I was on a Christian moms message board recently and to make a long thread of conversation short they were talking about sin and Christians and how we deal with it. the thread lead up to this comment...

"Some christians have just lost their ability to be able to speak in ways that people would be interested in or even understand . These Bible thumpers may even know a lot of scriptures, but don't seem to understand the purpose or love behind any of them . People sometimes forget that the Bible is here to serve us and NOT the reverse . The Bible is not a club it's the good news that sets us free. God is not freaked out about "sin". Everyone falls short of their potential . He is interested in us being truly happy and he knows" sin" distracts us . GET YOUR HOPE UP because I see all around a new breed of grace filled people who know the TRUE character of God and know how to communicate the ways of wisdom to others in their actions and words."


Soooooo, I'm going to try to respond to this the way I wish I could respond on the message board. I wouldn't though because I HATE stirring stuff up on a message board. It usually gets me mad in the long run and that isn't constructive!

First of all, she makes it sound like most Christians are out of touch with reality. "Some christians have just lost their ability to be able to speak in ways that people would be interested in or even understand ." Really??? I mean I know a lot of Christians and I don't think that they're uninteresting. I have a lot of non Christian friends and they don't find it hard to understand me... I just don't find this to be a true statement. There are certainly elements of the Christian faith that are hard to understand even for mature believers, but that doesn't make those concepts any less true. Just because something is hard to understand doesn't mean we should water it down or avoid it. It means that we need to step up our efforts to understand!!! Like in school. You don't drop out because the concepts are hard, nor do the teachers water things down. Rather, we step it up and LEARN!!! Let's move on.

"These Bible thumpers may even know a lot of scriptures, but don't seem to understand the purpose or love behind any of them . " Here is an element of truth. There are plenty of people out there who love to throw Bible verses at others without the Holy Spirit behind it. We call them Pharisees. Jesus called them whitewashed tombs. However, there is a prevelant thought in modern evangelical Christianity that we can't use Scripture AT ALL. Using Scripture to correct another brother or sister (or encourage them, or teach them) makes the user automically "holier than thou", pious, arrogant, and a "Bible Thumper." That's why I am so cautious of the writer's statement. If she is truly referring to those people that quote Scripture to bring on guilt,and condemnation, then sure, I agree with this statement. But... part of me wonders if she is of the pursuation that using Scripture for a purpose other than to encourage is wrong. Okay, next!

"People sometimes forget that the Bible is here to serve us and NOT the reverse ." I really want to like this statement because I think I see what she is trying to say. The Bible is God's Word for us. He gave it to us to use as a tool for our Christian walk. And, we serve God, not the Bible directly. But, the reason I can't completely love this statement is because the Bible is GOD'S WORD!! So no, we don't worship the Bible, but the Bible tells us how to worship God!!! I don't know. This is a tricky statement, I'm not sure how to react to it. I agree with it in theory, but in the context of the rest of her post I feel like I wouldn't agree with her in practice...

"The Bible is not a club it's the good news that sets us free." TRUE TRUE TRUE!!!!!!

"God is not freaked out about 'sin'." Hmmmmm, I don't like that the word "sin" is in quotation marks. What is that supposed to mean?? Is she saying sin some made up human thing that God doesn't care about? And what does it mean that "God is not freaked out" by it? He certainly hates sin. he cannot tolerate it. He can't have it in His presence. He is so "freaked out" by sin that He had to send His Son to die so that His blood could cover our sin!! I mean, if she means that God's plan is not thwarted by sin then sure, she is right, but that's not what I think she means. I tend to think that she is downplaying the severity of sin, as evidenced by her next statement.

"Everyone falls short of their potential ." Mmmmm, yes... but sin is soooooooo much more than that! Our very nature is utterly and totally depraved. DEPRAVED!!! That is so much worse than just falling short of our potential. If it was just a matter of falling short of our potential would Jesus have had to die for that??? Seriously. Sin is a serious enough matter to warrant the death of God's only Son!!!

"He is interested in us being truly happy and he knows" sin" distracts us ." Oh no, don't even get me started on all the things wrong with this statement. God is interested in us being truly happy????? No, God is interested in us worshipping Him. Only when we are doing that are we truly happy. My pastor is fond of saying "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him." See, the cheif end of man is not to be happy but to glorify God! So no, God is not interested in us being truly happy unless we are truly happy in glorifying Him!! :)

"GET YOUR HOPE UP because I see all around a new breed of grace filled people who know the TRUE character of God and know how to communicate the ways of wisdom to others in their actions and words." I see a new breed of Christians as well. I just don't think we are seeing the same ones. I hope she is referring to Christians who speak the truth in love, the key here being speaking the truth!! Unfortuantely too many Christians speak love and eliminate truth. Speaking the truth in love is hard to do, but is so much better than eliminating the truth in favor of speaking only love. People need the truth whether they are believers or not. The Bible truly is the Good News that sets us free from sin and death! The truth of God is beautiful! Why wouldn't we want to speak it!? Don't be a Christian who discards the beautiful truth of God for a cheap immitation of happiness in this life!!

So anyway, I guess that's how I would respond to her if I could. I'm curious of course what you all think so feel free to post comments!