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Free Speech?

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josh:
A few weeks ago, I met a friend of mine at "The Red Barn," one of the local BBQ restaurants, for a quick bite to eat and to catch up on what was going on in his life. We’ve been friends since I was 16 and he was 14… we attended “Royal Rangers” together growing up…

Those of you who have any involvement with the Assemblies of God, you will know what I’m talking about, but for those of you who don’t… “Royal Rangers” is like the Boy Scouts, except with bible devotionals around the camp fire, rather then ghost stories… Ok, well we told ghost stories after the bible devotionals were over.

We also grew up in the same youth group… and even though we had vastly different backgrounds (I grew up in the church ALL of my life… and He was well into his teens before he had any exposure to the main stream church)… we both felt a calling into full time ministry around the same time in our lives.

When I was 20, I left to attend Southeastern… an Assemblies of God University, in Central Florida. My buddy stayed here and worked as an intern at our local church… several years have passed now and we both have experienced a lot of changes in our ideologies of what following/serving Christ is all about.

Almost a 2 years ago now, I left the church that had hired me only 6 months earlier because I felt deep down that we were not teaching, nor living the truth of the scriptures. Every part of the church felt wrong to me, every part of my so-called “salvation” felt wrong, felt counterfeit to me…

Looking back at this point in my life… I identify so strongly with the rich young ruler who asked Christ “What can I do to inherit eternal life?”

Luke 18:18-23
18 Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
19 So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. 20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’”[a]
21 And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.”
22 So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
23 But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich.

For me… I had kept all of the commandments from my youth (at least the outward ones)… but I was rich… my religion had given me all that I thought I needed… friends and popularity, the respect of my elders, activities to do so that I didn’t get bored, and a measuring rod so that I could see how “righteous” I was compared to the rest of humanity.

But only by the grace of God did I come to understand that all that I possessed, all of my riches of religion had become an idol and a weight that was actually restraining me from knowing the life that God has desired for me.

So, I sold it all… and am still daily, selling the spoils of my religion and trying my best to follow Him.

But my friend, at times… I honestly believe he thinks that I am a fool for believing that God’s desire is to actually bring all of humanity into His family… as of a few months ago, he even received his formal credentials from the Assemblies of God and is now working on his ordination as a AG preacher and these titles won’t allow him to explore the idea of a God who exists outside of the restraints of their 16 fundamental beliefs.

Instead of God who is beyond our understanding, and whose ways are higher then our ways, He is neatly packaged into an eight page pamphlet. So, as I am sure that you can imagine… and have probably had similar experiences with your friends… our conversations about God rarely end in agreement…

A few weeks ago, as I mentioned earlier… we had sat down for lunch and were catching up on what was going on in each others lives.  While he was telling me about all of the growth the church was experiencing after hiring a new pastor, he began to tell me about a petition the church is involved in against an “anti-hate speech” law that is being passed that would restrict pastors from saying that “the act of homosexuality is a sin” and that “homosexuals will be punished in hell.”

He then said something that actually made sense to me… He said he was recently reading a book by a popular Christian writer who has made the statement that Christians have become so good at pointing out darkness, that they have forgotten how to simply shine light.

Personally, it doesn’t matter to me if congress says that I can’t tell another person that something they are doing is “sin”… and I certainly wouldn’t tell anyone that God would damn them to a fabled hell hole… I mean honestly, has anyone ever really changed their mind about a particular habitual action that they were involved in just because someone told them that they believed that action to be wrong?

Have you ever walked up to a person who is smoking and mentioned to them that “those things will kill you?” Sure, lot’s of people say stuff just like that… but have you ever seen that smoker throw the cigarette down with a surprised look and say “Oh, geez… thanks for telling me… I didn’t know that!”

Well, neither have I... and I most certainly have never walked up to someone who was involved in a certain action and told them that what they are doing is “sin” and received a positive response.

What’s so amazing about following Christ is that when you actually live out the message of God’s loving chastisement of all humanity, people (including Christians) will hate you without you ever telling them that what they are doing, preaching or the way that they are living is wrong.

Galations 5:13-15
13 For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.
14 For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
15 But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another.

1 John 1:5-10
5 This is the message we heard from Jesus[c] and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.
6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth.
7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
 8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 
9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.

Sorry for rambling… it’s been awhile.

Shine Light My Friends. God’s Peace.
Josh

YellowStone:
Awesome Post Josh.......

It's not the truth that is complicated, but the world. Who can make sense of it? :)

I liked how you tied in religion as the "prized possession," I hadn't looked at it like that before. Some people would rather die than change a belief. Is that insurmountable faith or total insecurity, hanging on to the death in a vice grip. :)

I am a software developer / project manager and the first thing I ever learned was that, If I couldn't break what I was designing or working on, no one could and didn't I try.  :D  Applications have to stand up to anything and everything, users will not accept a clause of "this progam will only perform under the following conditions!" Yep, all we get is "BUT, I need...."  ;D

However, churches will not tolerate any scrutiny. Why? Surely truth is truth is truth from any angle or direction. Well of course, if it is indeed truth. But they peddle not the truth but lies and they know full well that even a liar can trap a liar. So a mandate of "No questions!!" is given and enforced to the letter. Simpy amazing.

Great Scriptures, :)

Your brother in Christ,
Darren

nmendes:
Hi Josh! I liked your post. It was very touching.

One thing I realized as God has revealed His truth to me (one morsel at a time) is how much brainwashing is going on in the church.

Nicole

Kat:

Hi Josh,

Good to here from you.

The church is doing things their way, and their foundation is not Christ, so what they are building on it can not stand.  I have no need for their fellowship and am happy just to have the brothers and sisters on the forum  :)

2Co 6:13  I speak now as though you were my children: show us the same feelings that we have for you. Open your hearts wide!
v. 14  Do not try to work together as equals with unbelievers, for it cannot be done. How can right and wrong be partners? How can light and darkness live together?
v. 15  How can Christ and the Devil agree? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
v. 16  How can God's temple come to terms with pagan idols? For we are the temple of the living God! As God Himself has said, "I will make My home with My people and live among them; I will be their God, and they shall be My people."
v. 17  And so the Lord says, "You must leave them and separate yourselves from them. Have nothing to do with what is unclean, and I will accept you.
v. 18  I will be your father, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." (GNB)

mercy, peace, and love
Kat

gmik:
Good post Josh.  I'm like you Kat, I don't look for fellowship anymore.  That was my first fear when coming to BT--Oh, whatever shall I do-no church, no pot lucks, no home bible studies....etc etc

The Lord is good and I don't miss it at all.  I love the forum and I can talk to my hubby and son.  I basically do not discuss my private life w/ anyone else.  Now, I am looking forward to fellowshipping at the conference, but no way would i go if thats all there was!  I am going to meet Ray and get taught!  Amen!

I just got an e mail from "friends" back at the church I left.  Went like....haven't seen you in ages, lets do dinner after church.....I haven't responded yet.

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