What the *bleep* have we done?!
I recently heard about a man who decided to go to church for the first time in a long time. His family had prayed, fasted and reasoned with him, and they were thrilled when he got over his own prejudices and fears and decided to go. They didn't want to make a big deal of it, or embarrass him when he came in, so they let him pick his own seat in the back and left him alone. They were just beside themselves that he was even there. Then the usher noticed him. Actually, he noticed his hat, and it wasn't in his hands, it was on his head where most folks keep them.
Evidently the man always wore his hat. He was known for wearing his hat. No one could ever remember seeing him without his hat. So when the usher asked him to remove it, the man politely said no. But the usher wouldn't let it go, so he asked him again, and this time he made it a spiritual matter. God would consider it disrespectful and a sin if the man continued to wear his hat in church. But again the man said no. There was nothing left to discuss then. So the usher asked him to leave.
Yep. After years of intense prayers and pleadings, the man who decided to give church another chance had a senseless face-to-face encounter with the church's rule keeper - and over a piece of cloth on his head. Not a song, not a sermon, not even a prayer, all he got was an over zealous man in an usher's coat who took it upon himself to proclaim that wearing a hat in church will send you to Hell. He probably could've found bible for it too.
I got an email from a friend today. She just moved to a new city. It's a small town actually and she's anxious to settle into a new church home. She's found one that she likes, and the people there are showing her love and acceptance. But the pastor is a woman. My friend worries that's a sin. It's also not a Pentecostal church. Her Pentecostal friends tell her that no church is better than a non-Pentecostal one. So now she wonders if she should go to church at all.
What HAVE we done?
2 comments:
Amen! Very well said. We make trivial things more important than the saving of souls. Such a tragedy!
I've seen situations similar to both of these, and it really perturbs me that so many Christians are so ignorant of what really matters.
As for the Pentecostal, here is one Pentecostal who would tell the friend not to worry what other Pentecostals tell them. The time for arrogance in doctrinal teachings is past (and never should have existed to start with).
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