Black Spirituality Religion : If you haven't noticed...

Radical Faith said:
For many of you who have known me for a while now you know that I came here as a professed Christian. That has changed. I've said that our Creator or God takes us on a journey and reveals many things to us. One of the things God has revealed to me is the ineffectiveness of what men would call God's Church. A question has been raised in my mind. If the church was of God and has God on it's side then why is the world still the way it is and why are we still in the position we are in? Why is there no drastic change? Some would say the church is making great strides. Oh really? I don't see it. I see immaculate churches in rundown ghettos or I see immaculate churches being built outside of the areas that would need God the most. I see people going to church dressed up and smelling good but I don't see those same people putting their faith to work. What gives me the authority to say these things? Because I lead several ministries in which I had to beg my church family for involvement. I went to prisons and ministered to inmates, I fed the homeless, I visited the elderly and sick in the nursing homes and in many cases I could count the number of brothers and sisters that stood by my side on one hand. Now the church I attended wasn't a big church but still the only people that I could count on being with me was few people very few? As many of you know I work nights and don't spend a lot of time with my family during the week so my weekends are family time. Yet I was still able to sing on the choir, do our mens group fundraisers, chaperon our youth ministry to various events, along with the other fore mentioned ministries I was involved with. Even with all that I still was able to spend time with my family be not nearly enough. Many of my church family members were retired or had raised children so I just couldn't understand how very few people had time to be involved. So I left that church and went to another church and encountered the same issues, very little outreach in the (our) community. Church after church I found the same thing. In a letter to the church the Apostle James said "Faith without works is dead". Almost all Christians know this scripture but very little live it. Why is that? Some would say that outreach is simply not their gift or calling. Oh really? Apostle Paul said to the Church of Corinth "We walk by faith and not be sight". Many Christians hurl this scripture about but what are they really saying? Are they saying the sight of drug abuse and dealing, gang violence, poverty, unplanned pregnancy, mis education, under education, prostitution and a plethora of other immoralities that are destroying our neighborhoods and communities don't move their faith enough to act? Some would say "we pray for the world through intercession". I guess that is enough right? So if prayers are not answered then it must be the will of God that people suffer. More and more I heard these same types of cop outs from people trying to justify why they are not acting upon their faith. So if people don't believe enough to act upon their faith why do they go the church? Church has become a social event and a show. Once a week we can get our weekly entertainment. We can clap or hands, stomp our feet, shout, sing, cry, throw our hands in the air, laugh and many other celebratory responses meanwhile outside the walls of the building people are still suffering. I have not found a church yet that successfully addresses these issues. Therefore the only conclusion I can make is the Church doesn't want to address these issues on a large scale. Maybe this is why the place were people worship in the church is called the sanctuary. Besides sacred of holy place another definition of sanctuary is "a place of refuge or asylum". So is it safe to say that the only place on the planet one can reach out to God in time of need is in the Church? Nowhere else will God hear your prayers. So if that is not the case then why do many Christians say you need a covering and if you do not belong to a church then you will be subject to the evils of the world. Sounds like a set up to me. So which family is more important your real family or your church family? Look at what Jesus said in Matthew 10:34-39(KJV)

34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

36 And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.

37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.


I could be mistaken but is Jesus telling his followers to ally with him even against their parents or despite the needs of their children? This sounds like an attempt to replace the head of the family with Jesus. Jesus is saying forsake your own family and become a part of his family and he will be your advocate and present you to God his father. In the Exodus 20:12 part of the Mosaic Law the fifth commandment God said:

12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

So Jesus is saying come follow me and forget about you parents and God is saying Honor your parents. Who should we believe? We know the Church's stance on this. This is why women make up a vast majority of the congregation meanwhile the father is left at home watching football on Sunday. Women are servicing the church and not servicing their families. Even Jesus said a house divided will not stand. This is what we have in our communities, house's divided. From the very begin God created a union between man woman. Genesis 1:27 says:

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.


So the Bible says the image of God is male and female together by design. So to separate males and females is the undoing of the image of God. This is something the church has done very well.

Bottom line is any organization that separates the family and doesn't little to nothing for the advancement of our people is not worthy of my time and effort. Therefore I not longer consider myself a Christian. I am one who continues the search for truth along path that God has laid before me. My relationship with God is greater than a book, a building or a one day a week show. For my brothers and sisters who remain Christians and continue to follow the path of the church my God Bless you, keep you and guide you throughout your lives. For my brothers and sisters that see me as one who is in allegiance with Satan God Bless you too. Remember Jesus said in Matthew 7:1,3

1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.

2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?




Peace....

I'm happy and sad for you because I know it hurts!
I actuslly saw this coming from a response you made on another thread.
I really really felt you on the church/jesus and family thing.
My step grandfather knows the bible well but he wold not go to church for years do to his crack addiction.
He had the good book in one hand and the pipe in the other.
Through all of this my grandmother stood right beside him through recovery and all, but even today he's addicted to meds with narcotics.
About 4-5 months ago he started going to church and every since then him and my grandmother and aunts don't get along.
He calls my grandmother and aunt devils and sinners and casts them both to hell!
He tells the church about all their disagreements and arguments and my aunts sins.He said he wants a divorce because they are not living a life of jesus.
He is a walking talking bible telling everyone he is going to pray for them!
If my grandmothers smokes a cigarette he says you are going to hell,if she has a glass of wine she's going to hell!
It's rediculous!
It's like he's under a satanic cult!
T o make a long story short the church is ripping the family apart!
He pays more attention to the bible and the dog than his family!
Good luck to you brother Rad on your spiritual journey!
I have seen enough to know better as well!
 
cursed heart said:
I'm happy and sad for you because I know it hurts!
I actuslly saw this coming from a response you made on another thread.
I really really felt you on the church/jesus and family thing.
My step grandfather knows the bible well but he wold not go to church for years do to his crack addiction.
He had the good book in one hand and the pipe in the other.
Through all of this my grandmother stood right beside him through recovery and all, but even today he's addicted to meds with narcotics.
About 4-5 months ago he started going to church and every since then him and my grandmother and aunts don't get along.
He calls my grandmother and aunt devils and sinners and casts them both to hell!
He tells the church about all their disagreements and arguments and my aunts sins.He said he wants a divorce because they are not living a life of jesus.
He is a walking talking bible telling everyone he is going to pray for them!
If my grandmothers smokes a cigarette he says you are going to hell,if she has a glass of wine she's going to hell!
It's rediculous!
It's like he's under a satanic cult!
T o make a long story short the church is ripping the family apart!
He pays more attention to the bible and the dog than his family!
Good luck to you brother Rad on your spiritual journey!
I have seen enough to know better as well!

People don't understand it's spiritual warfare. They attack the flesh, but the flesh is just a carrier. The Pastor at the church I used to go to preached this for a month of Sundays. Good thing for me because it was right before my annual trip home to see my relatives. Everybody looked different to me. I was able to overlook their faults(their faults were in my mind, we are all perfect beings) and just concentrate on loving them. You see, I had a hard time accepting people as they are. I went around thumping my Bible and telling people that if they kept it up, hell was in their future.
Ephesians 6:12
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
P.S. The church is not ripping people apart, people are.
 
So many of us here have been deconverted.

You know the very word "converted" ha always struck me as being rather arrtificial, man made, not true spirituality. To truly turn to the Creator is not a conversion but a liberation.
 
Slowly said:
P.S. The church is not ripping people apart, people are.
Right, and the people in the chur h aren't any different from the people outside the church except the people in the church do it in the name of Jesus and the people outside the church don't claim that God will curse you if you don't let them rip you off.

Slowly,everyone of us has at one time tried to defend the bible and the church just like you are doing right now. I felt intimidated when one sista said she just couldn't sit in church listening to what she knew was not true. I had not yet made the decision to act on my integrity and it seemed like a frightening thing to do. But enentually...

I love the story of Jesus. I love the thought of him coming down to earth, eating, sleeping crying dying instead of floating up in the clouds judging men with no inkling what it's like to actually be a man. Thaat's a beautiful story. But through study and research I discovered that it is just a story. As beautiful as it is, it simply ain't true.
 
river said:
Right, and the people in the chur h aren't any different from the people outside the church except the people in the church do it in the name of Jesus and the people outside the church don't claim that God will curse you if you don't let them rip you off.

Slowly,everyone of us has at one time tried to defend the bible and the church just like you are doing right now. I felt intimidated when one sista said she just couldn't sit in church listening to what she knew was not true. I had not yet made the decision to act on my integrity and it seemed like a frightening thing to do. But enentually...

I love the story of Jesus. I love the thought of him coming down to earth, eating, sleeping crying dying instead of floating up in the clouds judging men with no inkling what it's like to actually be a man. That's a beautiful story. But through study and research I discovered that it is just a story. As beautiful as it is, it simply ain't true.

The problem is, a lot of what's said in the church is not true. A lot of people are allowed to preach and teach when they have no idea what they are talking about. They are effective only in confusing and turning away. I got beat up in church much the same as others have testified to, and slowly but surely, I no longer attend. But there has been too many coincidences for me to just let go of the Bible, too much scientific stuff mentioned that we are just now discovering. And to top it off, eventually we won't have any kind of commonality between us peoples. We need a plan and we need it now.
 

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