Saving lives through living lives

I am a church girl. I have a few problems with the church and its members and a few of its practices. I feel that we as a church community need to practice what we preach and stop judging. What the following post is basically me venting about things that I have seen over the last 20yrs as a young woman in the church.

Often times we as Christians feel obligated to draw others to Christ by distributing tracks, holding bible studies, or whatever. We also feel the need to rebuke the sinful nature of others and create a distinction between ourselves and “those sinners”. I believe the church as a whole has forgotten its purpose and is hiding behind various religious beliefs and rituals instead of displaying love and demonstrating what we believe. We as a church have become the police of society instead of the hospital we were instructed to be. I have always said that the idea of the church and Christianity were both good in theory. Initially the church’s purpose was to bring Christians, those who “aim” to follow Christ, together. We as Christians often forget that although we strive to be like Christ, we are not Jesus Christ of Nazareth. We forget that a part of being a Christian is being a sinner. If we were not sinners we would have no need for Christ.

We as Christians focus so heavily on the rules that we forget our goals. Instead of using our rules to obtain our goals, our rules have become our goals. We strive to become great Seventh Day Adventist great Lutherans, great Baptist, and forget that we need to be Christians. We rebuke sinners in and out of the church gates, but we forget that we to are sinners. We live by the motto sinners saved by grace, but we forget that God’s grace and mercy are not exclusive and that they apply to everyone. All of us have the right to be saved. Most of us have the right to worship without direct persecution, yet we turn around and persecute others for not worshiping.

Christianity is a choice to follow Jesus’ will, not a requirement. We have to understand that although everyone has been given the opportunity to be saved not everyone will take it immediately. Some will not take it at all. We need to understand that in order to save others we don’t always have to push religion on them. We must allow them to choose God for themselves. Our only job is to emulate Christ.

He, Jesus, always displayed love and preached to those who were willing to listen. He did not condemn or snub anyone even though he was sinless. Who are we to condemn others when we have sinned just like them? Jesus did not instruct us to go forth and make man in our own image baptizing them in the principles of the church. He instructed us to love one another. He instructed us to preach the gospel in all the world and baptize in Jesus’ name. Jesus did not give us the authority to unbaptize or disfellowship. He challenged us to love and turn the other check.

No, I don’t believe that if you claim Jesus’ name you should continue to sin, but the fact of the matter is that we have all sinned even after claiming his grace and mercy. Whether or not the sin is visible is not a determinant of what sin is. Sin is sin no matter how great. If we disfellowship one person, we should all turn in our membership because we are all sinners. The church should be a hospital for sinners not a police station. We should not be interrogating each other for gossip, just to turn around and use that information to convict. We should ask for information in order to help others like a doctor would. We are too eager to hear about others sinning and to judgmental. When we hear of sinful acts we should be eager to pray that the Lord will help that person to improve in their walk instead of hindering them by removing them from the choir. A sinner does not need to be pushed away from those going in the right direction, a sinner needs to be guided to help. The wheat’s and the tears shall grow together. Jesus was not picking out the tears, so as his follower you should not be picking out the tears. Did Jesus condemn the woman at the well or Mary, No. He gave them a means to do better he bid them to spread the word of his love. Maybe instead of disfellowshiping people we should ask them to testify about their experiences. Maybe they can stop someone else from making the same mistakes. Our fellow sinners should be able to freely come to others in the church with their problems just like you would a doctor; they shouldn’t have to hide their sin as though we are police. How can they get true help if they have to hide and creep around? They can’t. Imagine Christianity as a relay not an individual race. Having someone else there to push you and help you train can be so helpful. When it’s just you by yourself it’s easy to get discouraged and give up on the race. When you know there are other people who believe in you and who are depending on you to do your best you are more likely to succeed.

Maybe instead of telling others how to live, we should just show them. Do as I say not as I do does not apply to Christians. We have to live what we say every day. We have to be Christians before we can teach Christianity. The best teachers are those with the most experience. As a business major I would trust a teacher who has been out in the business world and then decided to teach over a person who just teaches business. There is a difference even though they both teach business. THE person who is just a teacher has no experiences to relate to they can only go by what the book says. The person with experience can tell me what the reality of the business world is versus the books theories. You make a better Christian when you live the Christian lifestyle instead of just trying to teach it. You have experiences that others can relate to and can learn from. You can predict folly before it comes because of your experience, just like a mother to her child. Mothers can anticipate certain things and keep their child from harm’s way. Mothers have experience with the world and they know what a child needs. We as Christians know what we need. We need to live like Christians to get to Haven. Let’s just live the Christian lifestyle instead of trying to dictate how to get to Heaven. Let Us Save lives through living Christian lives. Think of Christianity like being a lifeguard. You may not always be saving lives, but you always have to represent safety. This is my spin what’s yours? Read It Up Type It out!