Flogging the "Saints"

People have recently pointed out to me that I am "awful hard" on Christians. I taught a Sunday School lesson to a class of friends that was very direct about asking them to examine themselves and quanitify (to themselves) their real commitment to Christ. Some were offended and felt that the lesson was driven by my personal observations about them.

[sigh...]

I taught a lesson about people inapropriately elevating a church's order of worship to an "element of faith" and becoming too attached to thhe same. That became construed as, (by at least one,) an attack on church leadership.

[sigh...]

Read this blog and what will you find? Criticism of Christians...

[sigh...]

These all beg a very important question:

"Am I just a malcontent sowing disruption amongst the fellowship of believers?"

I've met folks like that and I've always hated dealing with them. I mean, let's face it, there will always be something to criticise and some folks will never pass up a chance to do so. Is that me?

I've questioned myself and searched my heart about my motives and here is what I find:

I find that being an American Christian, (with "Christian" politics, "Christian" education, "Christian" behavior, "Christian" world-views and "Christian" opinions,) has become more important to many people than being a follower of Christ.

The letters of the New Testament speak repeatedly and powerfully about unity among believers in following Christ, but American Christians have substituted conformity and accomodation of sin for that call to unity and diminsish the call to follow God in the interest of maintaining order and sustaining a status quo.

Finally, and most terribly, I find Christians clamoring about the disintegration of our country's values and principals at a time when the collapse of Christian integrity is one of the greatest factors propelling the destruction of our country's values and principals.

As I sit here and write these things, foremost in my mind is the Pastor at my church, a man I sincerely love and respect. Paul carries a burden for the lost in our community and seeks to serve and follow Christ. Am I criticising Paul? No. He's no more perfect than I am and he makes his share of mistakes, but I deeply believe his heart is all about serving Our Lord. And my heart goes out to him in the work he has taken on.

Leading a church today is like trying to herd cats. And in the effort to get a group of modern "believers", (with their narcissism and relentless self-centeredness,) to move in in a common direction requires acts that could easily unwind the very purpose of our gathering. As with the Pharisees, the drive to conform Christians to human rules threatens the very soul of believers. And I've seen this danger in the majority of churches I've visited in my adult life.

Ultimately there is only one remedy for this problem: Christ calling us as individuals and changing our hearts.

I put these lessons, these observations, out in the desire that God will find those "who have an ear to hear" and possibly use these postings within His Will for others. I do know He has used these points to reprimand me. I pray that God will protect others from unwarranted criticism and that hearts will be pricked only according to His Will.

Given my profound personal failings, I'm very wary of casting myself as a "Righteous Source of Truth sent to Reprimand Deluded Sinners and Misguided Saints!" I try to remain open to criticism while also taking it with a grain of salt. I've found that Jane Bean's saying from many years ago is still true about me, and probably similarly true about others:

"The Truth will set you free, but first it's gonna tick you off."

My deepest hope is that people will hear me out and then take these things before The Lord for His direction. And I understand and accept that anyone who believes that Christians' role is to stand in judgemnent of the lost are going to find my postings uncomfortable.