Religious Jerks

We struggle a lot with the concept of being Liberal or Conservative. An idea that religion is like a coin having two sides, known to many as the "extremes." Terms like middle ground, too extreme, close-minded, radical or even rebellious creep into our Christian vocabulary. It is so easy to begin debating certain topics: music, coffee, sports, dress and accessories, simplistic lifestyle, quoting famous authors or even Bible texts.

In the end we are either at one end  of the spectrum or the other; arguing who has the right to stand in the middle. Some would like to  use definitions such as pharisees or hypocrites, but i would sum it all up as -- Religious Jerk. Please don't get me wrong, but we tend to forget how our views are expressed.  We need to be very sensitive to what our words express give a care how the light is presented, being insensitive, selfish, ignorant, and inconsiderate to others who may not be same side of the coin.

The Hypocritical Worship Scheme

Worship seems to be the topic of the moment, inside are issues on music, program styles, dress codes, and even the worshipers themselves.

Who are we? PHD, high school grad or whatever, we need define worship to what it should be.  The Bible states, that God’s ways are not our ways and that we can never fathom His thinking or creativity, yet we love to put ourselves in God's shoes. One of the theological pundits of my generation, Rick Warren, shared an idea I can never forget. Helabels the present generation surfers, as surfers we ride waves.  The greatest surfers are always looking for the perfect wave and they put all their skill and energy into maximizing the experience.  Rick points out that we sometimes think we can create our own wave, which isn't possible, as if we could do God's job.

I enjoy worship, and in my ministry, we do worship. Its not a pride thing, its a life thing. Its not a church thing, or a group thing, its a personal thing. Being and doing youth ministry since i was kid, the one thing that i can say out of experience is we can not make a wave, and expect to to enjoy it let alone sustain it enough for others to ride it. Programs are programs unless you've got the timing and direction right.