Meditation for June 29th, 2016
Church
Some religions have churches. These are the temples that people go and pray and worship their Gods. Many of the churches here in America are Christian, a Jewish offshoot from the Middle East region. They believe that the earth was created by a single omnipotent celestial named Jehovah, or something similar to that, and that after being disappointed many times with humans, he drowned an earlier population, he got a virgin little girl pregnant with his son who then said some really vague things and then got nailed to some wood for being against capitalism, or at least banking, and then a rug salesperson created church to worship all of that.
Churches have had to adapt to the changing of times, and as of right now people are starting to walk away from the church in droves. Between 2007 and 2014 there was an 8% decline in church attendance while people not attending services rose 6%.
Why would a modern person go to church? Why do they still think they can get something out of Sunday worship?
Spiritual Discipline
It is a forced day of prayer and worship. It reminds the worshiper of the principles of Christianity. It is a time to build community with ritual. We can get so lost in the secular mess we live in now; we find the sanctity of church to be a welcome relief.
If you go three weeks without a church service, one might find gay people to be almost normal and acceptable. Blacks and white people aren’t really disgusting to see dating each other. Slavery will become a questionable practice – even if Jesus himself talked fondly of the institution. A few Sundays of churchless life will bring a person to switch up the gender roles in housework at home. Could you imagine a man ironing? A MAN IRONING?
Church is Community
A church can get together and help the needy and push for social reforms. From soup kitchens to international missionary work, Church is a great place to find a community of fellow worshipers. Lord can bring some strange people together.
Lynching is community; white supremacy hate crimes can build communities, picketing gay funerals is a great family outing under the loving gaze of the Lord. Community is getting together and fighting all of “them”.
Watching football with friends is community.
There’s Still So Much Good Left
Coffee – or is that AA?
Change Can Come From Within
Don’t just sit at the coffee shop across the street from the church bitching about the evils and injustices churches have committed over the last few centuries, but join the church and try and change it from within. See the pope now days? He is awesome! He is quickly erasing all the Church’s mistakes by being a real chill dude. I’m sure after a few more cool things the pope says, the churches will all be cool, and that happened from inside the church, not from the outside.
I mean I know the church has been around for over 2000 years give or take some years, but you’d think that someone would have tried to change it from within…Oh, yeah, churches were pretty good at torturing or killing those people, but we’re human, so don’t blaming God for our transgressions. God only does the good things; humans do all the bad things. Gays make terrorism and natural disasters happen and Islam is waaaaaaay different then Christianity, if you don’t read all the books with any kind of comprehension that is.
We’re All At Fault
The whole point of Christ coming to us and getting his ass killed is to forgive us our sins. We make the world this way. Us. Our sins create havoc and chaos on this blessed earth; so don’t be blaming a stone building or a Holy Ghost for the world being a miserable pile of shit.
Of course God could just make us not be sinners. He is fucking omnipotent after all. He could just change stuff. But he chooses not to. He prefers testing us with not vocally talking to us anymore – except for a few chosen homeless people, he likes to test our faith with fake dinosaur bones and infinite space, but he could just change everything so we can just be clear or not, but he likes games instead.
God is a mystery, so why question why he does or doesn’t do anything, right? Just have faith that you either will have a rich blessed life – even if you don’t believe in the Lord and sin like a rock star, or you will be a test for others and die of untreated cancer in an alleyway after losing all the jobs, the family and the home, and the death was long, painful and lonely and no matter how much this wretch prayed and went to church, God did nothing, but who are we to question His choices.
Even the son of God seemed a little wary of having churches erected (heh-heh) in his name.
“There are many churches around the world, each one claiming they are “the way.” Jesus said in Matthew 24:5, “Many shall come in my name and shall deceive many.”
And Jesus sounded like he wasn’t giving this gift to just anyone,
“You worship you know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.” John 4:22
Church doesn’t have to be built our of bedrock or wood, but just by wherever you are. Leave church to the ones who hate and fear.