Faith - Mindset Distractions
When the ‘religion of fear’ finds its way into the Christian church, those who regard themselves as the most vigilant guardians of the faith do violence to faith and smother it. Instead of confidence and freedom, fearfulness and apathy are found everywhere.” – Jurgen Moltmann – The Crucified God
I grew in a time when people like Billy Graham asked the question, “If you died tonight, where would you go?” It was a question I heard pastors ask numerous times. Those questions and movies like, “Thief in the Night” promoted a sense of fear in my life as a young kid.
As a college student, I distinctly remember working at a camp where the speaker snapped his finger repeatedly emphasizing that God could/would come back in the blink of an eye. Needless to say, it scared every kid at camp. What if God came back and we weren’t ready? What if we missed the second coming of Christ? What if we were left behind?
It sounds silly today, but while the question has changed, the method or design is the same. Many of today’s churches can still be a place of anxiety and fear. They can be places where the picture of the world is dark and depressing. Where it seems as if all hope is lost and all of society is going to hell in a hand basket. In many ways, the church can be just as depressing as the evening news.
Everyone is evil, the entire system is corrupt, and the only hope is that God comes back before we die. That is often the message of the church and it is a faulty one. In fact, let me say this, if you are attending a church where you find no hope. If you are walking away each week feeling hopeless and defeated about yourself, then you need to find a new church. I don’t believe the message of Christ is fear. In fact, scripture repeatedly states, “fear not.”
Please know, that I’m not advocating for you to stop attending church. I’m simply saying that you may need to pick a new church, denomination, and pastor if you can’t find hope, encouragement, love, grace, and joy in the place you worship.
All of us waste precious life doing things we don’t like, to prove ourselves to people we don’t respect, and to get things we don’t want. Ryan Holiday / Ego is the Enemy
The overly critical, mean, and demeaning church and or pastor is not the best place to be. The world is not as bad as many preachers want to paint it. There are good places and good people. Choose one that works best for you. I did several years ago. I chose to get out of a denomination that had begun to focus more on the societal and political problems than the grace that could be found in the world and relationship with Christ and His church. In fact, I began to separate myself from many of my church friends and acquaintances who always seemed to be negative and mad at the world.
Personally, I don’t think God is mad at you or the world. I don’t see God as this angry being in the sky just waiting to enact justice and reconcile things like a ledger in a check book. I choose to see God as loving, gracious, kind, and one whose idea of reconciliation is that of a redeeming and loving relationship with me.
As well, I don’t think the entire human race is wicked and depraved. I know there are bad people, but I think there are good people out there too. You don’t have to live into a negative, fatalistic faith. You can find a place of faith that inspires and compels you to live your best. Move past the doom and gloom and find joy and peace. Choose the BEST for you and your faith.