The problem I see in churches today is the two camps are stuck on themselves.\u00a0 Neither will budge, and neither sees the motes in their own eyes.<\/p>\n
If you overemphasize one attribute of God and neglect another one that is in perfect harmony, you can create God in your own image.\u00a0 God is love.\u00a0 God is holy.\u00a0 God hates sin.\u00a0 Jesus loved us enough on the Cross and that is where the holiness of God meets the love of God.<\/p>\n
Often today, churches push the love of God to such a degree that people can interpret that to mean we can live however we want and God won’t care.\u00a0 The love of God is so pushed that people think God winks at sin, and there is no fear of God and no reason to repent.\u00a0 The CCM movement has a large group that lived a double life as closet homosexuals.\u00a0 Now however the love envelope is so open that many have come out, and stay out of the closet and perform in their CCM concerts just as before and anyone who\u00a0speaks out against that\u00a0is intolerant and judgmental.\u00a0 In their eyes.\u00a0 Not in Gods.<\/p>\n
However, in the other camp where sin is still preached, it has opened it’s own can of worms.\u00a0 They do not want to give false hope to sinners, but at least by their actions they can portray a “quit sinning and turn to Jesus” type of legalistic Christianity where only those that meet some sort of external criteria are truly saved.\u00a0 They won’t allow homosexual “Christians” into the fold, and rightly so.\u00a0 However, the mercy and love of God are often held back from a sinner at least after the gestation period where true change is unexpected.\u00a0 Yet if this likely goat fails to act like every other sheep, their evangelism doesn’t know how to handle it so they run the goat off to the wilderness to die.\u00a0 Or to be picked up by the mercy extenders in Camp 1.\u00a0 And they love the goat so much that they are content to let him stay a goat.<\/p>\n
I don’t want to be so vague no one has a clue what I mean.\u00a0 Nor do I want to pick on any church or pastor.\u00a0 I am writing because I am at a crux.\u00a0 I don’t know where to begin when it comes to the mess the church in America is in right now.\u00a0 Honestly, I believe the problem right now is both camps are too busy slinging mud and saying, “Thank God that I am not Church so-and-so” that no one thinks to look at themselves.\u00a0 Jesus however, is not going after the heathen yelling at them to repent.\u00a0\u00a0 He is not looking at the church down the road.\u00a0 He is urging and pleading for the church that is reading this to look in the mirror and examine itself.\u00a0 And at the same time for everyone of that church to do the same.\u00a0 Not just the attenders.\u00a0 Not just the Sunday school teachers.\u00a0 But the leaders as well.\u00a0\u00a0 From the Pastor down.<\/p>\n
Why are we so afraid of that?\u00a0 The so called unpardonable sin in today’s Baptist churches is to catch the dreaded “Critical Spirit”.\u00a0 It is treated like Ebola.\u00a0 If you somehow captured the horrible disease (and it couldn’t come from one’s own church.\u00a0 it must have been from those folks at the church down the road) you must be quarantined and no one can come in contact with you for 90 days.\u00a0 It doesn’t matter the Bible tells you to search the scriptures.\u00a0 You are not supposed to search the scriptures and find the church is in error.<\/p>\n
My challenge to that is according to who?\u00a0 If the Bible commands us to beware of wolves, how can we do that if we don’t judge?\u00a0 Why are we aloud to speak against Pastor Joel Olsteen from the pulpit if you are in Camp B, but you can’t speak against Pastor Camp B if you are in Camp B?<\/p>\n
To me if you pull up to a house and see the house is on fire and see weeds out in the garden, you don’t pull the weeds while the fire is blazing.\u00a0 You tackle the biggest challenge first.\u00a0 If the fire is out, then you can address the more minor things.\u00a0 I think Joel is a minor thing when you have a church where 2 Sunday school teachers from the same church can’t even be in harmony in major doctrinal points.<\/p>\n
I think Camp A says everything is fine, come have a good time.\u00a0 They allow everything the world allows.\u00a0 I am generalizing, but CCM is\u00a0a great example of that.\u00a0 It is have the cake and eat it too.\u00a0 Have the bread of life and the junk food of the world.\u00a0 Enjoy to your hearts content.\u00a0 And they make it in your face and no one better try to ruin their good time.<\/p>\n
Camp B has a huge laundry list of “thou shalt nots.”\u00a0 It can be as extensive as the Pharisees and they don’t lift one finger to help lift the burdens they self imposed.\u00a0 The big problem I have with Camp B is the list isn’t all inclusive and certain sins are allowed and certain sins are not.\u00a0 As long as your “gods” are not on the forbidden list, enjoy to your hearts content.\u00a0 And they make it in your face and no one better ruin their good time.\u00a0 Especially if one sees the hypocrisy.<\/p>\n
For example, going to movie theaters is bad.\u00a0 Yet it is ok to rent movies.\u00a0 Going to Darien Lake is bad.\u00a0 Going to a hockey game is good.\u00a0 Getting drunk is bad.\u00a0 Getting high is bad.\u00a0 Coffee junkies are fine.\u00a0 Twinkie junkies are great.\u00a0 Coke addicts are acceptable\u00a0and so are Pepsi ones.\u00a0\u00a0 The lottery is sin.\u00a0 Bingo is sin.\u00a0 Fornication is accepted\u00a0as long as you eventually get married.\u00a0\u00a0 Homosexuality is bad.\u00a0 Loving your enemies\u00a0is good.\u00a0 But you are allowed to hate homosexuals.\u00a0 In fact if you\u00a0are kind and loving to them and try to win them, you\u00a0must go because you make\u00a0the church too uncomfortable.<\/p>\n
Every church tweaks and twists their list of what is spiritual.\u00a0 What I don’t see is honest God given convictions. If God gave them,\u00a0you won’t look down at someone who\u00a0doesn’t have the same\u00a0 ones you\u00a0do.\u00a0 If God gave them, you won’t be threatened by someone or some church with stronger convictions than you.<\/p>\n
Camp A is a mess.\u00a0\u00a0Camp B is a mess.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The question is will either one look within and fix itself?\u00a0 Or is it time to start Camp C?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The problem I see in churches today is the two camps are stuck on themselves.\u00a0 Neither will budge, and neither sees the motes in their own eyes. If you overemphasize one attribute of God and neglect another one that is … Continue reading