Plea from a Christian.
This week more than ever I wanted to throw away my faith. If I didn’t know in my heart of hearts that Jesus is Lord, I really do think I would have crossed that line and questioned the essence of the faith I follow. I even considered become a closet Christian – you know the kind who are Christian but never say so, never challenge everyone and slink away when the topic of religion raises its very controversial head? The way some Christians have been behaving over the American Election has not made me proud to be a Christian. It has made me not want to be associated with the faith and it has made me question whether Christianity has any real substance or is merely a culture club for narrow-minded and antagonistic people.
You are probably in the same space. I don’t blame you. Here is a plea from a Christian and fellow empathiser: don’t write off Christ, or the church, because of some Christians. You don’t need to fit in with what you see online. There is a community of Christians out there who feel different.
We don’t like double standards
We’ve grown weary of the way that some Christians routinely mistreat their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, being quick to judge their motives, thinking the worst of them, condemning them, slandering them and gossiping about them. We believe that being a Christian means treating others the same way you want to be treated (Matt. 7:12)—the forgotten words of Jesus (see Chapter 20).
We’ve grown sick of people saying nasty things about their fellow brethren (whom they don’t know personally) on social media networks. And then justifying it in the name of God.
We don’t feel like we fit into a typical church
We’ve looked to the right and do not wish to venture there. We’ve looked to the left and do not wish to venture there either. The direction we feel pulling our hearts is above and forward. We want to know our Maker and not to be bogged down in legislation, sub culture or weird stuff.
We want to work together
We don’t like that some churches are so often at war against each other. It’s saddening that the doers, feelers, and thinkers of the body of Christ have sometimes separated and isolated themselves from one another instead of learning from each other. Instead let’s embrace the idea: “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.”
We don’t like gimmicks
We’ve grown sick of the entertainment-driven, duty-driven, guilt-driven message that’s sometimes found in Christian sermons and books today. Human-induced guilt and the conviction of the Holy Spirit are two very different things. We want depth. We want support through real issues, we want the hard journey which is real, not watered down faith.
We believe in the church
We stand for the unity of the Body of Christ. At the same time, we fiercely and passionately stand firm on our convictions regarding the absolute and unvarnished supremacy of Jesus, His indwelling life, God’s timeless purpose, and the church as a Christ-centered community. We love the church when it is healthy, based on love and acceptance. The church was never intended as a means of control. We do not endorse manipulation. We believe in individual choice.
Every faith has it’s crazy ones, the ones that misrepresent the faith and turn something beautiful into something ugly. Here is a plea, from a Christian, don’t let what you see and hear from the media turn you away from the grace, goodness and peace found in Christ.