The New Christian Sport: Bashing the Church

When a guest on the Colbert Report or John Stewart show rips into Christianity and how dumb we are I groan a little.  Usually I can get over it because I know that some of that is bitterness and miscommunication.  

But when Christians found out that the only way to be smart and get people to read their blog is to type articles that start with, "4 problems in the church," "18 lies the church told me," "5 ways church goers get the Bible wrong."  I really think we are living up to this quote.

"The Church is the only Institution that shoots its wounded."

Now, in no way do I think the church is a rosy club that can do no wrong.  Not at all,  I think we need a good fire under our butts.  In fact, the church is one of the best atmospheres to foster that fire.

With that said, I am going to show my rage for this new kind of popularity contest among Christian thinkers that shows the only way to earn respect or prove intelligence is to blast this way of life.  It gets a few extra hits on the website and you get the coveted, "you are pretty smart for being a Christian" from Johnny Atheist, but it is also a running dropkick to the privates of an institution that God has put every investment into.

That guy has his arms crossed during worship.  He must be the smartest one.

First lets start off with the positive.  Jesus told Peter that he was going to build his church on him.  Not literally on him, but in that metaphorical way that smart people talk about.  Since that confession, the church has been the number one headquarters for all of God's plans and heists.  When Jesus returned from his death on the Cross he was sighted by primarily believers (Acts 1:3).  The Great Commission is based on the followers of the church spreading their word.

"You people suck.  I am going to recruit pagans." Said no Jesus ever.

But you might be protesting this saying, "that is spiritual stuff.  The church doesn't care about important stuff like sex, dating and what to wear on a Friday night."  Wrong again, proverbial critic!  The church was also supposed to find marriages for the young Christians in their assembly and foster healthy relationships."  The Early Church was the center for leisure, marriage, education and family life.

I get it, times have changed and the church is getting old.  We should constantly expose the old information of the church and weed out the bad advice.  Yes and no.  Yes we should always be good judges of what scripture says and teach others, but no, we should not be an a-hole about it.

My next article is called, "Christians Smell Like Poop!"

Whenever we flash these loud and ambiguous blogs about how the church lifestyle is ineffective, wrong and completely out of whack it really makes me question if you understand the role we have in eternity.  We are the final beta testers for God's perfection over the Earth (Rev 21:1), we are the only ones invited into the house of God and also we are the only reason God has not blown up the Earth (Matt 24:14).  When God takes us from unbeliever to believer he even categorizes us from "fool" to "wise" (1 Cor 2:6).  I don't want Christians to look more saintly than we are, but I want the naysayers to realize that we are God's first and only plan for bringing out his goal.

Thank goodness for humility

We are also missing the point of God's domination plan when we talk about how old and outdated the idea of church is.  The plan has always been for the Gospel to restore the people of the world, bring them closer to the one who made them and create a community of believers (Rev 21:2).  There's a schism created when we make articles that separate "real believers in Jesus," with "the church."

The church needs to be its own critic.  We need to continue realizing that not everything we say is perfect, godly and sensical.  That should not make a Christian blogger write this huge expose' on how the church just doesn't get it and it needs to change or die.  We are a dynamic group, constantly wrestling with the truth, adapting to revelation and constantly growing into our salvation (with fear and trembling).  When we fall we have the unlimited foundation of grace and redemption to climb back up.  No other institution has that kind of a promise.

Only the church!