#45

I sat next to an elderly lady in the airport sometime ago. We began chit-chatting about travel plans and then she said "Can I tell you some thing?" I replied a well rehearsed yes, to keep the conversation moving along.

She then ask me to excuse her while she got on her soap box.

She said "This has been on my heart for sometime and I am glad you are letting me get this off my chest. I personally think churches are money making entities. I realized this when I saw my pastor driving a better car than anyone in the congregation. It makes sense that churches want people to lean on the Pastor's understanding rather than the church goer's own understanding of themselves and the world around them. God made me perfectly, my heart, my mind, my soul, my body. I have the same human faculties, if not more, than the Pastor. Constantly, Pastors say that the Devil is the enemy. The only enemy in life is yourself. God is everything therefore God is the metaphorical Devil, God is you. God is every you can think of and more. Life is all about perspective. How ever you choose to view your own experience or the experiences you happen to encounter is up to you. The fear of being away from God in our next life is what compels us to give money to the church. How can I or anyone be away from God in the next life when God is everything? Logically."

I laughed out loud. She had a valid argument.

I had a lesser soap box in response to her spill.

I said that, "The church is a place for people to gather to lift each other's spirits, that aspect might just be worth the cost of admission. Churches instruct their members to repent, which is a noble notion. But, not in the way most pastors mean it or the way most members receive it, I think this is where the misconception is. Repentance should only be for you to make peace with your past so that it does not haunt you. For if you are not at peace with yourself then you can not continue on your journey peacefully."