Love is the Better Way



It was hard to sit through a sermon centered on guilt.

It was harder to hear guilt described as how the Holy Spirit shapes Christians to be better disciples.

 

No.

Please, no.

 

If we wish to follow the model of Christ, we do not teach "the sinners" to feel guilty about  their "sin."

He.Did.Not.Do.This.


He Loved.

He did not chastise "the sinner." He chastised the Religious.


We do not change the hearts of people through fear.

Love changes hearts.

Jesus loved.

Do this.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Turn the Other Cheek

Today we were asked to "remember the tragic events of September 11th, 2001."   Every year I am reminded that the REACTION to this event was part of a turning point for me.  I had, like a "good Evangelical Christian," voted for George Bush. I was raised to believe that Christians should vote Republicans because Republicans would behave like Christians. Then I heard Mr. Bush say we would "get them." My first thought was, "Wait. Did Jesus teach retribution and revenge?" I heard many of my fellow church family saying it was important to fight back against the "evil Muslim extremists." I penned and sent an open letter to George Bush, begging he reconsider lashing out at whoever we deemed was the obvious aggressor.  In our own wisdom, we automatically assume that retaliation is best, for it shows strength. Retaliation shows more than strength. Retaliation shows that we our proud of our values. Retaliation proclaims that these values are
Read more

psst. God Didn't Say "Sin"

When God found Adam and Eve after eating the fruit... Did He say anything about sin? Did He say anything about hell? Did He say anything about needing to offer sacrifices as penance? Did He establish any system for "corrective action?" Nope. He just made sure to remove them from the garden before they ate from the tree of eternal life and lived forever in shame. Sin and punishment are not God's idea. They are man's.
Read more

The Business of Church

If the title of this post didn't make you cringe, read on. If it made you cringe a bit, you can probably stop reading now. We likely already feel the same way. In my recent post , I lamented about "the Mission" of the church. In that post I was primarily concerned with the focus many churches seem to have of growing their membership. Let's also think a minute about the role of a church "service." Why do we meet for "worship services?" It is this focus that causes "church splits" and why those outside organized religion often shake their heads.  Churches spend time tweaking, debating, and lamenting changes to make "the best worship experience." I would ask that church organizations pause and ask, "What is the purpose of a church worship service?" If your purpose is to entertain or "invite everyone to experience God," then, by all means, keep tweaking and debating.  If your goal is to create a weekly experience
Read more