I keep thinking about the world and the church are so different. I think there should be some differences but I'm thinking of differences that are damaging.
I have been watching Big Brother 6. One thing about this year is that they have a couple of people who are very smart. They are even called intellectuals or referred to as very smart. There is a respect there for that persons thoughts and knowledge. I find it interesting. They all know they are at different levels of intelligence,but yet have a high respect for one another in that sense.
I have always felt that Big Brother was a social experiment and in a lot of ways does speak about where we are at as humans. So this year I see a respect factor going on. I was to the point that I was thinking even the world doesn't respect thinkers and those who hold a lot of knowledge, but this show is showing me wrong.
So with that I come to the church and I see the cancer that is spreading through out our "family". I find it interesting the lack of respect that we give to those that we think are smarter than us. Instead of finding away to work together and finding away to celebrate who we are as individuals, we find way to tear them down. We automatically think these people are trying to look down on us. They are trying to make us feel stupid. When in reality that is only "our truth", it is our perceived truth. Our truth tells us that these people must be reined in, they should be cornered so that they have no "power" or can in any way make us feel less than. All the while we are doing what we accuse the intellects of doing. We don't want them to quiet us down, well, we will quiet them down. Yet you look at the world around us. You see a celebration and a respect for those who are "smarter than us", we see their value and we give them a mic to speak their voice. I think the church has a lot to learn from the world. Yes I just said it. Deal with it. ;)
About Me
- Jewels
- Since I was two weeks old I have moved around with my family, was mostly raised in Mississippi, but found a home in Arkansas. I am a Christian, trying to figure out what God wants and trying to follow the path He has set for me. I feel I have always been in a dance with God. So this has been my life, following God, sometimes with passion, sometimes just following, and other times just not. All I know is He is my Father and I pray we always dance together.
6 comments:
woot.
(i think that's a compliment? i'm enough of a computer nerd to know the word "woot," but not enough of one to be sure that it has a positive meaning. :O)
Jewels, where have you been?????
Well, what did Jesus say?
Luke 16:8
And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.
That sometimes happens.
However, it is important to note that that is NOT a Christian thing that is happening, right? It is NOT intrinsic to Christianity to pull people down, but rather, in contravention of its clear teachings. The persons doing that might think they are very Christian, but the attitude would not be very Christian.
Hey, Jewels, hope everything's okay with you!
Jewels
You are right, there is something about people that makes them insecure when they think that others are somehow better than they are.
For some weird reason this seems especially in the church.
Another poster suggested that this is not a christian thing cause its contrary to christian teaching;
well, in my experience christians are MUCH more likely to attack someone because they feel insecure. Isn't the church the only army known for shooting its wounded?
I think its because in the world people are careful of what they say because someone might reply in kind. However in the church we are constantly told not to do so (I am not sure that I consider that a biblical teaching but its prevelant). This makes many people feel secure that they can say whatever they want without any fear.
FUCK EM
Andrew
There's another thing about things in the church as opposed to things in the world.
A lot of the 'world' is in the church, and a lot of the church is in the world.
How so?
Well, a lot of people who now do not go to church have parents or grandparents or great grandparents who DID, and many of the attitudes still inform their actions, maybe not in terms of salvation matters, but in terms of personal ethics, to some degree, at least.
Also, a lot of people in the world are folks who at some time were maybe in a Vacation Bible School one summer and accepted the Lord, and are actually saved, maybe, but have had no further contact with the church, formally, but, however, DO, to some degree at least, manifest the life that actually IS within them.
And, conversely, some people in the church are, despite their ability to talk the talk, not actually born again.
Or, they may be very, very carnally-motivated Christians. Sometimes, this changes, and there's quite a dramatic difference.
There's that whole other thing,as well, that the devil may leave well-enough alone, if a person is in the world and not the church.
When you're trying to follow the Lord, it IS true that you're gonna get some flack from somewhere. It really happens. ALl that are godly will suffer persecution.
So, sometimes, yes, we actually ARE offensive in the usual sense, but sometimes, it can be the offense of the gospel, as well. Of course, there's probably a fine line drawn there, and a strong necessity of really discerning it.
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