My Family

I love the Church. I'm just going to throw it out there because so many things that I have been reading recently by people that I know and people that are famous for their writings seem to put a very negative spin on the church. I know that the church ( and I mean this as the whole body of believers, not just the ones who agree with me and what I believe) has its downfalls. But, I get tired of reading things like- " the church doesn't care anymore" " no one seems to be real in the church anymore" " the church is dead" and yada yada yada. I don't feel like these comments are edifying anyone. Maybe the purpose of these writings that I have been reading is re-invigorate the church and encourage the church to get back in the world. If I wanted to excite and encourage a body of believers, I don't think constantly insulting them and "guilting" them is the best way of accomplishing this goal. In fact, I think it could actually do the contrary.
I don't believe that true worship is done only in the right settings, at the right time, with the right people, and in the right pew. In fact, I think a worship service is only a small fraction of what worship really is. However, I do think that is worship.
Many times, I think these anti-church remarks sounds extremely self-righteous.
I think I get so frustrated with these kinds of remarks because they are hurtful remarks about my family. No, I don't mean my Mom and Dad, I mean my brothers and sisters in Christ. As some of you know, I am a very protective brother, and that means with all of my family. I don't like it when people say critical things about my family.
I do get irritated with church people, do not get my wrong. There are many times when I want to rip my hair out because some people just don't get that the whole world is in need of a Savior, the Savior, and if we aren't going to tell them about Him, who will. There are times when I cannot believe that people are fighting over the hour spent in a church building, when thousands upon millions of people go hungry every night. I don't understand why we expect the government to take care of the widowed and orphaned, when we, the hands and feet of Christ are called to do this. However, I do not believe that the way to correct this is by demeaning the Church at every opportunity. We are a family, the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, and we are to edify one another.
Romans 14:19Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual.

I could have just rambled, and this probably made no sense what so ever, but this has just been bugging me recently, so I thought I should blog it.