The Easy Way

When I feel like I'm not strong enough... I have to sit back and think about exactly what that means.

What is it that I'm not strong enough for?

When a drunk driver gets into a car wreck, his body is limp and relaxed, providing more of a chance that he'll just bounce around until he finds somewhere soft to land. The sober driver, the person just driving home from the family Christmas event with their entire family in the car, intending on going to sleep and waking up in the morning to put in another 8 hours of work to continue to afford their happy little life... they're the ones that die. They're the ones who get screwed in the situation while that drunk bastard walks away with a scratch on his arm and a poor excuse for a punishment.

That's one example of those living in sin living without suffering.

Here's another.

When you've devoted your life to an unseen entity that tells you to be a certain way, to not question why things are how they are but to just do... You're surrounded yourself with people like you who abstain from the sins called premarital sex, perverted sex, debauchery, theft, etc. because you're told to embrace each other and hold each other high...

Yet there's not enough there to keep them interested. There's nothing excting about sitting around a table reciting the same old jargon written ages ago and forgetting it as soon as you walk out the door. There's nothing thrilling about sitting down on a couch next to several people and watching a movie or TV show. There's absolutely nothing lively about being that way. Where's the excitment? Where's the exhiliration?

It's in sin. That's where it is. When you're living in sin, you've got buddies.

Let me explain.

"Christian" friends fail to remember to invite other "Christians" places. They forget to call. They forget birthdays, important dates... Rather than taking a day off work to support a friend at an important event in their life, they'd rather just work. Plenty more examples but you get the idea by now.

Now throw alcohol into the mix. Throw sex in there too. Throw in parties, music, dancing, all the things that Eve's Apple represent.

Now you've got a reason to invite people. Now you've got something extraordinary in common with your friends. Now there's excitement, now there's a reason to change your plans, to take a day off work, to put your own agenda aside to attend another friends event.

I don't think it's just spurious correlation here, I'm certain that it's a pattern.

Most Christians are not there for each other because in complete honesty, there is nothing exciting about God. Why is that?

It's not God's fault. He's a very theatrical dude.

It's religions fault. It's the fault of the church. You're told when to stand, you're told when to sit, you're told when to worship and when to listen and finally when to go to lunch.

After it all, the lights are killed and the doors are locked. Go home, God has to make his lunch appointment apparently.

Just who in the hell put you in the position to decide God's schedule, exactly? I'd love to know.

I put up a couple signs in a Catholic church on friday. Apparently they have morning mass on Friday, I did not know that.

It was half past 9, mass ended at 9. A handful of patrons remained in the sanctuary. Not couples, not groups, individuals. Sitting there, praying. Reading from the good book. Kneeling at the altar. Basking in God's presence.

Church for me ends promptly at 12 noon. We're dismissed. People stand around in the fellowship hall for around 10 minutes, then someone turns off the lights and locks the doors, and everyone scurries off to lunch or wherever else. What if I wanted to remain in the church? What if I wanted to stay in God's presence just a little longer?

When I'm told that we can't fit a 5 minute long skit into the service because people get anxious to leave at noon... I start to wonder just what exactly I'm doing at this place. Obviously the focus of Mason First Church of the Nazarene is NOT to serve the Lord but to ease the conscious with the thought that "Hey, I went to church, now I'm not a sinner anymore, so I can go on with my week".

Church is not a rest stop for the conscience. Church is a Head Quarters.

So what is it that I'm not strong enough for?

I'm not strong enough to be a Christian. Not because putting sin itself aside is hard... Because I can do that. I can say no to drugs and alcohol. I can say no to premarital sex.

I'm not strong enough to be a Christian because of the way other Christians treat me. I can't take it. It hurts me to be treated as if I'm irrelevant. When a man or woman of God is impartial to your existence, that feeling will do a lot to shake your faith.

I don't plan on delving into sin. I'm uncomfortable with alcohol, drugs, and I'm still sticking to my vow to wait until I'm married to have sex. That's a personal thing, it never had anything to do with my religious convictions.

But church is not for me. I love the charity, the missionary work... but somewhere, some major piece of the puzzle has fallen away and in order for the church to function as it should, we need to find it and put it back into place. Until then, the church will remain in a state of chaos and decay, furthering the public image that it's a plague to society until finally relgion IS banned from public altogether.

Can't say I'd blame them at this point.