Christians are worse than they think they are: But then again...God knows that!

What this is: Blog from a friend

christians are worse than they think they are

I read two interesting articles this morning. one on how an italian judge forced a 13 year old girl to have an abortion. the other on how middle-class suburban teenagers are murdering homeless people, by stoning and then beating them to death.

Abortion. what a fascinating subject. people who are against abortion call themselves pro-life, but their inability to convince the world that they actually care about people who happen to be alive has been the biggest detriment to their credibility in their fight against abortion. life is sacred? really? seems to me like you only care about yourself. And people who are for abortion call themselves pro-choice. but why wasn't the 13 year old girl given a choice to keep her baby? How I feel about abortion doesn't particularly matter, but I can't help but feel that the bigger issue is not what I think people should do with their fetuses, but rather: how I daily operate as if human lives are not sacred, whether they are born or unborn. And in church, if you want to talk about the evils of abortion, I think you should be careful, because I have yet to hear a pastor talk about abortion in a way that is not self-righteous, in a way that does not condemn and make unwelcome a woman who has chosen abortion. How is my lack of concern for starving humans any different than abortion? If human life is truly sacred, it seems like christians would be more concerned for the living.

We want to think we are better than people. we all do. me especially, I have a need to feel superior. I hear the things that youth pastors say to kids, and it makes me angry and sad all at once, and I think I am better than the youth pastor. people hear about abortion and they feel superior because perhaps they have not had an abortion. it makes you feel clean to think of others as dirty.Me, I read about teenagers who beat homeless people to death and I think, "wow, this is awful. I would never do such a thing. who are these kids?" And yet at the same time I know that every day I walk by homeless people and hate them. homeless people talk to me every day and I think they are a threat to me. I am afraid of them and I hate them. none of us want to believe that we are abortionists, murderers, liars, cheaters, haters.We want to believe that jesus loves us because we are good, not in spite of the fact that we are filthy. oh we talk about how we are bad and how jesus loves us and makes us pure, but we don't really believe it. we really believe we are pretty good. deep down, we think jesus is lucky to have us on his team.We run away from the words of jesus, and we run towards self-righteousness. It feels so good to be better than others. but really, I'm not much different from the teenager who murders homeless people.


My thoughts on this blog:
This blog certainly makes me think. But people are just people. Whether they are pastors or laymen. We are all just screwed up, sinful, and insignificant. So we do our best to make ourselves significant by using others mistakes as a rule to make us feel better about ourselves. The fact is that we were made by our Heavenly Father and if He is willing to forgive and forget - we should be. If he is willing to see significance in us then we should be willing to see significance in each other. The great thing is - I AM a well loved daughter of Christ and there is nothing I can do that will make Him love me any more or any less. And that is how I should look at others as well. We are all in fact sinners...we are all in fact sinning, somehow, someway - probably even as I speak. But - we are bought by the blood of Christ and that is how God sees us - is through that blood.

How do we see each other though? I think the above Blog questions how loving Christians really are when it comes to our opinions of others around us. The fact is that we certainly can't show people the error in their ways if we are judgemental and cruel in how we deal with fellow sinners. But how do I lead a fellow sinner to see what is right in a way that draws them closer to the Lord and does not push them farther away?

The thing is - and this has been something I have been wrestling with for quite some time - when we know we ourselves are sinning, and we choose to continue to sin....even when we have been shown the error of our ways....when should a fellow believer rebuke us for not correcting ourselves? My eating for instance. I am sinning...when I eat for any other reason that is not for sustenance or in moderation, I am sinning - it is wrong for me when I am stressed out and eat the entire contents of the refrigerator. Do I know I am going to do it again? Yes I do. More than likely - a better question for me is how do I make myself CARE that I am sinning when I know in fact that it is a sin. I do not know how to make myself care in the midst of my pain to be perfectly honest. Yes I will eventually care - if not now - when I am weighing 250lbs. and can't get out of a chair...which is where I am heading, it sure will. Not to mention that I have been given a spirit of power, of love and of self discipline (2 Tim 1:7 ) so when I choose to indulge my frustrations in food and not to practice the self control He has given me, and not to allow God to help bear my burden....I am sinning and I am missing out on a great blessing...and an opportunity to use my spiritual muscles and be stronger. Is it hard? Yes...so hard that I have not yet had a victory...am I going to just quit? I hope not...I would be deluding myself to say that God loves me the way that I am so I am not going to try anymore...He does love me because he sees me through the blood of his Son Jesus Christ...but I am not suppose to give up the good fight. If I do...then it makes me spiritually lazy and IT WILL START SPILLING OVER TO OTHER AREAS OF MY LIFE. I have seen it. We become self indulgent and once we excuse one thing then we will start excusing others. This pattern follows all manner of sin. When we excuse and rationalize our sin...it becomes easier to excuse ourselves in other areas and what you have is a weak and flabby Christian - and a stumbling block in some cases to other believers. But I digress...the real question I have come to is - where does a friend step in and tell me I am wrong? Where do I step in and admonish and correct my sisters in Christ?

My tendency with regard to others' sins is to make them feel better. I am thinking, "we all do it, and what would I do if I were in that situation" - so I excuse it. Is this right? I do not think so. I believe that I am at best delaying God's work in someone's life by doing this in some cases. Can I love them and understand where they are coming from while speaking God's truth? Whether it is divorce, abortion, gluttony, self-pity whatever...I believe that I can. It is frustrating...and I believe that is another reason I am slow to correct and admonish. It is easier to say - "I will not judge, or get involved - I will show them the love of Christ by accepting them as they are and that way - they love me and I feel good too." I believe we do our best to hold each other to God's standard and not to our own...which is what I am apt to do (holding others to my standard)...that is good news for everyone reading this...because you are all super duper in my opinion! The key is we hold each other to God's standard in love. And yes - it may cause others to pull away when they hear what they don't want to. But God willing - His truth will light our hearts and our eyes (no matter if what was said is right or wrong) and pull us back together with the one who is willing to show us the error of our ways in love - the one who out of a heart of love truly wants to reconcile us to Christ.

There is such a balance of understanding and truth required here, especially when it comes to painful subjects like divorce or even abortion. I am not so sure that someone who chooses to abort their baby is not a murderer. Whether they realize they are murdering or not does not make it any less wrong. God formed the child in it's mothers womb (Psalm 139) and this child is a child of God - as much as I am. A part of loving well is holding each other accountable. If aborting babies is murder - it is murder - now I agree there are grey areas. But if a friend told me that she was aborting a baby because she made a mistake, I would have to say she was wrong - and I would try to do so lovingly. If someone told me that my eating was gluttony - and that I was sinning every time I allowed myself to binge - then I may very well get my feelings hurt. For many reasons. They do not know what I deal with - just as no one can no the inner thoughts of man...but God. Because no matter how open we are as a whole - we will always have painful secrets. Does it make bad choices, such as abortion any less of a sin? Does it make the act of someone holding me accountable for my sin any more acceptable or is it easier for me to know that it is scripture and that the person admonishing me in love wants what is best for me? No. I do not believe there is an easy way to tell people that what they are doing is wrong. I believe sometimes it just is yucky and it sucks on both sides...both for the admonisher and the admonishee. Can God heal it? Can God bring understanding and grace to a hard situation? Absolutely - it is what we must count on. Judging others is not for us. But I can know the difference between right and wrong and I can and should share with my sister when she is going somewhere I think she should not. In fact - I think it should be seen as a true sign of love to be willing to put enmity between yourself and someone else because you want them to do right in the eyes of the Lord. There is no easy way and we could in fact always be wrong...we are not all knowing - we are not all seeing. But we administer God's grace by reading the Word of God and by doing it. I do believe that Love covers a multitude of sins...so to speak. I believe that a bad situation can be saved by knowing that someone's heart truly is motivated by love.

Brian said, "We run away from the words of jesus, and we run towards self-righteousness. It feels so good to be better than others. but really, I'm not much different from the teenager who murders homeless people." He is right. But he is making a statement about judging. We should never judge. But there is a difference between judging and feeling superior to others and telling the truth in love. The first should never happen and the latter should always happen. It is our calling. And I agree wholeheartedly with him when it comes to how we think Jesus is blessed to have us on his team. Deep down our sinful nature says we are indeed special and God needs us...when in fact - We desperately need him...to find significance - to be found worthy - to see others as significant.

I guess what stuck out to me most was about judging others...how do we serve each other faithfully. How do we guide each other to good deeds without judging? The safest road to take when it comes to how worthy we are to lead others in the way of righteousness is to look up and not around...we will be thankful - not resentful, humbled - not proud. And we should then have a true view of where we stand in regards to our Lord and Savior.

I am looking for scripture to back up what I said...I feel that it is right but I want to have a basis for everything I think and say out loud especially. What do you think about what I said...does it hold up to scripture? Is it a true representation of what the Bible says?