The Church of Philadelphia in Oviedo - Offers a concept that was discussed this morning. How and Why Haters Become Haters. If you’ve ever met a woman who is a “man-hater” (not lesbian. just generally irritated with all males); you can’t really blame ‘em. What’s usually happened is… In the beginning, she fell in love with an idea of some man/boy. She opened up to who she thought he was but not actually who he was. In time, he revealed his true colors and hurt her. This may have happened to her multiple times over and over again and now she’s not too fond of men in general sense . Well, the same type thing happens in church. Some people say they’re done with church and hate religion, often times for good reason. They go to church and they have Jesus presented to them by some well-meaning but completely wrong pastor who tries to “friend” them into Christianity by giving people an inaccurate, incomplete or totally wrong description of Christ. Maybe it’s Irish Jesus, Santa-Jesus, sissy-Jesus, surfer-Jesus, or trendy-Jesus and people fall for that idea rather than who Jesus actually is; King Jesus with the Kung-fu grip who extends the hand of forgiveness and healing and hope to all who repent. So now a person thinks they know Jesus and they like Him but in reality they really don’t. Maybe they liked being told Jesus loves you He’s not mad at you because it dulled their conscience and presented Christianity as easy, entertaining, casual, convenient and free of demands, or that they have to speak in tongues if they want to be a fully realized Christian because that idea appeals to man’s pride, or hearing the concept of grace perverted into “flexible” obedience and sin being something God takes lightly since Jesus paid our debt and that God takes a light attitude toward our cursing, fornication, sensuality, lack of discipline and apathetic pursuit of a holy life – so they never see the need for the order that comes from rooting sin out of one’s life. And over time, they never experience the repentance that leads to four big things 1) spiritual conversion, a new heart that wants to submit to Christ and 2) an evident appreciation for Jesus’ promise to spare them on judgment day 3) changed character and 4) a changed life that’s radically different from what it used to be! Nothing changes for them. So, they see the people around who they were looking up to who were just as undisciplined and sinful in their personal lives as everybody else. The actions didn’t match the expectations or words and the power & promises everyone was told they had from Jesus never got experienced. To them, Christianity is the ole carrot on the string ploy to control people’s behavior and get their money. To them it’s all just talk and a scheme that the weak-minded fall for. Therefore, they conclude that ALL Christians ARE HYPOCRITS!; Religious people are full-of-it and “it” ain’t referring to the Holy Spirit and they get angry at the deception. They get angry at the difference between what they heard and hoped for and the reality of their experience. Now, they don’t believe in God or Jesus and they are angered at the idea. i.e. atheist, God haters, Wiccan, Satanist etc… In some cases people are rejecting what they should absolutely reject and they think they are rejecting what represents God but in reality they are rejecting some false notion of God. Look for opportunities to “tell” people who Jesus really is and then back-it-up in your manner of life. People’s souls are at stake. Your accuracy and testimony regarding Christ matters.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Jul 2013 18:01:09 +0000
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