My Trip to Christian Churches
My Friend in high school was a preacher. He went to a few churches and would preach about any number of things. He always wanted me to go to church to hear him preach, but I never went. One day he told me there was going to be a youth rally at his church and him as well as a mutual friend were going to be playing songs. Being the music nut that I am, I decided to go to see how good they were.
Well, it ended up not being my kind of music. Halfway through the show I was talking to a guy next to me that was on the same boat as me and all of a sudden I hear a scream and a thud, then a lot of commotion. I thought "great, my first time here and God is giving old ladies heart attacks".
When I finally looked up and focused on where the noise was coming from, the old lady was running around like a chicken on crack and PCP with a fresh case of decapitation and screaming something that sounded like "Sha ba la la la la". Naturally I started to laugh, I thought she was goofing off. Well Come to find out she was speaking in tongues.
I asked around to find out what this speaking in tongues was all about. Here's how the conversation went.
Me: What is this speaking in tongues all about?
The Church Woman: It's God giving us a message.
Me: Why isn't it in english?
The Church Woman: So the devil won't understand it.
Me: But then we don't understand it
The Church Woman: There will be one chosen to translate it and then they'll tell us.
Me: But then won't the devil understand it?
The Church Woman: :::scurrys away:::
I later learned that according to the Bible, in Acts 2:1-12 it speaks of speaking in tongues, but it describes God giving people the ability to preach in the languages of everyone in the church, not a language to confuse the devil. It was merely a way for God to talk to everybody instead of nobody. Not only was she wrong in that aspect, but she also made another boo boo. In 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 it says Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if the will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. This biblical speach was finished with "...the things I write unto you are are the commandments of the Lord"
Later on in the day, the same lady came about and said that the Lord Jesus Christ died on a cross for my sins and that I should be thankful for that. Here is the conversation that cam from that.
The Church Woman: You know the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, right.br>
Me: Yes
The Church Woman: Well, don't you appreciate that?.
Me: (with mild sarcasm) Of course, because now I can sin, and not go to hell because he paid my dues.
The Church Woman: No no no, if you sin you still go to hell.
Me: Why? Isn't Jesus there to cover for me?
The Church Woman: No Jesus is in Heaven, by God's side.
Me: How is it a punishment for him to go to heaven to pay for our sins? Shouldn't he be in Hell?
The Church Woman: No, Jesus was without sin, so he went to heaven..
Me: But Didn't he die for our sins to clear us from them? So didn't he die with our sins? Thus go to hell?
The Church Woman: No, his punishment for our sins was dying on the cross.
Me: But didn't he know he was going to heaven? After all he was the son of God.
The Church Woman: Well, I guess so.
Me: Well for some one who was sure that he was the son of God, and was free from sin, then why was he so upset about God foresaking him? Wouldn't he be happy to go to heaven?
The Church Woman: :::scurrys away:::
Now she made a big point about how Jesus died, on the cross. Yet the Bible says in Acts 5:30 it says "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree" the hanging from the tree is mentioned in Acts 10:39 and again in Acts 13:29.
It's interesting that in just one visit, these folks not only went against the word of the wone they worshipped, but they also had many displays of not understanding the book that they base their lives on.