Useless Topics

And I'm back. (Again). To use the gift of writing that God has so graciously bestowed on me about six months ago. I've been away because I was dealing with a "hook" in my own life -- a relationship obstructing my communication with God. I am not going to hide or ignore that it happened, because I said I'll be honest about my walk with God on this blog. But I am not going to discuss this right now either because it's not time yet. The good news is I'm off the "hook" and back on track in my walk with God.

He, in His amazing love, is still using me, even though I mess up all the time. I currently have three ongoing conversations with different unbelievers about Jesus and Christianity, and it's been amazing. Those conversations are forcing me to really research and dig deeper into what I know about God, His word, and His ways. It's also forcing me to find out more about the many different types of movements and beliefs that influence people to think the way they do. The questions asked are quite difficult to answer for a person who has almost zero experience in personal evangelism and cannot foresee a thing (besides the fact that all people are very different and coming from different experiences and influences in life.)

For this very reason it annoys the crap out of me now when I end up in a circle of Christians and the topics of discussion are same old, same old... can we cut our hair? wear makeup? hold hands? wear jewelry? have tattoos? pierce our ears? how about our nose? is it permissible to talk about certain topics from the pulpit? is it a sin to drink alcohol? is it a sin to smoke? how short of a skirt is still appropriate?

HOW USELESS ARE THESE TOPICS?!?!

In conversations with unbelievers that I've had so far, none of them have ever asked what God thinks about any of those! The issues that come up are so much more vast and difficult to even think about, yet are the ones that stand in the way of people's lives being given to Christ. Is Jesus really God, or was He just a good man who taught good things to His disciples? If you kick your live-in boyfriend/girlfriend out of your house, isn't it a conflict of commandments? (thou shalt do unto others... vs. thou shalt not commit adultery); How can you believe in angels or demons if most of the perceived supernatural experiences can now be explained through natural physical phenomena? (i.e. hormonal dis balance, body/brain mis-coordination, etc.) Why should I believe that The Bible IS the word of God? What is the difference between denominations x, y, and z?

I really, REALLY wish that when we gather together as Christians we'd spend more time either worshipping God or discussing ways to answer the more difficult questions that are being raised in the real world, outside of the cozy "Christian" bubble that so many of us are used to. This is not meant as criticism either. It's more of an outcry because other than online, mostly at marshillchurch.org (oh, did I forget to mention the "is Internet from the devil?" and "is pastor Mark Driscoll legit?" discussion questions?), there is no other place to go to figure out what to say and how to answer the difficult questions that come up in conversations with non-Christians. (Reading The Bible for yourself being a given of course.)