Posted on 03/15/2011 3:58:16 PM PDT by MNDude
Notice how many people reach out to God when something big occurs. Attendance at church was never so big as the Sunday after 9/11.
A college classmate used to snap, “You just made my prayer list” when anyone made her really mad ;-).
Not to pick an argument either - my point is that people can be very religious and not the least bit Christian.
Try stepping out of line in Japanese society and you can see how strict they can be!
Show excessive emotion. Don’t participate in ancestor worship. Avoid work on Sunday. Go home after a decent day’s work to relax. Allow your child to get average grades in school. Don’t bow to the Emperor. Question illegitimate authority. Have more than two kids. Be loud.
It’s similar to the Green religion. Most will say they are agnostics or atheists, but, try messing up your recycling, keeping a Down’s syndrome baby, supporting the military, or driving a big car around them. They’ll hate you. They have a rigid code, sacraments, and ordinances - just not Christian ones.
CIA Factbook:
Shintoism 83.9%, Buddhism 71.4%, Christianity 2%, other 7.8% note: total adherents exceeds 100% because many people belong to both Shintoism and Buddhism (2005)
Jesus didn’t stay home. He dealt with depraved and horrid people all the time. Sure, he took breaks. But he didn’t stay home.
Not saying I'm better than anyone - just don't want to spend my day off with them - I see enough of it through the week.
I don't live in a vacuum, I witness often whenever it is appropriate. Jesus went out into the people and preached outside of the church, he raked the churches over the coals a few times too.
If going to church makes a person feel spiritually nourished, that's great, just doesn't work that way for me.
“God is more interested in the condition of your eternal soul than your temporary body.”
As James put it. “Faith without works is dead”
“just doesn’t work that way for me. “
I don’t mean you any offense, honestly, but Jesus didn’t set up the church just in case it might work for you.
You are not submitting to one another in love if you just go out and witness. You are not getting any discipline, nor must you do the yeoman’s work of forgiving and even loving people who are sometimes downright unloveable. You don’t have to deal year in and year out, get disappointed, get up, and keep going.
Perhaps you do that at work; but work isn’t the same as church. It’s not an institution set up by God with sacraments (you are missing the Lord’s Supper), or preaching, or discipline.
You can get preaching over the internet; but that preacher does not know you. A preacher who is pastor of a group of 100 people probably has a lot more insight as to what the group needs to hear about at certain times.
You aren’t getting called out on your sins. You may sin less than most, but I can about guarantee you that you have pet or ignorant sins that only a brother in Christ, particularly an elder who is so commissioned, can call you on and counsel you on. You aren’t getting led in any direct and regular way by senior saints. No one knows you or your situation well enough to pray specifically for you and your needs. Etc.
I am not trying to tell you to go back to some crummy church where people are just nasty and the gospel isn’t preached. But there are decent churches and not only are you missing out, they are missing out on the gifts you could bring.
I'm happy doing what I'm doing now. Yes, I do miss the Lord's Supper and there are times I'd like to slip in a church during a Christmas Eve service, but I still maintain a prayer list (and yes, I do pray for my enemies - and yes, I do sin plenty, lots to ask forgiveness for!).
Thanks for your comments.
It was a horrible prayer. If you want to bring any of the victims to Christ, then pour out yourself in comfort and aid to those who have been hurt by this disaster. Offer monay, time, anything that you can think of or are asked for as well as sincere prayer. Let them see Christ in your actions and love for them. This is the Lords direction to us and will certainly work miracles.
The unfortunate prayer on Sunday sounds like a, “Nyah, nyah, nyah. My God’s better then your god!!!! Nyah, nyah!”
There are actually quite a few Christians in Japan. There are a number of monasteries, shrines, and Catholic Churches. Remember that Christian missionaries reached Japan in the seventeenth century and even then were making converts. I’ve seen some pictures of Japanese earthquake victims praying in utter misery, clutching a rosary. So not everybody there is without the love of Christ.
It’s a long road from the heart to the tongue.
some people see “finding christ” as a cure all.
But usually good people mean they hope that the people will learn and turn to Christ in their problems.
One Christian writer in Japan said that Japanese folks aren’t attracted by a Christ who saves them from sin, because they have a different concept of sin. But they would find him as the compassionate God who comes and suffers with them in their time of trouble.
I've found that if I pray for someone I don't really want to for a week or so, no matter how grudgingly I start, by the end of the time (I don't think it's ever been as long as a month) I've forgiven them, whether I really wanted to or not (mostly not, when I start).
Thank you for the reminder, yes. It’s just so hard to start. I know it’s the sin in me, but I just don’t always want to. How shameful to admit that.
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