It's time to change the way people view Christians. People hear "religion" or "Christianity" and they are automatically turned off to us. They immediately put up a wall and want nothing to do with us. Why is this? Maybe because so many Christians have lived their lives in such a way that they have tarnished the meaning of being a Christian. I'm not judging people, for that is God's job. However, let's be real here. Overall, Chrisitanity has become about being almost militant in how we try to bring people into our religion. It's a "turn or burn" attitude that is typically portrayed. If one doesn't fit into our "box" of what a Christian should be, they are shunned. An unwed and pregnant teenage girl is not the average view of what a Christian is. Neither is a homeless alcoholic. Or a young man covered in tattoos and piercings with a mohawk. Imagine what would happen if we totally changed how we approached people. What if instead of shoving our faith and religion into their faces, we simply showed them what it's like to be a Christian by how we live. What if you never had to tell someone that you were a Christian, but rather they knew by your actions.
Instead of ignoring that pregnant teen when she walks into the church, talk to her. Invite her to lunch and see if she needs anything for the baby. Maybe you have an old stroller you can donate. Rather than walking past that bum on the corner, you give him a blanket. Or buy him a meal. Perhaps that young man who looks so "sinful" with his tattoos and piercings who comes to your church was brought up in the church. If you took the time to know him, you may find out he loves God with all of his heart. If you took the time to look at his tattoos, you would see a cross or an angel somewhere.
Jesus said, "Whatever you do to the least of my brothers, you do to me". Why aren't we, as Christians, living that? Instead of going out and yelling our faith to people and screaming the gospel, we need to be living it. Showing those who have never had any experience with church or religion or relationship with God before what it means to be a man or woman of God.
More than that, we need to be showing those who have had a bad experience with a church or religion what it means to be a person of faith. I think those who have had a bad experience with Christianity are harder to bring into the church than those who have never entered one in their life. Those are the people we need to be showing the love of Jesus to.
However, none of us are perfect. As Christians, we know this. However, so often the world holds us to such high standards that they expect us to be perfect. And so when we stumble and fall, we are put down for falling short as Christians. So as hard as we try to show people how to live as a Christian, we are going to fail just like anyone else. We are going to sin. This is something we must help those around us who aren't Christians understand. We need to help them understand that everyone-even the most devout Christian-will fail. But the beauty of being a Christian even in our sin, is that we know we can ask and be granted forgiveness. So many non-Christians aren't knowledgable about being forgiven by God. Instead of preaching hellfire and brimstone if they don't change their ways, maybe we need to try preaching about the forgiveness of God when they do change their ways.
I believe people need to understand the consequences of their actions. And while we shouldn't sugar coat the faith, we can present things in such a way that we aren't scaring them out of our churches or in some cases, into them. I believe in heaven and hell and I believe that people coming into the faith need to be taught that. However, getting in their face and screaming red faced about hell or trying to bribe them into the church by talking about the beauty of heaven isn't the way to do it. There needs to be a balance that is preached on the two. It needs to be done in such a way that people aren't coming to our churches and becoming Christians because they are afraid of burning in hell. They need to want and truly desire to spend eternity in heaven, not because they think it's their "get out of hell free" card.
We need to start a revolution to change the face of Christianity. Love one another, show them how God wants us to live not tell them. We need to be trying to be true examples of the faith and not hypocrites. Instead of being "Bible thumpers", we should be a walking gospel of the Bible. This doesn't mean we should abandon our faith and what we believe by living in the world when we accept those who don't fit in the "box" of Christianity. It means we need to be open to the idea that not everyone "looks" how we expect them to. Not everyone has lived how a lifelong church goer has. And that's okay, as long as they truly want to change their life around and live for God.
