Christians often perceived as unchristian

[plumbervol]

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/feb/07/christians-often-perceived-as-unchristian/

Interesting article that points out some of the problems facing Christian congregations who suffer from percieved believes that certain Christians have turned the Churches and Christianity as a whole into a Political Action Group. I always call it transfiguration, turning Jesus the God into Jesus the Ward healer. Is Jesus the ward healer worth the perception that Christians act unchristian?

To be blunt, young "outsiders" think that modern Christians are hypocritical, judgmental, clueless fanatics who choose to live in protective bubbles, except when they venture out to attack homosexuals, run right-wing political campaigns and proselytize innocent people who would rather be left alone. Things are getting so bad that many young Christians - especially evangelicals - say they are embarrassed to discuss faith issues with their friends.

[roustabout]

Bottom line is a lot will see what they want.  This new generation is a veyr interesting one. They are a problem solver gen. They are concerned with the world as a whole. However, they fail to see all the areas where the church is working in the world, and tend to see just the building on the corner. They don't see the visits to retirement homes, mission trips, missionaries, groups world changers, feeding the homeless, etc. etc.

They see what the press shows them, which is usually someone upset over abortion or homosexuals.

[Dementia_Madness]

I believe what really happens in history is this: the old man is always wrong; and the young people are always wrong about what is wrong with him. The practical form it takes is this: that, while the old man may stand by some stupid custom, the young man always attacks it with some theory that turns out to be equally stupid.

G. K. Chesterton

One big problem is there are many people in the world today who claim to be Christian who are not, most of these people "believe" what they do as strongly as you or I. However the difference is what does their faith focus on? Is it Christ's will, or their will, or even the will of some so called Christian organization?

I think it was Chesterton who said something like "the biggest thing going against Christianity today, is the Christians themselves....the biggest thing going for Christianity today, is the Christians themselves." or something to that effect. Let's be blunt here, God doesn't NEED us, he doesn't need our "help." Often when we try to help, out of our own motivations we end up getting egg shells in the omelet and making a mess that few would want to partake of.

So on the one hand we have some "so called" Christians who are not at all Christians muddying the water and on the other we have some truly genuine Christians who make a mess of things by forgetting to go God's way, and instead going their way, or someone else's way without giving way for the Holy Spirit to do it's work.

In the end, there are people who have genuine reason to walk away from churches and certain people who say they are Christians. However there are also people who start going to church for the wrong reason, at the wrong time, to the wrong church, and even if Christ was there himself, they would eventually fall away and continue back on the path they wee on before the thought they "needed" religion. When the desire comes from the right motivation, with an open and honest heart, even the worst among us will not get in the way of one seeking the truth lead by the Holy Spirit. So on that note we can see that often times it is just as much the seekers problem as those he chooses to seek out, though many times both can be blamed.

Yet, however, despite it all, people are still saved, and the Church lives on, the true Church, the invisible Church, the "Body" of Christ is alive and breathing even today. No matter how bad we mess things up, I am reassured that God is in controle, and despite our best efforts to the contrary, either by design or accident on our parts, in the end everyone who is supposed to be saved, those people with the willingness to accept Christ, despite the failings of some of his followers, those people who do not Judge God based on their own misunderstandings of the "Church," those people who will be saved, will be saved. "You meant it for evil, God uses it for GOOD."

Today the easiest way for EVIL to become a part of your life, the most effective way to destroy your faith and change your understanding of who Christ truly is, is to make you doubt God's word. In fact we will discover that this is the most effective power Satan has, and in truth it might just be his only power...to make men doubt, and to bring God and his word under accusation.