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Cinderella – Don’t Get The Wrong Idea

// October 19th, 2009 // My Thoughts

I visit quite a few blogs that are controversial, and several blogs that question even the fundamentals that have been passed down through the Christian faith. I recommend those blogs from the standpoint that it is good for us to question where some of our ideals and assumptions come from rather than blindly following them and accepting them as fact.  I also occasionally rant about my christian brothers and sisters and some of the silly things they involve themselves in.  I tend to disagree with hardcore conservatives, and fundamentalists on several levels and I do not apologize for that… I even beat my head against the keyboard as I try to understand why *christians* do some of the things they do!

HOWEVER… lest you get the wrong idea.    It is important to me that you know that I love the Church. I love the people of God and I firmly believe that even as crazy and screwed up as things are sometimes in our local churches that the “catholic” (definition: worldwide or all encompassing) church is exactly what it should be… I tend to see the church as Cinderella.   The wicked step mother and her daughters are doing everything to hijack an impending wedding and they will stop at nothing to accomplish their goal.   Legalism, Conservative Politics, Activism, Bigotry, Prosperity Doctrines, Charismatic Extremes, Hyper Spirituality, Fundamentalism… the list is endless… all of these things would love to take the place of the true bride of Christ… I see it every day… the long line of things that christians try to shove into the glass slipper to say… “See I am the one!” To the prince.

I think it is time for a change in perspective… long ago at Antioch we were first called Christians,  but now many things are called christian.  It is a label that we use to neatly categorize things.  We instantly feel safe and cozy if something is labeled christian, like the word sterilizes anything it touches. The truth is that the christian label is very close to being meaningless these days… a little like the word gay doesn’t really mean happy anymore.

I have actually caught myself hanging out with people I didn’t even enjoy being around because they were “christians”.  Its easy to fall into, just like hanging out with a gang… they accept you, you get a cool nickname, and everybody slaps you on the back when you do the cool things they taught  you.  The thing that you quickly forget is that you are losing your identity to a label not a lifestyle.

The lifestyle of Jesus is different and is nothing like the pack mentality that can get built behind the four walls of a church sanctuary.  Jesus was all over the city and in the countryside getting involved in peoples life and teaching among them. We quickly get accustomed to our golden calfs and would rather sit and wait for the lost to come to us in our sterile environment.

I have heard the saying “going to church doesn’t make you a christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car” but what does being a christian actually make you anyways?  These days being a christian doesn’t actually make you a follower of Jesus any more than going to church makes you a christian! so where does that leave us?  Just in case you are not following me it makes a lot of things you have been treating as safe… not fit for consumption!  forget the “christian” label  seek the things of God … surround yourself with people that need Jesus and are seeking him… they may not be “Christians” at all… in fact you will probably end up finding more friends… and people who are truly like you…people that love God …  than you could have ever imagined,  so you can stop trying to shove all that garbage into the glass slipper and actually put your foot into it like you were meant to!

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