Christ Didn't Follow the World's Idea of Him: So Why Does Christianity Today?

What's happened to Christianity? Why's it all broad smiles and middle class perfection? Why's it so fake?...

I know... I sound like I don't believe in God... But that's not my point.

I mean, look at it all today. The real Christianity is in the poor, hidden churches of China or Africa... They may not get to believe openly, but at least they have more plushy love than we American Christians.... We're told to greet each other, and while many do, they just shake hands and head for the person they are friends with.

Don't get me wrong. Friends are fantastic! And it's great to have friends in church, too! But... just a hand shake for those who may need more support in a new environment?

And what about the whole "love your neighbor" thing? Why is it that there's as much division in Christianity as there are countries across the globe?... Aren't we all supposed to be one large Body of Christ? The preachers and pastors and priests and popes all talk about the Body... But... their words ring with the sense of more localized "Bodies"... One Presbyterian pastor might be talking about the Body of Christ, but his words convey him picturing only the church he is leading or maybe just the region where that church is. The preacher for a Church of Christ gathering might only think that the whole denomination of CoC is the Body, but even that is still too small.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they do all think of a more catholic (and by this, I mean "universal") church, one that encompasses those little meetings tucked into dirty sewers under streets patrolled by "anti-Christian" groups and the Catholic gatherings in Rome and the mass hymn-singing groups in Nigeria and any and all in the United States.

Maybe they do think of all of those, and mean all of those, too.

It just doesn't feel that way.

Probably one of the best persons to ever be called to be a youth pastor (whom we'll call T) was removed as youth pastor at my church because a few of the elders or deacons or whatever didn't like him. Then, he lost his job as the worship leader for the same reason. What kind of "Christian love" is that?? And don't get me wrong: the new guy leading worship on Sunday's is great. But one of the reasons that the pastor and other church leaders gave to T was that T and his wife weren't involved enough in the community. Where is this new kid from? A city 45 minutes away! How in the world is he to be "involved enough in the community"??

That's a particular example that bothered me.

But it just seems that Christianity is becoming fake, plastic hypocrites that don't think about what they're telling everyone else to think, believe, do, whatever. They just say it, thinking that they already think, believe, do, whatever it is that they're telling everyone else. How delusional...

I myself am a hypocrite. But I at least admit it! That doesn't make me any better than the others so far as hypocrisy goes, but at least I'm a step closer to ending my hypocrisy!

I've actually taken to not saying anything. About Christ and Christianity and the Bible, at least. Unless I know it's the truth. And if I know it's the truth and that I do the opposite, I say up front that I don't do what I"m about to say, but that I know I should and am working to do so myself. But again, I try to not say anything, generally. (I don't feel qualified, for starters. Plus, I don't want to be a hypocrite.)

It's just..... I don't think a lot of the....... "Christians"/Christians/whatever really know that they're being hypocritical. Which is bad. I've known a number of non-Christians who scoff at Christianity solely because of the hypocritical persons.

And yes, yes. I know everyone is a hypocrite. But that's my point! There are people who openly admit that and they're the ones that non-Christians see as better examples of what all others are saying.

T says, "Preach, preach, preach; use words only if you have to." The unwitting hypocrites don't do that...

I don't know. Christianity, in the organized capacity!!, annoys me. What Christ has told us, what Christ has done for us, what Christ is doing and will do for us, what Christ is to us, none of that is annoying. It's beautiful and amazing and perfect and slew of other such words that can never be enough to describe how fantastic Christ and His life are!!

But Christianity, as it is known today, is not... It is man-made, synthetic, automatonic (though, that's not a word...).  I'm sorry for generalizations. I'm just so irritated and hurt by the whole idea that Christianity seems to have become. And that idea isn't what Christ put down for us in the Bible...

*M