Chapter 1.5: ...Let Me Explain

       So I wanted to take time out before I move on to the next chapter and explain some things. After I posted the first chapter, if you have not read it you should or this might not make sense, I had a few people tell me that I need to go into more detail on some things. I want to say first that I am new at this and plan to put out a chapter a week. Next I want to say that this blog/book is meant to do two things: 1) I want this to call attention to some things that we as believers do that makes the name of God look bad and 2) give some direction to the body as how the Bible tells us we should represent our Lord. With all of that I hope that this stirs some things up in you the reader and also in the body of believers to stand up and be the ambassadors of Christ we are called to be.
     

 Okay let me go in to some details I have been asked about so that people can see more clearly what I am saying and trying to bring across. So in my first chapter I brought up a few things that I have heard atheist say about God. Now I do not agree with nor do I like the things that have been said but my main reason for this blog/book is not to attack the atheist points at all. I am not on any level to debate the men who have said these things so I will not call them by name or give references to books they have written, I do not want to help their book sales at all. The things I brought up that I have heard said by these men are just to give you guys an idea of the kinds of things said about our God by the people of the world and again if what you read they have said upset you then good it should as a believer. The things I brought up that are being said should make us realize that we need to step up and be the true representatives of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Finally, as believers, we need to be well read in the word so that we can contend for the faith with the word and our lives.

       Next I was asked to give more details on some of the things that I said put a black mark on our history as the Church. One thing I mentioned was excommunication. I brought up Galileo and his discovery that the earth was not the center of the universe. If you know your history then you would know that the church back in those days did not like this idea, even though his discovery could be reproduced like any good scientific discovery can. At that time the church stood firm that the earth was the center of the universe and used scripture to support that idea. As we all know this is not true and a misuse of scripture, but non the less he was labeled a heretic. 
       Another point I made about people being excommunicated was a man being persecuted for trying to translate the Bible into English. This is not as well known a fact as Galileo but it is our history, no matter how bad it is. The guy I am talking about is William Tyndale. William Tyndale lived from 1490-1536, if you are keeping up with dates Tyndale was before Galileo, and he was one of the first people to translate the Bible into English. After asking the church if it was okay to do so they denied his request. He spent some time on the run from the Roman Catholic Church until he was invited to go to England. So, the Roman Catholic Church was not the only church involved in the excommunication of Tyndale. In reality the Church of England had him hanged and burned at the stake (overkill if you ask me), but he was not hanged just for the translation issue. Tyndale was also one of the first people that believed that the Bible was the final authority of a believer's life and not the Pope. He also held to the position, like Martin Luther, about grace and salvation given to all through Jesus not some thing that the church had a right to control.
       I know that is a lot to swallow but I think it is good for us as believers to know our history. The other things that I mentioned should be common knowledge, i.e. The Crusades and The Civil Rights Movement, but if not please go do some studying. The main point of me looking back on our history is so we do not find ourselves doing the same things but in different venues.
       I do not want this to just be a history lesson so let me touch on some things I plan to write about in coming chapters. We know that we have made mistakes and would love to say, "if I would have been there I would not have done that", but then we sound just like the Jews in the days of Jesus saying that we would not have killed the prophets (Matt 23:30). Let us not say that we would or would not have done something in a time we did not live, let us instead say and do things in this time that we live. We must do our best to be the Church that Christ died for. We must remember our call to holiness and to love one another, if we forget this we are already lost. We need to not just stand up for social justice but for the whole Gospel, even the idea of righteous judgement that we like to shy away from. It is time for us to unite admits our differences and show this world what it is to be a follower of Christ in action and in word. 
       I plan to start going into some subjects of what we can do to fix the state the church is in and the things we should stand for or against. I plan to bring to light scriptures that have been spoken to the body through out the ages that we continue to over look or just push away out of dislike. We must be lovers, doers, and preachers of the word of God. The world needs to see examples of Christ-like love in a world that is trying its hardest to skew the idea of love in general. Finally let me ask this, what have you done today, yesterday, or even recently to show the love of Christ to other believers or the lost? How can we do better? Are we living to make our Lord famous?