this was going to be a tag on to "to leave or not to leave" but i thought it deserved it's own space
I wanted to give my opinion on a couple of clichés about leaving the church.
Cliché's 1 and 2
You should never listen to the opinion of people who leave the church & You should always take on board the opinion of people who leave the church
This is rot, you should always listen to people willing to give constructive criticism, if instead of these constructive suggestions you get vitriol and scorn then by all means ignore them but only after loving them and praying they find what they're looking for. Just because they may be jerks doesn't mean you have to be, be like Jesus and love them as they leave of their own accord
Cliché 3
Everything will be better at another church - if you're thinking of leaving with this thought in your head, stay where you are, it won't be, the best you can hope for is that it is be annoying/heretical/frustrating in different ways and you don't spot them for a while, but the church will never be perfect as the church is people and people are flawed or as someone once said "If you find the perfect church, don't join it, you'll ruin it"
And to finish this short post a little joke with a healthy dollop of truth.
A man was stranded alone on a deserted Pacific island for years. Finally one day a boat comes sailing into view, and the man frantically waves and draws the skipper’s attention. The boat comes near the island and the sailor gets out and greets the stranded man. After a while the sailor asks, “What are those three huts you have here?” “Well, that’s my house there.” “What’s that next hut?” asks the sailor. “I built that hut to be my church.” “What about the other hut?” “Oh, that’s where I used to go to church.”
Posted via email from Chris's posterous
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