My Rant

Excuse me if I'm being rantish, but I need to rant. I was just on a rant board that I can't reply too because of my special internet at work.

I am sick of preachers preaching something other than the gospel
I am sick of denominations
I am sick of hearing the negative opinions americans have about "christians" because some well meaning person tried to preach truth into their lives without giving them any reason to believe. They might say "The reason for believing is so you won't go to hell". Yeah well why don't I just become a muslim, off myself for the cause, escape this whole frustration in a can we call life and spend eternity not in hell, but in virgin heaven? There has got to be something more than words. There has got to be something tangible. People need an encounter with God. There is nothing we can do to convince people, not these days. The only we we can show people the truth is by SHOWING them something. Don't get me wrong, I know faith matters. I know there comes a point when people have to make a choice to believe in a physically invisible God, but how much more willing to listen to someone talk about Him would they be if they had encountered Him? What do I mean by encounter? My headache suddenly went away, I was crippled and now I walk, my bills got paid this month and I don't know how, my long lost brother called me just to talk. There are a million billion ways God can encounter someone and it would be a million billion times more meaningful than being told they are going to hell if they don't shape up.

Another way for people to encounter God is through true love. The bible says that "God is love". That is way deeper than "God loves you" or "God is loving". It says He is love. That means every time you show somebody love, you are letting them experience God whether you meant to or not. Now imagine if somebody were shown love, and I don't mean your grandma that raised you and is the best in the whole world, I am talking about the unlovely. Your boss that is a jerk, that smelly guy on the corner who makes 10 times as much money as you do just by being lazy and asking for it, that driver that cut you off, in essence, the unlovely, just imagine if you showed them a courtesy beyond politeness. What if you consistently showed somebody love (this is not to say you won't have bad days, we all do) who is not used to receiving it? That is the sort of behavior that gets people asking questions like "whats up with you?" and that is when you get to tell them that its not your love at all, but the love already given to you by Jesus. Wouldn't that make more of an impact than a bumper sticker that the jerk tailgating you reads that says "Smile, God loves you"?

Please don't read this like I think I'm a know it all. I am talking to myself for most of this. I just wish that people, all people, could experience the love of Jesus rather than be told about it by A. well meaning people who have never experienced it themselves or B. by people doing to look good and that is all they care about.

I will stop writing now or else this could go on for days