¿Did I fall away from the truth somehow?

Really, half of me wants me to ask: "Did I lose my self?"  The other half of me thinks "Hot dang it, I'm right!"  I know I can be a bit stubborn/cocky/rebellious at times, so hear me out and please tell me, "Did I fall away from the truth somehow?"

The other day a good friend down here who is sublimely intelligent and not in the annoying manner, shared with us a verse that's been running through his machine of a mind the past few years.

^{Matthew 23:15} "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are." 

As I read over the verse again I think about how pleasantly selective Jesus was with his words to those inside of the Church.  "You make them twice as much as a son of hell as you are."   ¡Fuerte!

So, I am obviously a missionary, which causes me to read these verses with that much more weight.  I think about the missionary that I want to be and the message that I want to pass to those who I come across; authentic, loving, serving and honest are probably the easiest ways for me to define my ideal.

I also remember two experiences that touched me profoundly in how I've come to define who I am as a missionary and what I do.

We were in the country side of Guatemala on a mission trip; medically serving the people and verbally sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.  All hunky dory, right?

As we winded down one of our leaders caught herself in a bit of a heated conversation with a young Guatemalan woman.   The basic gist was that the woman didn't want to give an answer to the question of, "Would you like to receive Christ as your Lord and Savior?"  The woman wanted to talk with her husband about this first, but our leader physically wouldn't allow her to leave until the woman could give a better answer for why she wouldn't receive Christ.  The following day the Guatemalan leader cleared up all of this and explained that he wasn't in agreement with how the incident unfolded.

When I was in high school, I had an atheist friend who was a pretty snazzy cool bloke, but he made it clear he wanted nothing to do with Christ.  I was the FCA (Felllowship of Christian Athletes) president, and yet somehow we developed a pretty close relationship.  I remember asking him one day what he thought about Christ and Christianity.  His response wrecked me.

"While I was in grade school I was being carpooled by a Christian women.  She trapped me in the car one afternoon until I could give a better reason for not responding yes to her salvation question..."

Obviously these are just two instances.  I hope they're more outliers than average, but I feel like there's a vibe that runs not only through the two occurrences, but through other things I've experienced and observed in life and within the church.  This idea that we can't wait on the Holy Spirit to work in someone's life and it's better to pressure them a bit than have "the blood on your hands" as Ezekiel says.  That verse use to terrify me, until I read it for what it truly says.

Hasn't Christ and his way always been more of a grass roots movement that reaches and captivates people by flipping the worlds tactics on their head; last is first, the greatest serves the least, love your enemy, etc.

Christ didn't seem to want to change the laws of his time, but instead change the hearts through his awkward manner of bringing his kingdom.  So why are we, Christ followers, so adamant on using the tactics of this world to bring along his kingdom.

I see the matter of homosexual marriage in North Carolina interesting... so many Christians blasting social networking and other forms of communication.  Why do we think we can change the world from the top down.  Does that just mean we're sucking wind in the Christ like "awkward" tactics to change the world?  Vote how you want, we obviously have a right to our opinion... but I don't really think the Church wins this battle with laws, petitions and forcing our beliefs on others.

Obviously, I have a bias, and I believe we all tend to critique and question our "roots" more than anything else.  I actually think Christ calls us to question and critique each other in the church body more than point figures at those on the outside.   I call for petitions, sermons, and marches for the ban of pornography, greed, slander, gossip, the idolatry of sports, verbal abuse...but of course, I'm talking about church wide actions not a law for every Joe Blow.

So I ask again, "Did I fall away from the truth somehow?"

On a closing note, if the Jewish or Muslims ever hold the majority card, I pray they won't  take bacon and breakfast sausage off the isles of our supermarkets.