Fountain of Sorrow, Jackson Browne

Letter From a Concerned Follower, Pedro The Lion

Worlds Apart, Jars of Clay

Round Here, Counting Crows

Winter is fast approaching, and the church has no money for a roof and heater. The cost for the roof? $2500. The heater? $500. Three thousand American dollars will basically build this church.

So tonight, in our quarterly business meeting, our pastor shares the letter from his friends and asks the church body what we want to do about it. All he got were mumbles and stares. I watched as everyone him-hawed around, shrugged and looked at the person next to them for an answer. No one said a word. So, we dropped the discussion (if you could call it that) and moved on to the next point of business--new tires for the church van.

Our church has a budget of $167,000 next year. Of that amount, we are donating 27% ($45,000) to our denomination's foreign mission fund. Actually, we pride ourselves on being a church that supports missions because we give so much to the "cooperative fund" (a Southern Baptist organization).

BULL CRAP.

To me, this is the equivalent of giving a hefty offering on Sunday, and turning down your Christian brother or sister that needs help paying thier rent on Monday, because you already gave to God that week. Thats what a Parisee would do. That is so snot-nosed and arrogant that I could hardly contain myself as I sat there [and even now]. Did you know that we are spending $6000 on church bulletins next year?

I wanted to stand up and scream. I wanted to cry. I wanted to do something, but I didn't. The most I could muster in the defense of my brothers and sisters was a prayer request at the end of the meeting that "we would prayerfully consider giving" to this church. THAT was the grossest sin tonight; I was silent in the face of Error.

"Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."
--James 2:15-17

Our faith is so dead that, frankly, it stinks.

See also Matthew 25:31-46.

--A.W. Tozer.

I need to get real--

Ephesians 4:2-6

"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit-- just as you were called to one hope when you were called--
one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."

Denominations have really got me down. I have had it explained to me that they are good, because they show outsiders what to expect when they go in the door. It's like a brand name on a car. If you hear "Cadillac", you think, "big, expensive car" If you hear Yugo, you think, "small, cheap car," etc., just like if you hear "Baptist," you know that evangelism is going to be stressed (not that others don't), and if you hear "Pentecostal" you know that the Holy Spirit will be stressed.

According to that passage above, things should not be as they are. I think that the car illustration is just a copout. Evangelical Christians should agree that there is only one way to be saved, one way to God, and therefore, one Theology or one set of Doctrine, but what we have all done is we have decided to go with our opinion-- "agree to disagree," so to speak. Disagreement is not an option here. We would rather divide than tough it out through the hard questions.

I think that all of this got started because of that sinner's prayer post from 10/10. The article was really getting at baptism's role in salvation. Baptists believe that it has no role in salvation, but is a command from God, while others believe that it is essential to salvation. Well, what is it? It either is or isn't.