There is a War

There is a war. It’s brutal, horrible, destructive, and uncompromising. The trail of broken people, their wounds deep and terrible, litters the landscape. The cries of the wounded tear at the soul as only true anguish can. There are rarely uniforms, and the equipment is different than ever before, almost to the point of being unrecognizable. but the destruction is appalling. One cannot easily defend against weapons that don’t look like weapons. I’m not referring to ISIS, or Afghanistan, or Somalia.

I’m talking about the Church.

Many Christians in America would tell you that the church is under attack. They couldn’t be more correct in their assessment. They’re not alarmists, nor conspiracists, and they are spot on. The church is very much under attack. They can’t identify the enemy, because the enemy doesn't look like anything they've been taught to fear. It’s guerrilla warfare at an unprecedented level.

The enemy is brazen, well equipped, unyielding, operating from a strong power base with nearly unshakable supply routes, and cold-bloodedly efficient in their tactics, techniques, and procedures. Their methods work - and they work well – by combining heartless viciousness with a simultaneous application of the principle of winning the hearts and minds of the populace. Yet they pass undetected through the populace, blending like the most talented of chameleons. Their greatest combat multiplier (the asset which makes them most effective) is their ability to obfuscate the nature of their threat and presence. If you’re a Dr. Who fan, these enemy combatants are like the Silence, except instead of remaining invisible, or being forgotten in a moment, they are the most visible of all, yet no one sees them for who they are. The enemy attacking the Church is…well, you'll likely not believe me.

The enemy of the Church is the Church. It scratches at the soft underbelly of itself like an excoriating dog. Its attackers aren’t the typical villains described in mainstream Christian media. Instead, the attackers elude detection by positioning themselves as followers of Christ; the most devout, the most Biblically-based; the best of the Church. They aren't even being led by the evil one, because they don't need to be. They're leading themselves into unholy war.  They are so successful because – believe it or not – they have no idea that they are the attackers. They aim weapons against each other and fire in the name of Jesus with a vigor rarely seen, even in this modern era of people gladly trashing other people. Why? Because they firmly believe that they are actually the defenders!

Imagine how easily a fort would fall if the defenders of the fort fired at each other, firmly believing themselves to thus be defenders, rather than attackers! They'd have been decimated! Many citizens of the Church know beyond a doubt, in the very core of their being, that what they’re doing is right. This firm belief in the rightness of their cause whips the flames of an already burning fire, and they attack (I mean defend?) with zeal, rejoicing all the way. The desolation left in their wake tames any scene Mathew Brady photographed on the battlefield.  

The attackers could be anyone. The Sunday school teacher in her demure but pretty dress, the older man in the 5^th pew from the front in the stiffly starched high-collared shirt, the Chairman of the Church Board of Elders, the ushers, the elderly woman with the blue-ish hair who wants the church to stop singing “that devil music”, that old guy in the third row whose family started that church 50 years ago, or even the Pastor himself. They get so busy shooting at each other, in their vigorous defense of the Church, that they don’t notice for a moment who they’re defending against. It’s themselves.

Declining church attendance is a ubiquitous conversation topic in conservative, evangelical churches. It should be a common topic because it’s a common emergency. But the problem is totally misunderstood. It’s not that church attendance is declining. It’s that the Church is taking massive numbers of casualties. People aren't simply not coming anymore. They're falling to the ground with massive wounds. 

There's a massive amount of "do as I say, not as I do" in churches.  There are even more instances of people trying to say that other people's sin somehow makes that person less holy than they themselves are. Hypocritical behavior. Lack of empathy. Protecting personal power. Stomping down other groups. Lack of love. Churches and many churchgoers are spending so much time trying to hurt each other in the name of Jesus (really it's in their own name) that they've become pretty useless to society in general. Might hurt to read that, if you're a conservative Christian, but it is true, nonetheless. Why do you think so many people simply have no desire to go? When people are made to feel like they aren't welcome, aren't good enough, are considered undesirable, unwelcome, tainted, why would they ever go back? There are so many wounded people. So many.

These last few years, I have seen a side of Christianity I’d never encountered before. I never imagined. I grew up in the church, you see. I’d been a Conservative Christian for my entire life. I knew what was right, and what was wrong, and I knew where I was going in the end, and I knew who won in the end, and that was all that mattered. Literally, nothing else mattered. It’s a pretty good place to be. There is happiness in being in the right. There seriously is. But it’s a smokescreen, on a level far higher than any illusion David Copperfield will ever do. He’s made a building and a jumbo jet “disappear”.  Conservative Christianity? Goodness, Conservative Christianity has made millions of people disappear from among them, and have soundly congratulated themselves for it! One day, that smokescreen might just blow away, and then...then comes the light of truth!

If there is no condemnation in Christ, why are so many churches so busy condemning everyone who isn't exactly like them? If the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves, why are so many churches working so hard to do anything but? The war, remember? The war is all that matters to them. They will gladly cast aside anyone who doesn't think exactly like them. They literally celebrate the wounds they give people. It's a victory, you see. Isn't that sad?

Happiness based on following the rules isn't salvation. It isn't grace. It isn't Jesus. If following rules was the key, there'd be no need for Jesus.

I want to be different. I want to be part of the church that loves, gives, and lives. I want to be part of the church that follows Jesus, not church rules. I want to be part of a church that lives the values of love, and mercy, and compassion, and shuns legalism, and hate, and hypocrisy, and thinking they are somehow better than other people. I want to be a disciple, not a pharisee. Will you join me?