09 December 2012

Christians, what are we doing?

In today's study we will be visiting a very important topic in today's church. Some might find this sour or baseless, but, like I said earlier I will speak only the truth on this blog. We're going to talk about one huge reason people are rejecting Christ and what we can do about it. Sorry to say it, the blame for many of those reasons are to be laid at the feet of the church, and we are going to discuss one of those. Whenever I think of this topic, I am reminded of the song If We Are The Body by Casting Crowns. Please go give it a listen. Sorry for such a brief introduction, but I'm feeling a bit antsy to get to the study. With that let us pray:

Lord, we come to you as your servants and your friends. Lord we ask you to forgive our sins and we pour out our gratitude, because we know you will, because you have promised your grace to us. We pray that we might be enlightened by your mighty Word and may come to see the loving truth of Christ Jesus more clearly. We love you so much and to you we give all the glory. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray, amen.  

John 15:12 This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you (NKJV).

Matthew 5:43-48 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect" (NKJV).

Luke 6: 37 "Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

I'm praying to calmly pass this message to you, brothers and sisters in Christ. I do not want to come off as the very Christians I am talking about. I, as all Christians should, wish to be seen as Jesus would want me seen. With that said. I need some questions answered:

Where in the Word are we told to condemn all homosexuals to hell?

Where are we commanded to call would-be-mothers who abort their unborn child words that I won't mention on this blog?

Where in the Word are we instructed to abhor our fellow men and women who do not agree with our views?

Where are we called to humiliate adulterers? 

I will answer all of those questions for you with one word: Nowhere. I'm not at all saying abortion, adultery, and homosexuality aren't sins, so don't go putting those words in my mouth. The point I'm making is that we are instructed to love those people. Who knows what they're going through, but one thing is certain, they are seemingly doing it without Christ, so let's introduce the loving Christ that we know.

Only God can ultimately pass judgment. James 4:12 There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another? (NKJV)

Let us wander over to John 8. For those of you who don't know in this chapter an adulteress is brought before Christ, himself. Now, this woman wasn't just suspected of the shame, verse 4 tells us that she was caught in the very act. The men who brought her were trying to test Jesus to see what he would do. Jesus said to them in verse 7 "He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone" (NKJV). Then one by one starting with the eldest of the men they all left, without throwing a single stone. Only Jesus, sinless, remained. And do you know what he did. He, the only one there with the ability to condemn her, let her go and instructed her to sin no more. 

There is much to be taken from this passage about the Pharisees and their plotting against Jesus, but we are here for another reason. We might not be throwing literal stones at people, but a lot of us do seem to think it is our place to condemn nonbelievers. Condemning others simply, as the Word has shown us, is not our place. Another point this passage brings out is the forgiving nature of Christ, our savior. I do understand that we cannot be exactly like Christ as long as we walk this Earth, but we can try our dearest and are expected to.

So how can we as Christians, who are not even acting in the way Christ has commanded us to act as a Church, expect nonbelievers to act Godly, when they have not been taught the ways of his truth, the only truth.

Today many Christians and churches seem to believe that a person should act Godly and then be afforded the 'privilege' of meeting Christ. I assure you all it is exactly the other way around. Once someone becomes a Christian and if they truly follow the Word of God, they will automatically start changing, through God. We cannot change the world when we throw darkness at the world. So let us shine our lights among this perverse generation (Philippians 2:15) Let us not hide our light under a basket (Matthew 5:15). 

We who know the Love of God should want to share the Love of God not condemn those who don't believe what we believe, if we do that, they will not want to know the Lord. Not knowing the Lord is the saddest thing imaginable. God has given me so many wonderful things, but there isn't one thing I wouldn't trade for his Love. If I could only experience God's Love locked away in a wet, dingy cell or have everything I have now without God's love I would put the shackles on myself after throwing the key in the Mariana Trench. Glory given to God, that isn't my fate. So, with that said Let us go and share God's great Love and Mercy, Jesus on the cross, as Christians and not as angry hypocrites.   

In closing, I hope this post talks to many people (To Christians I hope if you were condemning you find the error of your ways, and to the nonbeliever I hope you realize what Christ's Love really looks like). I love you all and pray for you all. Please remember those souls still lost when you pray, for the growth of his Kingdom is our mission (Matt 28:18-20), let us love them, even those that love us not (Matt 5:44).

Let us pray:

Father, thank you for your Son who you sent to save us, but not only that. Thank you for sending him to show us the error of our ways, Lord thank you for teaching us, through Christ, what true love is and showing us, again through Christ, how to bestow your love on others. Let us be slow or even halted to condemn and quick to witness your love. Let us remember how Jesus would act when we next see something that goes against your Word. Teach us to love those that would hate us. Thank you for your mercy, Father. We love you so much. In the mighty name, above all other names we pray Amen.




9 comments:

  1. I posted a comment under your blog. It did not upload. However I do not want to repost what I posted. I am not about repeating what I don't have too. However I feel strongly about what you posted. I feel as a Christian learning the love of Christ, I must. So before I do you have any pending comments? :)
    -S. Stevenson-Stowell

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    1. Sorry about the comment not uploading, this was the only comment I had pending. Thanks for commenting. If in your previous post you asked a question, please feel free to try again I'd be more than happy to try and answer it for you. Have a great Christmas

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  2. Thank you for the response. I will keep this comment brief, as I've had time to ponder my previous thoughts in regards to your recent entry. I love blogs. Love them. That and FB seem to be my new fad. I would create one, but medical school as me plenty busy. I found your blog though the power of networking and I usually do not take the time to read people's entires I do not know. However the title struck me and I thought to myself. . . "self check it out." So I did. I appreciate you taking the time to share your intrepretation of the word with others. Thus I will thank you for sharing your journey w/ others so they too might be able to relate to your experience and can take your accounts into consideration. I will politely disagree w/ one thought, you made in regards to "not hating homosexuals. . . they are seemingly doing it without Christ, so let's introduce the loving Christ that we know." I know here it comes, right:) We as imperfect people are not able to intrepret one's relationship or lack their of with God based on what we feel is right or wrong. A relationship with God is a personal one and that is what makes it so priceless and unique. For Christians to "love or show kindness to the LGBT community" because they feel, this will in turn enhance the meaning of God in their Godless or sinful state is missing the point. Who are we to judge whose sexual perference will enter the Kingdom of God? We as Christians(myself included) get so caught up, in what we shall not do that we lose sight of what we ought to do. Such as showing, kindness, patientce, compassion, love and forgiveness and leaving the judging to God. I was raised most of my life around judgement of some sort. I am the woman I am today because of my relationship with God and my acceptance of others around me, reagradless, if I agree or not. For example, my family is very liberal. Die hard. My in-laws are more conservative. A little less die hard. I am moderate. However I appreciate all points of views, as it creates diversity within my life. Please don't take offensive to my comments. Your entry insipired me to think. . . I liked it. Thanks! Merry Christmas to you too :)

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    1. I'm not saying that we Christians should ever approve of homosexual activity, but with that said we shouldn't approve of theft, murder, adultery, disobeying parents, viewing pornography, etc. God's greatest commandment is to first love Him and then our fellow man. He didn't say love only your fellow Christians, but love everybody. Yes we're supposed to have a special relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ, but when it comes to the rest of the world we're still supposed to love them. Jesus was sent for everybody equally regardless of anything. He loves us all the same. We should share that love. What I am challenging us, Christians, to do is treat everybody how God would have us treat them and that's with love. I'm not saying shove scripture down there throat, I'm saying we should emit the love of Jesus, that is our calling. Again thanks for the comment. Merry Christmas and God bless.

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  3. Homosexual behavior, right or wrong should not be compared to behaviors such as theft, pornography, stealing, disobeying your parents, etc. Simply because those behaviors cause victims. I've been surrounded by straight and gay people most of my life. It has shaped who I am today. The gay lifestyle does not create or cause victims to the people around them. Christians or non christians everyone should respect each other. I understand your points, as I agree with them - minus comparing homosexuality to theives, stealing, murder, loathing, lying, etc. . . I can go on and on of the don't and do's of the bible - however I won't cause that is just counter productive. Thanks for the response, Bridges. I appreciate the panter. -Samantha Stevenson-Stowell

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    1. Okay simply compare it to our straight Christian friends who fornicate, It is a sexual sin. There is only one sin that is not forgivable Matt 12:31 Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

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  4. Sin is sin, correct. However if we are to determine which sin shall be forgiven and not, then we are simply doing God's work and that is not possible due to our own imperfections. God is the only perfection. Period. Can we agree to that? Humans, NO, not so much. Thus why are trying to intrepret the level of biblical/humanistic sin? We should not act like PhD's in that particular field because we simply aren't. My point - if taking the bible literally and all it's entirey, then it will be unforunate to be a woman, a person of color, an interracial marriage, another man's property, eating certain foods, wearing certain clothes and will speaking up for yourself within certain groups/classes. Thus, no human has the right to dicate what sexual behavior is fruitful and not. Unless it causes pain, victims, low self worth and overall damaging to the human spirit. This to include, child molesters, animalistic sexual desires, rape, etc. I've meet many straight christians and gay christians. Both have a different lifestyle for notable reasons, however they share one common thought - the love for Christ and the appreciation of life. People should focus on the character and morals of the spirit, not two consenting adults who love each other. It's purely pointless.
    I am not perfect. You are not perfect. But we share the love for Christ in our hearts, so that will always keep me engaged with your blogposts. Thank you for sharing.

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    1. I'm not to sure if you getting the point of what I'm trying to say. We, as Christians, have the responsibility to love everyone as Jesus did. And the cool thing about the Bible is that you don't need a PhD in theology to understand it. The Bible is pretty straight forward. Even prophetic scripture is straight foreward (2 Pet 1:20). And I did not take it upon myself to call any sin greater than another , Jesus did, I was simply showing his word. Like I said I would do on my very first post- I will only write the truth backed up by scripture.

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  5. Bridges,

    I understand what you are trying to say, as I appreciate the words. I just simply don't agree with Christians using justification to determine's someone's lifestyle a sin or pure. The bible is not the easiest scripture to read, as they have scholars for that and leaders within chruches to determine the significane of each book. The point I was attempting to make is our intrepretation can have flaws, due to the area of time in which each book was written. It would be ignorant of me to state that the bible is the whole truth and nothing but the truth for our current society. Thus, when christians try to intrepret that homosexuality is a sin ( not stating one is greater then the other) they are not taking in account how our soceity is a changing one. One might argue that - just because soceity changes does not mean that the word of bible does. Incorrect. As stated in my previous post - women would have no rights, interacial marriages would be outlawed, stoning would still be in place, etc. Therefore my point is we cannot justify what rules we are to follow if we as christians don't subject or enforce every other taboo/law/lifestlye/social status in the bible as fact. That is my point:)

    I appreciate your bible studies - they are informative, inspring and real. I hope that my point makes sense now. You don't have to agree with me, as you probably won't. You have your beliefs of what God wants from us and I have mine. That is what makes people diverse. We share one common idealogy and that is the love of christ, one that won't be agrued/debated on. Merry Christmas to you and the ones you care about. BTW your name is unqiue - I've only come across that name once in my life. I am sure you hear that frequently. Peace be with you.
    Samantha Stevenson-Stowell

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