Turned off of God - by the church?

Something bloggers do is read other peoples' blogs. It keeps us fresh, prevents us from stagnating, and spurs us to think.

I ran across this one person's blog lately and I must admit I go there often. She herself is a committed Christian whom I admire. She posted something about the modern church, the way it turns people off of God, that touched a deep chord with me.

Here's an excerpt:

The church has this way of making it seem like the journey is over once you have entered its doors. Poor you, all lost and weary, come with us, we can show you the way, trust our path. If only it were that simple. I know that the message is well intended but the relationships between the "saved" and the "lost" are all too often tainted by agendas and expectations. Why focus so much on me? Save yourselves! Let your good works speak for your faith, or if you are feeling lost and broken then share that with me, or how about we all just shut up and listen? There were a few times I really wanted to say aloud what I was thinking. (Source: http://www.livinginthemystery.blogspot.com/ )

I responded in a comment to that blog entry. But my response turned into more of a blog in and of itself.

I know very few people among my circle of friends, Christian or not, who haven't been hurt by the church. So here (in part) is my reply to my fellow-blogger...

I've felt for many years that the church is shooting itself in the foot by telling all and sundry that the problems of addiction, struggles with temptation, and day-to-day "blahness" will all be over once a person has "accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior" - ughh. As a matter of fact, being a committed Christian guarantees you MORE trouble. (All those who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution). The devil's crosshairs line up on the person who loves Jesus so much that it he or she is making a difference in his or her world. Not the kind of difference the modern church seems to think is "making a difference" - passing out tracts, spouting religious platitudes, and being (pardon the cliché) so heavenly minded we're no earthly good. In other words, out of touch with the "real world."

That brings back some pretty vivid memories of when I was a Bible-thumping raving lunatic...in senior high no less. People looked at me like I had 2 heads but I just viewed it as "persecution."

I wasn't being persecuted. I was weird.

No - the enemy doesn't waste his time trying to "get" these folks. They're already bound up in the grave clothes of the great god "Should." Old satan concentrates his firepower on those few who are walking with God the way Enoch walked with God. The way King David walked with God - in openness and honesty, warts and all, receiving love from God and loving Him back (sometimes even willing to make a fool of himself to do so!!)

Sometimes the problem with the church is that the Vision is lost. Jesus came to the down-and-outers, the addicts, the prostitutes, the guys who took money under the table. When we come to Jesus, we may feel uncomfortable about our past life of degradation so we surround ourselves with people we want to emulate. Problem is, we become a sub-culture and lose touch with what speaks to "regular people." There's a we-they mentality and it can easily turn into a siege mentality. We become so obsessed with reaching everyone possible before Jesus comes back that we forget to spend time getting to know Him more intimately, hearing His heart about the broken and the fallen. I've fallen into that trap. There's a tendency to do that the longer one is a believer. That wasn't what Jesus intended.

That's what the enemy intended. And if we're not careful as believers, we can fall into the trap of thinking we're doing God's will when what we're really doing is playing right into the enemy's hands.

Thanks very much for putting your finger on my tendency to let the pendulum swing to the extremes. In recent days, I've been railing against the same body of Christ that I'm a part of. In doing so, I'm in danger of becoming the loose cannon nobody wants to listen to. In my zeal to call Christians to a deeper life in God, I can come off all "holier than thou" as well. Or downright obnoxious. (Like the guy who leaned right into my face and sprayed little spittle drops as he spoke the words, "Do you know Jesus as your personal Savior?") - I shudder. Sometimes my firebrand tendencies are just as offensive to the unsaved and even to believers (who are either new to the faith or satisfied with their walk with God), as that person's "witness" was to me.
The truth is, stepping into a relationship with God is only the beginning of an adventure, not the end of a struggle. There's a whole new struggle - but one with a purpose. Contrary to popular belief, the struggle isn't against the people in the world (or even the church - haha). It's against the spiritual forces that will do anything to keep us from developing that intimacy with God that He so desires. The outward stuff (to which I sometimes refer as the "Do, do, do") will not be forced if we just concentrate on the inward stuff (the "be, be, be") and listen to His voice.

That was my comment.

Now - to clarify a bit. By "making a difference in his or her world" I don't mean what most church-going believers think of. I am talking about a life of love and joy that comes from a growing intimacy with God. This kind of life overflows in love, God's love (since He loved us first) - primarily back to Him - and then spills out into the lives of the people with whom we come in contact. It has nothing to do with the people we hang out with or don't hang out with, the kinds of clothes we wear or don't wear, the kinds of places we go to or don't go to, the kinds of music we listen to or don't listen to, the kinds of movies we watch or don't watch. It has to do with real people with real heartaches, real joys, real lives.

I posted earlier on Intimacy with God: "Oh God, into me see." That's the life to which God is calling me. In a more recent post, I talked about the walls coming down, but I failed to mention that this is only the beginning of the journey.

God has such amazing, sometimes heart-stopping adventures for us, even after He's taught us to fly.