Is God Going Out of Style??

I am often amazed at the lack-of God's love shown by Christians or better yet, "church folks". They can sometimes quote numerous scriptures and chastise others for not abiding by the Word of God but yet fail to apply the scripture to themselves and LIVE the Word they are professing. Some would argue that the bible is a matter of interpretation and that is somewhat true. However, the most riveting, non-disputable facet of the bible is Jesus Christ. The life he lived, the power of his love, the selflessness of his death and the unwavering measure of His grace and mercy. Somehow Christ has become diluted in the lives of Christians. The bitter, confrontational, judgmental, unforgiving, unloving behavior of some does not mirror the Jesus I know.

What we fail to realize is that we cannot force people to believe what we believe. It's call choice. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Rev3:20) It does not say behold I stand at the door and knock, whether or not any man hears my voice, I am busting the door in and forcing him to believe because I know his soul is headed for destruction.

T.D. Jakes writes:
Many times majority groups think that their views control the country, which for me as a Christian is a great idea. But what happens when and if the numbers switch and we aren’t the majority? The founding fathers created a democratic system that separated church from state so that, as a country, we could avoid the slippery slope of getting into the business of telling people what to believe. That is a job they left to be determined by the individual, the synagogue, the mosque and the church!

A country that has one national religion as its only compass is much more of a theocracy than a democracy. That kind of tyranny leads to witch burning, spiritual genocide, forced and fraudulent expressions of faith, and God knows what else. As wonderful as faith is, faith out of control can be lethal.

I love democracy because it is designed to keep the government from telling me when and how to serve communion, and it allows room for debate without dominance. Religious people will never agree on everything within or outside of the bounds of the church. Democracy allows that debate without polluting it further with political intervention as long as that debate doesn’t infringe on another human’s rights. Lately, it is my view that religion has become increasingly a servant to politics, and whenever a flame is needed to move a candidate or party closer to power, they ignite the flame of the faith community by playing on controversial issues and fear. This isn’t new religious jargon; it’s the same lingo that moved the civil rights movement forward. It disannulled the religious language that slave owners used to justify their hideous abuse of African men and women in our history. Communism enforced an atheistic view that denied its citizens the pursuit of an open practice of faith.

Why is it that:

• We only show up to fight other people in the press, but never to love anyone or help anyone. We appear angry and militant,
• Faith groups are locked behind stained glass windows while other groups and ideas have taken their messages to Hollywood and elsewhere, reaching people where they are, rather than asking people to come to them,
• We have allowed our message to become contaminated with politics and self-interest,
• Religious people and their self-righteous piety have lost the respect of the secular world.

Could it be:

• Faith is leaving organized religion and becoming a matter of personal relationships that are seemingly more meaningful than associations incubated behind hallowed walls.