Church Hypocrisy Alive and Thriving!

 I have often given my opinion concerning the use of musical instruments and while I see nothing wrong with instruments being used, the hypocrisy of those keeping them from being used burns brightly within our heritage today. I use the term “burns brightly” because I believe the youth of our families have an incredible access to the reality of instruments not being an issue affecting the salvation of an individual. In my youth, access to biblical information was only through my local congregation and the specific book stores containing only material written by those of our faith heritage. With the vast resource of information available on the internet today, a simple search easily opens the eyes of those asking religious questions to the ridiculous traditions we hold fervently to in our services.

From as early as I can remember, I was reminded and told the addition of instruments was simply a “feel good’ addition speaking to the human nature and drawing people into an artificial worship ignoring the purity of our singing offered to God. While I won’t discuss it in these comments, we even went so far as to take the Bible out of context as we used the comments of the apostle Paul of “singing and making melody in our hearts.” While I definitely believe the purity of the human voice can be extremely beautiful, I do not believe it should be encouraged over any other form of musical offering. I also find it amusing to hear comments concerning the concept of “attending a concert,” and this is exactly where my use of the word hypocrisy comes from in the title. While it might be a serious mistake to rely on the English words we have in the Bible, I am not even basically familiar with the original language of the Bible. When I see Abel offer God the first/best of his labors and Cain offer “some” of his, God is pleased with the best offering.

Possibly, in my ignorance, I can’t accept God’s disapproval of Cain’s failure being the fact he did not offer a blood sacrifice, as many will say, but rather his failure to offer his best. In our hypocrisy, we preach and teach for everyone to not be satisfied with offering less than our best. We use the word sacrifice to emphasize the Christian concept of going beyond what is expected or normal. Yes, we are encouraged to go the extra mile. What can be wrong with this and how can it possibly be considered hypocrisy burning brightly? The answer is rather simple since those in our fellowship are only allowed to offer their best when the best can make it through the filter of “what is appropriate for our congregation!” There is a big difference between what is appropriate and what can be declared sinful.

Reading articles, blogs and discussions on this topic, I’ve often come across the word, “expedient,” which simply means “this addition to our worship is necessary or non-offensive to Christian principles.” The common additions listed often detail the use of song books, microphones, church buildings, located preachers, office staff, etc., and yet in reality, a person simply has to make it past the filter and they are “home free.”

In more recent times, we have seen the addition of praise teams and elaborate audio/visual presentations. Remembering those people who objected to the projection of simple sermon outlines on a screen is almost humorous when I consider the elaborate pictures, PowerPoints, and videos used in our services today. We even have objection to using song slides with music because beautiful motion videos can’t be used to “enhance” the worship experience. I almost fell out of my chair the first time I heard this expression because this is the “root of all evil” when it comes to instrumental worship! How many times have we been told throughout our history that enhancement is wrong? Is this not hypocrisy and is it not burning brightly? I almost sound like I am against this use of audio visual enhancement and yet it simply points to something having made its way through the filter and while I bet it is good for some people, I can remember singing a song recently with Christmas lights flashing off and on in the picture/video behind the words. I was distracted on two levels because I need the music notes in order to make sense of the song and at the end of the song, I could not even tell you the name of the song we had just finished. Was my worship experience enhanced? No, but it was not my Christian place to complain. We recently had a video played during our communion where the words and the instruments used took me to a feeling of really being in the presence of God and yet others were shocked or offended. It was not their Christian place to complain and yet some did, anyway. It was “filtered” out as a mistake of showing the wrong video of two and I believe it was the actual working of God to edify those like me during this service.

Hypocrisy does not rest entirely with the subject of music and the worship experience, but also in other areas of our church experiences with little notice. Even as the thoughts on this area of hypocrisy begin coming forward in my mind, I am excited that I can look forward to bible class each Sunday morning. For what seems like the first time in my adult life, I can go to class knowing that I will leave each week with more knowledge of God than I had before coming to class. My class on Sunday morning is not a “rehash” of the same thing I was taught back in the elementary years. This class, is, week to week, the only “non-milk” I’ve ever had.

While this is an incredible exception to the case, our bible classes are a prime example of what is hypocrisy in our fellowship. We encourage the study of God by our brothers and sisters and with tremendous access to information available we have people devoting time to understanding God in a variety of areas out of the main stream of class study. While they want to know more about God and encouraged to learn more about God, they continue to participate in classes where the same information, though often packaged differently is discussed with Amen! I would suggest we don’t grow in our love because we are in a perpetual state of re-runs when it comes to God. We are bored with Christian education because we never move past the milk.

While I don’t fancy myself as a teacher, I have volunteered to lead class discussions over material I have read and studied concerning the nature of man and final punishment. If it was not filtered out, this would have already taken place and yet, we still have people believing what I now consider to be the “lie of hell” because they have never considered what they have been taught or given an opportunity to openly discuss in a class something I believe has much to say about the character of our heavenly Father and how our portrayal of the character of God to other people DOES HAVE ETERNAL CONSEQUENCES! I have heard it said that the Crusades became the main deterrent to those who might otherwise accept Christianity and I believe our characterization of God does as much to keep people out today. I wish someone could explain to me why we allow our “work for God” to actually work against the will of God.

In closing these thoughts, I offer a simple solution to our problems in the church. We take the filters off and we use everything at our disposal to help us draw others toward God. This might mean I am distracted by some of the visuals I see, others might be distracted by the instruments in a video or actually used in service, people might be uncomfortable discussing topics outside the normal course of study because of the implications it might have on their held beliefs, and we might have others who feel they are being given a performance when someone does a solo for the larger group. The solution just might look a lot like Paul’s comment of being all things to all people and yes, we might actually reach all people rather than just the few who think like me. The question coming to mind as I consider these comments finished, is will I ever be part of a church family willing to leave the 99 to help the ONE? How far are we willing to go for that one person to have a meaningful relationship with God? Only our hypocrisy stands in our way.

Have We Allowed The Bible Too Much Authority In Our Lives?

This question almost seems like heresy when I write it down and I am pretty sure I’ve never heard the question asked by a man of God. I think this thought has been trying to break out in my mind for many years and I know I have come close to making this claim when I have written to encourage men of our faith heritage in the work they do for God. Not common in my writing, you don’t have to read any further for my answer, though I hope you will read on for my explanation. I fully believe the Bible has had way too much influence or authority over the lives of Christians.

Since I have answered the question, I hope you have realized, after the possible shock, how I did not use the phrase commonly associated with the Bible, “the Word of God.” In fact, I would hope most Christians would agree with me when I say we have not allowed the Word of God to have enough influence or authority in our lives. My early understanding of how things worked with God could be summed up with God creating everything, intervening in our past with prophets to direct us toward His offering of Jesus as a sacrifice. Following the resurrection of Jesus, God left us with a few empowered apostles to set His plan for our salvation into action and then after the last of the apostles died, all miracles and interaction between man and God ceased to exist as He would sit back and wait for us to “accept or deny” the gospel of Christ. It was all left up to us! The few capable of hearing, believing, confessing, repenting and being baptized would be saved and all of the masses, possibly not fortunate enough to be born in a Christian nation, would be condemned.

While I held this “indoctrination” for a long time, I can’t help but classify it now as simply ridiculous. In my reasoning, it comes down to whether we actually believe what we are told by the inspired writers of our past. No, I didn’t say Bible! Was Jesus going to send the Holy Spirit to guide and instruct us or not? Possibly, some might believe this promise was being made only to the apostles but, if so, I have to consider the promise of the Holy Spirit coming into my life when I am fully His baptized/announced believer in the plan of God, having joined with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. Do I believe the Holy Spirit is nothing more than a lapel pin worn in the name “Christian” without any Godly interaction?

The Holy Spirit is possibly a greater mystery to us than the people of the first century because we are not willing to accept being controlled by God. We make fun of the phrase, “the devil made me do it, and yet, I fully believe this is what Paul is referring to when he claims the trouble he has with resisting those things he does not want to do. When considering the sinful nature and the new man, are we not being told how we need to respond to the Holy Spirit, living and guiding within us? When doing this, are we not speaking and writing words of encouragement given to others to live according to the guidance of the Holy Spirit as men inspired of God? What causes the thoughts I am writing to run around my head giving me a headache and no rest until I sit down and express them in writing? Am I claiming to be inspired by God as I write these thoughts down? No, these are my words though it is funny to me that the apostle said much the same thing in his letter. No, you the reader are challenged to use the Spirit of God and test all things so you are not led in the wrong direction.

Thinking back to my initial comment and question concerning the Bible, I would suggest the writers felt a need to write those things written and many years later, men got together when they felt a need to share all that had been written and compiled a list of writings we have come to know as the Bible. I would even suggest these men did us a great service in preserving the history of our relationship with God. I would suggest they, also, did us a great disservice because this Bible soon became the authority to rule our relationship with God and effectively pushed the power of our gift, the Holy Spirit, from our lives. With the Holy Spirit eliminated from our reasoning, our thoughts are simply our thoughts. They are not the guidance of the sinful nature or the guidance of God through the Spirit, but simply OUR thoughts.

There is a great sadness in this if it is actually true in our lives and the reality is how it consumes any joy we might have knowing we are guided by the Holy Spirit. I fully believe we have all known people whose very presence is the embodiment of Christ and yet in their old age when they can no longer be as active and powerful a force for Christ, they feel unworthy and even sinful in their life instead of being able to say, “I’ve finished the race, and I’ve fought the good fight.” Rather than live in the joy of our promise, we only see our thoughts and path as ours instead of God’s.

While I could ramble on, my purpose in writing these thoughts is two-fold. First, I don’t think the Bible was finished and published for us with God sitting back with no interaction anymore than I believe the first scenario put forth. I believe the inspired Word of God is still coming to us today through many writers and we should read and consider their thoughts on par with those we have from the “ancient ones.” We need to give the Spirit of God rule in our lives and test what we read and hear through this spirit. Second, I want to encourage men and women I consider to be my mentors even if they would not want their name associated, in anyway with my thoughts. I think we have had thousands of inspired teachers and writers since the creation of the world and for the ones I have known in my life, I pray they will know the joy of having run the race and being inspired by God. If we were compiling the Bible today, I think we would have several books named after them. I can’t help but believe God has already acknowledged them as being after His own heart, much like David.

The Desire of My Heart Is To Be WRONG!

Christianity and the beliefs we hold have the capacity to become static and once learned, our beliefs have a tendency to remain constant rather than change. I have known those who claim to know all that may be known about God and in my reasoning, this belief is frightening. The question I think we should all be asking ourselves is whether we are growing or simply stagnant? I recently moved on from a study I have been considering for over five years and when contemplating the next area of concentration, I was in a state many of us discover when we are either in trouble or close to those facing trials and the concepts we hold about prayer began to consume my every thought. The title of these comments is not just something of a creative nature but the true reflection of my heart as I consider a dramatic change in the way I view prayer.

Much of what I have been considering comes from how I view God. Is there anything God needs revealed, is God a respecter of persons, does God still heal in a miraculous manner in present times, does God ever answer a prayer for physical healing, why do some seem to get “special” dispensations from God and why does God seem to answer the prayers of some and not others are just a few of the ideas bothering me as I consider the nature of prayer and how I believe it works. I do hope the conclusions I’ve been able to make so far are wrong and I hope to find something showing me the conclusions are simply ridiculous.

My current position on prayer of physical healing in the life of myself or someone I might love has taken on the characteristic of being a total waste of breath with no hope of having God intervene or even consider intervening on my request. The expression of a powerful statement of belief as this one, should leave no doubt as to the problem I have in getting someone to discuss the nature of prayer and yet why should this be the case? I think the answer has something to do with the choice of when most of us end up approaching God in prayer. Is it not common for people to fall to their knees in prayer most often when they are in need of God’s intervention due to some tragedy or illness? If I am to believe a larger percentage of our prayers are lifted up in reference to our wellness or the well-being of others, then my statement would seem to destroy the very essence of what many have come to believe in as their only “real” contact with the almighty.

The beginning of my thoughts on prayer go all the way back to the Garden of Eden and the action of God following the sin of Adam and Eve. They were told death was the penalty of eating the forbidden fruit and following their transgression, they were removed from the garden and the entire creation was affected with consequences of their sin. When considering mankind, he was going to suffer greatly and eventually face a physical death. Sickness was now in the world and can I believe the prayers of Adam and Eve were even considered by God for the return of the garden’s perfection in their lives? No, they were destined, with all of those to follow, to endure the aches, pains, sores and sickness leading to eventual physical death. There would be heart aches and suffering when a young child or baby would die. The same would be true of watching a parent or loved one suffer through the torment of bad hips, knees and other physical challenges. It is not hard to consider the prayers going up to God for healing and yet, year after year, He seemed to be distant from His people when asked to eliminate the effects of sin on creation.

As hard as all this is to realize, the real “kink” in all of this is knowing of healing and even the raising of the dead having taken place many times throughout the history of mankind. Prayers have been answered and people have been healed is the greatest challenge to my statement and yet, I have come drawn a conclusion many will find disturbing. This healing is not taking place because of a prayer offered requesting the healing, but rather because God in His divine wisdom and will provides the healing purely for His purpose and not because of the prayerful petitions offered up to Him! I have reached this conclusion because the intervention of God simply as a response to prayer for even one person and not another would cause me to view God as showing favoritism to one person over another. At this time in my life, I can’t accept this view of God.

Having apparently, at least in my own mind, dismissed a foundational concept of the prayer life I once held and currently held by many, I began considering the value of prayer and the purpose of prayer for the people of God. The examples of prayer in the Bible are numerous and even Jesus when asked, gave us direction in our prayers as He prayed what we all have come to know as “The Lord’s Prayer.” After reading through the examples of prayer, I fully believe the main focus or direction of our prayer should fall under the heading demonstrated by the words, “thy Kingdom come and Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” As I see it, our goal and prayers should be to realize God’s will here and now in our lives and our prayers should ask for those things necessary to help us in our chosen task to see God’s will done.

One thing most recently becoming a part of my thinking on prayer concerns the sinful nature of mankind and just what falls under this terminology. We all love and want to be loved by others and this seems to fit well within the context of learning to be like God and see His will done in our daily lives. I’ve also considered this desire might also fall under the scope of sinful nature! If I consider the desires I form each day in my life and the desires God has, it quickly becomes clear my desires are either the will of God or the will of Mike unless I grow closer in my walk where my will is controlled by His will. If I pray for and desire my life to model the goodness of God and the love of God towards others, I find myself fully within the will of God and believe there is not even the slightest chance the expectations of my prayer will not be granted! Are we not told how everything we ask for that is the will of God will be granted? Am I to believe, as some, prayers are weighed by God and the “will” in question is His decision on each prayer or is there real truth in the instruction guiding us to simply pray for those things we know are His will? As an example, do we really believe it is or is not God’s will for us to win a football game. We definitely know it is His will for us to play in way which brings glory to His name. Within the same structured scenario, is God looking to heal our bodies or looking to see our bodies do His will regardless of our health challenges?

Considering all things, if asked for what I would like others to pray for me, I would ask they lift me up to God asking not for my continued health, not for the renewal of strength that seems to be leaving as I get older and not that I lose the weight I’ve put on. Instead, I would ask for the prayers to make me more lovable to others, more caring towards those needing help, more focused on becoming more like Christ each day, more devoted to seeing God’s will done in all things and last of all that the way I live my life under all challenges will bring glory to God.

As I come to the close of this offering, I would have you know of other consideration of prayer on which I have formed or drawn conclusions, possibly for another time of writing. The few statements following are a few found right at the top of my thinking.

1.    I fully believe prayers for others in support of their struggles are GOOD and offer healing on some level. Regardless of whether I believe certain things are addressed by God under the concept of “sometimes He says yes and sometimes He says no, has nothing to do with the support felt by loved ones offering a prayer in their behalf.

2.    Prayer can and should be used as a shield against the desires of Satan to control our lives.

3.    Prayers of every nature concerning the condition of our heart should be offered up to God. (In other words if it is on your heart take it to God in prayer.)

4.    Prayers are either the will of the individual or the will of God and God does not answer yes or no but YES to all of those under “His” heading!

5.    God’s grace is good enough for you and you do not need the desires of your human nature. I believe God addressed this with the Apostle Paul and He did not need to bring about physical healing in Paul for what He needed from Paul.

Trying To Understand God

I'm not sure how long it has been since I read the words from a post in an online discussion group and yet the words, "I fully understand God" still come to my thinking whenI find myself in a reflective state. I still like to ask myself questions I am not sure have answers. Does God want us to understand Him? Is it even possible to understand God?

In my ability to reason, I am not one to believe God wants us to understand Him or expects us to understand. I currently have come to believe the plan of God is perfect in design. I do not believe we have the option of failing because failure is not part of the design. I often make seemingly crazy statements because these are the thoughts and ideas having deceived me for so long and caused me great aggravation. Having taught band for 34 years now, I believe I should have witnessed failure by now in learning.

Our society and educational system appear controlled by defining failure instead of correctly defining success. The same seems true in the church teaching of my youth. All focus was placed on being right before God so, "if I have been found faithful, I will be with God forever." I think I have mentioned before that our success and hearing the words, "well done" will not be the result of our abilities but rather the work of Jesus. I do not believe we have to fully understand the mind of God to fully understand what he wants from us. Simply stated, God desires a demonstration of His love in our lives. Having mentioned not seeing any failure while teaching band in 34 years, I have seen many who would be considered failures and a handful who never chose to put forth any effort. This also seems consistent with what I see in the religious world; no failure but only those with no attempts.

I mentioned my belief of God desiring a demonstration of His love in us and I do not believe He has a list of requirements laid out for us in the bible by which we will be saved when the task is complete. This demonstration of His love I believe to be an open ended opportunity to do good and put others before ourselves. I also believe we are given what I would call a miraculous number of opportunities to demonstrate love. It might be as simple as seeing a piece of paper on the floor and rather than leave it for someone else we choose to do a good thing and pick it up.

We have probably all seen the person we think of as having no goodness in their lives. Every choice seems to be one of selfishness and completely devoid of characteristics we might define as being good. When I think of God's perfect plan, I know a complete understanding of how things work out is not something I can probably ever comprehend and yet the major focus of my faith in God is of His plan being perfect and working out in the end regardless of my ability to comprehend. When I consider these ideas, I always think back to the first chapter in Romans and am reminded that all that may be known about God is clearly evident by his creation so that we are without excuse. Regardless of what one might call it, I am convinced everyone born has access to the will of God and makes the choice in their individual life as to whether they will pursue goodness (God) or a life contrary to God. My faith in the perfection of God and His plan does not allow for failure but only a choice of answering God with , "yes, I choose to be like you."

How many mistakes can I make is a foolish question when God's plan is not limited to the number of times I need forgiveness but rather His choice to forgive and my choice in my heart to be like Him. Being human leaves me with a myriad of opportunities for failure and yet the desire of my heart is to be like Him.

In band, I focus on what can be better and as each student accomplishes even the smallest of tasks, I am joyful for their success. While my mind might desire flawless precision and intonation, I am aware that some will get closer than others and none will achieve the perfection I desire. Every child I've seen choose to play has gotten better and it is my choice to view even the slightest improvement as success. I also believe God views us in much the same way. We are not all going to approach godliness at the same rate when choosing to do good and so making comparisons between ourselves and the "goodness" of another simply allows us to define failure in our lives. When thinking of the educational system, I have to laugh when I see proof demanded of a student mastering certain concepts.

We never master anything and mastering the life of a Christian is also beyond our abilities. We simply live the life of a Christian because we want to be like the Master. If Christianity were a game, we can't even produce a DRAW! The best thing about God's game is Him allowing you to pick the winning side. There is room for all!

Why Do People Hate Christians?

I've mentioned previously how wonderful it is to be with my 7th grade students on question day and today was no exception. I love being asked questions about God and my faith because it becomes not only an opportunity to tell someone what I believe on a given topic but also a time of personal reflection so I can examine more fully what I believe. The promise is always the same since I don't claim to be any type of "authority" on religion or scripture. Simply said, I enjoy talking about God and if you ask me a question you will get an answer from my currently formed beliefs.

While it has not been asked, I absolutely believe the Holy Spirit is active in our lives today and even guides our thoughts as to those things profitable for the work of God around us. I currently believe the writers of our bible were inspired by the Holy Spirit and I believe the Holy Spirit is currently, yes in 2012, inspiring many people in exactly the same way. In something I wrote not long ago, I used much liberty in announcing this belief and actually wrote something like, "caught up in the spirit I find it necessary to write the following," and there were questions asked as to whether I was on drugs or some new medicine. The point, probably delivered in this way because I knew the reader did not believe, was how I believe God still speaks to His people and through His people. It is not about whether I am or right or wrong but rather the expression of a belief I hold.

A similar belief was expressed to me by one of my "lunch" friends in saying I write way too much when trying to convey a simple thought and most will probably believe she is correct. I simply like to write and feel a need to make some sort of transition to the subject at hand, "Why Do People Hate Christians," asked today in class.

When reading the questions, I usually finish reading and simply start talking with the expectation of God helping me to say what is necessary for discussion or thought and today the thought came quickly, "take out your bibles and turn to Romans two."

Verses 23 and 24 seemed to jump out at me and so I began my answer with these two scriptures, "You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? As it is written: "God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you," and I believe the truth of this coming to me at this time from the Holy Spirit speaks to why we are hated as a people.

An earlier question concerning why people want to predict the end of the world was answered with the concept/belief of some people simply wanting to feel superior/smarter than others. I think, as Christians, we have often left this impression, with our "bragging," of being superior to others. We know the "Good News" of what has been provided and yet the "Good News" we share is YOU ARE LOST AND GOING TO HELL!

Even as these words come into thought, I find it hard to believe how many people of my past heard this terrible news from my lips. I'm still not sure why any Christian needs to reference the sin or "assumed" sin of another individual but it has to be something related to a desire of superiority of position. Even if the belief of everyone going to hell with the exception of my one specific little group was true, I have to understand the action of telling someone else they are condemned can't possibly be the right path to helping them understand the "Good News" from God. The message, the example (if we need one) from Acts 2 is not, "you are all condemned," but rather look what took place followed by, "what must I do."

One thing really bothering me about this question is the idea of those not being connected with the church actually not being on my radar when considering how we are treated as Christians. The ones often causing us the most concern or showing the most hatred of Christian men and women seem to be those with a professed love of God and the Christian way of life. I see the struggles we have within our own church congregations and the failures we have of living/worshiping together as a body of Christ and I wonder how we can go to our bibles week after week and then treat those who love God so poorly. Possibly, this was the focus and reasoning behind the statement to do good to all of mankind and particularly the believers.

Even if the thought of helping someone grow closer to God is the actual motivating force behind our actions and condemnation of our brothers and sisters, it would seem we would soon rise to a level of maturity capable of realizing how our condemnation is not effective and simply allowing others to see the joy in our lives and the work of Christ lived out in our lives would be more effective. In considering this, I am also drawn back the passage in Romans and realize the way we treat those of our own number is constantly on display for all to see and we actually bring a dishonorable view of God to those who see us fighting and condemning each other for "wrong" beliefs.

Having discussed my way around the possibility of some wanting to feel superior and even making comparisons of themselves with others to "prove" their own level of salvation, I am suddenly prompted to return once again to my opening comments for my current solution or believe of why this is happening among believers.

Our actions promoting a feverish attempt to "save" the lost and make sure others understand the "true" will of God show we do not have a belief in the Holy Spirit completing the work of God on earth. We become "reason enough" for not wanting anything to do with Christianity and, as I mentioned recently in another writing, it can't be possible for the Holy Spirit to be responsible for the bringing of salvation because it seems to good to be true. In all of this, the concept or belief of someone not receiving salvation due to a failure on our part is something I grew up believing and still struggle with today.

Though I may be wrong, I can't believe God allows the mortality of man to keep someone from the salvation He provided. The song, "No One Ever Mentioned Him To Me," might be true enough regarding the interaction of man to man but I fully believe the Holy Spirit has offered opportunity after opportunity for everyone to make the choice of being with God and being an heir to the promises of God.

The Holy is Spirit is doing His part (100%) and I am doing my part (0% of value), simply because I want others to know what has, is and will be taking place.

One Church

Throughout most of my adult life I have been fortunate to visit and be hired to play my horn in a number of denominations. While having a great discussion one evening during a faculty dinner, I was asked, "what church have you not played in," and I quickly replied, "my own." He seemed a bit embarrassed for asking the question and humorous to me was the fact I do so by choice. Things we grow up with feel familiar and problems only exit when we consider our decisions to be the right way or only way.

While it was appropriate for Jesus to say, "I am the way," we often need not look past our own groups to find those who equate themselves with Jesus and make claim to a similar statement, "this is the right way and those who don't agree are not welcome." Before straying too far in my thinking, it is important for me to remind myself how Jesus is the only way. As I begin a statement to say I believe there are a myriad of right possibilities in the life of every individual, I am not saying there is a variety of names or methods by which one is saved. I fully believe God will use the blood of His son to cover those He acknowledges as part of His family and according to His plan. According to this plan and not the understanding of me as a human will God find us "not guilty" through what Jesus finished on the cross.

As a child, one of the memory verses I had to learn was Romans 1:16 because it was important for me to understand I was not to be ashamed of the Gospel. Oddly, it was not until this past year when I discovered the power of verse 17 and realized the significance of the Gospel (for me) is found in the righteousness of God being revealed to us through Christ. In my reading, the importance of this statement if found in the expression of knowing the righteous will live by faith.

Yes, I believe we can be successful living for God in this generation because we are not held to a system of perfection, but one of righteousness through faith. WE CAN DO THIS! Under the Law of Moses, man had to live a perfect life to be successful and even then, there were those who lived by faith (through faith) and were found pleasing to God. I am convinced God found favor in them the same way He finds favor with us. Jesus/God was willing to live the life of perfection in our place and in His sacrifice credit us with His perfection. The faith then and now was placed in God and not our ability to direct our own path correctly. Having expressed this, it is my conviction the "One Church" exists in the favor of God, not because we are doing the right things, but specifically because we choose righteousness of action over evil/wickedness in our lives and ultimately place our faith, not in our ability of obedience, but in the righteousness of our savior, Jesus.

Possibly a long time getting to the point but we are capable of living radically different and yet righteous styled lives for God through faith. The myriad of paths we can follow are not found in a choice of savior but again, a choice of righteous acts. We are instructed to encourage our brothers and sisters to goodness, kindness and acts of love. We are not instructed to demand specific acts of righteous behavior if we are to be saved. I believe in an endless possibility of living a life imaged after the life of Christ in righteous behavior and be pleasing to God.

The "One Church" is not to be defined by the appropriate creed or the pattern of worship practiced on any given day but instead, defined by the one who was successful for all of us in His life. The true church, the One Church, is made up of all who through many trials and failures continues living a life style of righteousness patterned after the righteousness revealed in the Gospel. It is our faith in Jesus being responsible for 100% of our salvation which allows us the freedom from our mistakes and worry concerning the condition of our salvation.

I have not always been at this point in my life but I now can tell those, who might hear, "ANYTHING GOES" for him that seeks after righteousness. Find something good and do it even if I don't like it or believe it is not right for me. As part of the "One Church," find something good to do and enjoy your freedom of life in Christ.

Too Good To Be True?

In our daily walk, we are heavily influenced by many aspects of human nature when challenged to understand God's message to us. Having grown up and having been indoctrinated with the concept of the road to heaven being so narrow, I came to believe few of those professing Christian beliefs would "make the cut" on judgment day. I have chastised others and been chastised myself for suggesting that salvation is not challenging to obtain, but rather easy.

As I read through the Bible and hear God speaking to me, I find it increasingly difficult to believe God would give His son in such a cruel form of death and then make His offering into a life or death game of chance where I attempt to discover and meet the expectations of God and finally be given my reward. In fact, I can answer now and save all of us the pain of attempting this feat since none of us is capable of meeting the expectations of God. If we have to be obedient for salvation, we have already failed in our first sin. Basing our hope on obedience becomes a game of how much or what percentage of obedience is required since total failure is acknowledged with our first sinful act. If we come to God with the expectation of being judged according to our obedience on any level, we fail and should expect condemnation.

When we consider the death of Christ as forgiving all sin, we find ourselves in a position of having no penalty for the sin in our lives because it has been forgiven. I fully believe this to be the thought on Paul's mind when he asks the question of whether we should continue in sin so grace would abound. Let it not be said we can sin as much as we want because our sin is already forgiven.

I find myself coming very close to the sense of Universalism as I consider and even now believe the sacrifice of Christ forgave all sin and therefore reconciled all men to God. Where I differ in my thoughts from the Universalist is in my belief that some will perish because they simply choose to leave the family of God.

In the tradition of my youth, the churches of Christ, I was taught the concept of what it took , from us, to gain admittance to the family. We were responsible for the covering by the blood of Jesus and we were the ones, through our obedience, responsible for coming into contact with the blood of Jesus. We, not Jesus, became responsible for our salvation via the choices we made. My current thoughts center on Jesus being responsible for our salvation and payment has already been made for my sin. My choice then would not be on how to become reconciled with Christ but rather the choice I make not to leave God's family. I see these thoughts being much more than semantics because I now look completely to the grace of God which has provided salvation for everyone. My choice now is so much different because I choose to grow the relationship established freely from God or deny the offering and not one of "what must I do to be saved."

It sounds so easy and from the world view, we come to believe it can't possibly be true since we have been indoctrinated daily with the view of "nothing being this easy. As I write these words, I am reminded of a question asked recently by one of my seventh grade students. The question, "why is the bible so confusing," was one I have asked many times during my life and only recently begun to answer for myself and remain consistent with what I am learning from the reading of the Bible. We make the bible a source of confusion when we attempt to decipher the "hidden" message of God. We can't allow ourselves the simplicity of a plan where all details (that matter) have already been taken care of by God and we are simply the recipients of this tremendous gift. It is too good to be true and so we search for the "right way" where only a few dedicated and faithful servants might discover the path missed by so many.

While I can applaud the life of and individual attempting to make their lives as perfect and appealing to God as is possible, I find our problem becoming one of attaining a greater level of understanding and service becoming a source of "correctness" for all of God's people. We then take our knowledge of how things should be in our own life and with comparison to others, we begin our life of judging the salvation of others. Our initial judgment might only be born of a desire to share Christ more fully with those we love and yet it can easily become an open condemnation of someone not accepting the truth of God.

Rather than being a positive influence of Christ in the lives of those we love, we become the source of confusion and successfully steal the joy of God from their lives with doubt. Our influence becomes one of reminding others of how the offering of Christ was not sufficient and how we need to, not only add our part, but add our part accurately. We take "it is finished" and turn the tables on God as we choose to become "worthy" of His offering.

Yes, we miss the point of being able to accept how none of us can ever be worthy. We miss the realization of how much God really loved His creation and how truly wonderful the gift is given for all of us.

For man, it is too good to be true because we have no understanding of GOOD! We have no real understanding of God who is defined by GOOD. Salvation is not too good to be truly a gift because it comes from God, not man. I pray we not live any longer in the bondage of men requiring so much more than God would require from all of us who will never be worthy.