Thursday, March 29, 2007

Things Should Make Sense!

Can you tell which point I'm on?

Call me crazy, but it just seems to me that things should make sense. I'm not for war. I wish we weren't in Iraq, but didn't we go there to change the government that supported and sponsored terrorist? And now, who are we fighting? An army? No, terrorist groups, both insurgent and sectarian, and because terrorist groups are making it tough to establish the government we helped set up, we need to pull out? Doesn't make sense to me. I don't want another drop of American blood to be spilt in Iraq, but I also don't want us to let the three thousand plus men and women who died there to have died for nothing. That's the lesson of Vietnam, not being bogged down in a protracted war! Sometimes things in the world don't make sense to me.

Sometime things in religion don't make sense to me. If the Greek word for "church" is ekklesia, which means "the called out" or contextually and literally, "God's people," how can we go to something we are? "Church" is used in the New Testament in only two ways. It refers to the universal church or body of believers, and/or a specific group of believers meeting in a place or district. I'm as much the church when I'm alone as I am when I'm with a gathering of Christians. It never was a building or an institution. It never really was a name. It describes who belongs to God - those who have been "called out of the world" by Him. So - going to church is really - going to Christians?

I also don't understand how an awesome concept has been turned into a dirty word by some of "the faithful" in our fellowship. How did "Change Agent" become a dirty word, a nasty label, a mark of the devil? The real question should be "How can any child of God NOT be an agent of change?" Stay tuned! I'm working on an identification list. I want to present a Top Ten ways "You know you're a Change Agent if..."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Preach it bro!

Anonymous said...

Great post! I didn't grow up in the COC. I was brought up in the COC with a piano, otherwise known as the Christian Church. I have been so blessed the past month by individuals sharing the Greek text and what that meant in the context of the culture in which it was written/directed to. I'm so burned out with "church" right now because of years of legalism! I do not blame anyone, but it is amazing just how much damage a culture of legalism can cause on a person. I'm thankful that there is nothing I can do that can make God love me less. That is a God I can run to and live for! It's amazing that for over 20 years I lived a life where my salvation changed minute to minute.