Are You Offended?

Everybody is getting offended these days!

If I don't share someone's interpretation of the Bible, most of the time I have offended them by admitting so... If I tell them that I cannot agree with what their pastor says, they get offended... If I say that I believe the Bible is a religious text with hints of history, and not a historical text with strong overtones of religion, well, yeah... They get offended.

You know what? As a human, you have the right to be offended. You are entitled to your feelings...

... But you know what else? Feelings are one of the leading causes of spiritual blindness. True story.

Think about it... When people allow their emotions to take over, they act on them with less thought than when they keep their feelings in check. The stronger the emotion, the weaker the impulse to curb the emotion.

When someone is violent in eros (lustful, emotional love) then they are more apt to give in to lustful urges. When someone is scared, they are less likely to think rationally about the reason they are scared and more likely to lash out irrationally. The more angry someone is, the harder it gets for them to control their desire for retribution...

...When someone allows offense to take over, they close their ears. They allow their pride to swell, and they shut down in regards to their offense until their pride is satisfied...

As a person, you are definitely entitled to your right of being offended... As a Christian, it is probably in your better interest to lay down that right....

Our adversaries, when they do come against find their greatest ally to be ourselves, especially when we allow our pride to take over. When we feel hurt, belittled, humiliated, or threatened, many times our emotions rise up as a defense, but our defense can very well be a downfall when we allow it to blind us.

If you don't believe me, just look at the media these days. You cannot speak the truth, because you might offend someone. When someone gets offended, you don't hear the end of it, until somebody else gets offended by something totally different. When someone's ideas are called into question, sides are so immediately taken, that neither side ever really understands why the other side is even upset, thus both sides each demand the other side stand down and admit they are the worse kind of wrong...

Political Correctness has become the best means of distraction from real issues for those who have something to hide... Many people who have been hurt, spurned, belittled, and persecuted by Christians hide behind PC and use it as a defense against further attack.

Pride in personal interpretation has been a particular undoing of the reputation of the Christian Church... Each denomination, each pastor/priest, and each individual feels that they have a special insight as to what particular passages in the Bible mean, and to challenge their ideas about them normally becomes an offense at some point after a challenge has been issued....

So, who is right to be offended in this war of who is right, and who is wrong? Well, if a Christian is challenging someone that is not Christian, I would say they are doing a very unChristian act by allowing their right to pride stand in the way of ministering to a non-Christian.

At the same time, when 2 Christians are in disagreement, sometimes it is better to agree to disagree, continue in love, and let the Holy Spirit do Its work. Offense in the ranks of Christendom has done more damage, severed more congregations, damaged more reputations, and cause more regression from the faith than anything else put together.

It is better to shut up and listen to another person's ideas and thoughts, before a Christian says anything to refute... If you feel a person is wrong in what they say or do, just because you tell them so does not mean they will suddenly agree with you.  If you feel someone is wrong, talking will not change a persons actions... Living and abiding in the Spirit is the only thing you can do to be a true witness for them. If they are meant to feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit in regards to your concern, I think that God is perfectly capable in sending that conviction....

On the plus side, if you have effectively proven your witness by reaffirming your relationship through your actions, and not words, then if it is meant for you to be the voice of the Holy Spirit, the conviction of the Holy Spirit upon that person will eventually bring that person to ask you for your belief, when the Spirit has done Its work and prepared them sufficiently to open their ears to listen to you.

Until then, it is your duty as a Christian to accept individuals as they are, minister to them (not preach at them), and to love them unconditionally as Christ would do. You should follow the example of Christ, and allow those who need your advice to come to you of their own free will....

... And when you are called to stand up and be a voice, be sure that it is truly a calling of the Holy Spirit, and not the call of your pride of your opinion in what you believe the Word says... Because really, it has been demonstrated that the Word is reveled to us on a personal level, and we do not all get the same message from the same passages, at the same time... Allow that other people may have more understanding in some areas where the Spirit has given them a special understanding, and have faith in the understanding that the Spirit has revealed to you...

... And finally... I would call upon you to humility in regards to what you have been convicted in, and what is just your honest opinion... Many Christians have never had the conviction of the Holy Spirit in regards to some matter that the Church takes up battle with, but they would force the views they learn or the opinions they have formed upon people who the Spirit is truly dealing with in such matters...

Whether the Church's views as a whole are right or wrong, or whether the strong opinions of the individual is right or wrong, it doesn't matter in regards to a person who is being handled by the Spirit...

...But many times, in hearing the arguments by those who are not meant to argue, the one being dealt with becomes deafened by the roar of the crowd who is condemning them instead of loving them... and so their emotions take over and they rail against the Spirit that is trying to lead them in the direction they are meant to go.

... And as I wrap up this post, I want to challenge anyone who reads it to keep it in mind for myself included in the future... Because the goal of this blog is to challenge the long held traditions that I feel need to be reexamined.... and some of what I say is going to be offensive to allot of people... But I really feel convicted to challenge people, and so it's what I am going to do...