Hurt by the Church. Again. And Again.....

If being hurt by the church causes you to lose faith in God, your faith was never in God.  It was in people.

I saw a meme with these words on it yesterday.  For starters, the original poster has a great heart and didn't mean any harm by it at all.  The truth is, lots of people leave the church and God for this very matter.  And it's sad.  And this meme does nothing but continue to pile the hurt on to the one that left.  It says that YOU are the problem.  That YOU didn't have enough faith in God.  That YOU put faith in people and not God.

So when YOU get sexually harassed by one of the staff members and are told to keep hush hush about it because it will destroy the church, YOU need to have more faith in God.  When the rest of the church staff hides it for fear of losing their jobs too, YOU need to have more faith in God.  This is not a localized story in one church somewhere.  These situations or something similar happen all the time.

Meme's like this one basically give the green light for churches to be assholes.  There is no accountability for the people in the church's behavior, only saying that the one that was hurt needs to have more faith in God.  It's total.  Utter.  Bullshit.  Or as Paul would say, skabula.

The meme, if recreated by me, would say....If being hurt by the church causes you to lose faith in God, that church was full of jerks and a piss poor representation of the Gospel.  You don't need church to know God.  I'm sorry that you were hurt by people who can't see past themselves.  Do you want to meet up for coffee or tea sometime?

So the next time you feel like sharing some sick twisted christian meme, ask yourself who your are intending to speak to.  Ask if it will help or hurt.  What is your intent?  To continue to oppress or set free?