This is deep...

...maybe a little too deep for the blog. But I feel I must get this out:

"The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable." -Brennan Manning

I came across this today and found it so fitting regarding an issue I have been grappling with. A friend of ours has had a rough time and it has gotten a bit worse in the last few months. You see, our friend is dealing with judgement and unforgiving by a group of Christians. How can this be? Aren't Christians suppose to love one another, judge fairly, humbly and with love, and always aim for repentance and reconciliation which ultimately leads to forgiveness? What I am about to share has been taken from the bible, some of my favorite sources, my bible studies and from my heart, you may or may not agree with me and that's ok:

In my humble opinion, what makes judging right or wrong depends on the spirit, motive and attitude in which judging is being done.

Bad Judgment Statement: “You are going to hell because of what you do.”
Good Judgment Statement: “God will help you with your problem and God wants to save you from spiritual death if you choose to let Him.”

If we are going to make a negative comment to a person about their behavior, we should be just as quick to give encouragement, and tell the person about the rewards of repentance.

God, who is the ultimate judge, is full of grace and mercy, so we should also be full of grace and mercy, but this is not always the case. It is a shameful and sad situation when church people treat others like they are trash because of something they did or because of an unjustified judgment. God knows about these situations and He will hold the slanderers, unmerciful, and graceless accountable.

Forgiveness is precious. Imagine the world without it. Imagine a world where everybody resented and punished every wrong done to them. Imagine a world of pure justice without mercy. I don't want to live in that kind of world, so I believe in forgiveness.

I BELIEVE IN BEING FORGIVEN because I know how much I need it. God not only pardons, he forgives. Pardon is a legal thing; forgiveness is a personal thing

I BELIEVE IN FORGIVING Forgiving is necessary. We have to forgive if we want to be forgiven. In the Lord's Prayer we say, "forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." No word in English carries a greater possibility of terror than that little word, "as." We dare to ask God to treat us the same way as we treat those who aggravate us. And to make sure we get the point Jesus adds these words after the Lord's Prayer: "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" (Matthew 6:14-15). Only the merciful receive mercy (Matthew 5:7). Those who can't forgive burn the bridge over which they themselves must pass.

Forgiving is difficult. It is hard because it is against human nature. Revenge, and anger, not forgiveness, is our natural response to offenses. To return evil for good is devilish. To return good for good is human. To return good for evil is divine (Romans 12:17,21). It is an outrageous act — a voluntary forfeit of our right to fairness, a surrender of sweet revenge.

Forgiveness begins with a decision and ends with a feeling: "from your heart."

Two kinds of people need to believe in the forgiveness of sin:

those who feel the burden of guilt because they have offended someone and
those who feel the burden of anger because someone has offended them.

To both I ask, "Do you believe in the forgiveness of sin?" If you do…if you really do…if you really, really do, you will no longer carry your burden of guilt or anger.

"I never go out to meet a new day
Without first asking God as I kneel down to pray
To give me the strength and the courage to be
As tolerant of others as He is of me."
(Ned Nichols)

I pray our friend gets the chance to have a relationship again with this group because this is what our friend desperately wants. I pray for reconciliation. Sadly, because this group chose to believe one side of the story and or refused to see or ask for our friend's side of the story, our friend has given up hope on this group and feels hurt and alone, has lost trust in the church and has lost trust in people especially Christians. I pray our friend never loses hope in Him.

In His Love,
Brenda