dang it's been awhile...
so people keep saying to me..."dang Mike, you seem pretty pissed at christianity and the church nowadays, and you are pretty hard on believers, it seems kind of like a double standard?"
i should start off by saying that i am a huge believer that people are made naturally good...and that deep down in our core, we are good...when God made man he sat back, sighed, sipped a lil brew, and said "hey, this is pretty dog gone good"...and if we are made in God's image, and God is benevolent, all good, then we should be originally all good...
But, i do believe that we are easily, in fact very easily, persuaded into different theologies, philosophies, methods of operation, etc...how else would Hitler have killed 6 million jews without persuading a hell of a lot of people to follow him...people say that 1% percent of people are leaders and the other 99% are followers...so...we are easily swept into, born into, or convinced into believing or doing things a certain way...and realistically, most of us, never really challenge the way of living or thinking that we grew up in...even if we do, our ideas or questions are usually hushed hushed by our parents, teachers, elders, etc...or we're given a lil run around answer...so most of us just get plain old comfy in our all white high top reeboks from 1986, with the two velcro straps on top...or in other words, we just get comfy in how our parents did it, and are probably still doing it...
well, for some cruel reason, God decided to give me a ridiculously questioning mind...my mom tells stories of how she would tuck my sister in bed first at night, and she would say, "mom, what should i wear tomorrow?" or "mom, thanks for dinner", you know, realistic, grateful, good questions...then mom, would come tuck me in at night, and i would say, "mom, if the earth is spinning, why can't we feel it?" or "mom, why do you and dad fight?"...i've never been able to just be content or satisfied in the way it was or is...i had to figure out the truth and decide it on my own...sounds pretty egotistical when i hear it like that...but at least i know
so, anyways....when i see what i consider to be injustice or a harsh misrepresentation of the truth or of the way something was intended to be...it sets me off! especially when it's done to me...and i am not the type of person to say, "hey, it's okay, people will be people" or "people don't change" or "you can't change the world"
i can't ignore things, and when i see bad things being done to me or people i love, i get defensive, and protective...
so when i see injustice in the church, and i see people being tricked into things, or excluded, or judged...i get pissed...especially when it's against me or my wife
when i see the all loving and all good and all compassionate Jesus, being misrepresented, i get pissed...
and i'm not saying that i know the right way, but i am saying that i know what is not the right way...
and i know in my anger and straight forwardness i have said more than i should have sometimes, and crossed over some lines, and been hypocritical about a few things, and i thank and love those who have brought this to my attention...
but i am angry, and i am hurt, and i am sick of seing the message of Christ, of love, and all accepting, and grace being forced in people's faces, made into a sales pitch, sold and bought like a trendy sweat suit, separated for only these people, boxed up in 10 essentials, systematized into categories and rules, applied here but not there, and on and on...
Jesus, said that loving people and loving God override everythinggggg....and when our man made philosophies or theologies or modes of operation or ministry begin to step on love's toes...i am not gonna keep my mouth shut...
and i do not mean to criticize or bash the person saying or doing these things...but someone has got to stand up for this stuff...and it's very hard to challenge what someone does or says without it sounding like i'm judging them...which is the last thing that i want to do...it is exactly what i'm against...but there are things that i think are wrong...so maybe i just need to learn how to speak out of love...
but would you listen? if i said things, all sugar coated and nice-like, would you listen? MLK didn't speak with a soft manor, his voice boomed, and he called out injustice with no holding back, he marched the streets singing songs of freedom and peace...and especially Jesus, in the face of the Pharisees and Sadducees, he threw over tables, he called them hypocrites to their faces...
so then i ask, help me out, not that i'm the poster child for protesting, all i really do is bitch all the time, but what are you doing about injustice...are you just letting it go because people are just people...help me figure this out...challenge me back if my words upset you...all i want to see is injustice and exclusion broken down, and the sacredness and sweetness of conversion and Christianity preserved...
i should start off by saying that i am a huge believer that people are made naturally good...and that deep down in our core, we are good...when God made man he sat back, sighed, sipped a lil brew, and said "hey, this is pretty dog gone good"...and if we are made in God's image, and God is benevolent, all good, then we should be originally all good...
But, i do believe that we are easily, in fact very easily, persuaded into different theologies, philosophies, methods of operation, etc...how else would Hitler have killed 6 million jews without persuading a hell of a lot of people to follow him...people say that 1% percent of people are leaders and the other 99% are followers...so...we are easily swept into, born into, or convinced into believing or doing things a certain way...and realistically, most of us, never really challenge the way of living or thinking that we grew up in...even if we do, our ideas or questions are usually hushed hushed by our parents, teachers, elders, etc...or we're given a lil run around answer...so most of us just get plain old comfy in our all white high top reeboks from 1986, with the two velcro straps on top...or in other words, we just get comfy in how our parents did it, and are probably still doing it...
well, for some cruel reason, God decided to give me a ridiculously questioning mind...my mom tells stories of how she would tuck my sister in bed first at night, and she would say, "mom, what should i wear tomorrow?" or "mom, thanks for dinner", you know, realistic, grateful, good questions...then mom, would come tuck me in at night, and i would say, "mom, if the earth is spinning, why can't we feel it?" or "mom, why do you and dad fight?"...i've never been able to just be content or satisfied in the way it was or is...i had to figure out the truth and decide it on my own...sounds pretty egotistical when i hear it like that...but at least i know
so, anyways....when i see what i consider to be injustice or a harsh misrepresentation of the truth or of the way something was intended to be...it sets me off! especially when it's done to me...and i am not the type of person to say, "hey, it's okay, people will be people" or "people don't change" or "you can't change the world"
i can't ignore things, and when i see bad things being done to me or people i love, i get defensive, and protective...
so when i see injustice in the church, and i see people being tricked into things, or excluded, or judged...i get pissed...especially when it's against me or my wife
when i see the all loving and all good and all compassionate Jesus, being misrepresented, i get pissed...
and i'm not saying that i know the right way, but i am saying that i know what is not the right way...
and i know in my anger and straight forwardness i have said more than i should have sometimes, and crossed over some lines, and been hypocritical about a few things, and i thank and love those who have brought this to my attention...
but i am angry, and i am hurt, and i am sick of seing the message of Christ, of love, and all accepting, and grace being forced in people's faces, made into a sales pitch, sold and bought like a trendy sweat suit, separated for only these people, boxed up in 10 essentials, systematized into categories and rules, applied here but not there, and on and on...
Jesus, said that loving people and loving God override everythinggggg....and when our man made philosophies or theologies or modes of operation or ministry begin to step on love's toes...i am not gonna keep my mouth shut...
and i do not mean to criticize or bash the person saying or doing these things...but someone has got to stand up for this stuff...and it's very hard to challenge what someone does or says without it sounding like i'm judging them...which is the last thing that i want to do...it is exactly what i'm against...but there are things that i think are wrong...so maybe i just need to learn how to speak out of love...
but would you listen? if i said things, all sugar coated and nice-like, would you listen? MLK didn't speak with a soft manor, his voice boomed, and he called out injustice with no holding back, he marched the streets singing songs of freedom and peace...and especially Jesus, in the face of the Pharisees and Sadducees, he threw over tables, he called them hypocrites to their faces...
so then i ask, help me out, not that i'm the poster child for protesting, all i really do is bitch all the time, but what are you doing about injustice...are you just letting it go because people are just people...help me figure this out...challenge me back if my words upset you...all i want to see is injustice and exclusion broken down, and the sacredness and sweetness of conversion and Christianity preserved...
posted by Mikey at 2:57 PM
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