Is Christianity A Dirty Word?

When did Christianity become a dirty word? Last night while watching "Walk The Line" with Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, Joaquin who is playing Johnny Cash comments that his fans must not be good Christians if they wouldn't want to hear him sing to a bunch of prisoners in prison.

Recently I hear the song "What If I Stumble" and at the beginning these Brennan Manning words are spoken; "The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle."

It makes me think that what we are doing today is not working anymore. Church has become a business. You can see examples of that on Bravo's new show "Thicker Than Water" where the preacher says in one of their promos, "God wants everyone to be rich." Sure, that is probably taken out of context like most things at Bravo, but the reality is that there is truth in that, which you see clearly by watching commercials for the show. I don't watch it, but I see plenty of commercials where his children speak about "the most judgmental people she's ever known" and that reminds me of the Casting Crowns song "If We Are The Body" that talks about people who seek refuge in Church only to be looked down upon and whispered about.

How did we get here? When did Churches become so big that instead of healing and ministering they are buying private jets and then lying about having them altogether? Do you know how many homeless people you could feed for what it costs to fuel those jets?

It just makes me really sad for Christ who came here and died for us, not so people could create huge mega churches that pay their pastors millions of dollars, but to simply minister to the broken. I would love to walk into a church and never hear a single message about tithing. I would love to be in fellowship with other believers and not feel like I was being judged. I would love to see people in church spending less time going on mission trips to exotic locales and more time ministering to the people in their very own neighborhoods who don't know Christ. There is so much work to do within a 100 mile radius of your own home, but instead you have to fly to Africa to help a non-believer? It is just me or does all of this seem absolutely ludicrous?

I have a picture of Jesus sitting on my desk at work and at home. He watches over everything I do. He is here with me when I'm happy and when I'm sad and He is my rock. He loves me whether I give money to the church or whether I don't. He cares more about my heart than my wallet and He convicts me to love my neighbor and to step out of my comfort zone and just pray. He teaches me something about myself every single day of my life and all I have to do in return is just love Him and worship Him. NOTHING ELSE! NOTHING ELSE..... His love is not conditional on whether or not I go to a church or whether or not I sin. He loves me through it.

Let's take responsibility for our own salvation and not depend on the church, but on Christ and let's make Christianity pure again. Since this post is all about quoting people, I'll quote Jerry Maguire in closing....

"Who's Coming With Me?"