Admitting There Is a Problem!

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Is there a problem with young adults leaving the church?

Too many times those inside the church refuse to admit there is a problem and even when they do admit there is a problem they want to point the blame at those who are walking away. Although, that may be the case for some; for others they are walking away because of the actions and attitudes of those inside the church and we have to wake up and see this problem as it is. So as I started this journey I went outside the walls of the church to get a perspective I would not get from inside the church walls.

Question #1:

What characteristics should Christians exemplify in their lives when dealing with non-believers and those who do not agree with Christianity?

Now remember, I asked this question to 4 atheist who do not believe in God and each of them answered in their own way but shared a resounding accord. Christians should be more loving. One of the gentlemen mentioned that he would like to see Christians live with more personal conviction mixed with humility, compassion, and understanding of others. In all the responses this resonated with me the most as I feel that at some point we have changed the way we witness to others and we might just be pushing people away from the church. In today’s world I feel that Christians are becoming more and more judgmental and less and less accepting of others. This is a sad statement but seems to be true in a lot of churches across America. It seems that we want to be the judge and tell others what they need to change about their lives before they can come to “our” church or worship “our” God. Plain and simple this is not the way it works. We ALL come to Christ nothing more than broken sinners and once we let Him into our heart then He will make the necessary changes that need to be made in our lives. We cannot expect a non-Christian world to change their behavior before finding Christ. Our job is to make the introduction between sinner and Christ and let Him do the rest. We are not to judge, we are definitely not to condemn, we are simply here to be the light and make the introduction through our words, actions, and attitudes towards others.

Christ teaches us that our job is to love our enemies. He never said love them unless they disagree with you or love them once they accept me, He just said to love them. No questions asked, just love. I have failed at that many times but I hope and pray it is something I can change moving forward.

Take a look at these examples of Jesus when dealing with sinners as opposed to dealing with religious leaders. Jesus always made a point to find the teaching moment in correcting the religious leaders even turned over some tables and whipped some out of the temple at one time. When dealing with sinners, however, we don’t see that same attitude.

As a woman was ready to be stoned the Pharisee’s looked to trip Jesus up and ask Him what they should do and He said let him who is without sin cast the first stone. He was not saying this woman was innocent but was saying that none of us are. He told the woman go and sin no more so the sin was recognized but He used this as a moment to show grace.

Another time when Jesus was questioned about dining with sinners and tax collectors His reply was that it was not the righteous He came for but for the lost who He brought salvation. They did not have to change who they were for Christ to dine with them, He went to them as they were and worked in their lives. We cannot put up walls and tell the outside world they have to change before they come in. It doesn’t work that way.

Another example is one of Jesus’ last acts. Here is our Savior dying on a cross and says Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. He did not say anything about change them or let them change, he just said Father forgive them.

These are just a few examples from Scripture in which Christ sets the example that we are not to turn sinners away. There is no sin so big that we should not let the sin bearer into our congregations. We should love on the sinner, we should introduce them to God and let Him work the issues in their heart.

Too often we are more concerned with other people’s sins than we are our own salvation.

As I have said I am knew to the whole blogging thing but I write as I feel so that is the way it comes out. I hope this was not too long and I will post more in a few days. Thanks.