Sunday, September 21, 2008

Ranting.

''The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because generally they are the same people." G.K. Chesterton

I have been thinking (& don't ask if it hurts?!). I blog hop all over the place & skim from link to link so I read all sorts of stuff & the thing I find hardest as a Christian is doing the tightrope walk of what I actually believe because I am not as liberal as I was raised nor as conservative as many conservatives think I should be. And that, friends, is undoubtedly the result of a misspent life.





I do not get all hot & bothered about what the world does. It is the world. There would be something amiss if it was not behaving according to its nature. I do not get fraught about Christians who hold different doctrinal views, practise their beliefs differently, or refuse to attend a denominational church. I have worked with the homeless, the homosexual, the battered, & the drug addicted without feeling the urgent need to ram my beliefs down their throats because God gave each of us free will & we are free to exercise that free will by our choices. It is not that I don't care but however much I disagree I need to respect another's choice. After all, God does.

What does get my goat & have me frothing at the mouth, tearing my hair out, & up on my soap box ranting & raving are *professing* Christians living in blatant sin & bringing our Lord & saviour into disrepute. No, I am not talking about well known public figures who fall from grace. There but for the grace of God, you know. I am talking about the ordinary people who sit in their pew week after week all sanctimonious & self righteous, spouting all the right things & out in the world, instead of living God's truth, they behave in ways,week after week after week, that make one wish not to be known by the same name as they are. By their fruits...

Liddy says working in retail has been a real eye~opener. She has got to see the church when it isn't in church. To say she has not been impressed would be a massive understatement. Yes, lots of the church is the same but too often they are not & it is in the little things it shows up the most: a lack of patience when forced to wait; rudeness to staff who are on their feet all day; magazines that should go home in a brown paper bag & be burnt unread; sexual comments around young girls. It does not matter that they may be sexually active or heard worse. Christians should be different! The world notices & takes note of who we are every day & it judges, not by how many *good deeds* we do (charity is obnoxious), or how much money we give, or who we vote for, or what we wear but by how we are!

I do not care if you wear dresses or pants, wear your hair long or short, cover or not. I do not care if you are *only* KJV, or read the Good News. I do not care if you sing loud & long with your hands in the air or sit in silence. How is your personal walk with Christ? How are you doing with your personal holiness? It's hard, this holiness thing...& it must be done. Not only does no~one see heaven without holiness but genuine holiness is one of the most attractive things on this earth. It draws people like nothing else. Christ was, & is, holy. It attracted multitudes. Our lack of holiness is turning people away, indifferent to the gospel. If we are doing our job no~one will be indifferent. We should be being persecuted because the world should be antagonistic towards us. We should be attracting those whom God is calling. If we say we are Christ's we are meant to be becoming more & more like Him, holy as he is holy. If we would stop fussing about what doesn't matter & concentrate on the things God says are important we might actually be the salt & light in the world that we are meant to be.

Here endeth the rant according to Ganeida.

11 comments:

MamaOlive said...

have you been reading over here: http://darelinagreen.blogspot.com/ ? The post about church got me to thinking. In short, Christianity isn't so much being *like* Christ as it is *being* Christ, if you know what I mean.

Ganeida said...

Not until you linked me. lol. And yes, I would agree with much of what she's said. It is driving me mad ~ & I get looked at as if I am mad ~ but where is the power we were promised? Could it possibly be that we got it wrong & God wants us focused on His agenda rather than the *church's* agenda? Don't even get me started on Evangalization. We are told to make disciples, not convert the heathen. Big difference.
I get what you mean, totally.

Happy Elf Mom (Christine) said...

I think we're all hypocrites to one degree or another because we fall short of that sinless ideal. But it sounds like you're talking more about a smug attitude without personal reform. I do believe in the Bible and that it does say we are to be Christ's witnesses to the ends of the earth.

Um, sexual comments to teenage girls is just ICK. I'd want to know who's talking trash around my kid... that's just plain gross.

The HoJo's said...

I suspect it would be a better world to live in if we all made an effort just to be nicer. Yes, Christians have a lot to live up to, nothing wrong with that, something to aim high for.
I have worked in the service industry most of my life and the vast majority of people can be mean, just plain old mean for no reason than they can.
Yes they may be having a bad day, thank you for making mine just as bad.
I have a game I play (childish? moi?) I out nice every nasty person. You are rude to me when I serve you? I am so nice you don't know where to look, it doesn't matter how many times you come back and be rude, I will win in the end, either by forcing you to have a nice experience or by knowing that I tried to give you a better day and will try again.

The short way would have just been to say *I agree* wholeheartedly with you :o)
xc

Luke Holzmann said...

The thing that gets me is tipping. I hear we Christians are notoriously horrible at it, so I go crazy when I tip.

...however...

Holiness? Certainly does not describe me. I throw myself on Grace, but also realize that I have yet to truly grasp it. Power? Life change? New man?

Still struggling with that. My only comfort is looking around at the fruit of my life. I don't know if there is much, or even how "juicy" and fresh it is, but I do see it around me.

May God have grace on me, a sinner, and lead me in His ways.

~Luke

Ganeida said...

MrsC, I have no problem with your ordinary every day garden variety of hypocrite; the one who is actively*working out their own salvation with fear & trembling*. It is those whom I doubt are actually Christians at all ( a call I don't like to make but whose behaviur is so questionable) who bother me. They are in church so have heard the word & it appears to have made no impact at all. It raises all sorts of questions in my head.

Hojos: way to go! Liddy is right there with you. They line up to be served by her so it works.

Luke: we don't tip in Oz so I don't have that problem to deal with ~& just as well given my math!. Obviously I have enough sins of my own to deal with but I would be worried if I couldn't see God's thumbprints all over my life.

Diane Shiffer said...

girl, this is *some kinda good*!! this is precisely how i feel- precisely. seriously, i got chills as i was reading it.

can't wait to meet you when we get to glory, my dear((hugs))

Ganeida said...

Oh, Diane, the limitations of the physical world frustrate me so much at times! I would love to just do a mental zip into your kitchen, plonk myself down on top of the cat & talk myself out with you. *sigh* Guess I'll have to just go on looking forward to it :D

Gombojav Tribe said...

Thanks for stopping by our blog! I love that Chesterton quote you opened with!

molytail said...

I am not as liberal as I was raised nor as conservative as many conservatives think I should be.

same ;-) ...raised as an atheist kid and now often hanging out with extremely conservative Christians...I don't quite fit....

I think your 'rant' ought to be published in a much wider reaching format ...haven't a clue what that would be (useful aren't I LOL) but I think more need to hear this.

Oh - and tell Liddy I wish I still had a certain t-shirt, cuz I'd send it to her and she could wear it when dealing with the oh-so-friendly public....it was white and in big red letters across the front it said "MEAN PEOPLE SUCK". *grin* ....it was the perfect shirt for the world of retail, but unfortunately it's gone...I worked in retail for a few years - and also at a call center - and I know just how people can be. Blech.

>^..^<

Ganeida said...

Moly I love your shirt. Unfortunately Liddy has to wear a uniform. She hates the bow tie thingy.