(Crisis) in the Church...how should we respond??

Sometimes i wonder, what would be a Christian response, patience or protest (not the violent one that is).

A reminder that this is a post criticizing the practices of MY CHURCH on finances and NOT a UNIVERSAL CRITICISM of the CHURCH as a whole.

I think everywhere (or maybe it is JUST in Miri) issues arise almost always on finances. And those who almost always get stuck in the middle are the pastors and full-time workers. This has been going on for ages, and i am surprised that the present Church still struggles with this issue although she is now rooted in the city. The church never seems to learn.

We say we have a God who created the world and a God who is Rich, and he can provide for our needs. This is true and i believe this. But sometime we just talk only and do not think how we are to apply all this.

My point is this, my church has the finances and all that, i commend all those in the church who faithfully tithe and give their offerings, but when all the money is given to the Church, the money gets stuck and it is so damn hard to use even just a little money for the ministry because those who take care of the finances seem to have the bigger authority then the Pastors.

To me, pastors are called to do their specific work for God not to suffer in the hands of their own BROTHERS!!! This is a disgrace! If one should suffer it should be in the hands of hardened fundamentalists opposed to Christianity.

Let me ask, are pastors exempted from living a good life? One that has financial freedom. But there are some people who think that the pastor should not live a good life, but the pastor should learn about depending on God. Come on. Do you think God will hand down money with his own hands or make money rain down? This is complete heresy!

Wouldn't it be more realistic that those who believe in Jesus have enough sense to discern the needs of those called by God to ministry. This was what John in his epistle wrote about, if we see our brothers and sisters in need, we do something about it. Not pray for them or tell them God be with you, or have faith! This is utterly stupid.

Mind my words! Sorry, but i am just disgusted at the practices of the leaders in the church. Has the church (its establishment) lost it's senses being an alternative community? Even the secular world does better to care for their workers, but the church who says that Jesus is the center of their lives acts more like people who do not know God.

Wake up!!!! Unless we do something about this, i don't have to be a prophet to say this but the church will eventually die, that present church will die, and new church will rise up that do not work the same way as the old wineskin.

Thinking of the Future and other stuff in the Middle

Sometimes the future is scary to think about. It can be something like a constant source of stress if we keep on 'living in the future' (not literally that is). But although that is the case we do have to think about the future (sometimes that sucks). Thinking about the future has something to do with growing up and being mature.

Life gets complicated when we grow up, we will tend to notice things that we never thought about. Stuff like, doing savings, having a job, knowing how to live in the real world, buying a house, owning a vehicle, looking for a wife, starting a family. Growing up, life gets complicated and hard.

To tell you the truth it's something that we all struggle with, as young adults whether we choose to think about it now or later. Eventually we will have to face the fact of life that our dependency on those we call mom and dad will fade so we grow wings and become independent. Sometime i wish that being a follower of Jesus has it's pros when you go through life, like you don't have to worry about all the stuff i was talking about earlier.

But the thing is, we are no different from other people on this earth in the scope of making decisions and living life. We still have to think about savings, insurance, family, career, all the normal stuff. I mean lets not loose focus. We are not exempted from the struggles of this world.

So what i would advice (haha) is that we have to take life seriously. We have to live it to the best that we can. We have to know stuff in this world. We cannot be escaping into our own 'heaven' and think that our engagement in the world is of no use at all. It does matter, life matters, our decisions matter, our family matter, our life on earth matter and our life in God matters all the more. Lets be realistic and live in this world as best as we can.

Transitioning...

Transitions a never ending process.

Presenting a relevant message is a never ending toil. The whole thing about communicating the gospel for the present always and will always make us think in terms of progress. To me thats the challenge.

We can never sit on the plain of satisfaction because the culture and society around us are constantly changing. Constantly morphing into something very different.

The challenge is relevance, the challenge is interpretation, the challenge is discernment, the challenge is sensitivity, the challenge is to hear Jesus and follow his way.

HOpefull...woefull...confusing...jitted...trusting...

Sometimes when we hear people talk about their experiences in God, how God changed their lives they make it like nothing bad can happen. Its like consumerism or ads in the Tv. Products that off all good things and nothing bad. But is that really what a life in God entails???

First, God is unseen. We cant see him. Even if i ask you to draw how God looks like would you be able to give just form of how he looks like. Have we seen him??? No we havent.

Second, we almost dont feel him. Sure there are times of feeling but there are more times of dryness. in fact times of dryness outnumbers those feeling moments.

Third, we cant even hear him speak audibly. We say we read his word but have we ever heard him???

There are lots more, raging from, why he doesn't answer our prayers, to why he didn't intervine when he should.

But what make me say 'i believe. help my unbelief' experience, i think Jesus. Sure he had like powers that undo evil, he too succumbed to pain when it went his way. It is somewhat haunting to read when Jesus says "God why have thou forsaken me"...but all the more reassuring that faith struggles as well but still believes.

Must Faith Be sure...a conversation on reading the bible

Sometimes i feel uncomfortable with faith always being 'sure without a doubt'. When i think about it at time i just fell a bit uneasy. Not that i am loosing my faith, but, sometimes we as human beings have our moments when we doubt...

People always make it like these people in the bible are completely sure of what they hear from God, or completely at ease with all God tells them to do. Sure we find not many dramatic stories where the characters in the bible struggle with what God tell them to do. To me this element is somehow 'missing'. Not that it is missing because we might loose faith in God...i think it is missing because God wants us to live in their reality. I think that God wants us more to experience the in between of those characters. In a way the bible was written that we engage and feel through them. Too many times we are mechanical when we read the 'text' and we make it dry and unexciting. That's why i think that we are to engage the stories with our human emotions as well. Let our feelings, our humanness be exposed in between the lines of the narrative.