David had a whole heart for God

Very interesting day today. Mostly because of the morning. I went to a church called Cornerstone Baptist. One of my male intern friends invited me. He's kind of a weird fellow. Very assertive. So being the follower that I am I agreed to go to church with him. Definitely a "fire and brimstone" type church. My first clue that I didn't fit in was when I say all males (even the very young) in full suites and ties and all women in dresses. I of course was wearing khakis and an un-tucked colored shirt. :) Everyone was very nice but I sensed their motives to be based on adding to their numbers of the "saved." People were yelling throughout the sunday school and service time. Both from up front and the crowd. During a congregational prayer time I was approached and asked if I was 100% sure I was going to heaven when I die and why God should let me in. I replied with Sunday school answers and he left me alone.

It was unlike any experience I'd ever had. It was very interesting and I don't regret it. It was sad how legalistic the church was. They were so set on following the rules. They kept using phrases like, you better be reading your scripture and following Jesus so that you don't backslide. Which doesn't sound that bad like I just said it, but they would say these cliche phrases over and over again. They would always talk about things with an us vs. them overtone. Us being the righteous and them being the sinners going to hell. Of course there is a lot of truth in all of this but they came across as arrogant. Not exactly the type of people to come along side of a crying prostitute or drunkard to see where they're at and show them God's love for a lost world. I don't believe their methods will have any success in today's society. People don't want to be yelled at for what they're doing wrong. How is that appealing?

Are they saved? It's hard to say and I can't know. But I would venture to guess that most are not. From what I saw they rely on their own efforts to save them from our fallen state.

Something occurred to me while sitting in the pew that I must mention. The pastor was saying how all these bad things had happened to their church. He mentioned several different vandalism occurrences including some from "satin worshipers." He said that on one occasion the damage had amounted to half a million dollars. I don't know if when he used the term "satin worshipers" he was merely exaggerating the state of the lost world in general or if he actually meant satin
worshipers. But I was thinking, it seems like evil would attack the strongest opposition to its cause. So why doesn't this type of attack happen to the less conservative less legalistic churches like mine? Even if it was just the general lost world which the pastor was speaking of, that's a lot of damage - a strong attack. This makes me think they might be on to something. If the devil is truly attacking this church they must be doing something good for the sake of the Kingdom.

So how will I sleep tonight? Three answers. First, these attacks really do happen to other churches (yes even mine now that I think about it) and so we must be on to something as well. Second, the pastor could have been exaggerating the damage - not too surprising, considering what they abandon to be "saved," our helpless eternal state, how hard is it to believe they would abandon the strict truth in relaying this vandalism story? Third, these guys probably do a
good job of ticking people off. If they relate to the lost world in a way which even remotely resembles their fervor within the church doors I can see people going to great lengths to hurt this church because of the lack of love shown to the outside world.

Today is Father's Day. I would like to honor my Father. He has shown a never ending supply of love to me. He even gave up his car for me to use for 6 weeks. Besides the direct benefits from such a Dad he is an example which has eternal significance. Thanks for everything Dad.