Spoonfed Religion

More from Francis Chan to challenge me to get to the next step in my faith -- I'm reading his book Forgotten God and even though I've just read through the Introduction and the first chapter of the book, he's already given me some food for thought:

He describes an encounter he has with a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses who show up at his door one day. He basically challenges them by quoting out a verse in the BIble that counters what they believe -- they are shocked because they have never come across that verse in the Bible before. He then suggests that maybe they ought to read through the Bible, cover to cover, to see what truths come out rather than simply believing whatever it is that the church they attend tells them. He feels a bit smug for having challenged their faith, but then decided that maybe he was a bit too hard on them. After all, how often do we read our own Bibles and make an effort to understand the Word cover to cover?

Oh... that hit home for me. There is a growing sense in me that the (North) American church is lacking something. What it is, I am not entirely sure. But as I was growing up in the church, I felt that to sin was THE WORST THING POSSIBLE -- unmentionable. I mean, yes, i get that we all sin. I can openly confess that i've said a lie here and there. I can openly confess that I called my sister stupid once or twice. But the type of sin that is never talked about, is considered shameful, or causes people to judge you, this type of sin, i grew up thinking that you had to hide these because NO ONE (at least no Christian) committed them. And if you shared this type of sin with people, even people in the church, they would judge you for it. They would look at you a different way. They would no longer see you as a "good girl" or even as a girl forgiven, loved and accepted by God but rather as "THAT girl". Isn't there something wrong with this? What is it about my church upbringing that made me feel unaccepted when I felt broken as a result of my wrong choices?

When I hear my parents or other mentor in the church, tell me that being a good girls means that God will have favor on me by granting me a loving husband, a successful career, a nice home, a decent car and good children, I feel that something about this is very very wrong. Where in the Bible is this supported? I don't believe that God makes these promises at all. He says that He has a plan for my life, to prosper and not to harm me, for hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11) but what about that suggests that the plan for my life means have a comfortable, suffering-free, problem-free life?

Recently, I have been contemplating what society teaches us as kids. Santa Claus teaches that if you are nice, you'll get good gifts. And if you are naughty, you get a piece of coal. I wonder if this is partially why this idea of being good results in being rewarded is so engrained. And then as a result, is that why we ponder over the question, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" I used to rack my brain with this question but I'm starting to think, why wouldn't bad things happen to good people? Why is it that we can accept and be thankful for the good things but then we cannot accept and be thankful for the bad things that happen in our lives? Doesn't it sound a little bit spoiled -- like little children? Do we really have to have everything work out for good in our lives in order for us to be thankful and happy? Doesn't the Bible teach us to "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds" (James 1:2)? It doesn't mention anything about whether the trials come to good people or bad people -- it happens to ALL people.

One of my resolutions for 2010 is to read the Bible cover to cover and to make the effort to understand the bigger picture of the entire Bible -- not just pulling out verses that cater to my situation or fit what I want to believe. I've been working through this for a couple of years already :S I'm only at Isaiah. But I want to seriously persevere through this because I'm not content with what the church teaches me on Sundays during sermons. Not to say that the Pastor is not a good one, but that I don't believe that it is nearly enough. Reading and studying the Word should happen on a daily basis, not just on Sundays.