Can we please stop apologizing for every sin (real or perceived), every instance of hypocrisy (real or perceived), every failure to do good (real or perceived), every overlooked cause (real or perceived), every missed opportunity (real or perceived), every public relations nightmare (real or perceived), and every screw up (real or perceived) that any Christian may or may not have committed? We will never, never, never, never placate the cynics and skeptics by falling over ourselves apologizing for every wrong thing any Christian has ever done. That list is far too long and countless acts are added to it daily. Let God be the Judge of that, not the cynics and skeptics. Don't enable their hypocrisy (i.e., "Judge not lest ye be judged you bastard!") by apologizing for things you never did. It's time to grow some backbone.
And for anyone who refers to the Church as a "whore" (I'm looking at you, Shane Claiborne), shut your filthy mouth. If you called my wife a whore I'd beat you senseless. Who do you think you are calling the wife of the Savior a whore?
And for all of you progressive Evangelicals who think social justice and mercy ministry started with you (I'm looking at you, Emergent), hire a fact-checker. Or at least read a history book. Christians have been on the frontline of the justice/mercy movement for the past 2000 years, so don't act like you're the first ones that ever gave a damn about the poor.
I'm tired of all the potshots the Church has been taking. Yeah, it's an easy target, especially when you don't have your facts straight and are basing your prejudice on a strawman. Stop letting cynics and skeptics tell you what it means to be a Christian. Stop listening to Church-haters tell you why you should hate the Church. Don't let somebody rewrite 2000 years of history because it's socially convenient for their progressive movement. Grow a backbone.
This concludes my rant. Wow, that felt good.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This post was unfiltered. This is me ranting against things that I myself do, and have lately had difficult second-thoughts about. It's sort of like an abbreviated, angry Ecclesiastes. To anyone that I may offend with this post, please understand that I often find myself in this same boat. The boat, however, is leaky, and ought to be abandoned.
1 comment:
Hey! No one rants like that on my internet! Someone oughta teach you a lesson, guy.
Apologizing for the crusades seemed like a really cool idea when Donald Miller did it in Blue Like Jazz, and there is something to be said for owning your heritage, and there's something to be said about apologizing for misrepresenting Christ to the world around you, but I think I can feel where you're coming from.
However, you've got it all wrong. We need a new movement, the next big thing in church marketing: every church in America will hang a huge banner above its door reading "We're very, very sorry" with cute sad face on it. Look out Church-Growth, here comes the Church-Grovel movement! We'll make millions!
Post a Comment