The church is comprised mostly of people who resemble the rich young ruler found in the book of Luke.  Here is the text from the amplified bible for a bit of clarity.

Luke 18:18-30

¹⁸And a certain ruler asked Him, Good Teacher You who are essentially and perfectly morally good, what shall I do to inherit eternal life to partake of eternal salvation in the Messiah’s kingdom?

¹⁹Jesus said to him, Why do you call Me essentially and perfectly morally good? No one is essentially and perfectly morally good–except God only.

²⁰You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not witness falsely, honor your father and your mother.

²¹And he replied, All these I have kept from my youth.

²²And when Jesus heard it, He said to him, One thing you still lack. Sell everything that you have and divide the money among the poor, and you will have rich treasure in heaven; and come back and follow Me become My disciple, join My party, and accompany Me.

²³But when he heard this, he became distressed and very sorrowful, for he was rich–exceedingly so.

²⁴Jesus, observing him, said, How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!

²⁵For it is easier for a camel to enter through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

²⁶And those who heard it said, Then who can be saved?

²⁷But He said, What is impossible with men is possible with God.

²⁸And Peter said, See, we have left our own things–home, family, and business and have followed You.

²⁹And He said to them, I say to you truly, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God

³⁰Who will not receive in return many times more in this world and, in the coming age, eternal life.

Somehow we have become comfortable living the life of the rich young ruler while claiming we are following Jesus.  Makes me think of the scripture in the book of Thessalonians.

2 Thessalonians 2:10-13 (Amplified Bible)

¹⁰And by unlimited seduction to evil and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing (going to perdition) because they did not welcome the Truth but refused to love it that they might be saved.

¹¹Therefore God sends upon them a misleading influence, a working of error and a strong delusion to make them believe what is false,

¹²In order that all may be judged and condemned who did not believe in [who refused to adhere to, trust in, and rely on] the Truth, but [instead] took pleasure in unrighteousness.

¹³But we, brethren beloved by the Lord, ought and are obligated [as those who are in debt] to give thanks always to God for you, because God chose you from the beginning as His firstfruits (first converts) for salvation through the sanctifying work of the [Holy] Spirit and [your] belief in (adherence to, trust in, and reliance on) the Truth.

What has become of loving God, loving you neighbor, denying yourself serving others? What has become of the ways of Jesus and us who call ourselves Christians following them?

I thank God for my disillusionment over the last six years.  My prayer is that I would understand more clearly what the scripture in Hosea means;

Hosea 6:6 (Amplified Bible)

⁶For I desire and delight in dutiful steadfast love and goodness, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of and acquaintance with God more than burnt offerings.

Cross references:

I came across a paper that clearly expressed the concerns I have of the church.  It is well written and concise.  Please take the time to read it and contemplate your life in light of this idea.  If you are claiming to follow Christ you really need to dwell on this a bit. Chances are you are filtering everything you see, read or think through the lens of a consumer.  Break free of that destructive bondage and find God.   Take the time to read this document here.

Don’t follow the church, choose to follow Christ.

Luke 9:23-25 (Amplified Bible)

²³And He said to all, If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also].

²⁴For whoever would preserve his life and save it will lose and destroy it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he will preserve and save it [from the penalty of eternal death].

²⁵For what does it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and ruins or forfeits (loses) himself?

Paul and I are both Christians trying to sort through this beast of a detached system called Western Christianity.

Metallica writes honestly in their lyrics about the struggles of their lives. Twenty nine years as a heavy metal band has given them a lot of experiences to write about. These experiences, good or bad, many people can relate too. It’s just the reality of life here on this planet. We all have varying values and morals which we try to live up to but we fail on occasion and have to re-evaluate, feel guilty, confused etc. It’s unavoidable. But somehow, in the church, being honest about anything short of perfection is looked down on and very uncommon. We live plastic lives “as if” we have it all together.

When I was thirty-one ish I met a Christian guy who, within a week of getting to know him, told me all his baggage, struggles and vices. He told me that if we were going to be friends he wanted me to know him for who he really was and make a decision based on that information if I wanted his friendship. He gave me the “as is” truth. This was the first time in my entire life as a Christian someone was honest about their life. It felt foreign to me as it was just that. It leaves this paradoxical question of, can we really be honest about life “as is” as Christians. The answer is, when we are honest, no.

I think the problem has something to do with our context. We live in a consumer based economy/culture where everything is viewed as a market and has to be marketable. Packaging is everything. The church is just selling a good life of blessing. Your life will be better if you become part of this club. They are selling a perception of the good life while uncomfortable with being honest about the reality of their lives. It’s a very shallow system of relationships in which when someone fails we are all shocked and amazed by the one time failure. In our minds we all secretly wonder when the “church police” will catch us in our on going private struggles. All of this is based on selling or organization, not living the Christian life. While their values and moral compass is pointing toward Christ the path they take to get there is one of denial and dishonesty which makes the entire message suspect of truth.

Metallic offers an open forum on reality. They are brutally honest about their lives and make you feel like you are not alone in your struggle. While I’m not sure of their personal values or where their moral compass is pointing, their honesty is compelling to me and to millions out there.

Could it be that the church is so far gone they could actually learn about honesty and truth from Metallica. Maybe they can shift off the big business model of building a church and go for the heavy metal approach living “as is”

I used to be a Rotarian. One day, after a discussion of what is real help, one of my colleagues said, ” well we’re in it for our own feel good.”  I get that desire to feel good about the work you do, especially when you frame it as acts of service, but there are many different ways people get that good feeling.  Some which benefit others and some which exploits them.

I would venture to say that most volunteers would initially agree that they want to make a real difference in benefiting others.  But to do this effectively one must take time to gain understanding of the context of history, the culture and community. You must begin by understanding what a community is doing right to live as they have been for the extent of their history. Only after you gain understanding into the lives of those you desire to serve can you develop a road out of the situation that has led you to them initially, (sometimes the presuppositions we enter with often are dissolved into what is contextually a healthy way of life).  But when having these conversations with volunteers it is often at about this point where they say, “yeah but I only have a week so I’ll just. . .”  which somehow excuses any and all efforts from being evaluated for effectiveness. At which point the path the individual is on becomes clearer, to benefit long term or exploit.

While I was a Rotarian some gracious individual donated a large some of money to help a village in the jungle.  The local Rotarian’s traveled to that village to evaluate the needs. While there they noticed the children walk for hours each day to go to the nearest school in the region which is in this town. The Rotarian’s see the desire for education (kids walking each day) and the struggle (lots of walking ungroomed trails) and they come up with an obvious solution. They decide to double the capacity of the school and build dorms so the kids can stay for a week at a time.  Great idea right? So like all good capitalists they bolt forward with marketing and implementation.  It all gets a little blurry from here forward. Children are corralled and photos are taken with the Anglos and the Indians to send to the donor and prospective future donors. Pictures of little malnourished kids walking down trails to go to school are taken and attached to letters about education being the solution to the problem.  Buildings are built and pictures are sent out to proclaim effectiveness and more funds come in for the next project.  They are in and out of the village like a lust filled man into a whore house, (there are many appropriate parallels with this analogy but I’ll digress and let you ponder those yourself).

Who determined the need for a bigger school?  The people who live there? No, they are ignorant poor people right? What do they have to offer us educated elites?

I visited this town myself and spoke to some of the locals. They told me they didn’t have enough food during the last school year and kids and people in the community would go for a week at a time without eating.  They realized that next year they would have double the amount of children and the food problems would remain the same. Meanwhile the educated westerners take their pics oblivious to the pressing real needs and that their actions will cause more to go hungry.  Those oblivious westerners have achieved, once again, that good feeling.

If you’ve ever built a house you know that you need to install the electric lines, plumbing insulation etc prior to installing the drywall.  It’s a simple building process of developing the greater idea of a completed house.  Why is it that we do not connect with the importance of developing that simple process in helping those we deem less fortunate? I suppose it’s because we will never have to live in that house.

This is one of many stories as they are, unfortunately, more common than not.

Real solutions take time, money and a lot of work.  If you have a desire to serve as a volunteer find that person or organization that has gained a broad understanding of the people they are working alongside. Join them, wherever they are in the process, in the bigger picture of bringing that community effort to fruition. Anything else  is a waste of time, money and effort but even worse, it destroys peoples lives.  

Check yourself and don’t be an exploiter.

Disclaimer: My thoughts are only based on my life experiences and are subject to change.