Cast out Christians
Over the last few weeks I have literally scoured emails reading stories from people that we will call "cast out Christians". People for whatever reason have felt like they do not fit in to a formal religious setting. The situations may be different but the outcome is the exact same, if you do not feel like you belong, then you don't. My thoughts on this are going to raise the ire of many, that I am confident. It will make people question where my thoughts and emotions are on this subject. There was a time that I protected how I truly felt but now as I see the world through a different set of lenses I just write. You can choose to read this as a sedge-way to building your faith or you can read it as a view into my own beliefs. Either way you choose to read it I do hope you find the true meaning of why I am writing it. Sit back and enjoy this blog called Cast out Christians.
I once wrote a blog that, sad to say, became one of my most popular, It was called "Country Club", I wrote it about the view from inside the club and how awesome it was if you had the view. The view from outside looking in was totally different. That was written at a dark time in my life, however now that years have past I feel I can expand on that with a little help from many friends and emails.
We all seek out a church life for various reasons, I hope you caught what I just said, WE SEEK OUT. I wrote that intentionally because the church in and of itself in many cases has lost the true spirit and meaning of Christianity. Going back to the beginning the apostles went out seeking the people, not the people seeking them. Granted as the word of love and hope spread people started looking for them. But they never stopped getting dirt on their feet going about looking for lost sheep. The gospels are full of stories about Jesus walking the dirt roads, as well as his followers. Then several decades later the need to build meeting places came into being. With that came rules of membership and before we knew it the church had lost it's original meaning. The sole purpose became to protect the church itself, not find and minister to the lost sheep. If you happen to be one of the lucky ones that found the church that was great, so long as you fit the model of what they were looking for. You see Jesus understood that his reason for being was to give hope to the sinner, not the religious. It didn't take long however for the religious however. and the money to gain power over the so called churches. Once again creating the illusion or fact of being a country club yet masking itself as a place of salvation.
Each person has an innate desire to fit in, to be loved, to be accepted. In this day and age of extreme prejudice, bigotry, exclusion, and down right hate, being accepted is near impossible. Which means we usually do not have the requirements to join the so called Country Club, thank goodness. In an effort to find true faith and genuine spirituality you must first learn to accept yourself. Once you understand that God created you to be his greatest miracle then and only then can you start to find a spiritual path on which to embark. You will quickly realize that church country clubs are for the religious not the faithful. Let me qualify this before we go further. All churches do not adhere to this country club mentality. There are churches out there that truly get their feet dirty by going out and ministering to the masses. They preach love and acceptance to everyone, gay, straight, black, white, rich or poor, married, divorced, or single. The sad truth about many of these churches is that they do not survive because money and grandeur is missing. Before you cast judgement on that last statement just take a look around your own communities.
Most churches are built and exist to protect themselves. They are four walls that unlock their doors and welcome you in. Come and go as you please, listen to the great messages, start working you in to the inner circle. Once you are in and you get the set of rules and you begin to realize that this is not what you wanted. Sure you can listen to the old cliche "you get out of it what you put into it". Again consider Jesus with the woman at the well, the adultered woman, Lazarus, etc. These people felt the true love from Jesus, he sought them out to accept them as they were, they did not find him he found them. This is an important lesson in Christianity. Today many of our churches, not all, make it difficult to belong. If you are gay you are out, if you are single you are out, if you are divorced or come from divorced parents you are out. I know what you are thinking, that this is simply not true, that your church has outreach to these segmented groups. Ever consider that segregating people in and of itself might be a problem? How about we just accept everyone for exactly who they are, love them as God's greatest creation.
I have had so many emails written to me over the years from people that desperately want to feel the love and warmth of Christ but they are constantly reminded of how unworthy they are. You are reminded how bad you are, so much so that you finally decide what is the use, Jesus obviously could never love me. I am here to offer an opinion that is JUST THAT, an opinion. We are all born originals, we are not cookie cutter manufactured products. We are real life living and breathing human beings. We need to be loved and accepted. We did not choose where we were born, we did not choose whom our parents were or the health of our birth. It was years later before we could be called products of our choices. Even then as we make choices in life we start to see how society wants to conform us into something that goes against the originality we were born to be. I often use a quote that says "you were born an original, do not die a copy". In today's churches we are taught to be a copy. Forgiveness rarely truly exist as does acceptance. For those outside the country club looking in you know exactly what I mean. Heck some of the people inside the country club pray that they can escape.
So what is the answer? In my simple little world I think the answer has to start with us, the so called Cast out Christians. We can love ourselves, accept who we are and then start to repeat that on others. None of us can see life through the eyes of others, we cannot see the hurt that is behind the smile. We cannot see the person living falsely inside that body. But what we can do is embrace one another and let them know we love them just as they are. I believe we can solve many of the world problems by simply learning to love and accepting others. Be careful though that you do not place conditions on your love. If you do before you know it you too will be acting like a country club.
Love is the answer I truly believe that. Once I understood that my life changed. I am in the best place in life I I have ever been in and it is because I learned to love and accept myself totally as well as others. I have much more to write about on this sunject so please stay tuned. In the mean time let's build a world of love together.
peace to you
Dale
I once wrote a blog that, sad to say, became one of my most popular, It was called "Country Club", I wrote it about the view from inside the club and how awesome it was if you had the view. The view from outside looking in was totally different. That was written at a dark time in my life, however now that years have past I feel I can expand on that with a little help from many friends and emails.
We all seek out a church life for various reasons, I hope you caught what I just said, WE SEEK OUT. I wrote that intentionally because the church in and of itself in many cases has lost the true spirit and meaning of Christianity. Going back to the beginning the apostles went out seeking the people, not the people seeking them. Granted as the word of love and hope spread people started looking for them. But they never stopped getting dirt on their feet going about looking for lost sheep. The gospels are full of stories about Jesus walking the dirt roads, as well as his followers. Then several decades later the need to build meeting places came into being. With that came rules of membership and before we knew it the church had lost it's original meaning. The sole purpose became to protect the church itself, not find and minister to the lost sheep. If you happen to be one of the lucky ones that found the church that was great, so long as you fit the model of what they were looking for. You see Jesus understood that his reason for being was to give hope to the sinner, not the religious. It didn't take long however for the religious however. and the money to gain power over the so called churches. Once again creating the illusion or fact of being a country club yet masking itself as a place of salvation.
Each person has an innate desire to fit in, to be loved, to be accepted. In this day and age of extreme prejudice, bigotry, exclusion, and down right hate, being accepted is near impossible. Which means we usually do not have the requirements to join the so called Country Club, thank goodness. In an effort to find true faith and genuine spirituality you must first learn to accept yourself. Once you understand that God created you to be his greatest miracle then and only then can you start to find a spiritual path on which to embark. You will quickly realize that church country clubs are for the religious not the faithful. Let me qualify this before we go further. All churches do not adhere to this country club mentality. There are churches out there that truly get their feet dirty by going out and ministering to the masses. They preach love and acceptance to everyone, gay, straight, black, white, rich or poor, married, divorced, or single. The sad truth about many of these churches is that they do not survive because money and grandeur is missing. Before you cast judgement on that last statement just take a look around your own communities.
Most churches are built and exist to protect themselves. They are four walls that unlock their doors and welcome you in. Come and go as you please, listen to the great messages, start working you in to the inner circle. Once you are in and you get the set of rules and you begin to realize that this is not what you wanted. Sure you can listen to the old cliche "you get out of it what you put into it". Again consider Jesus with the woman at the well, the adultered woman, Lazarus, etc. These people felt the true love from Jesus, he sought them out to accept them as they were, they did not find him he found them. This is an important lesson in Christianity. Today many of our churches, not all, make it difficult to belong. If you are gay you are out, if you are single you are out, if you are divorced or come from divorced parents you are out. I know what you are thinking, that this is simply not true, that your church has outreach to these segmented groups. Ever consider that segregating people in and of itself might be a problem? How about we just accept everyone for exactly who they are, love them as God's greatest creation.
I have had so many emails written to me over the years from people that desperately want to feel the love and warmth of Christ but they are constantly reminded of how unworthy they are. You are reminded how bad you are, so much so that you finally decide what is the use, Jesus obviously could never love me. I am here to offer an opinion that is JUST THAT, an opinion. We are all born originals, we are not cookie cutter manufactured products. We are real life living and breathing human beings. We need to be loved and accepted. We did not choose where we were born, we did not choose whom our parents were or the health of our birth. It was years later before we could be called products of our choices. Even then as we make choices in life we start to see how society wants to conform us into something that goes against the originality we were born to be. I often use a quote that says "you were born an original, do not die a copy". In today's churches we are taught to be a copy. Forgiveness rarely truly exist as does acceptance. For those outside the country club looking in you know exactly what I mean. Heck some of the people inside the country club pray that they can escape.
So what is the answer? In my simple little world I think the answer has to start with us, the so called Cast out Christians. We can love ourselves, accept who we are and then start to repeat that on others. None of us can see life through the eyes of others, we cannot see the hurt that is behind the smile. We cannot see the person living falsely inside that body. But what we can do is embrace one another and let them know we love them just as they are. I believe we can solve many of the world problems by simply learning to love and accepting others. Be careful though that you do not place conditions on your love. If you do before you know it you too will be acting like a country club.
Love is the answer I truly believe that. Once I understood that my life changed. I am in the best place in life I I have ever been in and it is because I learned to love and accept myself totally as well as others. I have much more to write about on this sunject so please stay tuned. In the mean time let's build a world of love together.
peace to you
Dale
Comments