Ah, yes, the ever popular question. A lot of people I run into refuse to step into a church because 'they prefer to worship on their own' or 'they read the Bible on their own.' Something like that. So what's wrong with that? You may ask.
Well, before I begin, I am not in any way trying to insult anyone's intelligence, but trying to learn something on your own just doesn't work. I'll explain. I took a couple of online classes to get my bachelor's degree. The idea for these classes was that I would read the books, watch their DVD's, and after doing this, take their tests. Yeah, I didn't do it quite that way. I printed out the test ahead of time (not against school policy), typed all the questions into Google (not against school policy), got the answers from Google, then put the correct answers into the test when I actually took it. I didn't score less than 75% on any test, and got as high as a 95%. I wasn't technically cheating, so what's the problem?
First off, I didn't learn anything. Second, and more importantly, I want you to pay attention to the scores on my tests. They ranged from 75% to 95%. There were three reasons for this:
1) Google didn't have the answer,
2) Google had the answer, but whoever wrote the answer gave the wrong answer on accident,
3) Google had the answer, but whoever wrote the answer gave the wrong answer on purpose.
Now, let's apply this to reading and studying the Bible on your own. First off, it is a good thing to read and study the Bible at home. In fact, I recommend it. However, there are bound to be questions that come up when you read, some things may not make sense to you. So what do you do in this situation? Go to Google. What's the problem with going to Google for the answers? They might not have it (which would lead you astray), someone might give the wrong answer accidentally (which would lead you astray), or someone might intentionally be targeting people like you and give you the wrong answer to purposefully lead you astray.
So how does this get fixed? Again, let me stress that reading and studying the Bible on your own is a good idea. However, when questions arise, there is a support structure in place that helps with questions. First off, in my case, the priest of my church is only a phone call away. In some of the larger churches, this may not be the case, but in a good church someone knowledgeable about Scripture is usually easy to reach.
Online college classes are structured in such a way to facilitate more learning than what I did. They usually have a discussing forum, where you are required to answer a question posted by the teacher, and respond to comments of one or more fellow students. Also, if you have problems, you can e-mail the teacher. I leave you with this: is even this amount of support available when you try to learn the Bible on your own? In addition, a church is a place to go to find help from people other than the pastors, but other people just like you.
As usual, rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
What A Shame
I was listening to the radio the other morning and heard a girl call in who was ashamed. She had made a few mistakes, and was now pregnant. For those that are wondering, that is not what I am talking about when I mention the title of this blog post. What is a shame is that she is already attending a church, and is afraid to tell anyone at the church because she is afraid of what they would think.
Now that is a shame, but it does feed into a stereotype of what non-Christians, and even some Christians, think a church is. Some think a church is a place for people that have everything figured out, have all the answers, and have nothing to be ashamed of.
This cannot be farther from the truth, and we'll look at John 8:2-11 to see why. It starts with Jesus preaching in a temple. A group of people brought a woman to him, saying she had been caught in the act of adultery. They state that the punishment for such an act is to stone her to death, and asked Jesus' opinion on what to do (they were trying to trap him, as they tried before and after, unsuccessfully). Jesus then tells them that the person who has no sin may start throwing rocks at her. Not surprisingly, no one did, and they all left.
This goes to show that the church (or temple in this case) is not a place for perfect people to congregate. In fact, the only person there that day, and any other day before or since, that had no sin was Jesus. The truth is, anyone who attends a church has something in their past that they are ashamed of. Romans 3:23 reinforces this by saying "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."
Okay, so you do go to your congregation and admit your faults. What happens next? Jesus picks back up in verse 11 of the first passage. Jesus tells the woman "go now and leave your life of sin." We already know that people need to repent of their past sins, but what does this have to do with the congregation?
When most people unfamiliar with church try to explain a church, they usually say something to the effect that it is a place where you dress up and go to learn about the Bible, pay some money, maybe have some doughnuts and coffee, do some praying, then leave until next week. The church is more than just these things. A local church should be a community, or even like an extended family. Yes, it is a place for learning, but equally important it is a place for gathering, encouragement, and help. Since, as I said earlier, the church is full of not perfect, but broken people, you might be surprised to find that there is someone in your own local congregation who has been through circumstances similar, or even identical to your own.
As Christians, we like to talk about how God works in our lives, but it is also important to remember that the devil sometimes does as well. He doesn't stop when you commit the sin, he takes it to the next level. A common ploy of the devil is that when you commit a sin, he tries to make it sound like such a big deal and that nothing can undo it, and no one will understand, so you might as well give up. I don't know what happened to this woman when she told the people in her church, or even if she did. What I do know is that after her story was aired, many other women called up the station and said the exact opposite of what the devil was trying to convince her of, the fact that they had been there.
The truth is, if you need help with something, you need to go to God in prayer, and you need to seek the help of others. The ideal place to find help would be to go to a community, or a family, or in other words, a church. If you don't have a church, I would like to invite you to mine (had to put it in there, I hope you understand). If you don't live nearby me, I urge you to find a local church immediately. And as always, pray and keep in the word.
Amen
Now that is a shame, but it does feed into a stereotype of what non-Christians, and even some Christians, think a church is. Some think a church is a place for people that have everything figured out, have all the answers, and have nothing to be ashamed of.
This cannot be farther from the truth, and we'll look at John 8:2-11 to see why. It starts with Jesus preaching in a temple. A group of people brought a woman to him, saying she had been caught in the act of adultery. They state that the punishment for such an act is to stone her to death, and asked Jesus' opinion on what to do (they were trying to trap him, as they tried before and after, unsuccessfully). Jesus then tells them that the person who has no sin may start throwing rocks at her. Not surprisingly, no one did, and they all left.
This goes to show that the church (or temple in this case) is not a place for perfect people to congregate. In fact, the only person there that day, and any other day before or since, that had no sin was Jesus. The truth is, anyone who attends a church has something in their past that they are ashamed of. Romans 3:23 reinforces this by saying "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."
Okay, so you do go to your congregation and admit your faults. What happens next? Jesus picks back up in verse 11 of the first passage. Jesus tells the woman "go now and leave your life of sin." We already know that people need to repent of their past sins, but what does this have to do with the congregation?
When most people unfamiliar with church try to explain a church, they usually say something to the effect that it is a place where you dress up and go to learn about the Bible, pay some money, maybe have some doughnuts and coffee, do some praying, then leave until next week. The church is more than just these things. A local church should be a community, or even like an extended family. Yes, it is a place for learning, but equally important it is a place for gathering, encouragement, and help. Since, as I said earlier, the church is full of not perfect, but broken people, you might be surprised to find that there is someone in your own local congregation who has been through circumstances similar, or even identical to your own.
As Christians, we like to talk about how God works in our lives, but it is also important to remember that the devil sometimes does as well. He doesn't stop when you commit the sin, he takes it to the next level. A common ploy of the devil is that when you commit a sin, he tries to make it sound like such a big deal and that nothing can undo it, and no one will understand, so you might as well give up. I don't know what happened to this woman when she told the people in her church, or even if she did. What I do know is that after her story was aired, many other women called up the station and said the exact opposite of what the devil was trying to convince her of, the fact that they had been there.
The truth is, if you need help with something, you need to go to God in prayer, and you need to seek the help of others. The ideal place to find help would be to go to a community, or a family, or in other words, a church. If you don't have a church, I would like to invite you to mine (had to put it in there, I hope you understand). If you don't live nearby me, I urge you to find a local church immediately. And as always, pray and keep in the word.
Amen
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