Tag: Christianity (Page 8 of 9)

Keep YOUR Gospel to Yourself.

On Monday we began hearing stories about an “anti-gay day” organized by some of the students at McGuffey High School in Claysville, Pennsylvania. Since then there have been so many news reports, article, and blogs. The district administration has also supposedly initiated an investigation into allegations of harassment that accompanied some of the “protest.”

The fact that these kids organized a protest doesn’t bother me. I spent two decades in the military to help ensure people are able to freely voice themselves, no matter how narrow minded and bigoted it is. What bothers me is this:

Anti-gay day pic

The fact that they used the cross as a symbol of being anti-gay. I’m kind of getting tired of writing this, mainly to people that call themselves Christians. The fact that this ignorant kid used the cross as a symbol of hate, infuriates me. The cross is a symbol of forgiveness. It’s on the cross that Jesus died to destroy the very thing that this kid is using it to represent: hate.

WHERE’S THE LAW THAT PROTECTS MY RELIGION FROM HATEFUL PEOPLE RUINING IT? ~ TWEET THIS ~

If you read the buzzfeed.com article, it even says that the participating students Instagramed scripture verses and tagged students that they knew are gay. I couldn’t find that anywhere else, but if you can’t believe BuzzFeed, who can you believe? Regardless, even if there’s a sliver of truth to that, this picture still remains. I’m absolutely exhausted from the amount of anger and frustration caused by people, pretending to be Christian, using the Word of God, that was meant to draw people to Him, as a tool to perpetuate their hate. Where’s the law that protects my religion from hateful people ruining it.

To the LBGTQ students at McGuffey High and every other high school that will no doubt have idiots that pick up this idea,

I’m sorry. That’s not my Jesus. That’s hate and Jesus isn’t hate. In fact He’s love. He not only loves you, He IS love. I know there are some harsh verses in the bible and people use them to call you all sorts of horrible things, but they’re ignorant and not taking the whole of the bible for what God said or intended. They’re cherry picking what suits their cause, not God’s. What these students did is the youth equivalent to the Westboro Baptist bullies and it’s disgusting.

Jesus would NEVER condone this type of behavior. I wonder what might happen if Jesus were still walking the earth and a group of people threw a gay man or woman at His feet. I imagine it would probably gonthe same way it went with the adulteress. He would say, “Whoever here is without sin, throw the first stone.” Then He would eat with them, at the disgust of the religious. I’d go to that dinner party.

Please, for the love of my God, if you’re anti-gay, stop using my religion as a means of hurting and hating people. Figure out another way and leave Jesus out of it. Because, when it comes down to it, you’re not really Christians. If you were, you’d know the bible is pro-God and God is pro-people. If He wasn’t, there’d be no cross.

The ONLY “right” way to do church.

Right WayThere’s only one way to do church. That’s right, you read that correctly; only one way. And, because I’m a nice guy, I’m going to tell you what that right way is. But first let me say, it is definitely NOT the way that “traditional” institutional Sunday service focused church is doing it. I’m talking about all those churches like Saddleback, Mars Hill, New Spring, National Community Church, The Village Church and all of those similar to that model; big or small. It is also definitely NOT all those small community based churches, and that includes organic home churches, like SOMA, 1Body, and all the ones that I can’t mention because they’re so small they don’t have a webpage to link. None of them are doing it the right way. On the other hand, all of them could be doing it the right way.

You may be asking, “So, what’s the “right” way then?” I’ll get to that in a second, but first I need to clarify something and establish something else.

Clarifying: This post is NOT intended to dig at or cut down how any church is “doing” church. The model doesn’t matter and I’ll make that point in a minute. This post is also NOT intended to say that institutional church is doing it wrong. I grew up and met Jesus in “big” church. If not for going on Sundays and hearing the word preached, I’m not sitting here typing this.

Establishing: I want to be honest about where this post is coming from. Let me start by saying that I recently, with my wife and two long-time friends, started a small gospel centered community, all volunteer based neighborhood church. There are anywhere between 10 and 15 attenders (and that includes a lot of kids). So, my heart is for small church with big celebration. With that said, over the last few weeks I’ve heard and read a number of “institutional” church leaders, some from fairly large churches with decent influence, speak out about the topic that there is no “right” way to do church. A few of those posts/videos seemed really defensive and some even a little abrasive. Again, to to be honest, I’m not sure where this defensiveness is coming from. I follow a number of bloggers (both in large and small church settings) and I rarely see posts from organic/small/house church leaders that suggest that they have the “right” way to do church and big church is wrong or bad. What I do see is small church leaders sharing the call and vision that God has placed in their heart. I see them beckoning to those that are not in gospel community to come and join. I see them trumpeting God’s vision for church, for them, the same way I see large church leaders do it every Sunday. This post is not meant to put those leaders on blast. It’s meant to shed some light, reframe perspective and hopefully show the ability and necessity to be unified in one body and one Spirit.

It’s easy to point out what others are doing wrong. We can look at an individual, program or organization and see the little flaws that may be hurting them, whether they know or acknowledge them or not. Sometimes that’s good. If you’re a part of that organization, have earned a trusted voice there and have a heart for the vision and mission, “fresh eyes” are often welcomed. But, if you’re outside of that organization, aren’t trusted or don’t care about the vision, then voicing what you see is likely not helpful and will typically be taken as criticism for the sake of being a jerk and will often be disregarded. It’s also easier to make it seem like what you’re doing is better or right, if you can point out others’ errors. If that’s what you’re doing, then chances are you don’t actually believe what you’re doing is right or good. That’s what’s been happening in the Church.

Lots of big and small church leaders have written books or blogs about the “right” way to “do” church. Some of them point out all of the “wrong” stuff that the other is doing. I haven’t spoken to most of those leaders, but I imagine that the ones that point out what other churches are doing wrong and then counter with how they’re way is right, don’t really believe, deep in their heart, that they are really called to it. Or at the least, they haven’t spent time allowing God to cultivate the call in them.

As I mentioned, I’m part of a team that just started a small neighborhood church. It’s the culminated call of years of God’s cultivation and the beginning of His pruning and harvesting. I have journals, upon journals with writings about what church could look like, outside of the larger institutional model and different than the organic house church model. The vision God has planted in my heart falls somewhere in between those two models. But, I believe in it. I believe in that call and vision. And because I believe in it, I write about it and I plan to write about it a lot more. In that writing I always try to take care to not say either side is doing church wrong. Like I said, without institutional church, I’m not here. It’s never been about anyone doing church “right” or “wrong”. It’s about doing church the way that you feel God calling YOU to do church. Ultimately I don’t care how you do church as long as you do church. Realistically I’d like every Christian to understand what it means that we are church, but I’ll settle for doing church together in the mean time. What I, and many others, write isn’t an accusation toward big church “doing it wrong.”

My articles like Rethinking the Churches Front Door and It’s Not Your Pastor’s Job are not indications that I think institutional/big church models are wrong in the model they’re using or the work they’re doing. What it does mean is that I’m pursuing Jesus in a way that honors the call and vision that God has placed in my heart. It means that I believe in what God has invited me, and many others, to be a part of. It means that God has shown me that it works; both through my life and in the lives of others that I’ve been a part of. It means that God has revealed to me that there are people that neither traditional Sunday service focused church, nor simple organic home church will ever reach, but that this model will. It means that I know there are people that we will never reach with this model of church and I thank God that there are traditional Sunday service focused churches and simple organic home churches to do that. It means that I’m writing for those that God may be prompting to do something different or fresh.

My writing, and likely many others that are writing about the vision God has given them for church, is not a call to abandon the way that God has called you to be a part of or “do” church. It isn’t the antithesis of your model of church; it’s complimentary to it. It’s intended to be a different part of the same body. When you act offended at the notion that God may have shown someone else another way, you’re telling that part that they’re unnecessary. But “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you…’” I’ve heard so many pastors and leaders in traditional Sunday service focused churches say something to the effect of, “Our way isn’t the best or only way to do church, it’s a way and it’s the way that God has called us to.” If that’s a true statement, then the words directed at other churches should be ones of encouragement and building up.

The only way to do church is to answer the call to the community that God has placed in you. As long as it’s biblical and Jesus centered, you’ve got THE way to do church. Chances are, all of us have some aspect of church wrong. But, as long as we’re in a community of believers who’s sole purpose it to glorify and worship God, then you’re doing church “right.” Your full “rock” style band leading worship is no more wrong than your single guitar and djembe. Jesus said, the world will know we are his by our love for each other. Maybe we start by not being defensive toward one another and recognizing that we’re all doing the same work, His.

What are some ways that we can be unified as one body?

If you found this article helpful, please click one of the share buttons. Thanks.

Luckily, Indiana Passed a Law to Ensure the Sanctity of Christianity

I'm Just a BillI actually don’t even know what to write about this. I’m jaw-drop dumbfounded by the support that this bill garnered from people that claim to follow Jesus. I’m not naïve or stupid, so I knew it would, but I’m still in awe by it. If you’ve followed #ApproachGod over the last couple years you know that I’ve written articles related to Christianity and the LBGT community on a number of occasions. You can read those articles HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE. I almost feel like writing anything, at this point, is useless, but I’m going to anyway.

If you can’t tell, I’m not actually glad that Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed that bill into law. I’m actually saddened and angered by it. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Gov. Pence just signed state Senate Bill 101, or the Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law. To be fair, I couldn’t find anything in the law that outright says a person can be denied service based on the business owner’s religious belief. The issue with the bill is that it uses such vague language, that business owner’s will be able to use the law to refuse service and discriminate, lets call it what it is, against people based on their sexual orientation (because regardless of what you want to pretend this is about, it’s really about not baking cakes for gay couples).

This isn’t the same issue as the same gender marriage debate. I understand why people, on both sides, are so passionate about that issue. Quick tangent: Although I understand why Christians felt the need to rally against same gender marriage, and I do (full disclosure) believe that marriage is one man and one woman, I disagree that there should be laws banning it. Other people redefining marriage ultimately doesn’t effect the definition of marriage for Christians. Banning same gender marriage isn’t going to stop people from being gay and it definitely does NOT communicate the love of Jesus. Also, and I’ve said this before, the standard of living laid out in the bible and by Jesus wasn’t intended for unbelievers anymore than the laws in the UK are intended to govern people living in America. That standard of living is given to The Church, not the world.

I know some will argue that these types of laws are necessary because of the Hobby Lobby case. This isn’t even that issue and I’m not even going to touch that. But, can we all agree that if this was about protecting companies from having to fork out money to pay for certain kinds of contraception then the bill could have used language that addressed that issue, but it doesn’t. Even if those were the main driving ideas behind this law, that isn’t the only way people are going to use it.

My issue is that Christians supported this law because they want to legally have the right to refuse service to people based on their religious beliefs. Let me say that again, to refuse SERVICE to people. SERVICE. Jesus said, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” So I’m curious where Christians are let off the hook here. Nowhere in the bible do I see Jesus saying, “I came to serve, unless you’re a prostitute, thief, leper, gay. If you’re any of those, I have the right to refuse service.” It’s ludicrous that Christians, in the name of “religious freedom” are trying to shirk their responsibility to serve others. At no point did Jesus make a distinction for who got to experience or benefit from His love and service. We, as a church, ought to be ashamed and saddened by such a law. The worse part is that if you’re a shop owner and some one wants to purchase a service from you, you aren’t doing them some big favor; they’re paying for it. But, providing flowers for a gay couple’s wedding, although they’re paying for it, can still be a great way to love them. Refusing to treat a gay couple’s child is a great way to show them exactly the opposite of what Jesus would have done and actually did do. He was a healer and served the needs of those who needed healing. 

What has happened to The Church that it would demand and supports a law that gets us off the hook for doing what Jesus told us to do? How did we get it so wrong? You wanna talk about the twisted Gospel? It isn’t “the left” that’s doing it; it’s laws like this that run straight past twisting the Gospel and shred it to pieces. Laws like this go against the very fiber of Jesus’ command to “Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.” The intention of this law might have been meant to protect certain religious convictions, but I’m afraid that it’ll be Christians that use it to ignore Christ’s call.

It doesn’t matter what other religions will use it for, we’re not them and they aren’t called to what we are, which is loving and serving others, even loving our enemies. Following Jesus isn’t easy; He said it wasn’t. It demands us stepping out into areas that we may not agree with and even those that scare us. Unfortunately this type of law is one more layer that western culture will use to mold Christianity into the “about me” religion it was never meant to be. Our main religious conviction ought to be to love and serve others, not finding a way to refuse and turn them away. We’re called to better. We’re called to Jesus and to be like Him.

This is a conversation that needs to be had, please click one of the buttons and share this.

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2024 BrucePagano.com

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑