The Modern Church

When I ask "What is the modern church doing these days?," how many people can give me an answer that tells me what their church is doing? I feel like the church has fallen asleep these last couple of decades. Yes, I know there are a lot of churches out there that donate to their local food drive, their homeless shelters, ring bells for salvation army, and do small things like that. But I'm talking about the church getting out there and getting themselves heard in the real world. In the political world, I can hardly pick out a true Christian. There aren't many if there are.

Also, what does the term Christian even mean anymore? I extremely dislike the term Christian in today's culture. People use the term much too freely. Almost anyone who attends church today says they are a Christian. But what they don't understand is that by using that term to describe themselves, they are conveying to a non-believer that whatever that "Christian" does must be okay according to Christian belief. They might go out and have a good time at a bar and get drunk all week and then go to church Sunday and still say they're a Christian. They might abuse their spouses and still say they're Christian. They may be homosexual, but still say they are Christian. They may even be asked what a Christian is and not be able to answer or maybe just say "Christian's go to church". But this is none of what being a Christian is about. What does the term "Christian" really mean? Webster's Dictionary defines Christian as one who professes belief in Jesus Christ. Nazarene.org says that "A Christian is a follower of the Christ, Jesus of Nazareth. (Acts 11:26)." I don't think that the term Christian is either of those things. I define a Christian as being on fire for Jesus, spreading the word of Jesus, changing lives, keeping God's commandments and Jesus' commandments, believing in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and loving others. Both definitions before were defining the term Christian as a noun. But I believe Christian shouldn't to be a noun, but a verb! Going, doing, loving. Those all end in a verb suffix.

A Christian that is going does not mean going to church. A Christian should go to church, but that's not all one should do. They need to go to church because God told us to. He has a reason for everything. His reasoning behind this is so that we can be renewed in our faith and be given new energy to go out and spread the word. Not so that we can say "Yea. I'm a Christian. I go to church." But so we can associate with our brothers and sisters in Christ and reunite with the elders of our church who have been spreading the gospel longer and they are more experienced so they can give us some wisdom into the spreading of His word.

Another thing is the people of the church like to do things to say look at me and what I'm doing. Look what I'm doing for this church. Look at how good I am. These are not the right reasons we should be doing this. Which means we shouldn't say these things. We should just do these things and shut up.

One more thing I want to touch on, is the preacher and pastor debate in my head. How many people think preacher and pastor mean the same thing? A lot. I'm one of the few that know the difference, having different generational pastors and preachers. I've had at least four generational preachers and pastors. A preacher is someone that preaches at a congregation. A preacher has a day where he takes the day off. A preacher is someone you talk to at church on Sunday. A preacher is someone that works a few days a week and gets paid a butt-load of money for three-to-four hours of lecturing. When I say lecturing, I mean, he basically tells you the background information on the text, what each word means in the original language, and how it relates to our life.

A pastor is someone who loves and prays with you and for you and each member of his congregation. A pastor talks to you on Sunday. A pastor comes to the hospital for you and your family whenever he can, even when his wife is in the hospital at the same time. A pastor does NOT have a day off. A pastor gets excited in his message to the congregation. A pastor can preach with little-to-no notes. When a pastor gets out of the script, he lets the Holy Spirit do the talking. I met one pastor who does all of his bible stories/sermons from memory. These are legitimately an hours worth of sermons and he does it all from memory. That's impressive! This means that he knows his stuff! He knows the story backwards and forwards. A pastor appreciates prayer requests and praises before during and after his sermon. He does not try to move on before they're done just to get his sermon in. I also knew a pastor that would move his sermon or parts of it to another Sunday because he couldn't get finished in a reasonable time.

What is the church doing about gay marriage? I'm actually hearing that the Nazarene denomination actually has a gay/lesbian church. This is for all the gay/lesbian people to go to church. I'm not saying that the church should condemn them and not love them and push them out of the love of Christ. I'm merely saying that the church should not be pushing the gay/lesbian church. It makes it seem like the church is backing up homosexuality. Like we think it's okay. The bible clearly says "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them." (Leviticus 20:13 KJV)

Why is the church not doing anything about divorce? I mean, there is so much divorce throughout the country. Everyone thinks that divorce is for people that grew up outside the church, for people that aren't in church, but there is just as much divorce in the church as there is outside of it. Divorce is not supposed to happen. I'm sorry to all you that are divorced and are in the church, but it shouldn't happen unless there is abuse in the relationship. The bible says "I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery." (Matthew 19:9 NIV). So if the other is immoral to you or if the other lies with another woman it is okay for you to divorce and remarry. Also, "But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or the sister is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace." (1 Corinthians 7:15). If your spouse is an unbeliever and they leave it is okay to divorce and remarry.

There are a lot of things that bust my buttons with the Christian faith tradition and there are so many of them that sometimes I wonder if I should even be associated with the Christian faith. Maybe I should just make up my own denomination. I mean, there are a lot of them already, what's one more?

And that's what Richard says....