Outsiders

I'm currently involved in friendships with three other men who are not followers of Jesus. They all believe that they would never be welcomed into any church...that may not be true, but they would not be welcome in many churches. Two have a great deal of church experience which have solidified this belief. One was forced to go to church with his grandmother, the church was independent Baptist and VERY legalistic. He has tattoos and several body piercings that the people at this church told him they either had to be removed or covered with clothing…ah, religion. Yes, cover up who you really are…that way you can look like us…fake.

The other was brought up Catholic. He tells me all the time that he was WAY too religious growing up. His conclusion about religion is this, if you sincerely follow and live out religion, it leads to death. I agree completely, I keep telling him that religion kills people, especially in churches…heck, it killed Jesus. It was also his biggest obstacle to announcing the in-breaking of the kingdom into this world. This response has led to some great conversations. Not about church or sin or repentance, but about Jesus. Who He is, and perhaps more importantly for these two, who he is not. For each of them, they have mistakenly associated Jesus with the religious people and organizations they were exposed to.

The other day I was going to lunch with my ex-catholic friend when we started talking about Jesus. This doesn’t happen often by the way, but every once in a while God interrupts our conversations about life and whatnot to give an opportunity to interject some kingdom truths. As we talked I turned to my buddy and said to him, “You know what I like about you? You don’t have a problem with God, you just hate religion…I think God feels much the same way.” That sparked a really good conversation.

This is something I have found that I like about many “non-church goers”; they really don’t have an issue with God. They just have seen enough religion to know that it’s not the answer…I’ve seen that too. I wonder how accountable the church is for the gross misunderstanding and misrepresentation of who Jesus is.

Blessings,
Brandon