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I'm sure you've seen the news or read the papers--I'm sure you heard about the recent shooting at Colorado Springs' New Life Church. A young man, Matthew Murray, walked into the church with multiple guns and 1,000 rounds of ammunition and took the lives of four church members before being injured by a church security guard. Moments after his injury, he then took his own life.
Only hours before his moment in the spotlight, it was posted online, "I'm going out to make a stand for the weak and the defenseless this is for all those young people still caught in the Nightmare of Christianity for all those people who've been abused and mistreated and taken advantage of by this evil sick religion. Christian America, this is YOUR Columbine."
Murray had been raised in a good home. His dad was a doctor, his mother home schooled him. But Murray was different. He didn't fill the molds that were placed before him. He tried a form of Christianity--but it just wasn't for him. So he ventured to the "darker" side of spirituality, he associated with occults but only found rejection. He was searching for a place to fit, searching for an answer to his questions. He was merely seeking a solution to his problem.
This problem, my friends, is not a new problem.
I recall, written somewhere, a story much the same. There was a religious group who, basically, was the authority of the area in which they lived. They had rule upon rule and statute upon statute. They lived pious lives, quickly shunning those who did not measure up to their standards.
Then this random man came along who claimed to be religious as well--the problem was that he didn't fit into any of the molds that the authority had set as standards. He didn't fast, he "worked" on the Sabbath, he totally shifted every religious thought that was in place up until that time. The authorities despised him, they hated him, they plotted to kill him--and they did.
But his revolution didn't die--his form of Christianity (the original form) caught on. He brought a new type of religion to sinners and the publicans. He brought religion to those who didn't fit into the religious mold. It went beyond rules and regulations--it was based on love and relationship, relationship with God.
He was asking his followers to do away with traditional religion. He was asking them to die to their flesh and to live in the Spirit. To not worry about the religious laws that bound the church of the past, but to embrace a daily relationship--a walk with God. He wasn't handing out molds for sinners to contort themselves into, he was asking them to create their own relationship.
Soon after he left, one of his followers (who used to be a murderer and a Christian killer) wrote some profound words. In his letter to the church in Rome, he said, "Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." (Romans 8:12-14)
For too long Christianity has been ruled by statutes and laws. For too long Christianity has been a mold that, quite frankly, many have a hard time fitting. What was once a relationship with the Almighty has been subtly and slowly replaced with an association with a religious group.
I agree with Murray's words (not his tactic--or even his message, just his words): "I'm going out to make a stand for the weak and the defenseless, this is for all those young people still caught in the Nightmare of Christianity. Christian America, this is YOUR Columbine."
Only hours before his moment in the spotlight, it was posted online, "I'm going out to make a stand for the weak and the defenseless this is for all those young people still caught in the Nightmare of Christianity for all those people who've been abused and mistreated and taken advantage of by this evil sick religion. Christian America, this is YOUR Columbine."
Murray had been raised in a good home. His dad was a doctor, his mother home schooled him. But Murray was different. He didn't fill the molds that were placed before him. He tried a form of Christianity--but it just wasn't for him. So he ventured to the "darker" side of spirituality, he associated with occults but only found rejection. He was searching for a place to fit, searching for an answer to his questions. He was merely seeking a solution to his problem.
This problem, my friends, is not a new problem.
I recall, written somewhere, a story much the same. There was a religious group who, basically, was the authority of the area in which they lived. They had rule upon rule and statute upon statute. They lived pious lives, quickly shunning those who did not measure up to their standards.
Then this random man came along who claimed to be religious as well--the problem was that he didn't fit into any of the molds that the authority had set as standards. He didn't fast, he "worked" on the Sabbath, he totally shifted every religious thought that was in place up until that time. The authorities despised him, they hated him, they plotted to kill him--and they did.
But his revolution didn't die--his form of Christianity (the original form) caught on. He brought a new type of religion to sinners and the publicans. He brought religion to those who didn't fit into the religious mold. It went beyond rules and regulations--it was based on love and relationship, relationship with God.
He was asking his followers to do away with traditional religion. He was asking them to die to their flesh and to live in the Spirit. To not worry about the religious laws that bound the church of the past, but to embrace a daily relationship--a walk with God. He wasn't handing out molds for sinners to contort themselves into, he was asking them to create their own relationship.
Soon after he left, one of his followers (who used to be a murderer and a Christian killer) wrote some profound words. In his letter to the church in Rome, he said, "Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." (Romans 8:12-14)
For too long Christianity has been ruled by statutes and laws. For too long Christianity has been a mold that, quite frankly, many have a hard time fitting. What was once a relationship with the Almighty has been subtly and slowly replaced with an association with a religious group.
I agree with Murray's words (not his tactic--or even his message, just his words): "I'm going out to make a stand for the weak and the defenseless, this is for all those young people still caught in the Nightmare of Christianity. Christian America, this is YOUR Columbine."
Too many times, for too many people, Christianity becomes a nightmare. It becomes an experience full of rules that are easily broken, condemnation that is hard to shake and failures that are difficult to overcome.
I propose a solution--one that will require sacrifice (not nearly as drastic, inhumane or wrong as Murray's, but sacrifice nonetheless). This sacrifice is double-sided.
First, I propose a personal Columbine to traditional Religiosity. We should make it our purpose to shed the chains that bind us to failing rules and human regulations. We should turn our focus to developing and cultivating an intimate relationship with God.
Secondly, I propose a personal Columbine to our fleshly desires. If we do not place our flesh under subjection to the Spirit, we will never experience the satisfaction that a REAL relationship with God can bring. We, instead, will continually deal with personal failures and feelings of inadequacy.
Murray saw a problem--he saw young people trapped in a religion that they just couldn't succeed in; he saw young people failing and losing hope. He solved that problem by killing himself and four others.
Jesus saw a problem--he saw young people trapped in a religion that they just couldn't succeed in; he saw young people failing and losing hope. He solved that problem by bringing life to everyone that accepts it.
Go ahead, have a personal Columbine, Christian America. Die to yourself, and die to Religiosity staunched in tradition. Get a real relationship with God.
Go ahead, try it.
4 comments:
Excellent post. Very thoughtful. On a side note, I thought it said Christianity's Concubine! I just you would enjoy that.
maybe someday I'll post something along those lines...maybe someday...
In.cred.ible. Holy goosebumps for days... really.
Hey man, thanks for the comment. I didn't know people still found/read this thing...except me. I still go back to this post on occasion and it still gets me everytime.
You should check out what's going on over at hermeneuticaldan.blogspot.com--there may be a slight correlation between the lack of posts here and the influx of posts there...just saying...
Thanks for the read and the encouraging comment. I write so that He might change lives. And it's comments like yours that make me think that maybe, just maybe, He might be using this worthless vessel.
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