Tuesday, November 12, 2013

If Paul could see us now....

So, sometimes the question arises "What, houseparents, do you do all day the kids are gone?" And my answer is "The same thing normal parents do... Try to get everything done in time to be able to nap/relax before school is out." One of those relaxing things I enjoy is...

Court shows.

Not gonna lie, I LOOOOOVE court shows!

Judge Judy, Judge Alex, Judge Mathis, Justice for All, pretty much all of them except Paternity Court, which I don't watch because I can't stand it.

I love watching these shows because it's such  fascinating glimpse into the American psyche. And it's frequently cringe-worthy to see how appalling people's behavior in court is. Now I understand a lot of that if for dramatic affect, but here are some of my favorites:

-A man walked up to the Judge to hand her some papers, instead of giving them to the bailiff
-A lady went off on a huge diatribe and wouldn't let the Judge get a word in
-A teen referred to the Judge as a "stupid b***h" (she was thrown out of the court and fined)
-A man walked out of court
- A lady's witness verified the opposition's story, not hers
-A lady brought in a lease that had been whited out and re-typed in several places (all of which conveniently played into her story)

The list could go on and on. But never, and I do mean NEVER have I seen one of these shows that made me straight up angry until today.

A woman was suing her pastor. She wanted her tithe back since she had been "banned" from the church.

......

It makes my stomach turn thinking about it!

There are just SOO many things wrong with that! First of all, it turns out the lady had her facts wrong. She wasn't banned, she was just asked not to be disruptive. It turns out, she only sang hymns. Even if the church was singing contemporary music. Even if she had to rush the stage, knock over an elderly deacon, take the microphone from the pastor and belt out "Amazing Grace" over top of the worship team....

Ugh, just... no... why would you... aaaagh!!

So, needless to say, the church had a court kindly issue a cease and desist order for disrupting the service, which she took to mean "you can't come to church here" because it would *ahem* "prevent her from worshiping God how she felt led to worship Him..."

*sigh*

So yeah, she wanted her tithe back because she paid her due and she'll be damned before she lets her money go to some lily-livered-contemporary-music-singing pansy church. The whole idea of that makes me sick. Here I was thinking people at least had a basic grasp of what church was about. Oh well, a man can dream, I guess.

This leads us to the title: If only Paul could see us today. I can see it now: "Paul's Epistle to the American Church, Volume 1 of 27, Chapter 1-77". We understand so little, though we have the Bible's guidance on so many of these issues.

It hurt, in the totally physical sense of the word, to watch the audience in the courtroom exchanging grins and laughing at the pathetic display of "Christianity". And the pastor wasn't blameless either. His chief concern was that he was "losing families". That's right, not "it's disrespectful to God" or "it's a distraction from the testimony of music to the lost". The issue is tithe checks walking out the door.

At least it resolved with the lady and the pastor agreeing to forgive and move on, but by that point, they were entirely written off already!

This, ladies and gentlemen, is why Paul tells the church not to take each other to court. It succeeds in nothing except making us look like ignorant, selfish, jerks. We are supposed to be able to sort these things out ourselves. We are not to be airing our laundry in the courts of law!

I know there's not a lot of meat here, and frankly that's because I'm too tired/irritated about the subject to piece together some logic and stuff, but perhaps I will write more on this later.

But what I did think up was this following "what if" type mental exercise. Now, as a disclaimer, I do not intend at all to pass of my own writing as Scripture. I simply mean to imitate the style used by John in the book of Revelations. I am very wary of the warnings about adding to Scripture, so I don't wish at all to give that impression.



TO THE ANGELS OF THE CHURCHES IN AMERICA, WRITE THIS:

The One who judges the heart and mind says this: I know of your works, how you give to the poor and needy in your cities, as well as in cities in countries far and near. I know how you strive to be all things to all people, and to reach as many as possible with the message. I know how you labor diligently and steadfastly in the faith to preserve teaching and doctrine.

But this I have against you: Your doctrine is not mine, and your teachings are not My own. Your message of acceptance and unity with all is not My Gospel. You lust and you crave money, and the pride of having the biggest buildings and most services. You give what you can spare to others, never once giving of yourself, but merely of what you have left over, just as you do with Me. Your hearts are hard and calloused to the notion of sacrificial love, and you miss entirely the point of My Son's death for you. You argue and fight over petty things, in front of the entire world you drag My Name in the dirt and cast refuse and filth on the message of the Gospel.

This you know: that Christ died, that He was raised the third day, and that in Him your sins are forgiven and your life made new. Yet this is not what you preach. Arrogantly, you speak on My behalf, and fill your cities with lies; chief among them that all things are permissible. Surely, my own Scriptures to you say that the idea that "we shall sin more so that grace may abound" is complete folly. Yet you so casually cast this aside because it is difficult and unpopular. But surely you remember the Words of My own Mouth "Truly, if they hate me, they will also hate you."

Behold, I am coming soon, says the Lord, the Most High Judge of all. Repent, and turn away from your pride and arrogance. Cast away the cloak of passivity and greed that covers you. Choose now, whom you will serve, for you are trying to serve two masters, and those who do not follow Me will find no place in the book of life.