Reflection on where I have been

This week, a former member of our church sent me some harsh emails about our church's practices and beliefs, accusing me of being a false teacher, and a coward for not agreeing to let him try to change my mind. Those accusations hurt. Not because they were true, but because I had once been in his shoes, living a dogmatic, love-less life, believing "knowing" and "practicing" the truths of the bible was evidence of being saved. The truth is, I have not been completely delivered from that mind-set yet. That is why when he lashed out at me, I felt the sting I had inflicted upon so many others over the years.

The issues were pretty typical, over what version of the bible we use, the role of women in the church, and the continued use of the power gifts in the current church. Of course, the disagreement wouldn't have stopped there. It would have then shifted to the type of music and instruments used in services, the role of divorced folks in church, the length of a man's hair (and probably women's dresses). While i hadn't focused upon all of those details in my dogmatic period of my journey, I had my fair share of "my truth or no truth." The bottom line is that I had equated the knowledge and possession of the "correct" interpretation of the truth with righteousness. It turns out that this is just another form of "works" righteousness. Jesus focused a lot less on the don'ts and a lot more on the positive actions he expected his disciples to do.

Among those specific commands Jesus gave his disciples was "heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the leper and preach the Kingdom of God." But since those require supernatural power to do them, we prefer to stick to the things we "CAN DO" in our own strength, which is to tell others what they can and cannot do as a part of their walk with God.

So in a very real sense, I am thankful for the harsh criticism of my ex-friend. It has shown me what I was (and still am) and how far I still have to go to be transformed to the likeness of my Savior.