Let me start by saying that I'm not perfect and will never claim to be. I sin, I fall short, significantly so, from grace everyday and I am thankful that I serve a God who gives more than second chances. At the same time, I serve a God who requires me to be accoutable for MY actions, and who I will answer to one day, which is scary to think about sometimes. Even though God forgives, has compassion, is merciful, and loves me unconditionally, I have a responsibilty to follow and obey His Word. I believe that I don't "have" to sin everyday, even though I do, I think that that goal is attainable. Have I reached that goal, not yet, maybe someday. Lately I have been searching, thinking, reading, wondering what I am supposed to do. I have asked before what my purpose is, and so far all I have gotten is to wait. So while I wait, I am gonna worship because that's why I was initially created. I think that I am learning where my calling is, besides music & worship. I have a passion for people, and specifically people that are misunderstood & who don't "do" church, for people who are addicted & marked as the worst kind of sinners, and many more. See I do not come from church, that's not my background. I did not grow up in church, I grew up around church.I come from the world and let me tell ya, at times, it is hard to leave it behind, but like I always tell my kids, "if it's not hard, it's not worth it!" My heart just hurts for people who do not know God & at the same time my heart hurts for people who know Him, but are so fanatical, judgemental, and hypocritical that they don't really "know" Him. Take the people from Westboro church in Oklahoma, I just wanna say thanks to them for confirming to the world what they think Christianity is all about.It is sad that other "Christians" are setting us back so far, that these kind of shannigans they pull reflect on Christianity as a whole. It makes us look as though we are serving a God who is the complete opposite as what we say He is. America is already lost enough, do Christians really need to add extra layers on top of the junk people believe today? No wonder people think Christians are a joke. I can't stand the signs that they carry that read thing like "God Hates Fags" well first of all, God does not hate! That word is the polar opposite of what He is! God loves, love wins ( and not the Rob Bell book, that's a whole new subject). What we need is Christians that love people, all people, and Chrisitians that tell people the truth, what the Word says, not what we want it to say. People need to know that God is an awesome, loving, compassionate, merciful, forgiving, healing, all powerful God, but that there is one way to Him and one way to Heaven & that is through His son Jesus Tthat's what the Bible says, maybe I'll send a copy to Rob Bell). This is not really what I thought was gonna come out of me today, but it is. Like I said before, I am not perfect, I am a sinner saved by grace. I have probably sinned today, actually I'm sure of it, and I have not always lived the way I should. I have fallen way to many times to count, I have been a hypocrite, I have let my mouth run free when I shouldn't ( a lot actually), but He still stays right there, by my side, waiting for me to chose to act right & follow Him again. I am just thankful for that and for His faithfulness. When life is throwing curve balls & changing at the drop of a hat, He stays exactly the same.
....Rob Bell is a pastor & author that teaches that everyone goes to heaven, & once I finish the book & am more educated I'm sure I'll have plenty to post on the subject.
Also, for any typos, misspelled word, incorrect puncuation, it's a blog....get over it : )
I just finished reading unChristian and it actually uses statistics and research backing up pretty much everything you said. I was thinking of doing a small group or something based on this exact thing. If we look around the church we are really lacking in the 16-29 year old range (from my best calculations LCC is at 10% and only 4 were between 20-29). Anyway read the book, or if you have a kindle I will share it with you so you don't have to buy it (if you have the kindle app on your phone I think I still share). It really did open my heart and eyes to a lot, especially with the youth that I teach.
ReplyDelete