Many of us (Believers) misguidedly believe today that Christianity is only precise only when it mirrors our own doctrinal traditions, political beliefs local church lifestyles.
These days, instead of wining hearts, we seem to enjoy putting all our weights behind winning political arguments or defending policies on behalf of politicians. When we eventually take a break from being mouth piece of political parties or politicians, we resume the self-imposed tasks of making people conform to our church doctrines, style or cultural preferences instead of helping them grow in their knowledge of Jesus Christ and prepare for life in eternity. When these folks don’t conform or subscribe to our engendered doctrinal or political philosophy, we often unfairly declare them apostates and enemies of the state.
If we continue to defend people who use religion when it’s convenient and when it benefits them, we might continue to misrepresent Jesus Christ and make mockery of the finished work of grace, love, mercy and forgiveness.
As a matter of fact, politicians now strongly understand that exploiting Faith is a productive way to gain support from Christians, just as fronting for politicians is paying the bills for some self-serving religious leaders known for selective or biased analysis. To them it’s simple, just mention Jesus or have your media surrogates slam pictures of a praying session online and we Christians will turn our heads away from every other wrong doing, selfish or ungodly agenda being implemented. We would continue to describe you as a reformer and defender of faith irrespective what you say or do.
Owing to the above, racism, bigotry, injustice, corruption, lies and manipulation are being rationalized and defended all under the guise of “standing for truth or God”.
More than ever, the world is divided along political and race lines and the church is serving as a platform for defending this perniciousness. We now defend doctrines and policies more than we preach the gospel.
The gospel, if preached and modeled as engendered by Jesus Christ and disciples, can serves as a powerful tool for positive change in culture, politics and societies. However, if misrepresented, it dishonors the messiah Jesus Christ and mocks the message of grace, love, mercy and forgiveness.
As Christians (The Ecclesia), our primary calling and purpose in life is to be a God-ordained institution that offers the love, grace and peace of Jesus Christ to our troubled societies. We are to focus on winning hearts with love instead on winning arguments or pursuing agendas that makes us feel good even when our approach goes against the teachings of Jesus Christ.
