One of my best friends now did just that to me two years ago when I first met him "oh, another one of those judgmental Bible believing Christians, well let me poke holes in all her theories, and prove to her how dumb it is to believe what she does." So over the next year and a half my Atheist friend would take every opportunity to challenge what I believed, and introduced me to friends of his who shared his opinions, and we would spend hours on debates. But I noticed through all of this, all of them thought of Christians as people who were very judgmental, arrogant, uneducated in their religion, prideful, hypocritical, selfish people. Having all this thrown on me came as a shock.
"Why are Christian denominations the biggest targets?" (http://religiousconflicts.blogspot.com/)
I was not ignorant of the fact that these types of "Christians" existed, but this idea had never met me on a personal level. Now it had. This became a great source of frustration for me as I began to critique the lives of the Christian people around me; some I found were this way, others were not...then I turned the critiquing on myself. I also became more aware of instances on the news concerning "Christians"...
"http://www.videonewslive.com/view/490022/prominent_pastor_accused_of_molestation"
and
"http://articles.cnn.com/2010-07-29/us/florida.burn.quran.day_1_american-muslims-religion-cair-spokesman-ibrahim-hooper?_s=PM:US"
...both instances in which most of us are now familiar. These sorts of things bring a lot of criticism on Christians, something that effects people nation wide, even me.
But the other day while driving to school, on the radio I heard of a Church advertising it's self as "What a Bunch of JERKS!" Finally someone who has got it right! This is exactly how I had begun to feel over the past two years, and now someone was admitting it. Here is what the Church had to say...
What a bunch of JERKS!
The church has failed. That’s right; we’ve messed up, big time. The church was SUPPOSED to be a reflection of the God it claimed to serve. The church was SUPPOSED to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ. But, for the most part, the church has failed.
Our failure has left a bad taste in people’s mouths. Our mistakes have led to a lack of credibility. Our messes have caused people to seek answers for this life elsewhere. And really, who could blame people for giving up on the church? Ghandi had a very good point when he said “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
What a bunch of jerks. Prideful, hypocritical, selfish, judgmental jerks.
At Christ Covenant Church, do you know what our response is? Guilty as charged. We are fed up with it just as much as you are. We’ve failed. We’ve failed you, we’ve failed each other, and the worst part is that we’ve failed to act like Jesus. And it’s time to own up to our failure because only then can we turn it around. So no more sugar coating it, no more pretending.
That’s what this is all about. We’ve decided that we want to turn it around. We may not be able to change the past, but we can sure change the future. And we want to. We want to be a reflection of the God that we serve. We want to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
...To which a media source replied "Humility. What a concept! "
Here I go...
ReplyDeleteChristianity is one of the top three biggest religions on the face of the planet. With so many people out there calling themselves Christians, there are bound to be many hypocrites. But personally, I'm sick and tired the stereotype that ALL Christians and the religion as a whole are/is hypocritical, judgmental, and naive. Because it isn't the religion that acts that way, it is the individual people. The same way there are radical Muslims who go out and bomb the Twin Towers, there are stupid Christians. But the actions of individuals shouldn't reflect the reputation of the whole.
...
My second point is that I, too, can SEEM like a hypocritical Christian. That's because it's extremely difficult to live up to everything that I know I should be. But the reason that I still consider myself a good, religious person is because 1) I acknowledge that I'm not perfect, and 2) I work to improve myself. I don't believe that I am superior or perfect in anyway. Instead, I learn from my mistakes and don't continue making them. I attempt to be the best person that I can be; and even if I fail often, isn't it better to strive for perfect than to not strive at all?
I like and agree with your comment :) and yes, " to strive for perfection" IS better "than to not strive at all" :)
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