Why do you men think people are leaving it nowadays…? What are some of the reasons that you men think people simply don’t believe it anymore, or no longer find it attractive…?
antlers;
Morning sir, I trust your Monday is going as well as possible and you've had a decent weekend.
If I may, I'll state up front that I have a tough time figuring out why I do the things I do daily and as it has been pointed out to me many, many times in life, my ability to empathize with anyone else is absent for the most part.
Growing up in a small rural evangelical but pacifistic church where half the congregation was related in some way, I rejected the church and Christ when I was 15 because of the hypocrisy I saw in the lives of the church attendees. My statement or thought was more or less, "If being a Christian is acting like Uncle _____ or Aunt ____, then I want no part of it".
So I left the church, rejected my former beliefs and shortly after that I had the car fall on me when I was working under it. Since I've posted that here a couple times, I'll just say the short version is that "something" lifted the car off of me - miracle #1 - and once family got me to the hospital the top medical experts gave me only a slim chance at surviving and zero chance of full recovery - miracle #2.
Possibly from my mostly Teutonic lineage, I continued to rebel against what I believe was direct Divine Intervention in my life for the next nearly 4 years. Nobody has ever accused me of being the sharpest knife in the drawer - ever...
The best way I can articulate the cause for my rebellion was that it would require me to admit I owed a debt to a Higher Power and if I chose to be a servant it'd mean I would have to make an honest effort to change for the better.
Please don't misunderstand this for me believing that I can in any way, shape or form earn Christ's love for me and the gift of salvation, but for me personally, I really take the book of James to heart which - to me - indicates we should outwardly manifest a positive change for the better.
That's hard for a number of reasons for me personally, it takes daily effort and some days I don't feel like making that effort.
On some levels and with some actions I'm fine with taking responsibility for my actions, again that whole German thing likely, but it's tougher for me to rein in the noncharitable thoughts I have towards many of my fellow humans. I'm commanded to love them antlers and I don't even like them.
It has helped me in my spiritual journey to focus on my own actions and to not look for hypocritical behavior in anyone else. That's between them and God when they cross over is more or less where I'm at with that antlers, but I do get there's areas where a church needs to deal with members whose actions are detrimental to it.
Reading back on this sir, I'm not sure I've answered your question or not exactly? Hopefully somewhat?
Thanks for making me think this morning and all the best to you this week.
Dwayne
