Why I am a Christian, but no longer a Church of Christ-ian.

Don’t teach me about politics and government

Just tell me who to vote for

Don’t teach me about truth and beauty

Just label my music

Don’t teach me how to live like a free man

Just give me a new law

I don’t wanna know if the answers aren’t easy

So just bring them down from the mountain to me

I want a new law

Just give me that new law

Don’t teach me about moderation and liberty

I prefer a shot of grape juice

Don’t teach me about loving my enemies

Don’t teach me how to listen to the Spirit

Just give me a new law

What’s the use in trading a law you can never keep

for one you can that will not get you anything?

Do not be afraid

Do not be afraid

Do not be afraid

Derek Webb

First and foremost, I want to lay a few things out on the table before I begin to say the things I want- and NEED- to say. I know that those of you who know me well and who have been reading my blogs for awhile now will probably not raise an eyebrow at the things I’m about to write. Others of you may be surprised. In fact, some might be downright angry, or confused, or perhaps paralyzed with shock. Most of that depends on your familiarity with and experience in the church of Christ. But I won’t apologize for the things I say, because they are not intended to be malicious; rather, I am interested in the pursuit of truth and will only make claims that come from biblical evidence. 

Now for some background. When I was growing up, my dad was a church of Christ minister. We lived in several different small towns during my childhood according to where my parents were led. I feel very blessed to have been raised in a solid Christian family. I have so many memories of the communities we were a part of. The church members watched me and my brother grow up. They babysat us, cooked for us, loved all over us. Honestly, and I’m not just saying this because both of my parents read this blog, I was raised so well. They disciplined me, but they loved me unconditionally. Believe it or not, preachers don’t make a whole lot of money (unless they subscribe to the Joel Osteen philosophy), but I can’t think of a single time that I wanted for anything or felt deprived. The way I grew up is the only way I would want to raise my own kids. My dad apologizes every now and then for putting us through the life of “preacher’s kids,” but it really wasn’t that bad.

Until I grew up a little, that is.

I’ve been both blessed and cursed by the independent, strong-willed, stubborn, questioning, free-thinking, “all you need is love” gene I inherited from my dad. Long about 10 years or so ago, I guess it’s been, our family went through a sort of change in the way we viewed and related to the church of Christ we had all been raised in. I thank God frequently for leading my parents on the spiritual journey that He did. Once my dad left preaching to work for my uncle at Knoxville Wholesale Furniture, things began to shift. We stayed in a church of Christ in Farragut (which is considered to be liberal as far as the CofC’s go) throughout my middle and high school years. Seth and I were pretty active in the youth group, and my dad continued to preach every now and then. We made friends. Many of these friends are the only reason my wedding was a success- I can’t tell you how much help we got from our church community. 

I say this because I want to make it clear that I am not attacking specific churches or people who go to these churches. I am instead presenting an argument against several key beliefs and philosophies of the church of Christ itself. There are many wonderful churches of Christ out there, I know. I have quite a few good memories at some of them, and I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’ve been scarred for life by them. I mean, it’s not like I have a flair for the dramatic or anything. Ha.

My true spiritual transformation began when I went to the College of Charleston my freshman year. There wasn’t a church of Christ anywhere nearby even if I HAD wanted to go to one, but my roommate Grace and I, by divine intervention, ended up at Seacoast, a nondenominational church with instruments (GASP)- really good music, by the way- that was full of other college students and young people from all different backgrounds. Some were jaded, others were on fire. Some warmed a seat on Sunday mornings (a theater seat, mind you- yes, folks, I went to church in a MOVIE THEATER for a year and a half), others became close friends and got involved in small groups. Being at Seacoast brought about a huge spiritual awakening in me. Here were all these people who weren’t bickering over what color the carpet was, or whether or not we should sing all 4 verses of a hymn or just go ahead and skip verse 3, or whether or not the King James Version of the Bible was brought down from the mountain by Moses himself and could therefore be the only REAL Bible. Instead, I met people my age who were way past the silliness of youth group trips (We love Jesus, yes we do, We love Jesus, how ‘bout you?... Now let’s go play paintball and call it a day.). I honestly felt kind of stupid for not having already taken the initiative to mature a little bit and start reading and thinking about the Bible outside of any church-sponsored function. There were several people there who were great mentors for me. They showed me that going to church did not have to be an obligatory, three times a week, miserable event. They showed me what passion for Jesus looked like, and how to live it out on a daily basis- not just in church. They were not ridden with guilt over all their sins, and they did not regularly question and fret about whether or not they had earned their way to heaven. They lived in freedom, in grace. It was then that I started to actually WANT to go to church. For perhaps the first time in my life. 

So let’s back the train up once again and talk about why I often dreaded Sundays. How, you ask, could all the joy be sucked out of worshipping our Lord and Savior? After all, is it not wonderful, exciting, unbelievable news that He died to save us from our self-destruction, that He offered us the gift of the Spirit, the promise of heaven? And yet, I remember Sunday after Sunday of the same thing. Sunday school, 3 bullet-point sermons lasting no more than 25 minutes (God forbid the Baptists beat us to the restaurants), singing the same 20 or so songs on rotation with absolutely no emotion or passion whatsoever.... and people dozing off left and right. Sit, stand, sit, bow, stand, sit, leave. The only times I ever really paid attention were when my dad would preach. Somehow, despite every force pushing against him, he managed to keep his sermons centered around Jesus and love and grace- the gospel, essentially. Even at a young age, I was often moved to tears when he spoke. I remember one time he burned a $20 bill at the pulpit, I think probably to make a statement about money and possessions being only temporary, not important. That was pretty awesome. And there was this one story he told several times to illustrate the sacrifice in Jesus’s death on the cross. I sobbed every time I heard it. I vaguely remember it being about a mother whose son has a rare blood type that for some reason was desperately needed to save a lot of people’s lives and, long story short, she ends up choosing to leave him and he’s sitting on the hospital crying “Mommy, don’t leave! Don’t leave!” Well, anyway. That’s not typical of the average sermon heard in a pretty conservative church of Christ. Most are centered around “sound doctrine,” all of the sins we shouldn’t be committing but most of us do and are in a constant state of guilt about it, the “right way” to take communion and get saved, and basically, why the church of Christ is right about everything and we’re the only ones going to heaven- duh. 

To those who haven’t grown up in the church of Christ, a lot of this may sound pretty crazy. Which is largely why the “Lord’s Church” (to which it is so affectionately referred) isn’t growing anymore. 

Sadly, it wasn’t always this way. During the eighteenth century, leaders like Alexander Campbell and Barton Stone were part of a movement called the Second Great Awakening, which was founded in a rejection of the creeds and laws of such schools of religious thinking as Catholicism and Calvinism. These men sought a return to purely biblical worship, without individual interpretations creating unnecessary divisiveness. So they looked to the Pentecostal church as described in the first part of the book of Acts as a model for their own churches. In fact, one of the sayings that was popular during the early development of these New Testament-based churches was “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, love.” 

Doesn’t sound so bad, does it? Well, in the beginning, it really wasn’t. The church of Christ boomed in its original stages of growth. It made sense to forego unnecessary legalism and division. 

Unfortunately, in using what the Bible says about the church that formed immediately following Christ’s death as an exact blueprint for modern churches, much of the unity that was hoped for by Campbell and Stone morphed into the very same sort of petty bickering and division that they had initially rejected. This happened because there IS no blueprint for worship in the New Testament. True, the Bible describes the early church, which does seem to be the way Jesus would hope His church to be like. But never in Acts does the Lord come down from heaven and say “This is exactly what the church should be like.” Nope. Doesn’t happen. In fact, most of what He says in the New Testament has little to do with HOW the church operates. You know, I don’t really understand why so much attention is paid to Acts and so little is paid to passages like Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount anyway. Is Jesus himself not supposed to be the one we model our lives after? 

Here are some of the things that Jesus directly asks- demands- of His followers during the greatest sermon ever preached (Matthew 5-7):

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (5:3)

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” (5:9)

“But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.” (5:22)

“But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.” (5:44-45)

“Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” (6:1)

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (6:19-21)

“You cannot serve both God and Money.” (6:24)

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (7:1-2)

“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” (7:12)

And then, another of Jesus’s encounters that is suspiciously overlooked and ignored in most churches:

“Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, ‘Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?’ ‘Why do you ask me about what is good?’ Jesus replied. ‘There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.’ ‘Which ones?’ the man inquired. Jesus replied, ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.’ ‘All these I have kept,’ the young man said. ‘What do I still lack?’ Jesus answered, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.” (Matthew 19:16-22)

It seems so easy, I suppose, to focus on and argue about petty things like instruments and communion cups and traditional vs. contemporary worship styles rather than actually take to heart Jesus’s radical commands. Those who see the early church as the poster child for every church to follow in every generation apparently forget (or ignore) the fact that despite its many virtuous and scriptural practices, it was inherently flawed because it was created by humans, made up of humans... or do we no longer believe that we are all by nature evil and sinful? I mean, maybe it’s just me, but it seems to make logical sense that the church should be modeled after the teachings and example of the only perfect person to ever have lived. And quite frankly, He had bigger fish to fry than whether or not jeans should be allowed at church. In fact, He never talked about church as an institution or a building. According to Jesus, the “church” is His body of followers, and “worship” involves getting your attitude right and serving others before yourself. 

Yet, the church of Christ is positively obsessed with the book of Acts. So let’s go there, shall we, and revisit exactly what the early church was all about:

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:42-47)

“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.” (Acts 4:32-37)

Okay, wait a second. Where’s the verse about passing plates of crackers and plastic cups of grape juice every Sunday morning at 11:17 am? And I missed where it said that they sat in pews in a church building. And darnit, there’s nothing about fellowship hall decor, what everyone wore, what time church started on Wednesday nights, or whether or not dancing was allowed. So I’m a little confused. Somehow, these are all the issues that have been extricated from these verses, but when I read the verses, my understanding is that the early church was centered around love, sharing, giving, and just enjoying being together and with God. It doesn’t seem very obligatory or guilt-ridden. 

Here’s a funny story for you. When my dad went back to preaching not long ago, one Sunday he decided to do communion a little differently. He had tables set up around the auditorium with the communion on it, and asked everyone to go to the tables with their families and friends, and to spend time telling each other how much they appreciated and loved each other as they prayed and took communion together. It was wonderful. It felt like what communion was meant to be- not passive, solemn, methodical, but instead celebratory, thankful, community-oriented, spontaneous. Well, a few days later, he received an anonymous (and, by default, cowardly) email. This person was infuriated that Dad had changed the way communion was “supposed” to be done. He tried to remind dad that this is NOT the way things were done in “Act.” Yes, “Act.” Not only could he not cite a single verse to back up what he was saying, he couldn’t even spell the name of the book of the Bible correctly. Wow. Seems like someone’s spent a lot of time in the Word instead of just parroting what he’s always heard and been taught. 

I find it interesting that the early Christians mostly met together in each other’s homes, sharing meals together. They did not snap a communion cracker in a multi-million dollar building; they “broke bread” (read: ate a meal together) in each other’s homes. So, technically, Mr. Anonymous was right: we DID’T do communion that Sunday morning the way it was done in Acts. We should’ve gotten in our cars and driven to our friends’ houses and eaten Sunday lunch together. THAT would’ve been kickin’ it old school, so to speak.

Another issue I take with the church of Christ is the age-old instruments debate. The basis for the banning of instruments from the churches of Christ is essentially this one verse in the New Testament:

“Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord.” (Ephesians 5:19)

Because there is no mention in the NT about the use of instruments in worship, but there IS mention of singing and making music “in your heart,” those who take the New Testament as a literal model for worship believe that using instruments must be wrong. Aside from what I’ve already discussed about the blueprint issue, let’s just talk about what God says about instruments in the REST of the Bible. 

“Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,

praise him with the harp and the lyre,

praise him with tambourine and dancing,

praise him with the strings and flute,

praise him with the clash of cymbals,

praise him with resounding cymbals.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.”

(Psalms 150:3-6)

“All the Levites who were musicians- Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and relatives- stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps, and lyres. They were accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets. The trumpets and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the Lord and sang: ‘He is good; his love endures forever.’ Then the temple of the Lord was filled with a cloud, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.” (2 Chronicles 5:12-14)

“And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders.” (Revelation 14:2-3)

So, if we truly believe that God never changes, that He was the same God in the Old Testament as in the New Testament, that He is the same God we will meet on judgment day, why exactly would there be just one moment in time when He is not pleased by the use of instruments to worship Him? After all, in the book of Esther, God is never mentioned by name- should we then assume that He just wasn’t around during that particular time? Reasoning by exclusion does not make a lot of sense to me. 

Furthermore, I think it’s positively ludicrous to sit back and judge those who use instruments in worship as being in the wrong, and to somehow devalue their worship experience without being able to see into their hearts and minds. Of course there is no way to know for sure, because in many ways God is and always will be a mystery, but somehow I have a hard time accepting the notion that as soon as someone picks up a guitar to sing a genuine, heartfelt song of praise and worship to Him, that He just stops listening and starts griping about these kids with their satanic rock music. For instance, when I see this video, I can’t help but wonder how anyone could say that this isn’t worship because a) it’s not in a church building on Sunday morning and b) there are instruments being used. How could God not be glorified by this?

In fact, some of my most powerful worship experiences have been very similar to this one. Just walking down the street, listening to Leeland or Derek Webb or David Crowder or whoever, singing to God, immersed in His glory, both because of and in spite of the “unholiness” of my surrounding and the “irreverence” of my behavior. 

Okay, at this rate, I’m never going to finish this blog, so let’s press onward.

Another issue I have with the churches of Christ is their profound tendency to pick and choose which sins are worse than others and judge everyone around them accordingly. Some of the biggies for them would be things like using instrumental music (despite the fact that NOWHERE in the Bible is this condemned as a sin), homosexuality, and..... dun dun dun..... alcohol, the beverage choice of Satan himself. I can’t even begin to thoroughly cover this issue, but there are several things I’d like to point out.

Several months ago, at our wedding, Jamie and I (not our parents, friends, or anyone else) decided that we wanted to serve beer and sangria at the reception for several reasons, the first and foremost being that more than anything, we wanted to have a celebration, rather than just a somber, depressing affair with mixed nuts and fruit punch. Throughout our journey as Christians, we have come to see that, believe it or not, drinking alcohol is NEVER condemned in the Bible. Drunkenness is. And I know this may be hard for some to comprehend, but it IS actually possible to drink a glass of wine or beer and not be drunk. And believe it or not, not everyone drinks to get drunk. I know it’s crazy, but some people, myself included, actually ENJOY the taste of an adult beverage now and again. I was so thankful that at the wedding, my dad stood up and gave a speech about how a marriage should be something to be joyful about, something worthy of a party. He talked about how Jesus himself performed a miracle involving turning water to wine at a wedding. When the guests had run out of wine, Jesus’s mom asks him to do something about it. So what does he do? Turns more than 120 gallons of water into fine wine to keep the party going. The host of the banquet “tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, ‘Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.’ This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.” (John 2:9-11)

How on earth do you argue with that? Don’t even try to say that the wine they drank back then wasn’t alcoholic- a pathetic argument if I’ve ever heard one. For one thing, if the wine wasn’t alcoholic, how did people even get drunk in the first place, causing Jesus to forbid drunkenness? Secondly, why else would hosts typically save the worst wine for last, if not because at that point, everyone had gotten tipsy enough to not care what the wine tasted like anymore?

And to think that Jesus revealed His glory in this, His first-ever miracle. 

But sadly, the issue of alcohol is a powerful one in the church of Christ. Several people in my extended family were very, very upset about it being at the wedding, and one member of my family did not even show up at the wedding because of it. It’s tragic that something so unimportant in the grand scheme of Christianity could cause that kind of division between family members. 

I wish I could respond to that by asking why, if you think having a drink is so monstrous a sin, would we be cut off and ignored by other Christians? After all, are we not called to reach out to sinners, in fact to hang out with them, be friends with them? Jesus chose to be around prostitutes and tax collectors and poor people and the “untouchables” of society for most of His life. How can we help others find salvation in Christ if we won’t even talk to them, let alone choose to spend the majority of our time with them, listening to them, loving them, being Jesus to them? Instead, we sit safely and happily in our comfortable church buildings and raise hell over minor issues with our Christian brothers and sisters. Ah, isn’t it so much easier to shield yourself from the rest of the world in a little bubble of self-righteousness than to be out on the streets in Jesus’s neighborhood, spending time with the lowliest of the low, the most despised and hated? I mean, of course Jesus could because He was perfect and all, but how can WE be expected to inconvenience ourselves to that degree?

Guess what. That’s EXACTLY what we’re expected to do.

What I find interesting about the obsession with a select few sins is that all the rest of them get totally ignored, even though Jesus gives them equal, if not more, attention in His teachings. 

Exhibit A: Materialism

This dirty little secret is often hush-hush at the most judgmental of churches. Don’t get me wrong. I find myself sucked in by it all the time. It’s hard to battle in our American culture of uber-wealth. But to be so outspoken about about abortion and gay marriage, it’s kind of ironic that nothing is said about our super-nice houses, our expensive (and extensive) wardrobes, our unwillingness to part with those little luxuries in life... and our disturbing stinginess with what we’ve been blessed with. It saddens and somewhat sickens me to be around other Christians who can only talk about the most superficial of things- home decorating, shopping, hair and makeup... etc. etc. etc. I suppose that, again, it’s so easy in our comfy houses and upscale neighborhoods to forget about our foremost mission on this earth, in this life: to care for the widows and orphans, those who can’t take care of themselves. I guess we can’t bring ourselves to truly believe that these people represent Jesus, and that He will confront us about how we treated them on Judgment Day, because the degree to which we take care of and show love to them in many ways reflects the true nature of our hearts, and how much we actually love Jesus and are thankful for His sacrifice. 

And again, this goes back to the inconsistent use of the early church as a model. The description of that church sounds pretty darn near socialistic to me. Everything was “distributed according to need.” Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not for the government stepping in and mandating socialism on our country. What I’m saying is that it should be the responsibility of the CHURCH to see that no need goes unmet, particularly when we have enough resources to take care of many of the needs throughout the world. I’m not saying that we should necessarily sell every single thing we have and take up the life of a wandering vagabond until Jesus comes back, but we can’t deny that our giving is a little on the pathetic side. So, if we REALLY want to take Acts literally, why aren’t more churches of Christ meeting more needs in their communities? I mean, no wonder they aren’t growing. They’re not reaching anyone. Heck, they’re not even attempting to reach anyone. I don’t think they really want to. They may not even think they’re supposed to. Wouldn’t it be amazing if, when you bring up the church of Christ in conversation, instead of people going “Isn’t that the weird church that won’t use instruments?” they said “Wow. I hear about them all the time. When I turn on the news, I always see them working in the worst of communities, giving themselves selflessly and lovingly to others.” 

“And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes they’ll know we are Christians by our love...”

There are other “acceptable sins” I could go on about (gossip, lust, “little white lies,” unforgiving hearts, idols, etc.) but I won’t, because the point that I want to make is that all this obsession over the hierarchy of sins leads us to believe that we can, in fact, earn our way to heaven (even if we won’t admit it to ourselves). Think about it: if we’ve decided which are the worst of the sins and which are “not that bad,” all we have to do is avoid the biggies and we’ll be good to go. How arrogant (and yes, sinful) it is to boast of your “goodness.” After all, you’ve never killed anyone or gotten a divorce. You haven’t committed adultery or been drunk. I mean, who are we trying to convince here? Because God himself said that all sin is the same. It’s all bad. And we all do it. Period. End of story. But I think a lot of people are afraid to think about this, because they’re afraid of grace. I know it sounds absurd, but I wholeheartedly believe it to be true. Believe it or not, for many Christians, it’s easier to keep a “to-do” and “not-to-do” list and try to follow it line by line than to live in the freedom of grace that God gave us when He sacrificed His son on the cross. It makes them feel so good, in fact, that they make up new rules and laws to follow, so they can check those off too. Grace is so uncertain. It involves a change in attitude and heart- not just behavior. And it means that we are forgiven for every sin. Unfortunately, many of us can’t comprehend how we could be forgiven over and over, unconditionally and with love, because we can’t forgive ourselves for what we do. How foreign, and yet how amazing, it is to try to understand that kind of love. But many of us react with fear to what we don’t understand. We want so badly to make the world black and white because then we can grasp it and control it. And really, it’s all about control. We hate the thought of losing control of ourselves, but that’s exactly what we have to do in order to truly follow Christ. So sadly, those of us who refuse to give up control must think of a new way to get to Christ, which inevitably involves legalism and ritualism. 

Ironically, legalism and ritualism are cornerstones of Catholicism- and isn’t that what we were trying to get away from when this all started? 

What it boils down to is that we’ve tried to tame something that cannot be tamed, especially not by us. I love the way C.S. Lewis portrays Aslan, the Christ-figure of the Chronicles of Narnia. Throughout the series, when people talk him, they usually say something to the effect of “He’s not a tame lion. He’s good, but he’s not safe.” 

I’m so thankful to worship a God who can’t be neatly gift-wrapped. He can be wild and unpredictable, but full of justice and mercy and goodness. He is compassionate, but He makes evil shiver and flee from Him. 

This is the God I want to see:

“I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the wine-press of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” (Revelation 19:11-16)

I guess what it comes down to is this: read the Bible, on your own, without the lens of your church, your family, everything you’ve ever known. Ask God to reveal His true self to you through His word. Question everything. Listen to what Jesus has to say. Try implementing what He says in the way you live your life. This is a challenge not only to you, but to me. 

The stakes are too high to be falling asleep in church every Sunday and singing the same songs without actually worshipping God at all. 

“In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, love.”