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 Posted: Sun Feb 09, 2014 7:04 pm
Hello all! Sorry I've been away for a bit. Things get crazy at work and then over the weekend I like to do almost nothing but vedge. So, I wanted to bring this into a more discussion rather than to make it a church meeting per se, and that is the topic of "Nitpicky Christians".
I bring this up because when you look at the world today, it no longer values the true God as it once did. Christians are now met with scorn and derision and if you actually stand for something, people judge you as being narrow minded and judgmental, and being indecisive is now somewhat of a virtue. Coupled with the erroneous media representation, Christians are now known for what we stand against, rather than what we stand for.
I feel we owe this in part to ourselves though. I'm pretty sure you've all been exposed to it, on Christian radio, or even in your own churches, where Christians complain about what I feel are little things, differences in denominations, dress code in how to come to church, nitpicking popular culture at EVERY point. I used to follow a few Christian radio stations and YouTube channels, but I stopped subscribing because Christians were coming off as too harsh.
Am I trying to say that we should never point out faults or preach the judgement? Absolutely not. But when all you're doing is nitpicking others and complaining about how far away someone or something is from God, how much does that actually help? When you point things out, are you actively trying to do something to stop us? Christians being portrayed as judgmental isn't a complete fabrication. I believe it has some truth to it.
In every instance, we should look at Jesus, our Lord and Savior for guidance. When you read about the woman at the well in John 5, Jesus didn't beat the woman up with her sins, he did address them, but He also offered her Grace, open arms. Jesus confronted sin, but He did it with a servant's heart and put his hands to the plow. Too much talking is going on in our world today and not enough doing. There's a saying that there are 5 gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and yourself and people aren't going to read the 1st 4. Don't be that nitpicky Christian that's always picking at those who may not know Christ and what they're doing wrong, but let your light shine before people so that through their life you may be able to erode the presuppositions they have about Christians.
But hey, what do you all think? Ever came across a nitpicky Christian? How does it make you feel when you are around one? Share your thoughts!
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Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 6:57 am
I used to know a Christian woman who raised her children by not allowing them to be exposed to so many things. The main things I remember were violent, supernatural, and most fantasy related movies, games, tv shows. This included Harry Potter and Pokemon.
While I think that it's good to not overexpose your children to certain things, I don't think it's good to take complete control over them because it will lead them to rebel against you when they're older, which is what happened with her children.
I don't want to say Christians like this are wrong but I personally feel that there is a better way to go about with everything.
Basically, what I feel is that, as Christians, we need to be aware of the world. We can't just hide in our own Christian world because the world is not like that at all and if we aren't aware, we won't be able handle being in the world or more importantly, serving God within the world. (Evangelism for example)
Even God himself, came down to the Earth so he could experience the world and all of its struggles and temptations(and overcome it).
This isn't saying that we should go straight into the world but it's more like, many of us were in the world before we were given new life in Christ and because of that, we have first hand experience of what it's like to be a worldly person. These sorts of things help us to be able to know, how the gospel can help others and it would help a lot when we try to share it with others.
Christians need to be well informed of what is happening and to be well aware of where it has come from.
I feel like those Christians who judge everything from a really strict Christian view, will also have a hard time bringing others to Christ because that sort of stuff is what many non-believers dislike about Christianity. It's become a stereotype for Christians.
I don't want to sound like I'm saying that these sort of Christians are bad because I guess, it's also good that they're really keeping their life God-focused but, it's still possible to do that, while being aware about certain things.
We should have the faith to overcome these worldly things ourselves but in that, we shouldn't force others out of those things, otherwise, we may cause them to stumble in faith or not want to come to Christ at all. We should instead, help them to keep growing in faith until they're faithful enough to realise and make the decision ourselves.
Sorry about the really long reply and I probably repeated myself a few times.
tl;dr : Christians should be aware of what is around them and by faith, overcome things of the world which may cause us or others to stumble in faith. Instead of being close minded and pushing it on other people, we should build them up in faith so that they can decide for them self. Let Jesus show them! ^^
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Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2014 4:40 pm
Daeuil I used to know a Christian woman who raised her children by not allowing them to be exposed to so many things. The main things I remember were violent, supernatural, and most fantasy related movies, games, tv shows. This included Harry Potter and Pokemon. While I think that it's good to not overexpose your children to certain things, I don't think it's good to take complete control over them because it will lead them to rebel against you when they're older, which is what happened with her children. I don't want to say Christians like this are wrong but I personally feel that there is a better way to go about with everything. Basically, what I feel is that, as Christians, we need to be aware of the world. We can't just hide in our own Christian world because the world is not like that at all and if we aren't aware, we won't be able handle being in the world or more importantly, serving God within the world. (Evangelism for example) Even God himself, came down to the Earth so he could experience the world and all of its struggles and temptations(and overcome it). This isn't saying that we should go straight into the world but it's more like, many of us were in the world before we were given new life in Christ and because of that, we have first hand experience of what it's like to be a worldly person. These sorts of things help us to be able to know, how the gospel can help others and it would help a lot when we try to share it with others. Christians need to be well informed of what is happening and to be well aware of where it has come from. I feel like those Christians who judge everything from a really strict Christian view, will also have a hard time bringing others to Christ because that sort of stuff is what many non-believers dislike about Christianity. It's become a stereotype for Christians. I don't want to sound like I'm saying that these sort of Christians are bad because I guess, it's also good that they're really keeping their life God-focused but, it's still possible to do that, while being aware about certain things. We should have the faith to overcome these worldly things ourselves but in that, we shouldn't force others out of those things, otherwise, we may cause them to stumble in faith or not want to come to Christ at all. We should instead, help them to keep growing in faith until they're faithful enough to realise and make the decision ourselves. Sorry about the really long reply and I probably repeated myself a few times. tl;dr : Christians should be aware of what is around them and by faith, overcome things of the world which may cause us or others to stumble in faith. Instead of being close minded and pushing it on other people, we should build them up in faith so that they can decide for them self. Let Jesus show them! ^^ I feel like when parents shelter their children from the world in things like magic without properly EXPLAINING the reason why, that's when kids rebel. We are supposed to be in the world not of it. I'm not advocating for us to all become Amish (although, there's nothing wrong with them either), I believe Christians being molded to not have an appetite for the things of the world is important. Christianity isn't about substituting on thing for another, or making us hermits as you said, but just like people avoid God because He doesn't appeal to them, that's how we should be about worldly things. We see them, but don't really want to partake in them. One of the things I am trying to be is a better servant. Jesus did preach in the Open Air while He was on earth, but he did a lot for the kingdom of God which made people see the goodness of God. We should do the same, I feel.
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Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2014 2:01 am
Ohana_Okazaki Daeuil I used to know a Christian woman who raised her children by not allowing them to be exposed to so many things. The main things I remember were violent, supernatural, and most fantasy related movies, games, tv shows. This included Harry Potter and Pokemon. While I think that it's good to not overexpose your children to certain things, I don't think it's good to take complete control over them because it will lead them to rebel against you when they're older, which is what happened with her children. I don't want to say Christians like this are wrong but I personally feel that there is a better way to go about with everything. Basically, what I feel is that, as Christians, we need to be aware of the world. We can't just hide in our own Christian world because the world is not like that at all and if we aren't aware, we won't be able handle being in the world or more importantly, serving God within the world. (Evangelism for example) Even God himself, came down to the Earth so he could experience the world and all of its struggles and temptations(and overcome it). This isn't saying that we should go straight into the world but it's more like, many of us were in the world before we were given new life in Christ and because of that, we have first hand experience of what it's like to be a worldly person. These sorts of things help us to be able to know, how the gospel can help others and it would help a lot when we try to share it with others. Christians need to be well informed of what is happening and to be well aware of where it has come from. I feel like those Christians who judge everything from a really strict Christian view, will also have a hard time bringing others to Christ because that sort of stuff is what many non-believers dislike about Christianity. It's become a stereotype for Christians. I don't want to sound like I'm saying that these sort of Christians are bad because I guess, it's also good that they're really keeping their life God-focused but, it's still possible to do that, while being aware about certain things. We should have the faith to overcome these worldly things ourselves but in that, we shouldn't force others out of those things, otherwise, we may cause them to stumble in faith or not want to come to Christ at all. We should instead, help them to keep growing in faith until they're faithful enough to realise and make the decision ourselves. Sorry about the really long reply and I probably repeated myself a few times. tl;dr : Christians should be aware of what is around them and by faith, overcome things of the world which may cause us or others to stumble in faith. Instead of being close minded and pushing it on other people, we should build them up in faith so that they can decide for them self. Let Jesus show them! ^^ I feel like when parents shelter their children from the world in things like magic without properly EXPLAINING the reason why, that's when kids rebel. We are supposed to be in the world not of it. I'm not advocating for us to all become Amish (although, there's nothing wrong with them either), I believe Christians being molded to not have an appetite for the things of the world is important. Christianity isn't about substituting on thing for another, or making us hermits as you said, but just like people avoid God because He doesn't appeal to them, that's how we should be about worldly things. We see them, but don't really want to partake in them. One of the things I am trying to be is a better servant. Jesus did preach in the Open Air while He was on earth, but he did a lot for the kingdom of God which made people see the goodness of God. We should do the same, I feel. I think that's really important, to not have an appetite for things of this world. I guess there is no surefire method of how to make someone like that, I guess, for the example of raising children, we should raise them with prayer and bible study and rather than keeping them away from the world, we should I guess, explain to them, why it's bad for them and help them to be aware of Satan. Being a better servant is also something I am trying to do too. One thing I would definitely encourage is to pray about how you can be a better servant. I was praying for that a few weeks ago and got so many answers. I've now been taking some of the opportunities and God has helped me with other aspects of my life because of that. I am going to continue to pray so that I may serve him even more and more. I might post something about it in the testimony section but you should definitely pray about it and share your testimonies related to it smile
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