church

Where Do You Go When You Have Nowhere To Go?

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I started this blog some time ago because I wanted others to know that not all Christians are the people who make the headlines. There are those of us–and honestly, there are plenty of incredible people who don’t identify as Christians–who are working for good on a daily basis. They might be the world changers, or they might just be the people who smile at someone who needs it.

But in the past several years, my family has felt the suffering of not having a church home. We’ve bounced from one church to another, testing them out and never really settling in, attending a church until they did or said something that made us walk away. We’ve been criticized for this practice by people who know us quite well, people who insist that it’s our Christian duty to fellowship with other Christians, even those who don’t see eye to eye with us, recognizing that the church is filled with flawed and sinful people (as it should be).

I agree. I do understand that notion, and yes, it’s fully Biblical. There is no perfect church and there shouldn’t be one, at least not until we are taken home to the Lord. So that leaves us struggling, cringing in our seats while the pastor spouts off about something unBiblical or while two old biddies standing in line for the bathroom talk about why there will never be a black person in their congregations so long as they have breath in their bodies (a fact that I’m happy to help relieve them of). We grab our kids and head for the hills, distancing ourselves from hatred and bigotry.

Truthfully, this election cycle has tried our Christian beliefs in ways I’d never thought possible. The sheer ugliness out of the mouths who claim to profess a love for the Lord has left us feeling empty inside, lost in our own Soddoms. Hopefully, come November, God’s will for loving one another will be done, and we can set our hearts right again.

Separation of Church and Hate

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Get ready…we have our first official announcement of an intent to run for President in 2016. We’re still in the first quarter of 2015, but so what? Let the games begin.

There is so much wrong with the election process in America, starting with the fact that you have to be rich and have rich friends to even run for office. If you don’t meet those two criteria right there, you might as well not even bother running. You can’t become the proverbial dog catcher in your town without the funds to make all those yard signs, if nothing else.

But once we move into the upper echelon of elites who have the power and wealth to run for higher offices, the real problems begin, mostly in the fact that eager campaigners who haven’t darkened the doorsteps of any church in this country since their own wedding days are now going to claim to speak for Jesus in an effort to win voters. What am I rambling about?

All the “good Christians” who are going to make promises to hopeful voters about returning this country to God.

In God we trust, one nation under God, prayer in schools, Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve… you’re going to hear it all over the next year and a half of your life. Abortion is murder, homosexuality is an abomination, women don’t need equal pay because the Bible says they should be submissive unto their husbands… it’s all about to come pouring out, and God is going to get blamed for all of it.

The sad thing is, the “good Christians” who are both running and voting are going to blame God for what changes they think he wants in this country, and the atheists are going to blame God for every dumb-assed remark these campaigners say. As I sit here writing this, Phil Robertson’s most recent rant about raping and murdering atheists is making headlines all around the internet, as is video of the interview in which Senator Ted Cruz’s father supposedly said we should round up the atheists and put them in camps.

When did being a “good Christian” mean you had to act like a pompous moron and slander the name of God? Do you ever wonder if God is sitting there face-palming himself and thinking, “Senator, you just caused 4,000 people to turn their backs on ever knowing me?” When did knowing God stop being about love and start being about one-upmanship and campaign victories?

Folks, it’s so easy. It’s so incredibly easy to know and love God. Not only that, it’s so easy to PROVE you’re a good Christian. Just love people! That’s all it takes to prove it. Let every decision you make demonstrate and be based on this one fact: every single person you bump into is a child of God, made by God, loved and adored by God. If you act at all times as though you genuinely believe that, you won’t have to prove anything. The world will see it plain as day.