I've been thinking a lot about my experiences in regards to church this semester and what I wrote in my last entry about visiting churches being only comparable to visiting a prostitute. It dawned on my that there are several times in Scripture, particularly the Old Testament where the nation of Israel was called a prostitute chasing after her lovers and turning her back on God.
I read through some of those scriptures and I just felt like that was "church", a prostitute, turning her back on God, chasing after her lovers, and failing to point people to God.
As I've travelled and visited many churches I have felt very much like an outsider. Too many times I was able to slip in unnoticed and leave the same way. I suspect part of the that was my tour partners desire, but it always bothered me. I can only think of two churches during the time that I didn't feel like I was getting a "quickie." One was in the state of Washington and the other was in Wyoming. Don't misunderstand me though, there were a few churches where the message challenged and inspired me.
However, I've also found that it was true that a lot of churches failed to point me to God, or they preached things that I believe are contradictory to Scripture.
The "Health and Wealth" gospel seems to be pretty big in California. If you want to refute that one just read the book of Job. Jesus also warns those who choose to give their lives to Him in the gospels that in this world there will be troubles and that no servant is greater than his master. If Jesus suffered, we will too. I do believe that God does want to bless us and give us health and riches, but I also believe there is an enemy who uses those things to turn us away from God.
It also seems like money is a huge deal to a lot of churches. I think more than anything, this bother me the most. Why should it bother me that a church has a Star Bucks in it? Well, I have yet to see a church with a starbucks, but I do see a lot of churches where they have coffee bars and set ups just like a star bucks and they charge for it. But not only do you get a coffee bar that you have to pay for the items you buy, you are not allowed to take anything into the sanctuary with you.
I walked into a church where my tour partner was told she couldn't bring her coffee in (a coffee that had a lid and was sealed), and I just wanted to say with sarcasm dripping from me: "Gee it's good to know that you are more concerned about the welfare of your carpets than about ministering to people". While it may be a generally good thing to want to take care of the things God has blessed you with, why does it matter if someone spills coffee and you have a stain on your once pristine and shining carpet or on your new pews? Who are you trying to impress??? People with money? Where does your heart belong church?
Its odd to me because the church I belong to at home has a coffee bar and it's free (and you can take it into the sanctuary!). It's contents are provided through donations and volunteers who keep everything filled up. It's the body taking care of the body. But it's also more than that, it's the church saying to the community that we welcome them and love them and want to point them to the Father.
I know that churches are not perfect, nor are the people in them, but some of the things I;ve been seeing just seem ridiculous to me.
Get it together Churches! Turn your hearts back to God! And for those churches whose hearts belong to God, keep going and dont lose heart!
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