A word on the church controversies

Not long...just a thought.

Have you ever read in the Old Testament all those places where God lays out plans for something?  I was reading this in Exodus 25...

³¹ “Make a lampstand of pure, hammered gold. Make the entire lampstand and its decorations of one piece—the base, center stem, lamp cups, buds, and petals. ³² Make it with six branches going out from the center stem, three on each side. ³³ Each of the six branches will have three lamp cups shaped like almond blossoms, complete with buds and petals. ³⁴ Craft the center stem of the lampstand with four lamp cups shaped like almond blossoms, complete with buds and petals. ³⁵ There will also be an almond bud beneath each pair of branches where the six branches extend from the center stem. ³⁶ The almond buds and branches must all be of one piece with the center stem, and they must be hammered from pure gold. ³⁷ Then make the seven lamps for the lampstand, and set them so they reflect their light forward. ³⁸ The lamp snuffers and trays must also be made of pure gold. ³⁹ You will need seventy-five pounds of pure gold for the lampstand and its accessories.

 ⁴⁰ “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.

I had this thought...  You know a lot of church controversies are based in situations where there's a bit of doubt in what the Scriptures actually say.  Some people read it one way, some read it another, and a lot of the time, each side can say "I see where  you got that."

Still, there are other mild areas that people seem to take hard stances on it, even though Scripture isn't real explicit on the stance itself.  It's usually, "if this means that and that means this, then obviously..." type of stuff, and you think, "Well, that makes sense".  We say "well, we just needed to figure that out.  It was a little tricky, but we solved the riddle".  It's almost like God is too big to be real specific about things, but...then  you read a passage like this in Exodus 25.

You begin to realize that, along with loads of other passages throughout the Word, God gets real specific when He wants to and the areas He tends to drill down on aren't the parts I would have chosen, but regardless, He does when He feels it's necessary.

It occurred to me....maybe we should try to think like He does.  If He doesn't spend so much time trying to define the one and only acceptable way that "really" spiritual people would do it, in the absence of God's specifically addressing the details, maybe we should follow His example and lighten up a little....maybe God...stay with me here...is absolutely able of saying exactly what He means to say in all the detail necessary, without me explaining it and clarifying it for Him.

Maybe, if God doesn't address it down to the color, length, height and time, as long as it doesn't violate other places in Scripture, He didn't think it needed to spelled out to the last and we need to take the cue.  Just sayin'.

The Fall: Stuff that didn't make the cut for Sunday morning

Random thoughts that didn't make Sunday morning last week....

Why do we sin anyway?We all are born with a sin nature (thanks Adam and Eve)...basically, we are attracted to doing something against God.  Don't believe me?  Ever said with suppressed glee "I know I shouldn't be doing this, but...." followed by a little rush of excitement?  There you go...let me introduce you to "sin nature".  Boom goes the dynamite!

Why are their disasters and disease?

- Want to know why there is disease...earthquakes...Katrina?  Sin... Don't believe me...read Romans 8...²⁰ For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

That's talking about the effects of sin, that's where death and decay came from...didn't think sin hurts dirt? It's a thought...think it through.

What does sin do to us and the world and how bad is it?

It treats physical creation just like it treats us on the inside.  Just about every sin-driven emotion has a good beginning that is taken to a bad end.  Revenge begins in justice.  Uncontrollable rage begins in the detection of something wrong.  Codependency begins with a desire for community.  What happens to those good things?  When the sin nature combines with regular stuff, it mutates it within us and makes our stuff something troublesome, hurtful and ultimately dishonoring to God.  The same is true in our world...when we chose sin in our world, it was damaging to the physical world as well.  It's a force and we are in the middle of the extraction of it from God's creation.  It's like trying to extract a cup of black paint from a gallon of white paint, after you've stirred it up good.  Big job, but God can do it.

Acts vs. Control
Many times, it's not the acts of sin we do that are the real problem, they are just the result of what happens when we fight with God...they are really bad, but in comparison, maybe not...the results of our sin acts bring damaging things, but it's the fact that we are resisting Him that is the greatest problem and the greatest damage...that's when sin nature controls us...the acts are just the leaves on the weed.

Little Dog, Big Dog...Making a Mistake

Little Dog, Big Dog --- Making a Mistake.  I feel really bad, because I had Ann Marie read this book in the service and then didn't really explain it as fully as I mean to, so I'll do it here.  Quick synopsis of The Adventures of Big Dog, Little Dog -- Making a Mistake by Dav Pilkey:  Big dog and little dog go outside, see what they think is a cat, chase it, find out it's a skunk when they get sprayed, then they go home, smelling really bad and break up their lady owner's tea party...yeeech!  That book really resonated with me because that's what being controlled by sin is.  Follow me here.

Like Big Dog and Little Dog...sin is all about our desire to do it...the skunk didn't force them to chase it, they had a choice.  They thought it was a kitty, but it wasn't and that's how it is at the times when sin controls my life.  I've got this really clear picture of what the result of what I'm doing is going to be, but it never ends up just like that alone...it always delivers something different than what I expected, just like the skunk being BD and LD's problem.  When it hits you, one your own, the effects of it are never just momentary, they hang around...like a bad smell.  Like it did for BD & LD, it makes you feel bad, it ruins your day...and ultimately, it never costs only you alone.  That's what those ladies at the tea party found out...they didn't know anything about the kitty or the skunk, had no clue what was up, but their party got upset by BD and LD's choice.  Just about any time you let your sin nature control you and you don't submit to God's plan, you are setting yourself up for consequences...some of them are right in your face (kick something in anger, break your toe) and some of them just kind of hang around a while and get you later (when your child drops a dime on you in one imaginative way or worse yet, they repeat your bad choice and improve on it).  Either way, anyone that you touch is up to be effected by it...so you are always breaking up someone's tea party, but I guess it's even, because they are always busting up yours....so you guys should have a little grace for each other.

Dang you, evaluation

Sin kills us in the evaluation stage.  Think about it.  Everything we do, whether impulse or pre-meditated is about ending up with a certain result.  Every time we've let sin control our actions, we've got an ending plan in mind...stupid or well-thought out...even if we can't express it, we've got one.  What did I say earlier?  "Sin never gives you what you expected."  So you are trying to end up with a result, but when sin is involved it always gives you something that you didn't want or expect...even though you were sure you had it figured out.
Take Eve in the Garden for example...she started talking herself into the apple talking about how good it looked like it tasted, how it carried a lot of benefits and on top of that, it's fruit..that's healthy.  But she got WAAAY more than she bargained for and like I said, ti was so not what she expected...  Nothing inherently wrong with eating a piece of fruit...should have brought wisdom (another good thing)...evaluation CHECK!  Wrong...we aren't meant to be into heavily top-level evaluation...we aren't meant to be in everyday obedience to God.  He is the only person in the Universe that knows everything that will actually happen after we make the next move.

Freebie (this was in there): 
Sin has NOTHING to do with you ending up doing more good in the world than you do bad.  Here's a flash:  You can have a choice of two good things...you can think "win-win" and choose one...and still sin.  What???  Sometimes morally good and bad things overlap, but that isn't the only measurement of what is sin or not...sin is simply "not doing what God has for your life"...

Sin isn't just keeping Biblical rules...in fact, that won't work.

God's whole design in this was to get you to have a relationship with Him...it's one of the main reasons God made man.  We sinned, and messed that all up, but God's purpose didn't change.  He gave us the Bible with rules in it...but those aren't necessarily trying to meet some 3rd party standard of good behavior...no.  What God was saying was...see all this stuff, if you are doing that, you can rest assured you aren't doing what I told you to do...I don't do that.

But that's not all we need to know either.  God gives us a lot of principle work in the Bible...that's just to get us started.  What God really wants is for us to follow Him...so the rest of it...the only way you can fully know what God wants from you to do....is....ask Him.  Yep, reading the Bible will only get you so far...it's a great book and has awesome timeless wisdom, BUT, it's never meant to be a read only type of thing, it's meant to have a companion CD of sorts, to get the full effect.  not just a book, but a book and a teacher to flesh it out on the go.
The point is a relationship with Christ, so it would be kind of counter-intuitive and so unGodlike if the very structure itself didn't point back to and facilitate the goal.

Words to the Wise: Leaving conflict behind

When talking about leaving a tough situation with a friend, this wise friend threw out the metaphor of leaving "firing shots over your shoulder" and how that's how some leave tough situations, trying to inflict pain on others as they leave.  I really latched onto that picture of a cowboy riding away from a fight on a horse in the old West.  At full gallop, the cowboy would look back and fire a couple of shots at the enemy as he left trying to pick off a bad guy or to do as much damage as he could.  After thinking on that picture and had some thoughts about parallels that are flaws in the "shooting over the shoulder" strategy in leaving a tough situation. 

One, shooting over the shoulder isn't very accurate, especially speeding away on a horse, so they never hit what they intended to hit.  They don't really ever damage any of their targets.  When you leave, those shots never make it back to those that hurt you, so they are usually completely oblivious to your gunshots...or one might get through out of nowhere and then everyone around wonders why in the world you'd be so cruel to do that, because those innocent bystanders in close proximity have no knowledge of the situation.

Two, because they have no accuracy, they usually cause damage that they never intended.  The only possible people who get "hit" by things are those people that those fleeing on horseback have a relationship with that have deal with them.  Think about it...you don't hang out with the folks that hurt you, you hang out with the folks that love you.  Whether a new relationship or an old one (pre-dating their hurt), friends are forced to relive the pain with the rider time after time.  It might be a relationship from the place of pain that didn't have a part in the hurt, but constantly feels the need to either apologize or exist in a vat of hard feelings against others because they are have to interact with them.  It could be the rider's spouse or children or just good friends..they take a bullet(s)...either way, you end up really just shooting your own team.

Three, they never really truly leave the situation.  Getting farther and farther away, as they lose perspective on things, the details of what happened gets distorted and out of focus.  Their attention is focused on something they can't control and they waste their time with things they can't/wouldn't/won't fix.  The facts just get worse, like a caught fish just gets bigger each time you tell the "story", and they just stay one step away from the situation and the hurt.

In keeping their focus on what's behind, they are not able to deal adequately with the present.  It's like they ride away believing a rope is tethered to them and to the situation and to them, trapping them to that moment in time.  At any second, they are prepared to teleport themselves back to that moment in time, any time someone will listen to them re-tell the injustice.  They blame those in that place or those from that situation for never letting them leave, but, if they were to step back and examine the two ends of the "rope" carefully...they'd find one end in that situation just laying on the ground and the other end, not tied to them, but just grasped in their clenched fist.

Consequently, because they are ignoring the present, they also are unprepared for the future.  They usually crash into and destroy something in their future because they were unprepared for it, because they spent too much of their life looking back.  They never leave the past behind.

Ultimately, the greatest damage the rider ever does is to himself.  This damage usually becomes something that they blame on the tough situation and people in their past that just "ruined" them.  The truth is that it is their own toxicity that is eating them away from the inside.  It will continue to eat away long after the memory of the past has faded into nothingness, because anything that remotely resembles the pain becomes their new nemesis, drawing their ire and judgment.  Truly, the most dangerous and unhealthy thing of the situation is something that they carried away inside themselves...the inability to be secure in who they are and move on to the future that Christ provides.

Want to know if this is you?
What's the big hurt in your past?  Like the ol' "how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie pop" cartoon...how many comments does it take you to get full on mad about that situation/person?
Do you refer to it often? 
Do people know where you are going very early in the conversation?
Does it drive your decisions now?  Do you find yourself spending a lot of time building defenses to avoid getting in that situation again?  (Nothing wrong with avoiding a bad situation, but are you obsessed with doing so?)
Do you see trails leading to a repeat of that situation often?
And a real situation arises like it...how fast do you get into full strike mode?

Word to those who wish to be wise in their life...don't be this person, that's not Christlike, and living this way accomplishes nothing.  Drop the rope, leave it behind, forgive and set yourself free.

Easter blog series: Takes 1 to know 1, Dishing on Church Folk-We know everything about the Bible..

Having been in church most of my life, I know a lot of "church" people.  I've been lucky though, because I've been able to have a wide array of experience in my life and part of that is knowing a lot of people who aren't "church" people.  It's amazing what people not in church think about church folk...most of it due to experience with a "church" folk who has somehow become representative for everyone.

From my experience, I thought I'd dish on some church folk and some common thoughts about them that ARE and AREN'T true.

Myth:  We know everything about the Bible.  IN fact, so much, if I talk to church people, I'm just going to feel stupid trying to explore "spiritual things".

Here is a myth I can relate to.  You've got a document, roughly 2000 years old (some parts older, some not so much), that's basically been one of, if not THE most influential document in existence.  It's wisdom is culture-less, time-less, technology-less...it fits in every situation and it continues to last...and something that complex...can ANYONE be an expert on it?  The Bible in my bag is over 1000 pages...that's kind of standard, some are shorter, some are longer, but the truth is, all of them have the same verbiage roughly (different translations might choose "ran" over "sprinted"...6 of one)...it was written by men INSPIRED BY GOD, who no one can completely understand (it's unfathomable), so can anyone ever know everything there is to know?

Here's what's funny...if you are an Atheist, you intimidate church people lots of the time, because they feel like you've studied the Word and are armed with all these questions that are designed to hang them up that only a Seminary professor can answer...so, guess what, we think the same thing about YOU.

Here's the truth:  We are just trying to learn and apply...the stuff we learn is HARD to apply, it may take a moment for some, but years for others to understand...it's not an intelligence thing, it's an experience thing, that's based on experiencing life with God.

Some people outside church feel that people inside church know so much more about spiritual things and their questions might be seen as stupid, because you don't hear Christian people ask the question...so you think..."Oh I must be the only one that doesn't know".  It's been my experience in the church that on some subjects and everyone has them, they just keep their heads down and hope no on calls on them...they feel the same way.  They can't articulate it.

We took the Lord's Supper (or Communion) last week and I had a man pull me aside.  He said he'd been a Christian for almost 8 years and didn't know if he should take it...we talked about it and he found out that he absolutely should.  Because he was brave enough to ask the question (fair enough after 8 years), I got to talk with him about it, he has an informed position about it and he can explain that to someone else.

Why does this happen?  Well, sometimes, we, as leaders, tell this stuff so much, we gloss over basic details.  We might use a term, like "justification"*** (see below), that carries a lot of meaning, assuming that everyone knows what's up with that...they might not, or they might get the concept, but not have it associated with that word, so there's a disconnect.  

Sometimes there's processes in the church that are confusing that we've just learned to navigate by attending over and over, that we've come to accept...but confuses a new person at church because it doesn't make sense.  The Bible makes sense, but a lot of the time, we humans make it sound like it doesn't...that's on us, and it's because we are learning.

When I talk to the people at Bay West on Sundays, I try very hard to make sure that I address any "elephants in the room" in communication.  I try to make sure that everyone understands that questions are "the devvvle" (to quote Bobby Bouche's mom in Waterboy).

Sometimes, church people have this immense pressure when a religious questions arises...  1 Peter 3:15 tells us to this "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you."  It's almost like the room goes into slow motion...all the lights dim and the spotlight goes on you and Regis goes "final answer?" in some "Who wants to be a millionaire" moment, but instead of losing the "million" dollars, you feel like you are about to send someone to Hell with the next words you say.  That verse is not talking about being able to settle every spiritual conundrum that has every come up...it's about being able to quickly point to Jesus Christ for the reason that you have hope and do what you do...that answer is EASY.  Another Bible verse puts it this way (2 Timothy 2:15) "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth."  That says do your best, not if you are learning and don't know it all, you are dismissed from Heaven...lighten up, God is using your life to teach you and for you to teach others, as sub-plots to the big plot of REVEALING who He is to all of us.

It's that important that we help others out...it's intimidating at times...but taking that pressure on yourself is not productive in the moment.  I try to be informed, but if I don't know, making something up is worse...better to be honest (that's what the Bible tells us to do, see how that works).

If I don't know something, I'll flat tell you most of the time.  If things are working right, I'll try to find someone smarter than me or if it's a matter that there is no clear solution, I'll tell you.  I think as the leader, if it's okay for me to have a question, it makes everyone more open to share their questions about things, so we all can be used by God to teach each other.

I'm not perfect either...no one likes to be wrong and the more you expected to know (like a pastor), the easier it is for you to fall into the trap of saving your rep...If I'm feeling prideful and have an "I-don't-want-to-look-bad" moment, I might try to hem-haw.  I think all people can fall into that...

So, if you come to church as a first timer or someone who hasn't been in a while, don't be afraid to ask questions...the truth is, your fresh take might bring up something that others need answered...it might clear up something that we've communicated by "taking for granted" that everyone understands something back down the line that we didn't explain well.

I'm not an expert...here's what I am.  I'm a guy, as the Campus Pastor and leader, that believes that God specifically called him out to lead.  It's not because God thinks I'm especially smart...it's not because God thinks I'm especially holy...it's not because God thinks I'm the best Christian there is (or in the local vicinity -- let's clear that up, I'm not).  Then why did He call me?  Because through me being obedient and trusting Him to lead people to Him, He will show His glory and accomplish His plan...part of it might even be the world thinking "how in the world did THAT happen with that guy playing a prominent leadership role --- he's a moron."  God's been doing stuff like that for centuries...while He uses the smart and talented, He also calls the ignorant and the seemingly untalented, so ALL kinds are in the church, not just the ones who know everything about the Bible.

Church people are just learning, no different than anyone else...let's do it together and help each other.  That's why church is here.  That's it.  We don't bite and if we do, doesn't that prove that we need Jesus all the more.

What does that mean for non-church people?  Lighten up...your church going friend will not have every verse in the Bible memorized and can make a mistake.  You don't have to know it all to go to church either.

What does that mean for church people?  Lighten up...if you don't know, say you don't know.  God won't disown you if you tell the truth...

***Incidentally, if you were wondering, justification is just the process by which God justifies us being a part of His family forever (Jesus' death for our sin, our acceptance of that belief and following Christ with our lives -- )  It's not just forgiving us, but it's making us "righteous" or "just" or satisfying the Law of God -- kind of like Him paying the fine, we aren't just forgiven of it, God makes it right for us.

Easter blog series: Takes 1 to Know 1, Dishing on Church Folk-Judgmental

Having been in church most of my life, I know a lot of "church" people.  I've been lucky though, because I've been able to have a wide array of experience in my life and part of that is knowing a lot of people who aren't "church" people.  It's amazing what people not in church think about church folk...most of it due to experience with a "church" folk who has somehow become representative for everyone.

From my experience, I thought I'd dish on some church folk and some common thoughts about them that ARE and AREN'T true.

Truth:  We can be really judgmental.  Why is that?

 Yep, guilty as charged, I've seen this one first hand...I've BEEN this one first hand.  What's funny about this one is that the Bible teaches us not to be judgmental but also to "judge" others in a sense.  Say what?????  Don't feel weird, there's some issues that confuse church people and non-church people alike.

We've all heard it "Judge not, lest you be judged." But what does that mean? 
It seems pretty straightforward, but as one of my Seminary teachers said one time...that's a great verse, but the verses that immediately follow that verse talk about how we are supposed to look at the fruit of someone's life and judge for ourselves where they really stand.  That's confusing  Some of them get the "judge not" and just keep their mouths shut, no matter the situation.  Others really get the verses after that and are real good at exposing others' inconsistencies, going too far and hurting people.  But honestly, either extreme is wrong and it's usually based on a wrong understanding of the word "judge".

The way I understand it, when the Bible says "judge not, lest you be judged", it's talking about making a judgment call on someone for good, in the eternal fashion, such as condemning someone or writing them off.  That's not our role at all...we don't decide someone's fate, declare them worthless or put them on the OUT list.  Romans 14:4 even says that "who are you to judge another man's servant?  To his own master he stands or falls..."  So, that's God's job to put the final stamp on someone's life.  This understanding gives us the measure for hope for anyone on this Earth and helps clarify our role here, which is to show God's love to people on this Earth as much as we can.

So how should be evaluate correctly?

Well, then what about the "fruit" stuff... that is meant for us to know whether we should know or not if someone is helping us to follow God or not.  It's not punitive, it's informative, for many reasons

For example, if I give you some advice or tell you to do something and you go "hey, that's not what the Bible says", either I'm wrong or you're wrong or there's a synthesis of the two things in conflict that we aren't both aware of yet...maybe our disagreement helps one of us or both of us find truth (that's part of the reason that the Bible says "as iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another". In case you haven't thought about it, iron doesn't sharpen iron by not conflicting with them.)  Great!
 

Secondly, you may need to share this with me...not so you can scoreboard me or out of motivation to be "over" me or to "put me in my place", but so that I won't be wrong and dishonor Christ.  You don't beat me into submission or stop loving me or if I disagree with you, just write me off...wrong, wrong, wrong... you are to pray for me, love me and be my brother/sister through this time in my life as I learn or you learn or more likely, we both learn. NEVER is this meant to be used to look down on someone as inferior...ever.

The correct way to "judge" (as in evaluate) would be like looking at someone who is sick and saying "Hey man, you look green, are you okay?  Can I help you?"  It's concern...
Or, if someone's life is obviously not focused on honoring God by the way they choose to live their life according to God's Word, it gives me a clue as to how I should weight their advice or opinion.  An extreme example is someone who continues to lose most of their money in the stock market trying to advise me on how I should invest my money...yeeeaaah, right...I'll pass.

Unfortunately, some believers misconstrue that to mean that we need to put down or look down on others.  Some people misuse the things the Word says about evaluation to pump themselves up in their insecurities, such as, they feel that if they can measure themselves against someone else and be better they can feel better about themselves.  Sometimes, people can try to find their worth in seeming to being better than others instead of finding their self-worth in Christ...choosing to focus on others problems so they don't have to contend with their own, either in a move to avoid hard things in their life or an blind thinking they are being "selfless" by suffering in their problems while they help others.  That's not Biblical at all. 







Matthew 7:3 says ""Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?"  Galatians 6:2 tells us that we must "Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ."  So we have to help others with their problems.  If we wait for all our imperfections to be handled before we help a friend, we'll never help anyone.  So what is this verse trying to say?  What this verse is saying is don't use the problems of others to avoid dealing with your own issues...we are to confront issues in our own lives for the health of us and our friends.

Romans 14:3 says "Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don't think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us."  Christians can miss this and get off track, when in truth, we all measure ourselves against only one person...Christ.  None of us measure up to Him.

So, in final, here's the deal...I say this next thing a lot.  In Ephesians 4:15, Paul tells us that we should "speak the truth in love".  Sometimes the loving thing to do is to point out that someone is wrong, but even in speaking the truth, we can never sacrifice doing it in a loving manner.  Here's love for you...1 Corinthians 13 says love is this...check your love when you do this.
   Love never gives up.
   Love cares more for others than for self.
   Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.  (JC:  envy)
   Love doesn't strut,
   Doesn't have a swelled head,
   Doesn't force itself on others,
   Isn't always "me first,"
   Doesn't fly off the handle,
   Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
   Doesn't revel when others grovel,
   Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
   Puts up with anything,
   Trusts God always,
   Always looks for the best,
   Never looks back,
   But keeps going to the end.

Blog series: Takes 1-2-Know-1: Dishing on Church Folk-We're perfect (or think we are).

Having been in church most of my life, I know a lot of "church" people.  I've been lucky though, because I've been able to have a wide array of experience in my life and part of that is knowing a lot of people who aren't "church" people.  It's amazing what people not in church think about church folk...most of it due to experience with a "church" folk who has somehow become representative for everyone.

From my experience, I thought I'd dish on some church folk and some common thoughts about them that ARE and AREN'T true.

MYTH #1:  Church people have it all worked out perfect with perfect lives (or they act like they do, but secretly, they don't).  It's funny that this is a common theme among folks.  Honestly, I've seen evidence to back the parenthetical part of this statement on more than one occasion, but a greater understanding of this myth let's you know it's not true.  I'll show you why it's ironically comical that this is a rep for people in church.

One...I've never met anyone on the Earth, that,in their right mind, in a totally honest moment, that thinks they are perfect...in the church or out.  I'm not sure that person exists.  I've seen arrogant people before, but usually, in my experience, that's really just subconscious/conscious overcompensation for weaknesses that they are really trying to hide or have yet to admit.

Two, one of the most fundamental beliefs of Christianity is that in the same way, ALL of us are imperfect and have NO chance to achieve it on our own.  The very fact that anyone walks into church and/or enters into a relationship with Christ is admitting that you are NOT perfect...that you are flawed.

This sparks a couple of other questions:

Why do some of them "act" like they are perfect?

- The easy answer is because they aren't.  Acting like you are, like anyone on the planet, is proof that you aren't perfect, because no one is.

Another reason is ignorance.  Some people still haven't learned what it means to admit your imperfections.  It means that you are always 100% flawed, but you are always trying to connect with a perfect God.  While God is moving us toward being complete or perfect one day, that's not done the moment you decide to follow Christ...some folks don't know what to do with that.

Another reason is insecurity.  It's not easy to admit your weaknesses to others, even though that's what the Bible asks us to do.  Some people mistakenly think that acting more "disgusted" or "appalled" at the acts that sin comes out as in a person's life, somehow makes them seem to be more right with God.  All that does is cause people to be moreActually, insecurity is fueled by pride.  We all want to look like we know what's going on and, true to form with our condition, we aren't...it causes some problems.

Another reason is misguided expectations.  Some people actually believe that when they enter a relationship with Christ that somewhere, somehow, they'll achieve this (pardon the expression) "Zen-like state" where nothing bothers them, nothing ever goes wrong, they never do anything wrong or make a mistake again and the sin nature that's part of of every person on the planet just goes away.  Not true.  Following Jesus' path is a way to deal with the effects of sin and because of Jesus' leadership and strength, we can have the power, the understanding and the awareness to choose a choice that isn't controlled by sin in our life, but to think that we will never struggle again is foolish.  For me, as I've grown in Christ and learned more about Him, I've actually found MORE things that I need Christ for, rather than less, and that's exactly how it's supposed to go as we grow in Him.

Another reason is that there is an enemy who wants us to fail.  The Bible tells us the Devil is alive and well and is trying to get us to be stupid and hurt others...like we aren't capable of doing it on our own because of our own problems.  He helps confuse people into thinking that if you are a Christ follower, then you hate sin, then you have to be perfect and hate people who aren't and then if you aren't a Christ follower, then you can't be one because you sin...it's flawed logic, but it's amazing how many people buy into it.

Basically in a nutshell, here's a Christian...an imperfect person who is resigning himself/herself to the fact that they can't make it on their own, but realizes that there really is a solution to making it through life and they've found Him.  His name is Jesus.  Now, they are trying to learn to live in that situation. 

There's a great song by Natalie Grant that says this and it kind of sums up this topic.  "There's no such thing as perfect people, there's no such thing as a perfect life, so come as you are, broken and scarred, lift up your heart and be amazed...and be changed by a perfect God."  The truth is that you've got to learn to exhibit grace to others, just as you receive it yourselves and that's how God planned for it to be.

This week, I'm going to try to deal with a few more dish on church folks subjects...hope this helps non-church folk understand church folk or maybe even, church folk understand themselves a little better.