Rethink

(Words Listed: Judgmental, Rude, Liars, Fractured, Hateful, Homophobic, Old-Fashioned, Manipulative, Tactless, Ill-Tempered, Hypocrites)

First and foremost, those of you who know me know that I myself am a Christian, therefore this is not in any way meant to be an anti-Christian stamp.

As for the description of Christians, know that I did not make up any of it - all of these things were said by non-Christians (and even a few other Christians) when asked what their impression of the Christianity community was. For those of you who remember my last poll, you may have noticed that the highest-voted answer was "Judgmental" - this stayed at the top of the list for the entire time the poll was active. Some of the other terms came from a similar question I posed on Amazon.com's Christianity forum, and from other internet research.

I don't think I have to mention how serious a problem this is, folks. Where are the terms like "Kind, Patient, Generous, Loving", etc.? If people are not seeing those things in us, then we have missed the entire point of God's message. Forgive the strong wording here, but I don't want there to be any mistakes:

If people cannot see our love, then I DO NOT CARE how loving WE may think our methods are. If all people see is hate, rudeness, and judgment, then we are NOT loving them as Christ would.

Now - the likely counterpoints:

"But I AM showing people love by telling them of the danger they're in if they don't REPENT from their SIN!

See the above, big, bold-faced paragraph. Do you really think anybody's going to want to turn from their ways if all they see from the people who HAVE turned from their ways is judgment and hypocrisy? Repentance is important, but if we bring people to God, then HE will show them of the need for repentance. We are supposed to do God's work, not God's job.

But Jesus said the world is going to hate us and persecute us.

I have said nothing about persecution. Persecution is punishment of the innocent. Unfortunately, the listed words are well-deserved. If we truly examine ourselves, not necessarily as individuals, but as a community, we will see that these kinds of terms are not persecution, but justice. Christians today are far too quick to cry persecution.

I know this doesn't apply to all Christians. But consider Jesus's exchanges with the Pharisees - he did not get angry or indignant with the people who were sinners. They were the ones to whom he showed the most love. The times Jesus got angriest was with the Pharisees. And why? Because they were the ones who kept others away from him. Well, my brothers and sisters, there are Christians today who, with their Bible-beating, hypocrisy, and condemnation, are not only blocking people from Christ, but completely driving people away from Christ. As followers of Jesus, if we are to go by his example then we have a responsibility to clean up the mess made by them. Our current way of reaching people is not working - it only leads to division and bitterness. It is time to rethink and remember who we serve.

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