Dilemma Explained

Read this first as it is the post I am referring to in this post.

There is so much to do with this, and I really like the ideas some of you have floated.

What we have here is a dilemma between two good things, in fact, two very natural body processes.

1. Potty.
2. Sexual attraction.

Both are important, and I would say necessary for healthy linving and normal body functioning. The problem was not my attraction to girls, wanting to get noticed by girls, or even playing a video game. The problem did not come because my body produces waste. The problem came in priorities.

I was overly focussed on one thing to the neglect of another. I was all hot and bothered by these girls, so I went to ridiculous means to catch their attention. In fact, from the outside (anyone outside my mind and outside my psychosis), what I was doing didn't even make any sense. I was so fixated on getting their attention that I fell into a delusion and ended up self-destructing.

Is this not like the denominations of the Christian church? Think about it, we get so fixated on the differences between groups and which one is right that we become psychotic about them . Assemblies of God go nuts over speaking in tongues. Baptists demand baptism, not for salvation or any real spiritual benefit, but rather as a hoop to hop through to join their ranks. Churches of Christ have this bizarre instrument phobia. I could go on and on.

It is as if we all are vying to be noticed as "right," "true," or "the one church." The crazy theological contortions we do and impose upon others in order to acheive "The One True Church" status is as insane as playing Donkey Kong Jr. to impress the girls, especially when you really gotta go.

Certainly there is nothing wrong with wanting to be right and pure in the eyes of God just like there is nothing wrong with a 13 year old boy wanting to get some female attention, but that cannot be the priority above all other natural body functions.

When churches choose to program their entire functioning to knowledge and perpetuating our own "rightness," we neglect the poor, forget to give grace, become exclusive and on and on. We become so self-absorbed that we forget to release. All the while, the waste builds up and will not be denied and expression of some kind. All of our religious posturing puts us in position to spiritually pee all over ourselves.

And people notice. My fellowship, the churches of Christ, have humiliated themselves before the world with their ridiculous mandates. Although they have served many in good ways, they have also repulsed many people not only to the church of Christ, which frankly is not that big a deal, but against God, which is horrible.

The bad news is that our jeans are sopped full of our own waste. The good news is that everything can be washed. We can become clean again. We can be humbled and wiser for the mistakes we have made.