There is a new movie out call War Room and it is advertised as and is being marketed as a movie for the "Christian Market". I'm hoping to get my family organized to go see it this weekend.
But as I was checking it out this morning I was looking through the reviews and the first one to pop up was furious that it could not have been more evangelistic if it threw a Bible at the audience. I do find this funny. Would that same critic have reviewed a zombie movie by saying it was about stupid zombies. I mean, I don't watch zombie movies because I have no patience with nor find entertainment in them. But I can't really criticize the zombiness of zombie movies...
This is what puzzles church folks: why the vitriolic diatribe? why the rant and the rave? why the bitterness? If it is not your thing, then, since we are not dragging you by the hair into the theater, why the stink? Why the emotion? Sometimes it feels like people actually feel hateful toward church folks.
I know there have been people who self-identify as Christians who have behaved horribly. But what group has not suffered that embarrassment?
I mean, I kind of want to wear a T-shirt that says, "I am not a Jim Jones Christian. I am not a Catherine Medici Christian. I am not a Fred Phelps Christian." But I'm not so sure any of those folks actually embraced the teachings of Christ, so that is unlikely to help.
It could be the problem for these distressed folks is that they have had a bad "church" or "church people" experience in their own lives, and for that I apologize, especially if I was the person who was so wrapped up in my own drama that I failed to offer courtesy and attention and kindness at a time when a little TLC was needed. For those who suffered injury at the hands of someone who wrapped their misdeeds in the cloak of a church, I truly would like to kick their tires on your behalf.
But it may be that God has been whispering in to them that He needs their presence, presents and participation to get some important work done, whether that is healing broken hearts, rebuilding lives, or simply getting folks to the place where they were created to bloom.
If they are fleeing from that, then I understand why they are testy. I know I was.
But as I was checking it out this morning I was looking through the reviews and the first one to pop up was furious that it could not have been more evangelistic if it threw a Bible at the audience. I do find this funny. Would that same critic have reviewed a zombie movie by saying it was about stupid zombies. I mean, I don't watch zombie movies because I have no patience with nor find entertainment in them. But I can't really criticize the zombiness of zombie movies...
This is what puzzles church folks: why the vitriolic diatribe? why the rant and the rave? why the bitterness? If it is not your thing, then, since we are not dragging you by the hair into the theater, why the stink? Why the emotion? Sometimes it feels like people actually feel hateful toward church folks.
I know there have been people who self-identify as Christians who have behaved horribly. But what group has not suffered that embarrassment?
I mean, I kind of want to wear a T-shirt that says, "I am not a Jim Jones Christian. I am not a Catherine Medici Christian. I am not a Fred Phelps Christian." But I'm not so sure any of those folks actually embraced the teachings of Christ, so that is unlikely to help.
It could be the problem for these distressed folks is that they have had a bad "church" or "church people" experience in their own lives, and for that I apologize, especially if I was the person who was so wrapped up in my own drama that I failed to offer courtesy and attention and kindness at a time when a little TLC was needed. For those who suffered injury at the hands of someone who wrapped their misdeeds in the cloak of a church, I truly would like to kick their tires on your behalf.
But it may be that God has been whispering in to them that He needs their presence, presents and participation to get some important work done, whether that is healing broken hearts, rebuilding lives, or simply getting folks to the place where they were created to bloom.
If they are fleeing from that, then I understand why they are testy. I know I was.
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