Legalist Churches aren't OPEN, HONEST or VULNERABLE

AND FURTHURMORE....

I'm still on a soapbox about churches that are too much about the rules and not so much about the people.

Churches who make up extra rules SUCK because:
1. It's so hard to be a good Christian anyway. Why make it harder?
2. It makes God seem unbelievable if He gives us illogical rules.
3. These churches create an environment of seemingly perfect and holy people. The sinner feels shame and condemnation. He can't share his struggles with such people. Too many unrealistic expectations.
4. The ATTITUDE of these places is just so bad! The hatred, the anger, the impatience, the mean spirit. It drives the sinner away into the arms of the world.

If a church puts too much emphasis on rightousness and not enough on the hit-and-miss process it takes to achieve rightousness, then the people become afraid to talk about their weaknesses to one another. Finding someone to help us bear our sins is a really good way to conquer even the worst faults. If everyone admits their faults, then no one feels like, "I'm the only one."

Our churches need to say, "We are all broken, so you don't need to hide."

Then we need to receive prayer, quality time together, and PATIENCE!

Is my church and is your church a safe place for sinners? If not, the sinners will be there anyway, faking it and not getting healed.

When others share their faults, we can feel superior to them. We can blab to other people. We can make them into our pet project. We can drown them with our sage words of wisdom from our miniscule experience with the same problem. Although these responses are loads of fun for us, it's not very helpful to the person sharing his raw wounds.