I don't understand anymore...everyone seems angry and simply looking for a reason to show it.
Quick to judge, assuming the worst of others, jumping to offense and defense without knowing the full scope of a situation or the heart of the other.
Gossiping, slandering, backbiting, just being nasty in general because we can't see eye to eye at every point, because we seem hell bent on "being right".
Attacking seems easier than understanding or explaining, and I'm hard pressed to find many folks who seem to talk more about what they're for than against.
Our perspectives are askew, our priorities out of order, and the problem it seems is almost everyone else except us. (Ironic I know. I'm not any better)
We treat and speak to each other horribly, both the people we know and don't. I don't know which we treat worse.
Common courtesy, consideration and kindness seems to be dwindling, as we flaunt our arrogance and thumb our noses at God, who I'm sure must be weeping for us all...at least for now that is.
As a Dad, I've got to ask, Is this the world my children will grow up and live in?
As a believer I'v got to ask,
Where's the love, people?
Where's our compassion?
Our grace?
Our mercy?
Our hope?
Our faith...forgiveness...
Did we leave it hanging on a cross?
Be good to yourselves sure, but much more so, for the love of God, be good to each other...
d(-_-)b
Quick to judge, assuming the worst of others, jumping to offense and defense without knowing the full scope of a situation or the heart of the other.
Gossiping, slandering, backbiting, just being nasty in general because we can't see eye to eye at every point, because we seem hell bent on "being right".
Attacking seems easier than understanding or explaining, and I'm hard pressed to find many folks who seem to talk more about what they're for than against.
Our perspectives are askew, our priorities out of order, and the problem it seems is almost everyone else except us. (Ironic I know. I'm not any better)
We treat and speak to each other horribly, both the people we know and don't. I don't know which we treat worse.
Common courtesy, consideration and kindness seems to be dwindling, as we flaunt our arrogance and thumb our noses at God, who I'm sure must be weeping for us all...at least for now that is.
As a Dad, I've got to ask, Is this the world my children will grow up and live in?
As a believer I'v got to ask,
Where's the love, people?
Where's our compassion?
Our grace?
Our mercy?
Our hope?
Our faith...forgiveness...
Did we leave it hanging on a cross?
Be good to yourselves sure, but much more so, for the love of God, be good to each other...
d(-_-)b
So true. I think one answer to your questions about our communal behavior can be answered by looking at animal behavior - after all, we are little more than animals with an alleged higher level of intelligence. Yet, despite our egoistic superiority to the lower beasts, when backed against a wall or into a corner, or confronted by things we don't understand and which threaten us, humans revert to the animal within. Instead of approaching these conditions and situations with grace, forgiveness, and humility, the majority reacts with dog-like fear, lashes out, bares teeth, makes a lot of noise, attacks, and engages in a contest to emerge as the 'top dog.' The anonymity afforded us by our technology only seems to serve to worsen these reactions. So much for our "intelligence" if we sacrifice it in favor of our lowest level of evolutionary behavior.
ReplyDeletePerhaps, after all, Jesus died in vain.
Please don't judge Christ by his followers. Please don't let us be the reason you don't look to Him. Taste and see for yourself what Jesus is like; it may not improve your opinion of us christians, but the truth is too important not to see for yourself.
DeletePlease don't judge Christ by his followers. Please don't let us be the reason you don't look to Him. Taste and see for yourself what Jesus is like; it may not improve your opinion of us christians, but the truth is too important not to see for yourself.
DeleteI agree, very much so, and I see what you're saying as a large part of the problem in the world and in the church as well. I must say though, it saddens me to read that last line. It goes straight to my heart like a knife and I pray that isn't the case.
DeleteI am discouraged to think of all those folks who will never know the Jesus of the Bible, simply because they could not see past the American Jesus. That people would fail to consider Jesus more than his followers, leaving the condition of their humanity unresolved.
That God allows people like me to be associated as one of his, I believe is an evidence of sorts that he is bigger than any of our problems individually or collectively. But it is the very reason I no longer attend church. Although I still maintain my faith, what the term Christian has come to represent is honestly quite shameful.
I address this in many of my posts, and have been accused of not loving the church. The real problem though is that I do love the church, so much that I am willing to tell them how much they need to change instead of just walking away.
I'm afraid it's made me less than popular among many.
To them, and to you I would say and close with this line, one of my all time favorite movie quotes: God loves you just the way you are, but he loves you too much to let you stay that way.
(> piece out
d(-_-)b
I think that's it in a nut shell.
You know, Jesus wasn't all that popular in his day either.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's that folks here in this country know an Americanized Jesus, as you suggest. I contend however they don't know Jesus at all. They know instead how to use Jesus - to twist and turn his words and teachings - to mean whatever personal ills they wish to defend. Many a time I've accused the Christian movement of not being able to look in the mirror, of not being able to comprehend the teachings of Christ, and therefore of not being Christian except in name only. This was something I noticed many years ago, and as time has marched forward the un-Christian-ness of Christians has appeared to me to escalate.
However, every so often I am surprised by someone who identifies as Christian and also behaves accordingly. Nevertheless, the most "Christian" people I have known in my lifetime are non-denominational metaphysical (new age) spiritualists. They are the ones who most seem to understand the eye-for-an-eye concept, the connectedness of all life to the creator and each other, and the powers of kindness, forgiveness, grace, and charity.
Isn't that interesting...?
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteHaving the same point of origin (or creator) that we were designed to be in relation with, as the bible claims, certainly (and to me obviously)seems to support the notion that we cannot exist without having some effect on the world and people around us.
DeleteUnfortunately we have a tendency to abuse that relationship. The effect of that abuse manifests itself differently in different people.
I have made the point often to those who would assume divine authority as an endorsement for their own view as being that of God's rather than seeking to understand God's view to make it their own, that we are in fact building walls where we should be building bridges.
Compound that equation, with the fact that in our culture we have come to confuse the sort of polarization caused by the religion of politics (and the politics of religion) with the polarization of faith that Jesus himself is at the heart of and acknowledges is not at all unintentional or avoidable, and you have problems that we should never have if we had simply maintained our commitment to the very faith we initially professed.
Jesus avoided the snares of the religious of his day when they tried to trip him up with political questions, declining to become involved on their level.
Ravi Zacharias once said,"Where there is light there is bound to be heat, but where there is heat there is not always light.".
Unfortunately many people seem to confuse the inevitable "being hated by the world" that Jesus talks about with simply being hated for exemplifying poor character and hypocrisy. In doing so, they are in effect (to my mind) putting themselves on the same level of God.
A dangerous proposition in deed.