**Note from the Scribbler: Oh, now we are getting into it! My rant. Once again, if you don't like it, don't read it. Part One can be found here and Part Two can be found here! God bless during this Christmas season!**
'The greatest deterrent to Christianity is Christians themselves.'
I heard this quote in high school and it has always stuck with me. God/ the concept of God has never once made me want to turn away from this religion. Being associated with such a cruel people has. I'm not saying that this applies to all Christians, but I am saying that as a whole, they are viewed in this way.
There are a lot of hard truths that I feel that people like to avoid when talking about the Church. Things people like to sweep under the rug because it's safer and more comfortable to not bring them to light. Things that would make the Church seem less desirable. However if we don't address these concerns, it's never going to change. Turning a blind eye to something doesn't make it go away. It just makes you foolish. Some Christians like to portray and use God in certain ways to further their own agendas.
Not all Christians have these issues, and certainly not all churches. I have been to a good many churches that were absolutely fantastic. Unfortunately, a bad experience with a few can poison the view of the many.
Instead of giving a helping hand in times of hardship, we judge and try to force our beliefs on one another. Take divorce. A woman who is so hurt and needs out of her marriage due to irreparable reasons is then ripped apart by her pastor and church for being 'unfaithful' and 'disobeying God'?? Well, to that I say 'Let ye among you without sin be the first to cast a stone.' Those who are hurting need our love and support. Not another lecture, another sermon, another damning remark. My own father was asked to leave a position of leadership with a youth group because he had proposed to my mom, a divorced woman.
There have been so many young women I've met over the years who could spin such sweet and eloquent tales of how God had been present in their lives, and taught them lessons that every woman should learn. However if you questioned them on it, or met them outside of that Bible study, the way they treated you could be nothing less than diabolical. One particular Bible study, we were discussing women submitting to their husbands. I didn't want to comment but the group leader knew me quite well and could see that I was seething, so he pushed me to express my opinion. I think he came to regret that decision once I told them exactly what my views on that were, in no uncertain terms. One young lady enlightened me that I was sinning in the belief that using the word 'submit' brings inequality and the potential for abuse, and told me that she had several books for me to read that I might be better educated on why I should be submitting to a man. I countered with the fact that the word 'submit' didn't exist in the language the passage was transcribed from, and men for eons have used similar reasoning to excuse abuse. Equality for all! I believe that was my last visit to that Bible study after that encounter.
Why is there a hierarchy in the church? We follow men who were educated in concepts created by other men. Every person on this earth wants to important in some way. For some people, church is where that happens. They are given seniority, and once they taste that it's very difficult to give it up. Pastors who are looking for more money, more seniority in the church. Women who are given a place of power who abuse it to further their own (and their daughter's) ends. Are we not all servants? Are we not all called to love and live in His light? Are we not asked to do as He requests, and give up all? Was Jesus not born to a carpenter? Did he not wash the feet of those considered below Him? If we are to live like Jesus, it means we are to give up our ambition and haughty ways to simply serve. I have been to churches where anyone who feels called to speak is given the floor. Because God moves through anyone at anytime.
I love playing devils advocate. I believe that if we don't question and test our faith, how are we to strengthen it? If we don't come to conclusions on our own through study and meditation, how is our faith true and real? I love when people get upset after being confronted on their belief. But that is because you believe blindly, with no personal contemplation on the subject.
Why have church leaders banned books? Do they believe their congregation is not wise enough to recognize truth vs fiction? Do they not want to discuss the hard questions? I recognize that it is much easier to keep ourselves pure by ignoring the outside world and all the 'evils' in it. However that's not real or true and maybe that's why there's been such a decrease in Christianity among young people today. Tell a child not to look in a closet, and when your back is turned, that's the first thing they are going to do. However, if you explain what's in it, and why we do not go near it, then understanding can be had by all. My baby sister, who has grown into quite the young woman put it most succinctly. ''The whole point of free will is to be able to make the choice yourself, or else it's not genuine." If we make decisions in the dark and without the whole truth, is it true belief? Or is it blind belief?
Why the discrimination against women? This frustrates me beyond belief. What kind of backwards world do we live in where men are still put in a place above women?! Does God speak only to men? Are women not worthy to hear His voice?! Are we such evil creatures that we need a man to direct us in the way of Christ? Or are we just too stupid to be able to trust Him to direct us Himself? I've been to more than one church where they have been praying for the right 'man' to come to lead His people.
One of my favourite sermons I've ever heard was about the four grandmothers of Christ. At the beginning of Matthew, there is a genealogy of Christ. Within that genealogy there are only 4 women mentioned, which is amazing in itself that any women were mentioned at all! Then you see who was brought up, out of countless good and faithful women to be one of the chosen few 'grandmothers of Christ' and the amazement deepens. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba.
Tamar posed as a prostitute to sleep with her father in law, and as a result bears twins.
Rahab was a prostitute.
Ruth was an outsider. She wasn't a part of God's chosen people. She was poor and an outcast.
Bathsheba was the woman David had an affair with, who then consequently tried to cover it up by having her husband killed in battle.
All four of these women were blatant sinners and/or not a part of God's chosen people. However God used them not only for His purposes in their own time, but also used them to bring the Saviour to this world.
Why do we care about what people wear to church? Jesus overturned the temple, and condemned the Pharisees, who I'm guessing were very well put together and dressed very well for the time. He communed with the poor, the beggars, the outcasts the lepers. I am pretty sure that He is more interested in what your heart looks like, than the clothes you dress in to praise Him.
Christians judge, non Christians simply do not care.
Christians tend to 'hold themselves to a higher standard'. Therefore, they hold you to it as well. If you fall on your face, they will laugh, point, and whisper behind your back. Where children hit each other, and play mind games keeping secrets and toys from/with one another, Christians have the added bonus of being able to judge each other like crazy due to all the rules and restrictions placed on us.
I saw this picture going around Facebook and it actually kills me. Because it is true.
We portray God as this vengeful, spiteful Deity who requires our complete obedience or He will send us straight to Hell, and that is not the God I follow.
As Christians, we have been called to a life of love and Christ-like behaviour. I'm not asking you to change your beliefs, I'm just asking you to take a look at how you approach people, what you portray to the world as a Christ follower. Ask questions, actively grow your faith and what you believe.
My next and final post on the subject will be my personal beliefs regarding religion. I hope you will join me.
Merry Christmas!
