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Sometimes I feel so disconnected from the body of Christ, the Body in general, the Bride over all, as in what the heck is with you people? Social media attacks again, something I know distorts and perverts everything. Than there is the blogging world, many valuable and lovely Christians leaning into His word, but then there are the others so harsh, so condemning, so judgmental, so….hateful.
Grace all but forgotten….
It’s really been the hardest thing about blogging for me, not the atheists, not the trolls, not the critics, but peeking into the psyche of the body of Christ and recoiling in horror. Some people try to comfort me, those aren’t “real Christians,” as if I can just somehow click my heels together and pretend I’m not in Kansas anymore.
It’s harsh isn’t it, condemning, judgemental of me, looking at this tattered, broken, half-drunken, slovenly Bride, and thinking “really Lord? Really, the gates of hell shall not prevail against it?” The gates of hell sometimes seem to be pouring forth from within it.
Those who think I am way off base here are not on the receiving end of the daily curses, the “go back to your Father the devil you perverted Jezebel, you heretic, you rebellious proponent of bad theology, deceitful, deceptive, liberal…” Daily curses. I should put them all in my Rave Reviews like I do the others, but I just can’t, they break my heart. They make me despair for all of mankind, they make me scream in frustration, what have we done to your church, Lord? How have we managed to so mangle your message, even to miss the message entirely?
What can I do Lord, how can I fix it? There is so little time…
Cultural Christianity, Christ as a brand, an ideology, a political team composed only of the winners, tribalistic, ostracizing, as if the goal is to cast out all the losers, to separate the goats from the sheep, the wheat from the tares, on God’s behalf, because obviously He can’t do it Himself, so He needs our help. Bullies, bullies, I tell ya.
My truth offends people I’m sure, and some will say I shouldn’t say it, that I must praise the winning team no matter what, that the enemy is the other side, all those atheists out there, the politically wrong, the sinners, those not like us. The undesirables. Preserve the unity, keep it in the family, pretend you just don’t see this giant elephant sitting right in the middle of the living room. This giant elephant that threatens to sit on me, over and over and over again.
Do I sound angry? I am, impatient, intolerant, grieved that there are so many, this tidal wave of self-righteous condemnation that often threatens to engulf me and sweep me out to sea.
It wasn’t the death of Prince or Starbucks coffee cups or our failure to use the King James bible, or some half crazed girl-blogger trapped in the 9th circuit of hell that sent Jesus Christ to the cross, it was us, our collective voices mocking Him, our voices calling out among the scoffers. We were never on the “right team,” there are none righteous, not one, we were the ones who sent Him to the cross, we were the mockers carelessly casting lots for His clothing.
Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers….
See, there's this thing called biology... 
I didn’t even read the blog until after reading the picture. Seriously laughing out loud….we all our own flavor. Love it! Oh, just went back and read that you are angry. Sorry….believe it or not I was just working on a blog that included anger in it….for reals 🙂
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Oh good, we can be angry together. That’s more fun then being angry alone 🙂
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I think that this feeling of alienation is connected to our culture in general. Here’s a story that shows just the opposite going on elsewhere (a dose of sanity from abroad lol)
http://theorthodoxchurch.info/blog/news/church-state-delegation-visits-syria/
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Thanks for that Eric, it’s so nice to see all those smiling faces, happy kids even in the midst of ruin and major challenges. A dose of sanity from abroad, indeed.
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The article didn’t mention it, but the humanitarian aid the Russian churches have sent during the last 4 months is now nearly 1 billion tons of food, clothing and other supplies (notice how many kids are wearing Russian-style clothes lol).
While our churches are building floats for gay-pride parades and building tent-cities in their parking lots, the Russian Churches are making a real difference.
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What comforts me is that the first Christians new all about the same things you write about, IB. From 2 John, verse 7 I think: “For many deceivers have gone out from among us, those who do not acknowledge Jesus as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.” Or how about 3 John, 11: “Beloved, do not be imitators of what is evil but what is good. Those who do good, know God. Those who do evil have not seen God.” John was acknowledging the cracks in the Church. Some left their fellowship and didn’t even reverence Jesus as God incarnate. Others still in the church were apparently doing the things the unsaved were doing.
I think it all sounds quite familiar.
As much as I hate to think of the judgment, one thing it will accomplish is the purification of the Church. No more enemies lurking as pretend friends. No more false teachers luring the unsuspecting away. Thanks be to God, who knows what He’s doing, even with His crippled, stumbling bride who looks more like Hosea’s wife in the here and now than like the unblemished bride we will one day become.
Becky
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Good points, Becky. Sometimes I think the stuff that is going on today is right off the pages of the bible. There is comfort in that, in knowing that there really is nothing new under the sun and God already knows, He sees.
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The church is a human construct IB – I am no more surprised when those who speak for it are abusive ,than I am when individuals are abusive. You seem to imply that “culturally Christian” is bad. I consider myself culturally Christian because I think the church is shit and yet I believe in the redemption of Christ. Does that mean that in your eyes I am of lesser or no value to God?
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“I am no more surprised when those who speak for it are abusive..”
I know, I hear you, but here’s the deal. We should be surprised. We should be downright horrified. That should be such an unusual thing that it shocks us. Sadly it isn’t, it’s so expected people don’t even bat an eyelash.
Cultural Christians are not people outside the church Paul, they are people who care only about the prestige that comes from branding oneself a Christian in the Western world. Most of them are actually connected to church as an institution. Well, when they aren’t on facebook damning the rest of us, that is 🙂
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Sigh – I was having a bad afternoon – I apologize for swearing at the church. You are right IB – we should expect more from those in the church but whenever I do I am disappointed. It is much easier for me (and I am an optimist ) to expect less and be disappointed less. I always thought a cultural Christian was one who was outside the church. What do you call a believer in Christ who does not follow religion?
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You don’t have to apologize, Paul. It’s an honest response. I hope your day got better.
“What do you call a believer in Christ who does not follow religion?”
LOL, a saint? A chosen one? I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure Christ Himself was actually crucified by the religionists of the day.
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Ummm, and yet religion is rules based and a personal relationship with God is spirit based – there appears to be a disconnect here. 🙂
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Yes, often. That has been my struggle, too. I’ve never seen a spirit based faith, one ruled by grace so to speak, to ever conflict with the rules, the law, the actual ones out lined in scripture.
Religionists however, are totally consumed by the rules and obsessed with enforcing control.
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I’ve run into this type of problem before in other situations. We studied this in Business Law. We spent a few days discussing laws that appear random that have good reasons for existing but don’t translate well into the physical world. For instance,in our jurisdiction any backyard pool is required by law to have an 8 foot fence around it – not even a fraction of an inch lower. The obvious purpose is to keep people safe by denying them entrance. So a local built a 7′ 6″ fence and one night the police were chasing some home invaders through backyards when a young man climbed the fence and fell into the pool and drowned. He had stolen goods on him as well as burglary tools. The home owner was charged and imprisoned for manslaughter. He had built the fence lower for design reasons because he did not see the reason for the 8 foot fence. The thing is that the purpose of the law is to keep all people safe which is impossible in all cases. So looking at statistics from other jurisdictions,the city decided that 8 feet was the magic number and hence forth moral responsibility was a function of having an 8 foot fence. Which makes no sense but there are no other options.
Another obvious one is that in North America we have decreed that all must drive on the right side of the road. Once we all agree then it becomes a moral responsibility to drive on the right side for to do otherwise is breaking an agreement and jeopardizing other lives. The right thing is totally random and is left in some countries, but because we agree then it becomes the moral line. Being moral is important in Godliness and hence driving on the right side is Godly. But only here and only when it is the controlling factor i.e. construction can divert traffic to the left side ). And yet driving right side is totally a man-made rule. If we were to say that only the rule is the governing factor then we had best not visit England for they are then Satan’s workers. No, the real rule is safety – always, right, left, down the center – whatever is safest. It is the spirit that really counts and yet the rule established the morality -obviously a contradiction.
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Oh Paul, you totally speak to my heart! I work in healthcare and it is just a tangled web of meaningless bureaucracy, one that infuriates me more and more each day. So, I can follow the rules or I can do what’s best for patients. I can juggle that choice, I know how to play the system, but others do not, others think the rules must take precedent, and it is those “others” that scare the crap out of me.
I suppose I feel the same way about religion. God wrote the rules and the rules are important, BUT He also gave us common sense, morality, and also mercy, forgiveness, grace. God, unlike my job, is not going to collapse my psyche demanding I follow the rules in complex moral situations where following the rules is actually going to seem immoral to me.
Or, if He were ever to ask such a thing of me, He would be compassionate and merciful about it, not harsh, judgemental and condemning because I was confused, torn between obeying the rules or doing what’s right.
Actually, the God I know has always brought my feelings, morality, understanding, in line with what He wants me to do, before even asking it of me.
Kind of funny, in the bible in Acts 16, Paul, who has just spoken out about circumcision, who has advocated against it, decides he wants to take Timothy with him. So he takes Timothy to be circumcised because he is a Greek, because they are going into a culture that requires it, because they need credentials, accommodation with the expectations of the day. Poof, “the rules” have just been suspended in favor of other things that took precedent.
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Yep, once again you and I want to hang out with Jesus, and he insists on bringing along his Bride. Why doesn’t he understand that we’d like some alone-time with him. She doesn’t meet our approval; in fact, she’s a total disappointment. But our loving Lord is pretty stubborn about forgiving even the most rotten of sinners. J.
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Amen! He really is pretty stubborn about forgiving the most rotten of sinners. 🙂
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For me, church is all about learning to love people I have little in common with and even many I don’t even like. It’s not easy. It is really, really hard but there is no duplicate experience on earth and nothing that has caused me to grow spiritually like being part of the church. (the organism not the organization)
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Ah, “organism” not organization, well said.
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What is the distinction in definition between an organization and an organism (in this application)?
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The organization is religious institutions. The church is people who are born again believers.
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I have to tell you that from the outside looking in the two are indistinguishable.
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Yes…somewhat because we can’t judge people’s hearts but often, people focus on the rituals, the lack of rituals, the music, the form of worship and the personalities of clergy as being church. That’s not what the organic church is really about. Church is about relationship with God and other believers and non-believer (some of the latter are part of the organization but not part of the living organism). God will sort it all out one day and it will be clear to everyone.
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“I have to tell you that from the outside looking in the two are indistinguishable.”
I think it’s the people, Paul, the living organism that is the body of Christ, some unchurched perhaps, but set in our path at just the right time, this invisible thread of team work that works kind of like a current and helps us to float along. Little churches, local churches, often manage to do that too, to create this spirit of community, so if you are broken down somewhere, someone is sure to catch site of you and lend a hand. Church as institution, as organization, lacks the human element and can be a bit like having an insurance policy that covers nothing and has a deductable that exceeds our income. It all looks good on paper, but it doesn’t really deliver.
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Hmmm, I’ll take a look. Where does that leave the super-churches?
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I’ve always seen the “church” today as a house full of hurting people. To expect a churchy person to be like Christ is to expect a person with pneumonia to run a marathon.
I’m looking for a church home, but church people, those cultural Christians scare me silly.
Great commentary as usual. Great quote. This persecution from the cultural Christians must be an indicator of your 100 fold coming soon.
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So if I understand you Wendy, you are saying that because people go to hospitals to seek wellness, it is the last place you should look for a well person. Because churches preach faith they are where people go when they seek faith,not when they have it?
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In a sense, yes.
Early on in my walk with Christ, I thought that church people would be very saintly, loving and kind. It was a naive expectation. I’ve met some of the meanest people in church. They are hurting people. Hurting people don’t always do the right things.
But at least they are in an environment where worship, and God’s word can make a difference to them. God is the only one who can change a person, heal those hurts.
My deeper point, is that my expectation was off. I thought once a person was saved, they changed, and that might be true on the inside, but the outside takes a bit of time through the crucifixion of the flesh. People go to church for myriad of reasons. Some of those reasons have very little to do with Christ or a relationship with Him.
Unfortunately with some of the really big entertainment churches, you have fans that attend for the show. They like the band. It’s in a cool area of town. They can go out after the service for a swanky meal, and it’s their spiritual check mark for the week.
Christianity is a beautiful, remarkable, intensely changing relationship, and it’s sad that that most self proclaimed Christians play at it.
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Hmmm, very interesting – I’ve never considered it that way before Wendy. When you mentioned “Check mark” it brought back a funny memory that is related metaphorically. When I was trucking and had a regular run, I used to stop mid-morning for an early lunch at a particular truck stop (interestingly enough it was a full service rural airport as well as a busy truckstop – Herb’s). There was a waitress there who was a single Mom with a pair of 8 year old twin boys. Because I stopped mid-morning (for a number of reasons) she wasn’t busy and usually had time to chat. It was mid February and very cold one morning when she told me a funny story. She had to work early that period so she would get her twins ready and take them to their Grand parents down the road where they would catch the school bus later. She was having a terrible time getting them ready -trying to find boots and hats and coats and homework, etc. and they were dragging their feet. She decided to get them organized and use it as a learning experience. So she sat them down at the computer and helped each one do up an excel spreadsheet that had all their needed items – that the boys listed – down one side and dates across the top. She printed one out for the each boy for the month and explained that every night they would be responsible to check off each item they needed for the morning. This would speed up the process for early mornings. So, the previous evening she had reminded the boys to check their list and then had them bring her the list and show her that all the items were checked off. Satisfied and sure she had fixed this problem she slept well. That morning they were getting ready when one of the boys hollered asking where his hat was, then one asked about his coat, and so on. She got very frustrated and grabbed the lists off the wall and went to the boys and asked: “Why can you not find these items when you checked them off just last night that they were ready?” Apparently the two boys stood dumbfounded and stared at her at which point one said: ” Do you mean we are supposed to check them off AND find them?”
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That is a funny story. 😊 “I went to church! Do you mean I can’t act like the devil the rest of the week?”
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There is no one so blind as those who would not see. You, sweet sister, have taken on a mantle of apologetics and confrontation. We know the prophets of God were not the faves in Scriptures. God made you of sterner stuff to fit the war but even Elijah cut and ran and cried out in exhausted discouragement to the Lord. You have a bag full of GOOD SEED. You don’t know what kind of ground it falls on but God plans that it will all accomplish His good purposes. Beautiful are the feet… Maybe you just need a pedicure!
Much love,
Jan♡
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Thank you for your encouragement and your kind words. Now that’s what it means to be salt and light in the world, to be “the church,” and it’s everything, it’s what truly matters.
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Truly!
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Sometimes it’s good to find a church environment where people are not constantly arguing about their faith and nobody feels as if they just invented Christianity.
This is part of the reason I became an Anglican. I was an inquirer at a Catholic parish for a while but there was so much arguing and hostility for no reason to other Christian traditions. I can understand why one would express concern to JW’s and Mormons but expressing concern to traditions that were quite in alignment with historic Christian faith seemed odd to me.
I found that there was a group of Anglo-Catholics that met at a cemetery nearby and started going to that church and that was the place where I was baptized. What attracted me to it though was that the arguing and bickering wasn’t going on there and nobody felt as if they had just invented Christianity as if it just appeared on scene.
But most importantly, the community and fellowship was also there which is highly important. There may have been only ten of us but ten can sometimes move mountains with love as well 🙂
P.S. I am in no way saying all Catholic congregations are like this or that my Anglican church is perfect. It certainly is not. It is still littered with bishops and priests seeking and craving power.
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