I've been reminded of Max Lucado's illustration of the 3 brothers, the hedonist, the judging brother and finally the brother that didn't bother (not quite sure abt the last one, anyone?), whenever Christianity is concerned. Sometimes in our walk, we're bound to meet someone who professes to Christ but yet does things that put clubbers and smokers to shame. There are also those who would point a judging finger at this hedonist, assuming that all his judging would do some right.
Heard someone remarking that he won't listen to any more pastors. But would pastors be right all the time? I guess it's not an issue of pastors being infallible, after all, pastors are human as well, and do make mistakes at times. The most important is to find some pastor you can respect and stick to it.
And then, it makes me ponder, are we too caught up in our Christian bubble as some might say? I would only say it's true if all your friends are Christians and you don't mix with anyone else (like those cultist people that fry rats when they run outta food and it's not yet time to get outta their place, heh, just pulling your leg there)
True, sometimes churches can get too carried away with pop culture Christianity, whereby like Britney Spears, churches tend to hype up certain things or books. Take the Holy laughter event or even perhaps books like Prayer of Jabez and even worse, Heaven is so real. And I, on my side, wouldn't even encourage others to go for these books, especially the latter as it might shift the focus to getting more 'authentic' Christian experiences or prophecies instead of focusing on Christ.
And yea, there are bound to be people who would come to church on Sundays but do other things on weekdays. But then, other than encouraging & praying for them, who are we to judge them? Are we right enough to judge their wrongs? You may never know that the person struggling with gay/porn/lesbianism problems might one day become some powerful preacher, do you?
On the opposite end, we might have brothers who overspiritualize things, like blaming God for the haze or for the broken down lift that made the person late to work. Or even perhaps blaming God for the taxi that did not arrive and then questioning whether God's real, if not where's the miracle. And on the scary side, there are guys (or gals) who go up to someone else and tell them that God said they should get married, I certainly would stay away from those though, hehe, after all our emotions 'might' make it hard for us to hear God there, no?
Being a Christian doesn't mean that we become perfect straightaway. Wasn't Peter still an impulsive guy after following Christ for 3 years? Didn't Judas still betrayed Christ after all that teaching? And Paul still had that argument with Barnabas, Christlike you say?
The bible speaks about being transformed gradually into His image. I, for one, know that I'm at a much better state than last year, the year before that and the year before that (I could go on you know) And for me, God's real, just that at times we're too far away from God or we've been focusing on the wrong thing. Which other religion would talk about grace, salvation and God loving us despite our weaknesses?
And yea, about us all being too caught up in our Christian bubble, whereby we put on masks on Sundays and pretend that everything is well and then resume our normal lives later. Guess that it's how your church is ran, and if accountability, trust and getting others to be real is cultivated, the church will truly be a church, despite the flaws and weaknesses of its members (and yea, if I wasn't flawed, I wouldn't even be in church)
God mentioned for us to be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves. Perhaps its true that at times we could do more than just to pray for our exams, finance and loved ones, we should also keep an eye out for world politics and happenings around the world, whereby we won't be ignorant when someone mentions about the peak oil theory, the economics behind it or even perhaps the Malaysian AP scandal.
Gotta run.
God Bless!
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