Dennis On: "What If...."

What If...?

What if it was ok if all the members or ministers in any COG didn't all speak the same thing?

What if gentleness, goodness, meekness, kindness and longsuffering was taught and displayed more than the unknowable meanderings of prophecy?

What if the minister had a servant personality instead of a Plantation Owner mentality?

What if "give as you are able," was all one ever heard from the Pastor or the Church Organization?

What if the lowest priority of a Church was a building program?

What if you could look your Pastor in the eye and tell him "that was the most far fetched view of scripture I have ever heard?"

What if the Pastor laughed at himself when he gave such sermons and was called out on it?

What if some of the membership really had a more balanced view of scripture than the minister?

What if it was not permitted for the Pastor to use the words "soon," "in our lifetime," "gun lap," or "soon coming...."  in any sermon?

What if a member could tell the Pastor he'd take his advice under advisement ?

What if you were able to make your own decisions about living your life even though the Pastor felt the decisions he makes in his life are more correct?

What if you messed up and had a Pastor who could freely admit "I messed up too," and had a good laugh together?

What if members gave up on the idea of becoming "perfect or mature as God is perfect," and just did the best they could under the circumstances?

What if it was ok to get to church or the Festivals as best you could without fear of being a slackard?

What if it didn't matter what Adam, Abraham, David, Solomon, the Prophets, or any real or imagined character in the Old Testament did or didn't do thousands of years ago?

What if a COG Organization did not have to spend so much energy and time trying to convince others they were the one true Church?

What if numbers and statistics didn't matter and were proof of nothing?

What if the leadership of Grace Community International apologized for reckless theological games and realized the damage and doubt brought to the minds of tens of thousands was more than the sweetness brought to the hundreds left over.

What if "I am sincerely sorry for the pain caused," and "I was wrong," were ok concepts for the minister to utter from time to time.

What if advertisers of religious perspectives did not have to scream in red print at you from the pages of the Journal?

What if any minister who declared himself a Prophet, Apostle, Watcher or Witness , out of the blue and without due process and proof was bounced out on his ass or asked to get some counseling?

What if a member could freely sit through a sermon and be ok with telling themselves this particular sermon is boring, crazy, weird or egocentric and probably not true as presented.

What if a member could utter the words, "Please don't tell me, us, my family, my wife, my kids what to do or how to be."

What if you had a minister that said, "I have come to see that things are not exactly as I always thought them to be..."

What if you had a minister who understood the background, context, origins, intent and story behind the scriptures?

What if science was not "falsely so called." 

What if all the COGs could say, "Let's face it, we have allowed some pretty weird personalities to tell us what to do and how to be and perhaps have not understood the Bible as it was intended to be understood."

What if everyone understood the Bible is not inerrant or perfect and you really can't be 100% God and 100% Man in any way anyone can imagine.

What if we all laughed at those who sound and act like they understand the above concept evolved over hundreds of years to plug the holes in other questions raised over time.

What if the COGs understood the concept you can never make a scripture mean what it never meant.

What if pious conviction with marginal information was not how a COG wanted to present it's views?

What if you didn't "send it in," or wouldn't "send it in" until or unless you were confident it would not be misused, wasted or stashed away by the Pastor?

What if everyone roared with laughter when the Pastor wanted to build another college or House for God knowing how big the Universe is?

What if the words, "I was wrong,"  "I didn't know,"  "I have no background in that,"  "I see the problem,"  "I know I tend to be...",  "I have made (and list them) mistakes in my life,"  "I am sorry...",  "I apologize",   "What do you think we should do..?",  "I don't know the answer to that..."

What if perfect love actually cast out fear and like Rodney King, we could all wonder why we can't get along?

What if all the COGs never again allowed ONE Minister, Pastor or Self Appointed human being to tell them how it all is as if they really knew?

What if...

1 Corinthians 13

 ¹ If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

 ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

 ⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

 ¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

...was really true in the COGs or on the planet?

Whew......now that's back on track!

 

Amen.....

Dennis C
DenniscDiehl@aol.com