Running in A Circle: Part 2

Last night's blog post on homosexuality wasn't the full truth or rather my full heart. My parents have a great understanding of what is truthfully my heart and what is some masqueraded version of it, truthfully last night's blog was simply a masqueraded version of my true heart. So I wanted to semi rewrite the blog and explain myself a little bit more. So here I go.

Homosexuality has nothing to do with politics. Sure the idea of homosexuality has been brought into the arena of politics. If you are a liberal you claim the conservatives are hateful, religious folk who are ruining "love". If you are conservative you claim that the homosexual agenda is destroying the home and needs to be squashed like an icky bug. They are both right and wrong. Homosexuality is a heart issue.

As I addressed in my last blog and will do in this one is majority of Christians. I am a Christian, I follow Christ to the best that my sinful, evil self can do. So please, understand I do not mean to bash Christians. My point in pointing out the collective wrong-doing by Christians is this: they are my brothers and sisters and what they do impacts the kingdom of God.

As I talked over my blog with my father today he kept bringing up the point that I saw many Christians were trying to make this week in light of the Phil Robertson scenerio. They claimed to be taking a stance against their faith. Don't get me wrong I understand taking a stand on your beliefs. What I see though is a lot more talky talky and a lot less listeny listeny. As Christians what we often do is this:

Step 1: An issue arises
 For instance the Chick fil A owner claiming traditional beliefs, Phil Robertson's opinion on Gay etc.
Step 2: State our Opinion
 This usually happens over Facebook with statuses like "I am appalled that the lost world does not see that homosexuality is a sin"
Step 3: We Get Into Arugements
 Now don't get me wrong, I love a good arguement; however, some people just live to start drama
Step 4: We beat our stance down each others' throat.
Step 5: We deny ever being wrong


Specifically number 1 and 2 are not bad, it is 3-5 that is where we get it wrong majority of times. I observe people, especially those who claim to be Christians. Sadly those are the same people that go out looking for a fight. For an example a Christian I follow on social media seemingly searched for conversations where people found fault in everything Phil did, they then turned around and got into arguments with people they did not know. How is that Christ like? Step 4, I get you have a belief but for the love of all things good, would you want someone constantly bringing forth their opinion? Jamming their opinion down your throat? Y'all that's how you get blocked! Once you are block how are you going to share the gospel of social media then? Step 5, this is one of the biggest things I tried to convey to my father in our discussion this morning. After I got him to silence and listen, I stated that our need, as Christians, to be right in every argument out weighs our desire to share the gospel in a loving manner. As far as I am concerned Christ defended the bible, He laid His arms across a wooden cross and hung for our bible. My job isn't to belligerently defend the Word of God so much that I lose the true meaning of the Word. Not to mention many of times those who you are up against, those you are "defending your faith" to aren't Christians, they are lost. So guess what! They are going to act lost, they are going to take offense to the Word of God because the Word of God is offensive. It's meant to be, the Gospel displays us for who we truly are; lost, evil, sinful, ugly people who need a perfect, holy, sinless God. To a lost person they can't grasp the word of God in it's entirety without knowing the Author. 

As a former Chick-fil-A worker, I worked Chick fil A appreciation day back in 2012. I was slightly jet lagged and honestly didn't understand until later that night what exactly had happened since I had been in Kenya the whole week before. As I stood there and time passed the mall restaurant where I worked got so crowded many people waited in line for over an hour for chicken. As I stood there shocked at the scenario I was witnessing the question arose, why are they here? See the Chick fil A where I worked was in a run down mall where people rarely came into. In fact that December the restaurant closed. If half of these people appreciated Chick fil A so much, where were they the rest of the year? As I served many of them I was appalled by their "Christian" nature. They said hateful things towards other humans. It occurred to me about 4 hours in that many of these people didn't appreciate Chick fil A they just didn't like gays. It is the same scenario as the Phil Robertson. I see many Christians jumping on this bandwagon not to stand up for what is right but to simply take the opportunity to bash gays. Sure they aren't outright going around using hateful speech but the sly underground attacks are there.

The thing to me is this if we place Jesus into today's culture. People would know where He stood. But they wouldn't know by Him changing is Facebook Picture, by Him starting debates or by Him going out and doing all the other things that I see happening this week on social media. We would know Him by the love that He demonstrates to the broken, lost and hurting. See my Jesus is compassionate. How compassionate are you? Are you using this time to lovingly share the gospel? Are using this time to identify the hurting? Or are you using this time to check off a box in your religious agenda? Do you you see this as an opportunity to gain new brothers and sisters? Or a time to wear you "I love Jesus Sign" loud and proud without fear of being attacked without those to back you up? Because guess what, next week around this time I can almost guarantee you that this whole situation will blow over. I can also guarantee that many of these bandwagon fans will return to the religious hole that they crept out of and you won't hear another word from them until the next big controversy. Those who are gay and lost will continue to be gay and lost and believing that God hates them. I for one don't want that. See I screwed up and here's how:

When i was growing up i had a best friend who was my best friend from basically 3 years old until the 4th grade. today i am still friends with her on facebook. i took her to awanas with me {A children bible study} and she was always there are church with me for the most part. somewhere along the lines she stopped going to church with me. we lost touch, i went my way and she went hers. almost every month once or twice i go onto her facebook just to see how things are going. nearly every time my heart is broken. see i had an oppertunity to share the gospel with her. needless to say i wasn't really a christian but a church goer when we were friends. however where i am attending college, am active in my church and am seen as a "goody two shoes" she is into drugs, has a girlfriend and various other things. i can almost feel the sense of lack of love and hurt she must feel. i feel like failed. 


Many times whether Christian or not, we disregard the human in front of us. We rarely take the time to get to know them, we judge them based on a box that they fit into. You see though, Christ never did that. He had every right to judge everyone of us, to send us all to hell because we all fit into a major box marked as "Sinner" but He didn't. In fact He did the complete opposite He loved us. So I guess in closing my advice and my urge is simple. Love your neighbor whether he or she is gay, straight, white, black, what have you and share the gospel in a way that is loving and kind rather than hurtful. Also don't give me some load of bologna about how you don't understand how the gospel can be perceived as hateful. Just remember back to a time when you were blind and how harsh the glorious light of Christ pained you, then remember the love of God as He wrapped His arms around you, then do the same for the lost in your world. Because trust me, they are watching. 


As for you who are Gays, please let me say this. I love you and so does my God. Please bare in mind that just like you, Christians are human. We sin and though we sin differently, our fate of hell is just like yours. Please forgive us where we fail to demonstrate love. Please understand when we say we don't accept your lifestyle that it doesn't mean we don't accept you. 

Have A Merry Christmas, 

Amanda 

 

Things I've Learned from Churches

Churches aren't just about listening to a man in a suit preach after singing 3 songs and throwing some prayer in there. Over my 19 years I've learned a lot from the various churches we churched hopped. I've been to approximately 8 churches over my 19 years and I have to say though I learned many lessons from the man in the pulpit, many of my lessons came from those in the seats. Here are some of them:

1. Be Christ like, not Church like 
This lesson has come more recently in my walk with Christ. As I was heading into college I was faced with a major decision. Like most christian college students I had to decide was I going to continue that path of Christ follower or fall a prey to following the world. As I examined my choices and the devil whispered to me I realized something, I wasn't following Christ at all. Yes, I was a christian. Yes, I was saved. But I wasn't following Christ, I was following people who I thought were good christian kids. When I saw this I was appalled by my actions, especially the very unchristian like ones. Then I went off to school and began seeking God not because my family sought Him, but because I wanted to. I learned that lost people see when you are following Christ and when you are just simply following the Christians. 

2A. Talk is Cheap 
As I had stated before, I started reevaluating my life and where I wanted to go. This major step really happened after someone unknowingly convicted me of my actions. My best friend now, had mentioned to a friend about how much they adored me and how much my walk with Christ motivated them to be closer to God. While this girl was adoring me from a far, I was bashing her. I couldn't stand her and I let everyone know. She wasn't the only one that I nor my group of friends at the time did this to. We had a very good way of excluding people, bashing them and then acting like it was their fault for doing so. When I realized this I was so angry with myself. I couldn't believe that I allowed my character to stoup so low. 

2B. If They Talk About Them, They'll Talk About You
I was extremely active in the church that I was previously attending. I did everything. My best friends went to my church and I found every excuse to be there. I loved everything about my church and I grew knowledge about Christ there. I discovered my calling to ministry there. I had so many "mamas" and best friends and people who looked out for me. I had women who cared deeply about my walk with Christ. Women who basically treated me like there own. I had best friends who I thought I'd never see go, best friends that I thought I'd have at my wedding and raise our children together with. Looking back now though it pains me. In the last few months I lost most of that. My family felt a very real calling in our lives to switch churches. We prayed persistently about moving to the current church we were attending. Every Sunday we got in the car after church and discussed how hard it was for us to leave a church that helped us grow so much as a family. A church that every Sunday pushed us to go further. In the end though we chose to follow God. In the months after that, my family and my new church family members have been called out for leaving a church that many of us so dearly loved for being disgruntled, losted, and various other false things. It didn't end there, but I realized this wasn't any different. I too had participated in the "Oh it's so sad that he's lost his way" conversations or the "You need to take better care at making sure she is included so she'll become closer to God" discussions. I sat and listened to them calling out many of other brothers and sisters in Christ. I realized that if they can talk about others in the faith, they'll most likely find a reason to discuss you. 

3. There's Only One Church 
Not only do I attend a church in my hometown with my family but I also attend various church functions in the city I attend school. I attend Fuse which is with Ignite Church, Uprise which is apart of Open Door Church and Integrity on Sunday mornings. I realized though it isn't about which building you attend on Sunday mornings, but one big church. The Bride. At college I meet many different people from various sectors of the Christian faith. I realized, I don't care what domination they associate with, my only concern is that they know Christ and that they follow Him and only Him. Over my 19 years, I've attended many churches that had thousands of members. It seems to me that we as a collective group of Christians strive to be mega churches. Somewhere in the midst of fancy instruments, large choirs, and the best programs, we've lost the community. We've lost developing relationships with others and diving a mile deep in others' walks. Instead we point out the flaws of other churches. How they are doing it wrong. When I attend non-denominational churches they made fun of the Baptist, when I attended Baptist churches they made fun of another group. I'm just as guilty at this as well. But the idea isn't who's better, because none of us are. We all fail in some aspect of churching [Yes, I believe I just made that word up], we all fail at telling the Gospel, but what we really fail at is putting ourselves more in a battle amongst one another instead of putting ourselves in battle against the world. As we sit here and viciously attack the church down the street, the world is snatching up our youth. As we sit here and maliciously talk about a brother and sister in Christ, another lost person dies and sent to spend eternity in hell. We aren't one church against a thousand other churches, we are one church against one lost world.   



- Amanda