Here it is... over 2900 words, straight from my heart. I wrote this as an e-mail to Christians I know, and I decided to post it here as well.
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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 1I 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
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 what can only be called a hopeless Hell on earth? 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 2There 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 first 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 3The 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 communication 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
