Clarification

Recently my boss sent me an email letting me know that he wants to address some of the thoughts I have posted on this blog. This was very interesting to me since I had no idea he knew about this blog. Which leads me to another thought, maybe this blog is read by a few more people than I thought.

For that reason I am left with the feeling that I need to clarify some of the things that I have written here that, if taken in the wrong way then the wrong impression and thus conclusions will be formed about me and my views of the church.

Simply put: I love the church. It is my family. The things that I have learned in the embrace of the Bride Of Christ have long since passed the point of explanation or expression. This is where I have learned how to love and am learning how to be loved. This is where the hands, the feet, the body and the face of Christ have been shown to me. This is the place where I have fallen in Love with God, have cried before God and sought forgiveness from God. This is where I am learning that faith requires more than a sweet word on your tongue and smile on your face. This is where I have learned that faith requires blood, sweat and tears and often times much pain. And this is the place where I have learned that that pain is only bearable through Christ and the loving embrace of his Bride the Church.

I realize that some of my posts seem really scathing and deconstructive in regards to the church. Know that my intent is not to sabotage, uproot or murder the church. I myself am part of the church. So first of all know that any negative remark made toward Christ’s bride are directed at me first.

As there are many negative things about the mentality of the church today there are so many positives. There are organizations out there who are doing amazing things that are furthering God’s kingdom in tremendous ways. Riverside among them. People are coming to know Christ as their personal savior through these ministries and it’s awesome to witness.

But when you see the church failing to do it’s job as a whole in impacting the culture that it’s surrounded by or even the people who attend the church gathering on Sunday morning you have to ask questions. That’s what I’m doing...asking questions. I don’t know the answers. I barely know what questions to ask. In doing so maybe I gave the impression that I’m questioning everything or worse attacking the church. Those are not my intentions.

I know that at the end of the day I need to be able to say that everything that I did today was done in love and with the desire to further God’s kingdom and not to break it down and cause disunity in the body of Christ.

To whoever sent Drew the link please know that if you have a question as to what is meant by a post you have the freedom to come to me directly and address any concerns or questions. You can even challenge me on an idea. I'm willing to admit I'm wrong but you'll have to show me in what way. Otherwise I’ll try and be more clear about the topic at hand in future posts.

One last word. Nothing here that is said about the church is a direct attack on Riverside Baptist Church. I really do love this church and there are many Godly people here who have amazing hearts. If anything I would say that Riverside does a better job of reaching out to people than most any other church I’ve been to. Then again this is my spiritual home and I have spent much time here. I’m sure there are plenty of other bodies that are taking huge steps in taking the gospel to the lost. Unfortunately it’s the parts of the body who are doing things in a poor way that draw my attention. I think that’s due to the fact that for so long I have assumed that the church is doing everything it is supposed to and in the way it was supposed to. Only now have I started to wonder whether the things we’re doing are effective or even biblically accurate. Thus this quest for truth naturally takes me down the path of close scrutiny of that which is questionable in my mind.

But I’m no scholar. I’m just an idiot with a keyboard. I’ll say things sometimes that maybe I shouldn’t. But I’m willing to take that risk if it means finding the answers to my questions. Just know that if I do realize that I have made a mistake I will try to correct it as soon as possible.

I don’t feel like I’ve made a mistake. But I do feel like I need to be careful to express accurately how I feel about the Bride of Christ.

I hope I have done that here.