This post was originally an e-mail I wrote to all the Christians I know. I have since posted it in various places around the internet, and I thought I'd re-post it here as well.
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Introduction
Hi everybody...
What I'm about to write to you will most likely
seem a bit out of character for me. I'm not cutting up in this message,
and I'm not inviting people to go paintballing or see a movie; instead,
I'm writing a letter that I want all Christians to read. I am not
trying to single anyone out with this message, but I hope everyone who
reads it will think about it, and consider forwarding it to other
Christians if they feel it would be prudent.
I challenge you to
read the whole thing. It will be long, but it is full of words that
have been on my heart for well over a year. If you are my friend, and
truly wish to know my heart, then please read it when you get the time.
No need to read it all at once, either, just as it is convenient.
So, to begin...
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Part 1
I
view you all as my brothers and sisters in Christ our Lord, who was
born of a virgin, crucified, and rose from the dead. We are all members
of the Church; though many of us hold different doctrinal beliefs, we
are all followers of Christ, and strangers in this world. We are all
residents of Heaven, and it is our commission to make the most of our
time in this place by spreading the Gospel of Christ, that others may
come to Heaven as well.
Jesus Christ is our Savior; He died for your sins and mine, and for the sins of all the world. So my question to you is why doesn't the world know this?
Why is it that we can be confident that Heaven is our destination,
while the world is drowning in their sin and misery? Does the church not see the suffering? Have we gone deaf to
their cries? Why doesn't the world know and understand the salvation we
were all so freely given?
I believe the answer to that question lies in what the world does
know. The world knows that we in the Church sin, and go through pain
and suffering just like they do. The world also knows that, unlike
them, we try to cover up, ignore, and explain away
our sin, and sugarcoat all our suffering ('cause gettin' saved will
make everything better, right?). The world knows, then, that we in the
church are nothing but a bunch of hypocrites,
sitting in pews and singing hymns (or Praise and Worship songs) to make
ourselves feel better about the fact that we just can't live up to the
standards we face. The world sees us, in all our wretchedness, and
laughs when we tell them to conform to the same standards we ourselves
fail to meet.
They know what we expect. We expect them to
abstain from premarital sex. We expect them to not have abortions. We
expect the homosexuals to magically become heterosexual. We expect them
to not curse. We expect them to not lie. We expect them to be good, something
that we ourselves cannot do apart from Christ (and even when He makes
us good, we will not always do good). Are these not the expectations
we've communicated to the world? Through legislation and our blissfully
ignorant personal actions, we've made it clear to the world that we
believe we're better than them because we like to pretend we don't do
bad things (and we expect them to do the same).
I write this
letter to you all as a sinner, wretched and ignorant. I have sinned
simply for the sake of sinning, and I exulted in it. I have lied,
cursed, cheated, lusted, and lusted some more. I have been arrogant,
spiteful, disrespectful, manipulative, crude, divisive, and
everything else that my fallen nature can conceive. I have committed
many of the sins that males often fall into, and even so, I rejoice in
my undeserved forgiveness. I rejoice because the state and destination
of my spirit, in spite of what I've done, is a testimony to God's infinite love and forgiveness.
That
is what our sin is supposed to be... a testimony. This doesn't mean we
have license to sin with abandon, and claim it's because Christ has
forgiven us; rather, it means that we can show the world all that we've
done, and they can take comfort in the fact that Christ forgave our
sin, and can forgive theirs too. But how will the world know this if we
don't own up to our own sin? It is not nearly as harmful to the body of
Christ for a member to sin as it is for member to sin, and then deny
that sin. That is what causes the world to perceive us as hypocrites,
and it is absolutely indefensible.
So I would urge you all to
remember your sin, so you will never forget the magnitude of Christ's
blessing and its ability to help even the most unlovely of the world.
Jesus Christ isn't just the savior of the Christians; as Reese Roper
said, He's the "Savior of the prostitutes, drunkards, rapists and the
gays."
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Part 2
There
is another issue facing the Church (of which we are all members) today,
which I feel I should address. Romans 12:2 says this:
"Be
not conformed to the patterns this world: but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good, and
acceptable, and perfect will of God."
The question
that must be asked is this: What are the patterns of this world? The
short answer would be, quite obviously, "sin," as we are all born into
it as a result of Adam's fall. The longer answer would detail exactly
what is sin and what isn't, but I'm afraid that discussion is beyond
the scope of this e-mail. Suffice it to say, though, that if there is a
morally questionable behavior that the world indulges in, it is our
"reasonable service" to God to stay away from it.
It
saddens me, then, that statistically, the church is no different from
the world. People who profess Christ have the same worldview as
non-Christians; they do the same things, listen
to the same music, use the same language, think about the same things,
and believe the same lies that the world does, and they don't give it a
second thought. Now I ask you, is this being "transformed by the
renewing of our minds," or is it "conforming to the patterns of this
world?" Go ahead, answer for yourself...
Now, you may point to
Part 1 of my message, if you are hoping to maintain some pattern of the
world to which you've grown particularly attached, and say "But
Jacob, you're contradicting yourself! You just said that we should be
proud of our sin so that it will be a testimony for non-believers!"
Of course, that is not true. To essentially repeat what I said earlier,
we are to use our sin as proof of the infinite nature of God's
forgiveness; however, this does not mean we are to seek further sin.
That's just plain ungrateful.
There is another group of Christians who might also attack my message, saying "Jacob,
you Pharisee! By emphasizing our need to do good works, you are
becoming legalistic, and attempting to impress your legalism on us!"
To this, I would simply reply that James told us that "Faith without
works is dead." I would say, then, that if someone professes Christ,
but continually conforms to the patterns of this world without trying
to glorify God, the quality of their faith is dreadfully low. I can't
make a judgment about their salvation-- that is God's work, not mine--
but I am not ashamed to say that they are doing a very poor job as a
Christian. That's not legalism, that's common sense.
Now,
in addition to the fact that God commands it, we have another reason to
avoid conforming to the patterns of this world (which I'm sure God was
thinking of when He inspired Paul to write Romans 12:2). That reason is
this: The world is watching everything we do.
It is said that "actions speak louder than words," and it is true. The
world knows this (smart people, they are), and they are watching us;
they hear us profess Christ, and they watch to see if our actions bear
the fruit of our faith. Again I say, faith without works is dead, as
James 2:17 tells us, and if our own faith doesn't incite us to act upon
it, then why would the world want that faith?
So are we acting
on our faith, or suppressing it? Is it bearing fruit in our lives, or
is it sitting there idly while we indulge our flesh with the same
things the world uses to fill the holes in their own naturally depraved
lives? I believe each and every one of us should take it upon ourselves
to examine our actions and see if what we do bears the fruit of our
faith, or our flesh. What we do reflects what is inside of us, so we should ask ourselves hard questions.
Do our words reflect our faith or our flesh?
Does the music we listen to reflect our faith or our flesh?
Does our attitude reflect our faith or our flesh?
If
we are to lead the world to Christ, as is our commission, then we must
strive to make every aspect of our lives reflect our faith in the One
who is inside of us. This means we should put away from ourselves
things like strife, envy, lust, and other carnal things, and instead we
should take the advice Paul gave the Philippians:
"Whatever
is true, whatever is honest, whatever is just, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is of good report; if there be any virtue,
and if there be any praise, think on these things."
-Philippians 4:8
So
these are the things we should focus on. We must focus on and do things
that reflect the faith that is inside of us. If we are Christians, and
we do not do this, then we are being unbelievably selfish, choosing to
gratify our own flesh at the expense of the souls of the world, who
will see our actions and thus have their hearts hardened against the
Savior we've so poorly represented.
Let us as a Church cease this selfishness, for the sake of the lost.
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Part 3
The
final topic that has been on my heart to write about is the shallowness
of Christians, and the tendency of the Church to unintentionally
condemn non-believers. This is a complex issue, and one that is
difficult to address simply. That is why I list it after the previous
two topics; if the first part of this e-mail was about the attitude we
should have about our personal sin, and the second part was about why
we shouldn't sin, then this section is about what to do when others sin
(as it is our shallowness of thought and communication that causes
others to feel condemned).
Just as non-Christians are watching
everything we do, they are also listening to everything we say, and in
our zeal to "stamp out sin," some of us (myself included) have come
across as condemning. We become so wrapped up in our "pro-life,
pro-family" message, trying to sway those who are on the fence, that we
forget how we come across to those who have had abortions, or who
struggle with homosexuality. Essentially, we fall victim to shallow
thought, assuming people who struggle with particular issues are going
to receive our words the same way anyone else would, and this
insensitivity alienates them. Then, when the "pro-life, pro-family"
message becomes our vernacular, and we begin to speak about it without
thinking about it, we appear even more shallow.
I'm afraid I
haven't been very clear thus far, so allow me to use an example.
Imagine a person who is a Christian, and thus believes the Bible when
it says homosexual activity is a sin. He is, of course, correct to
believe this, but he (like most people) sometimes forgets to be
specific. One instance of this would be when he refers to
"homosexuality" as a sin; he may well be correct, if he is using
"homosexuality" to refer to homosexual activity, but he neglects to
take into account the fact that homosexuals by and large define
"homosexuality" as "the attraction of one person to his or her same
gender." So, through shallow thinking, our Christian friend has
alienated any homosexual who heard him say "homosexuality is a sin."
Though the Christian was denouncing homosexual activity, the homosexual
believes he is saying that the attraction which he has no control over is in itself a sin.
This
scenario goes even further too. Imagine a Christian who openly says "I
don't like gay people." Is this the right thing to say? Again, imagine
what would happen if a homosexual heard someone who claims to represent
Christ say "I don't like gay people." It would certainly alienate him.
Therefore, we must refrain from speaking like that, no matter whose
presence we are in. We are all sinners, and the fact that someone
struggles with a particular sin is no reason to dislike them, since we
all have sins that we struggle with. That is the nature of Man.
Now,
I used the example of homosexuality, but Christians addressing many
issues, such as abortion, euthanasia, Islam (and other religions),
alcoholism and drug addictions have all succumbed to shallow thinking
and poor communication with non-believers. This is why the pro-abortion
crowd, pro-euthanasia crowd, pro-homosexual marriage crowd, and all the
other "crowds" have become so radically anti-Christian. They feel
attacked because we are too lazy to think all the way through the issue
and communicate with them in ways they understand, so they retaliate
with shallow thought and incendiary words of their own. We may
not like the way these people treat us, but we've brought it upon
ourselves.
The solution, obviously, is for us to be careful of
how the world receives our talk of sin. This doesn't mean that we
shouldn't address sin, because without understanding sin, the world
cannot understand salvation from sin,
but it does mean that we should speak in terms they can understand,
rather than our wonderful buzzwords and religious-speak that we use to
let other Christians know we're "on fire." Perhaps instead of
denouncing homosexuality, we should denounce homosexual activity.
Perhaps instead of preaching so vehemently against abortion, we should
preach more in favor of adoption. Perhaps instead of preaching against
euthanasia, we should learn to take care of those in need. Perhaps we
should temper all of our communications with compassion, as Christ did.
So
we must learn to think through the tough issues, and be careful of our
communication. As I said, the world is watching what we do and
listening to what we say, and the way we react to hot-button issues
like homosexuality and abortion will influence the way much of the
world views the whole of Christianity, and Christ with it. Is our
intellectual laziness worth the souls of people just like us? Is it
worth it to condemn millions to Hell, just because we
didn't feel like taking the time to communicate Christ's message
properly? Of course not. We must be willing to think hard, and
communicate well, because the souls of people just like us can be won
or lost based on how we react to the sin in their lives.
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If
you've read all the way through this e-mail, I'd like to thank you. As
I said in the beginning, this stuff has been on my heart for a long
time, and I had to write it out and send it to you. It wasn't only
meant for my friends though; this e-mail is written essentially to
every Christian, though not every Christian will read it. So, now that
you've read it, I ask that you do two things: First, if you find that
it was profitable to read, I ask that you would forward it to other
Christians you know, that they could read it too; and second, if you
care to, e-mail me your thoughts on the issues I attempted to address.
You don't have to do this, of course; I'd just like to know who stands
with me, and who disagrees.
I don't know if this e-mail will do
anyone any good. I only wrote it because I feel that God placed it on
my heart. I have no illusions; as I said in Part 1, I sin just like
everyone else, and I don't claim to always hold to the principles I
advocate. I only believe in them, and try to uphold them to the best of
my ability; the rest is up to God.
So again, thank you for reading this e-mail, and may God bless you all as you walk the path He has ordained for you.
In Christ,
Jacob Thrasher
sixohsixoh2004@yahoo.com
