Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Religion versus God

God,



So many people confuse You with religion. I was reminded of this and this blog to You was inspired by this video that Kat showed me today.

This video is so inspiring. Sometimes, I am not able to put my thoughts into words but this young man shared exactly how I feel. I think so often that we "Christians" give You a bad name. War, hate, oppression, bigotry, and indifference are just a few of the things that us "Christians" have done in Your name. To all those that we have hurt, I am sorry. God, please forgive us for we don't always know what we do (and other times we do and still do them). Atrocity after atrocity have occurred in Your name and for that, I must apologize to You and to those that have been hurt by people carrying Your name.

The message of God should be a message of love, grace, forgiveness and a message of action to help all those in need. However, we have turned Your message into hate, judgement, bondage and along the way we have hurt people. Even as I write this, I am reminded of my favorite section of Donald Miller's book, Blue Like Jazz. In his book, he and some fellow students set up a confessional booth on a college campus. However, the booth was not for the students to come confess their sins but for the Christians to apologize for the horrible things that have been committed in Your name.

God, may You help those of us that read this blog that call themselves "Christians" to be compelled to love not hate, to forgive not judge, to care not forget and to be called to action not complacency.

Yours,

Derek

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