I’m a Vegetarian Glenn Harrell 3-17
I recently heard a comedian say,
“Hello everyone, I’m a vegetarian. Not a strict one though.
I also eat beef and pork.”
This humorous slant of contradiction is funny because of the obvious duplicity. May I take the absurdity further as an analogy?
In this respect, everyone is a vegetarian. And in today’s mumbo-jumbo world, we must, by law, be tolerant, if not congratulatory, to all who are “Vegans”. An occasional parade would be nice too! Oh, yes, and Vegans (with the media) get to define what Vegans are and do, not Webster in his antiquity, or the food industry giants, or any other such reality. Vegans, caught in the crossfire of truth and emotionally charged confusion, will not stop until those who call their bluff are labeled for being the “Vego-phobic haters” that they are. As sad as that might be, now we have,
“Hello everyone, I’m a Christian. Not a strict one though.
I also follow atheism, pluralism, a touch of 5 other isms’, Oprah, my horoscope, tree whisperers, and my Yoga instructor. Truth be told, I am really more of a spiritualist and I do not care for the local church.”
In the old days, we took pictures with cameras that used film. A photographer had to have crazy-good skills to be called a “photographer”. Then off to the dark room to develop the film. As the new and contemporary church of America evolves to newest and greatly-improved, let me use an old and antiquated analogy. We are “over exposed and underdeveloped”. Over exposed to the world and it’s materialistic bent. Underdeveloped in our theology and doctrinal purity. We are as babies crawling over into the mud pies with regular visits to the under-the-sink chemicals and poisons.
IS THERE HOPE FOR THE CHURCH THAT SHE WILL BE STRONG AND TRUE?
“God’s Spirit clearly says that in the last days many people will turn from their faith. They will be fooled by evil spirits and by teachings that come from demons. They will also be fooled by the false claims of liars whose consciences have lost all feeling.” I Timothy 4:1-2
I don’t know. It seems that we as the church are trying harder to tolerate and justify evil than to obey all the good that is Christ and His teachings. We seem to care more about being accepted by this world than disciplined, directed and corrected by God. We are seemingly more than willing to join secular society in making Jesus into a happy, loving, kind but duplicitous, VEGAN prophet who meant only half of what He said in the bible and said only half of what He meant.
When people claiming to be Christian, yet proudly gay, are launched into pulpits and headquarters of our churches and denominations, this is an evil sign. While such individuals, denominations and churches are dying their commensurate spiritual and physical deaths, we must be sorrowful and pray for the Bride of Christ to come to her senses in repentance. When the uncertain, confused and lost are subjected to hatred and rejection by those of us who profess to know Christ, we know that we have lost our way. While churches shrink in number, yet become grand central for pop music performances in the name of worship; we see more about audiences, personalities, careers, profit margins and CD sales than true congregations with ministers who serve in lowliness of heart. Has not music become our golden calf?
IS THERE A SOLUTION FOR SUCH A CONDITION? Yes.
“We must stop acting like children. We must not let deceitful people trick us by their false teachings, which are like winds that toss us around from place to place. Love should always make us tell the truth. Then we will grow in every way and be more like Christ, the head of the body. Christ holds it together and makes all of its parts work perfectly, as it grows and becomes strong because of love.” Ephesians 4:14-16
This means that we cannot and must not allow the world to define or attempt to re-define what it means to be Christian. It seems that half of Christendom has abandoned what is both orthodoxy (historic-biblical-definition) and orthopraxy (ever-present-operations-character & works) of the believer/follower of Jesus Christ.
We need real, strict vegetarians, VEGANS from the ground up—no meat allowed– who “grow and become strong because of love.” Yes! As far off course as we may drift, still, “Christ holds it together”.
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