It may be rather discouraging for you to read this coming from a preacher and all - a pastor at that! But, I grow numb by all the religious "mumbo-jumbo" that so many churches spit out. Trust me, I've spit enough of it out over the years (I have an honorary doctorate in religious garb). It's just that I grow weary of "christians" and "preachers" boasting how "they have the truth" and how they are "changing the world" for God. Really?
Just the other day I read a few comments by a preacher's wife, she was going on about how she "made the devil mad" and then she followed it up with a cute, "and I am glad". (I wonder if she meant to rhyme? I think so.) Give me a break! I'll tell you who is mad - the hurting, forgotten, oppressed people of our world, who have prayed and believed that they would receive food, shelter and protection and yet little, if any, has come. I'll tell you who is angry, it's the homeless person, who sleeps on the doorsteps of a church and gets walked over everyday by the church staff on the way to lunch! You know who is furious? It's the homosexual, who is struggling with his/her identity and is filled with questions and who is coming to the church for acceptance, understanding, compassion and guidance but is met with rejection, judgment and ridicule. I'll tell you who is angry, it's the hundreds of thousands of women and children sold into slavery every year (many into the U.S.!) and although they have prayed to God that release would come, remain in bondage - that's who is angry - I doubt seriously that the preacher's wife made the devil mad because she had her "devotions" this morning, despite her headache.
(Back to my original thought, before the preacher's wife threw me off) I get bored at church because too many do not discuss matters of importance - like the number 26,500. Does that number mean anything to you? It should. It's the number of children who die everyday from preventable diseases - PREVENTABLE DISEASES!
In other words, just this week, over 185,000 children had the ability to live a long and productive life, but were not given the opportunity - why? (Come on, ask yourself the hard question.) Why did we allow 67,000,000 children to die in 2008 from diseases that could have been stopped? Why did all those parents have to say goodbye to their precious children and walk away from a cold grave, when we have the money, resources and ability to do something about it? Why do we seem to care more about our kids wearing a bicycle helmet than we do about other children, who will never have the chance to ride a bike?
Maybe it's because we think that our insider-focused church services and our predictable sermons and our devotional books in the morning "make the devil mad". From the way it appears, (if Satan has any emotions) he is probably more glad than mad.
Listen, I don't know the answers - but I do know that if we talked more about these issues in church and actually linked together to do something about it, I would stay engaged even during my own church service - so would a lot of other people.
As I said, I'm a preacher in transition - in other words, I'm becoming a Christian - want to join me?
That's just my rant - what's yours?
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