Thursday, January 24, 2013

Modern Christianity and a big fat lie

"Accept me as I am. Don't judge me"

  I was reading through the book of Luke when I noticed the chapter headings—the unclean spirit cast out, the sick healed, the leper cleansed, a man with palsy healed (and his sins forgiven), a demoniac boy healed, etc. Did you notice something odd about those headings? I did. I noticed something that did not fit with American Christianity today. But think about those headings, while I deviate with a short story. I promise to return and explain why this struck me.

 
~A DISEASE IGNORED~
 
  She came into the doctor's office, sick and emaciated. The disease had destroyed her body. She sat in the cold examination room, her hands rubbing the plastic examination bed. All she could hear in the silence was the scratching of the doctor's pen. The scratching noise stopped.
“All right, I want you to take this prescription to the pharmacist. These pills will help you feel better.”
“Will they cure the problem?” asked the girl as she took the paper from him.
“No, but they will cure the pain.”
“But what about my illness? Can you fix my problem?”
“Don't worry about the disease. These pills should help you feel better.”
“Doctor, what can I do to get well?
“Lady, I accept you as you are. Don't worry about your disease. I've seen worse. You just keep taking these drugs, and coming to see me, and we'll talk about your little problem later.”
“So... I'm not as sick as we thought? We don't have to worry about the disease?”
“If it worries or offends you, we wont talk about it. We will just pretend it doesn't exist.”

  Ok, I know this story is unbelievable and I wrote it that way on purpose. But look at the contrast between the way that Jesus treated the sick and the way this lying doctor treated his patient. Which was the kind physician? It certainly wasn't the doctor because all he gave her was false hope and drugs to cover her pain. But Jesus addressed his patients' problems and sins. First, he fixed the physical ailments and then he fixed the spiritual sicknesses.
   Please pay attention because I want to expose one of the biggest false doctrines among Christians today. I am going to be honest with you, and I believe that my honesty will offend many Christians.   
http://pinterest.com/pin/23925441741906982/
   Christians preach a false doctrine called, “Judge not lest ye be judged.” When people come to us in spiritual sickness, we ignore their sins. We are so bent on accepting everybody, that we have become worthless Christians. We only want to love each other. We tell them that “you're sin isn't so bad. I've seen worse. I accept you as you are.” How can we accept their sin when we know the consequences of letting them continue in sin? Do you know remember that “the wages of sin are death”? Death! We are letting them die when we accept their sin.
   When sinners came to Christ to be His disciples, what was the first thing that He did? He confronted their sin. He didn't beat around the bush, because He knew that the sinner had to abandon his sin before he could find Christ.
   Don't tell me that Christ was the friend of sinners and publicans. He was the friend of former sinners and publicans. These sinners that surrounded him were healed and forgiven. They had turned from their sins because Christ was merciful and cleansed them from their sins.
   We need to have the boldness of Christ and speak the truth with people. “No, your sin is wrong. And this is why, because the Bible says its wrong.” How can you ever surgically remove a cancer if you never make the first cut? Yes, the truth will not only hurt, it will cut like a “sharp edged sword.” But we have to give out the t~ruth, because the only way we will ever save a person is by our boldness. How can we hide such a marvelous, life-changing truth like the gospel? Do we even care about those people who are on their way to hell because of their sins? We will never change them if we cannot tell them the truth. And a person will never be saved until he knows that he is lost.


   Now the opposite side of the coin is a brutal approach to people. I'm not advocating that you wield this "sharp edged sword" like it is a club. I never said you should beat people up with the truth. The truth cuts deep enough without using a large amount of force. The purpose of the truth should be to cure not to hurt even though it will do both.
   Our whole purpose for being truthfull with people should be to kill the sin in their lives because we hate its destructive power over them. We should hate sin. Did you know that to be a true follower of God, you have to hate sin? Did you forget about the God who hates sin? What about the God who, consumed with righteous wrath, flooded the earth to punish sinners? Has our God changed? He says that he never changes. Perhaps, we are the only ones who have changed our mind about sin. 
 
"The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate."
~Proverbs 8:13~


   We are to hate evil and love good. God draws us away from the evil of our sin and into his goodness. We are to forsake iniquity and seek God. It is a biblical principal that we cannot have fellowship with God if we are still clinging to our sin. And it is wrong to tell others that God accepts a person as they are. He does not. He has never promised to accept a person as they are. He said that we should come unto him “all ye who are weary and sick and he will give us rest”, but he never said that he wouldn't change or heal us. He is too kind of a God to accept our sickness.
   I want you to understand. I want myself to understand. We are not doing lost people a favor by being “loving” and non “judgmental”. We are simply saying that we don't care enough about them to tell them the truth. We are too weak to throw a safety line to those in need. I'm tired of weak and wimpy Christianity. I want to be a Christian that truly loves my neighbors, who tells them the truth about sin because I love them.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Tightropes beneath our feet

Walking on precarious paths



http://pinterest.com/pin/19069998393325827/
   Why did I climb this stupid platform? I asked myself for the hundredth time. I was supposed to walk across a rope and expect my tether rope and harness to keep me safe. A zip line with a pulley was strung above the tightrope to keep me balanced on the rope. If I would only walk, the rope would hold me on the tightrope, but I was too scared. The teenage boy holding my tether rope, stared up at me. He had given up trying to convince me to walk across, he only wanted me to jump from the platform.
   “Just jump, I'll catch you,” He told me.
   “How much do you weigh?” I asked him doubtfully. He looked too skinny to be able to catch anything, especially a thirteen old girl who was pushing six feet.
   “It doesn't matter. The rope will catch you. Just jump! You've been up there for half an hour,” he retorted loudly.
   I closed my eyes and felt my knees sag. No. I couldn't do it.
   “Jump!” He yelled.
   I made the decision. And leaped off the platform. The boy wasn't expecting my sudden burst of courage and he flew up into the air, but he stopped the tether rope zipping through his pulley by jerking it up against his belt. The rope held. I slammed to a stop in the air. The boy let the rope pass through his hands slowly, and I fell onto the ground, my legs trembling too much to hold me up.
   “See? That wasn't so hard,” he told me. He grabbed my hand and jerked me to my feet.
   Sometimes, I think that my life is like that tightrope. God has a tether rope on me, and He tells me to walk across that tightrope. If I fall, He promises to catch me. But I always seem to look at the circumstances.
   God, are you sure you can catch me? That tightrope is strung too high. What if I slip? God, will you catch me? I can't do this. I'm too weak. I know I'll slip. Why are you torturing me by making me walk this rope? Are you really the kind God that I have learned to love?
   Doubts plague me and hold me to the platform, my body trembling with anxiety. I sit down on that platform. I'm listening to my fears and I cannot perform this feat that God wants me to do. He just wants me to try and walk. He wants me to trust Him. But I am busy talking to myself and depending on my own strength.

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not on thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."
~Proverbs 3:5~

   Lately, I have been learning that trust is a decision. God wants us to trust Him. He doesn't want us to balance on the rope by ourselves; He only wants us to take the first step. He desires to show us how He will keep our feet planted on that path. He wants us to throw ourselves on His strength so that He can show us His marvelous strength and providence.
   A few days ago, I had a tightrope to walk. I was driving my car home, worrying about these circumstances beyond my control. My mind had been tossing this impossible circumstance around like a tennis player bouncing a ball off the wall. Every possible solution was exhausted and I was in tears. But I had come to the point where I was exhausted by my fears. I decided that I could not deal with this problem in my own strength.
   Ok, God. You have to do this. I will trust you. I will!
   The circumstance was still before me, stretched like a tightrope. Nothing had changed except that now I had the peace and trust to walk it. God is holding me up, and I can take the steps necessary to pass over this precarious path.
   When we abandon our own fears and apprehensions, then God can show us a strength beyond ourselves. Don't sit on that platform. Decide that even though the height is immense, the path is precarious, and your strength is not enough, you will walk. You will trust God.