Tuesday, May 08, 2012

Being "Put Off" by Christianity

I've recently joined a women's christian facebook group.  What I love about it is the realness of the women.  We share our lives with each other and we don't judge. 
As Christians we need to present ourselves as humans, not extraordinary beings. We need to have many facets to our lives.  If we go around only preaching to people we tend to turn them off.   I am often put off by people who only share scripture but don't share other aspects of their lives.
We need to be relatable to other people presenting ourselves as multifaceted. We can show our true colors, our interests, how we enjoy this beautiful life God is giving us. We can even show our shortcomings, how we might doubt or how we might fear. This makes us real to those around us, so they might think it's possible to be a Christian. Being "religious" often makes people indifferent or repels them.
Jesus told stories of which people could relate to about real life, parables. Jesus made himself real to the fisherman, the tax collectors, the prostitutes. He told stories they could relate to unlike the pharisees who only read from the scriptures and didn't relate to people. If we go around only preaching to people we tend to turn them off.
This doesn't mean we are to act like the world.  I'm not saying join in on the sinful behavior of the world to win them. We still need to stand apart and stand for what we believe.  We shouldn't hurt the Christian name by flaunting to the world our sins.  But showing God's grace because we do sin is a living example. 
Working in a secular world, my husband can not exclude himself from hearing God's name used in vain, people who gossip, people who mock God or His people.  It is not always easy to let these things slide.  But I've also slipped, laughed at a distasteful joke, gossiped or cursed.  But what I can do is show that I've not lost my faith because of it.  So many of the people in the Bible were flawed.  Moses often got angry, David committed murder and adultery, Peter denied Christ.  Yet these were the men God used to further His kingdom.
Some people will always be haters of the word of God.  These people we can't change, only God can.  But we can love them.

Luke 18:9-14
New International Version (NIV)

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
~scriptures taken from www.biblegateway.com

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