It's called Christianity

In a comment left on my latest post (http://journeyingtochrist.blogspot.com/2015/10/persecution.html?showComment=1444509683448#c3565648826104761334) I was reminded of just how far our country has come. Not in progress, not in technology, not in…anything good…but in the very real truth that ‘Christians’ in America are so used to their comforts and conveniences that they need them even as they worship.

The ‘church’ building I sometimes attend holds a sunrise service every year on Easter, despite being a ‘church’ building that has many activities outdoors that Easter morning service is the only outdoor service they hold. Every other service is held indoors under air conditioning or heating where those in attendance can sit on padded chairs. Not only that but there is a concession stand inside the very room where the service is held. No one need even go without their coffee as they sit through the service. Donuts and cake are served too.

In case children should become too much of a disturbance or if the parents just don’t want to have to care for them…there’s a nursery for those under three and children’s ‘church’ for all the rest.

Sadly, this isn’t an unusual happening. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a ‘church’ building that didn’t offer a nursery. Children’s church is less of an expected service but it is offered in many ‘church’ buildings. I was in a ‘church’ building once where the leaders of such children’s programs all but pried my babies out of my arms trying to take them to the nursery. There was a status to be kept and babies in the ‘sanctuary’ ruined that status. My baby did not go to the nursery but I did receive many an ugly look for keeping her with me.

American’s have become so accustomed to our comforts that we can’t imagine life without them. I have a cousin that was going to the store only a couple of blocks from where she was at the time. When her sister suggested they walk, this cousin replied with ‘I don’t walk.’ And why would she? In our society driving is seen as the best way to get from place to place, even if the distance to that place can be counted in feet.

That same mindset can be seen in most ‘church’ buildings. How many of the people that attend those services would stay if they had to do so in the middle of summer with no air conditioning? Or in the midst of winter if there was no heat?

That isn’t necessarily a bad thing…we don’t need to be in the midst of a group of people inside a building to worship Christ. Worship shouldn’t be contained to those Sunday services but personal comforts shouldn’t be so much of the requirement for attendance either. How much does it cost to cool a room, that’s big enough to hold 1500 people, to a temperature where those people sit around in sweaters? And what better use could the ‘church’ put that money too?

Whatever they use the money for it was the statement in that comment along with something I read elsewhere that has me thinking further on this topic. In a country where a preacher will stand before thousands…knowing everything he says will be shared on the internet…and say that persecution is the loss of a tax exempt status, is it any wonder that his followers…and the millions in ‘church’ buildings across the nation…would require air conditioning, heating, padded seats, paved parking spots, and even child care?

While ‘Christians’ in America enjoy luxury accommodations in their places of worship there are Christians in this world that have no homes. In some cases they have no home because they’re too poor to acquire one, in other cases their homes have been taken from them, and in still other cases they don’t have a home because having one gives those in authority the ability to find and target them.

In countries where Christians are persecuted children often turn their parents over to authorities, brothers and sisters report their siblings, even husbands and wives turn each other in.

            In my own life I have seen the amazing ability of a shared Spiritual faith to draw people together. I have seen this happen, have been a part of it myself, in a country that is swimming in ‘Christians’. This has happened in a time and place when we are free to worship Christ.

            In reading about persecution I came across something where someone wrote of that spiritual connection to other believers. When your very life depends on the people that know you not turning you in to those looking to persecute you…how deep could those spiritual connections go? Would you cling to your earthly family or would you cling to those that share your faith?

            Not only do Christians in persecuted areas cling tighter to each other but they have ‘church’ services unlike those we encounter in America. Far from the heated and cooled buildings with padded seats, refreshments, and childcare, many of these Christians meet deep in the woods or in underground rooms where warmth or cool air is but a luxury they can’t imagine.

            When you may not have a home and those ready to imprison or kill you could come at any moment and take you away…what does air conditioning or heat matter? But they go far beyond that.

Here in America many of our ‘church’ buildings have preachers that have been ‘properly’ trained to run a ‘church’. They go to special schools for preachers and they take special classes on the ‘art of preaching’. They stand in front of their ‘audiences’ having practiced the sermon they intend to deliver…and that sermon was written to their target audience using things the people that will be hearing it can relate to.

Many Christians in persecuted countries have preachers that have never been to school, they may not own a Bible, they may have never heard a preacher give a sermon. Yet they meet with Christians and share what they know.

I’ve never traveled outside the United States so I can’t attest to any of this myself. What I know of this topic comes only from what I’ve read. But for anyone that cares to do the research there is plenty out there to read.

Imagine having a preacher that knows nothing of theology, that has never been to ‘church’, that may have never heard a sermon. What if that same preacher doesn’t own a Bible? What if he hasn’t even seen a Bible in years? And more than that…he may know only a handful of verses.

This happens. There are countries where Bibles are illegal. In those countries…what training does a preacher have? And where does he get his topic for his sermon…if he hasn’t seen a Bible in years?

Within these ‘church’ groups faith may be all they have.

And they risk their lives to share that faith with others.

In America we often hear sermons based off trivial topics…sermons that barely scratch the surface of Truth…and it’s called ‘Christianity’.

The Lord has a purpose for these ‘churches’ that do not teach the truth. He has a reason for letting the ‘church’ buildings continue as they do. But I, for one, would much rather listen to a Christian that knows only a handful of Scripture and has never held a Bible than to listen to a preacher that holds the entire Bible in his hands and twists and mangles the few verses that he uses to the point that anyone that really knows Scripture won’t recognize the point he’s trying to make.

In America most ‘church’ buildings require their preachers to be seminary trained. These men…and unfortunately sometimes women…go to big fancy schools to learn…whatever it is they teach in places like that. I do know they are taught the ‘art of preaching’ and how to target their audience.

I’ve heard that some such seminary’s teach that creation isn’t true, that Adam wasn’t real, and the flood didn’t happen but I can’t say if this is true or not. I would be inclined to believe there are seminaries that really do teach that sort of thing though. I do know that there are ‘Christians’ that believe those very real Biblical happenings didn’t exist. I’ve heard of ‘Christians’ that believe in evolution and of ‘Christians’ that discount entire sections of the Bible.

They believe those things…and it’s called ‘Christianity’.

‘Christians’ sit in their temperature controlled buildings, indulging on their refreshments, not even watching their own children, while they listen to a sermon given by what amounts to a trained performer…and it’s called ‘Christianity’.

At the very same time there are people hiding away like hunted animals, desperate for just one look at a Bible, or one conversation with someone that might tell them of the Bible and Christ…and it’s called Christianity.

‘Christians’ sit in their big buildings and speak of being persecuted because they might lose their tax exempt status…and it’s called ‘Christianity’

Christians are killed because they believe in Christ…and it’s called Christianity.

‘Christians’ are swimming in Bibles...able to find them by the dozens in thrift stores in every town across America. They have Bibles in their homes that are never read…and it’s called ‘Christianity’.

Christians in countries where the Bible is illegal are desperate to see a Bible, die for having one in their possession. And…

It’s called Christianity.