest that more often than not through my years of waiting tables that I hated working Sundays as well.  Church people can truly be mean.  I can’t believe the comments I would hear from people who just left church.  It seemed like they put on this fascade for church and then become a-holes afterwards.  Like the song goes “true colors shining through.”  We need to learn a little patience and a little more giving.  So what if the server did a horrible job for you.  There is nothing like receiving a nice tip even though you don’t deserve it.  Let’s call it grace.  Let’s practice what has been freely given to us.

Another section in the book talks about Bibles and Bible thumpers.  It’s amazing some of the ridiculous commentaries that are written in our Bibles.  I feel ashamed that these conservative publishers write in Bibles that people should stop doing this or that because of this passage here.  Honestly, people know when they are sinning – there is something that happens deep inside that says this probably is not right.  Instead of allowing some of those street evangelists and others continue to cry out “FORNICATORS and DEBAUCHERERS” why not tell them about the freedom that we have in Christ.  When I became a Christian, I recognized that my illegal drug use and selling of drugs was not right.  I didn’t need someone to tell me that.  I also recognized that the way I interacted with women in relationships wasn’t healthy once we entered deeper areas of physical intimacy.  I didn’t need someone to shout “you’re going too far.”  I needed someone to help me to express myself in a healthy way.  I needed to learn what it means to love a women and how to be her man.  We have to recognize that the Holy Spirit is very powerful and we should first depend on the Spirit to change people so that they might exhibit the fruit of the Spirit instead of us simply dictating a list of demands telling them to conform to our standards.  The questions we should ask should encourage people to see what it means for them to be more like Christ.  I’m not condoning unhealthy behavior – I’m encouraging us to help people grow closer to Christ and as their hearts change their behavoirs change from the inside out. 

It seems that many Christians are so afraid of what is happening in our culture that they decide to judge and say that the world is coming to an end (God bless the poor premils).  A lot of Christians feel that we are entitled to dictate the morality of our culture, seeking a lot of censorship and lacking tolerance.  I believe that there are things that are vile and gross on TV and in the movies and I choose not to watch them for that reason.  I also recognize that I cannot push a morality onto others.  If we take an honest look at First Century Christianity, we have to see that the things that were happening then were just as bad if not worse than today (Christians being force to be gladiators/killed for sport is pretty horrible).  However, it was during this time that Christianity was still able to function.  In fact, it seems that these people were tired of their empty lifestyles.  So, let’s once again try to get over staring at the immorality in our culture and shouting our mouths off with remarks of condemnation and learn how Christianity functions inside this culture.  How can we seek to share the love of Christ in this culture?  Dan Kimbal says we need to seek to be a positve agent of change loving people as Jesus would – not judgmental and negative.  I agree.