Sometimes my fellow Christians make me feel ashame. Some of the attitudes i have seen epressed about the pople and Katrina.
seebs said:Humans are what they are. Pray for us all.
tattedsaint said:well i seperate the idea that Chrisitans are the standard makers. we're a bunch of yahoos in that, and failures in that, that i see no relability to believe that Christians set the standard. Jesus set it, so when i have an issue with a believer, it's like having an issue with a human being, not some higher powered human being. thus any shame is long gone now. things may sadden me that people believe in, but hey that's life. so be it.
Entrench said:Yet we claim to be in the name of Christ...doesn't this seem wrong to anyone else? That we represent Christ, yet we can be so cruel? Nonbelievers base their decision on what they see of this so called "all encompassing love" from Christians...Christians translates to "little Christ" or "Christ-like". No we are not the standard setters, but i think we could better in trying to live by the standard.
Entrenched in Christ,
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tattedsaint said:the church is the representation of Christ. hence the body....
that's why i don't get the idea that we are representatives. i see the church as the representation.
your welcome heron. glad it was good for you because i get tired of things only being good for meheron said:That was so refreshing, tattedsaint. Thank you for your humanity.
It seems the passage about being ambassadors was to give us the confidence that God wanted us to move out to for him, as a messenger. If you look below, the mail we carry is about reconciliation. Although we should live our lives showing ultimate respect for our King, we need to be careful about covering up our flaws and potential for error. Self-righteousness does not convince anyone that God wants to reconcile.
2 Corinthians 5:19-21
...That God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
heron said:Good thing God knows how fussy we can be, and doesn't get fed up with us.
freewilly said:Who is the church though, is the church an entity in and of itself? I see the church as the roof and we are the pillars, the columns that hold it up. It is the sum of its' parts. If a column is weak then the structure will begin to fail.
I agree that we will never be perfect in our representation of Christ but we should at least bear some resemblance.
As the song by Casting Crowns goes.....tattedsaint said:to me?
the church is the representation of Christ. hence the body. we as individuals aren't the representation. scriptures clearly tell us that we will never reach the mark correct? so how can an imperfect being be representing a perfect being? that's a contradiction. the Bible does say that faith justifys us to God correct? well still even then, people still our struggles. so i don't want defy the name of Christ to give me a sense of mental thoughts that i'm strong, because our strengths will always fail at some point. it's just reality.
i don't represent the Christ. i'm not worth that job title and i don't believe anyone is worth that title. but what i do feel called is to do the Great Commission of Christ. to make disciples the best i can. what i do feel my job is, to present the Gospel for people, to hopefully they see light, life and love in that. then they can meet Christ themselves, or together we'll meet Him. they will not see me being self-righteous anymore. they will see my humility, my weaknesses. they will see, another human being just as they are.
plus, i don't know if i buy into the idea of playing someone else's shoes. all i can do is be me, the human being that i am, striving to always be the best i can be, and live holy in my convictions, show Jesus the best i can, and just live.
that's why i don't get the idea that we are representatives. i see the church as the representation. that makes more Biblical sense to me even. and even with that, sometimes we do see bad representation, but we can always find good representation. and that's what i think we need to do our best to be a part of, instead of playing someone else's shoes God Bless you! <><