Who's Line is it, anyway? And where is it?

As a follower of Christ, where do I draw the line?

On the on hand, God loves us and accepts us, no matter what. Yet, on the other hand God calls us to seek the ideal that God has for us.

This gets particularly messy when we are dealing with other people, let alone our own lives. God loves us all, no matter if we are homosexual, a drug addict, had an abortion, beat our spouse, killed someone, cheat on our taxes, destroy our environment, watch pornography or whatever else. We have all equally failed in the eyes of God, and are yet loved. So why the hell can't we do that with others?

I still believe everything I listed above is against the ideal that God has for us, but God is the judge of that, not us. If we have good friends that we know are not following the ideal God would have for them, then yeah, it's not a bad idea for us to remind them of that. But, what right do we have to off-hand judge somebody we don't even know.

Take Jesus, he hung out with the prostitutes and tax collectors and the lower class people, and they were attracted to him and what he preached, while those who were the religious people were appalled by him. Shouldn't the criteria be how much we are drawing towards Christ, and not what particular sin we happened to commit today?

Like addictions for example, there is documented scientific proof that our brain chemistry gets altered by the substances we abuse, and I believe the same goes for addictions that are more psychological and less physical (like sex, or codependency, etc.). It's unreasonable for us to assume somebody is suddenly going to change as soon as they realize they are in the wrong.

I fully believe God can radically heal people, and that God can suddenly release someone from the prison of their addiction without any discernable cause. Unfortunately, God doesn't do that in all of us. I still have my addictions that I struggle with. That doesn't mean I am not trying, but it doesn't just go away.

So why do we view others like that, that because of how screwed up they are for whatever reason, that God somehow looks down on them, or they are being punished (although, I do believe our actions do have far reaching affects that we have to deal with, but that is by no means God specifically punishing someone). Shouldn't we be accepting them with open arms, crying "come, drink from the water that will quench all your thirst"?

I fully believe God wants us to strive to better ourselves, that we need to grow in our knowledge of God by studying scriptures, and participating in the rich rituals that Christianity has established over the centuries, but that isn't the main point. Yes, we ought to strive for God's ideal, but we are not going to be made perfect until God's kingdom comes in its entirety. In fact, God seems to like to work through us when we realize we aren’t there yet.

Oh yeah. It isn’t about us.

There are bigger things than figuring out that specific theological mystery or finding the best way to run a church service.

But practically, how do we do that? We can’t just stay stagnant as followers of Christ. Part of the deal is that we do need to strive, like I mentioned, and we need the support of our community to do that, because I know I fail on my own. But at what point are we focusing too much on our own little group of people that are already trying to follow Christ, and forgetting about those who aren’t there yet.

I know that I do that plenty myself.

I mean, even with my church, that is pretty laid back and welcoming to visitors, at what point are things becoming too “churchy”?

I believe there is a lot of power and strength that can be gained by the rituals of the church, but until you get to the point where I am, that I understand the significance, and why they are important, they are meaningless and can get in the way of finding God more than leading to God.

So what then do you in a sense save for those that choose to follow God, and what do you open up to everyone else?

If you don’t provide any depth, it’s shallow, and those who are seeking won’t see any value because everyone is trying to dumb things down and appear as un-church as possible. If it’s too lofty, people can’t connect at all, and can miss how God whispers through what they are witnessing because it is too confusing.

How about Jesus? He went around telling stories and preaching good news to the poor, binding up the brokenhearted, proclaiming freedom for the captives, releasing prisoners from darkness, proclaiming the year of the Lord's favor, the day of vengeance of our God, and comforting all who mourn (see Isaiah 61). Is it really more complex than that?

I tell you what, if my church service was even more like that I would for sure be inviting more people. Who would want to miss that?