About the Controversy in the Church - H

That's me riding away from all the haters I'm going to get after I publish this. 😂 Jk, that's @tezzamb on Instagram. You should check her out, she posts really pretty pictures! 😊

Prepare yourselves, ladies and gentlemen, because you're about to hear all the latest gossip and controversy that I have to offer. 😏

Lol jk 😂 I'm not writing this to stir up drama or anything. I just want to speak honestly and openly about a recent controversy that I've noticed within the church. For the purposes of this blog post, I will call it the INWARD church versus the OUTWARD church.

Basically, there are two opposing perspectives. One one side, you have the INWARD church: people who have been in church for many many years, probably up there in age, probably more conservative. And on the other side you have the OUTWARD church: people who are either young and/or new to the faith. (Disclaimer: this is in no way a perfect description, but I think you understand what I mean.)

Okay, let me explain what I mean by Outward vs. Inward. I've noticed that the Outward church is more focused on the Great Commission; i.e. going unto all the earth to preach the gospel to all nations. They're looking outward, outside the church, to those who are lost. On the other hand, there's the Inward church, who is more focused on personal accountability. They're looking inward, inside the church, to the constant struggle between the flesh and the spirit.

Hopefully I'm explaining this well. Personally, I've seen what it's like from both sides of the coin. For the duration of my childhood I grew up in a church where the majority of the sermons were preached on personal accountability, sin, and (as some people call it) fire and brimstone. But recently I've been exposed to churches whose focus is more aimed toward reaching people who don't know God.

At times I feel like I'm caught in the middle of this fight. On one side, there are people complaining to me about how more and more churches nowadays are becoming "apathetic" to sin, are "ignoring" it in favor of "playing missionary." On the other side, I've spoken with people who rail against "fire and brimstone" churches that "only talk about hell and sin and temptation." (I'm not quoting anybody directly btw, I'm just putting quotation marks to get my point across. 😂)

All right, now that I've officially made everybody uncomfortable, let me tell you what I think about all this. I think they're both right . . . and they're both wrong.

Churches shouldn't just be about personal accountability. Neither should it just be about the Great Commission. It should be about both. If you know me at all, you know that I am a firm believer in balance; specifically, the fact that life is all about balance. And I believe that we need to balance out some things here.

Okay, I think it's high time I threw some Bible verses into this mess. 😇 James 2:14-26 says, "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder. You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead."

WOW that's a lot of words haha! Let's break it down: you can have faith that God exists, that the Bible is true, that Jesus rose again--but it doesn't mean anything if it doesn't affect your life! All this conflict about what the goal of our churches should be, and we've missed the entire point!

I have an example to illustrate. 😁 First, a question: how do you know he loves you? By "he" I mean your boyfriend/husband/significant other. How do you know he loves you? Sit down, children, and let me tell you a story.

I was talking with a guy ("talking") and in our private conversations, he was never shy about his feelings. He would repeatedly tell me he loved me (as well as many very poetic descriptions as to the depth of his love😅), which wooed me at first. What can I say? He was charming. 🙂 But he never posted about me on social media, never bought me flowers, and never ever talked about a future with me. 💭 And one time I privately asked his best friend if he ever talked about me. The response? "He says you're a nice girl, and pretty." Hmmm . . . he said he loved me, but he never backed up his words with action.

A few months after that ended, I started talking to another guy. This guy was also very open with his feelings. He would tell me he loved me, and tell me how much. But he does post about me on social media. He does buy me things, and he talks about a future with me ad nauseum. I.e., a lot. 😂 And one time when I privately asked his best friend if he ever talked about me--the answer? An entire paragraph of all the things he says about me. 😂 And another one of his best friends said, "He is always talking about you. I'm so sick of Hannah Hannah Hannah. You're my friend but literally it's ALL DAY." 😂 My point is: words mean nothing without action to prove their worth.

Outward church, the Great Commission truly is one of Jesus's greatest commandments, and I'm 100% in favor of going into all the earth to preach the gospel. But if I'm being honest . . . I feel as though sometimes you choose to ignore the sin in your own life. Instead you focus on trying to lead others to God, but how can you lead others to the light when you're trying to smother it in your own life? God has shown me this flaw in myself recently--when I tried to help others, I wasn't able to be a good witness until I acknowledged and addressed the sin in my own life. Please don't think I'm pointing fingers; I'm just telling the truth as I know it from personal experience.

Inward church, it is true that we all sin, that there is a war between the flesh and the spirit, and that God wants to help us recognize the sin in our life and to turn from it. And it's true that you can be a light to others simply by living in the world, not of the world. But . . . I went to a church that, for many years, never had any sort of missionary outreach program. All the events were inward-based, hosted by church members, and the most applicable to Christians. It was like a little Christian bubble. And that's not what God wants. If you look at Jesus' life and ministry, He didn't spend much time with the Pharisees; He went to the outcasts, the pariahs, and the rejects. He met the lost people where they were, instead of waiting for them to come to Him.

Wow, that got really deep. 😅 I hope that made sense to somebody! Thanks for listening, and I'm sorry if I offended anyone. I swear I didn't mean any offense. 💛

Much love and God bless,
Hannah xoxo 💘