We have it so easy....

What an amazing weekend I had...the sermon Greg gave last night (and this morning) was amazing. I mean, they always are....but sometimes there's that one that just stands out, and this was one of those.

We heard about Stephen (from the book of Acts) who was stoned to death for his faith. He was spreading the word of God and someone decided to start rumors about him, saying he was speaking blasphemy. So he's arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin and basically, after a nice long speech, tells them that THEY were responsible for killing the Messiah. He is then dragged out of the city where people throw rocks at him until he is dead.

What most people don't know is that Christians are still persecuted today all around the world. In fact, Christianity is one of the MOST persecuted religions in the world. Two hundred million people are denied the very basic human rights simply because they are Christians. Literally hundreds of thousands of people are being killed, sold as slaves, discriminated against, put in prison, tortured, and/or threatened, solely because they are Christians. The extent of of the persecution and suffering is something we can hardly begin to fathom, and it's all because of their faith.

Here, we can talk about church. We can go as many times as we want in a week. We can tell our friends we are Christians. We can wear cheesy Christian T-shirts and crosses around our necks. We can put little fish on the backs of our cars and sit in coffee shops reading our Bibles. We can put big green signs with the word JESUS written in big white letters across it in our front yards. Churches can advertise with billboards, radio stations can play songs about God and crazy televangelists can yell at you through your TVs. Oh yeah, you can also choose not to get your children vaccinated and then when they start school you just tell them it's because of religious reasons....(I may be using this one in the future!)

The thing that gets me is that, despite all this, so many of us are afraid to talk about our faith. We're afraid people will think we're weird...yet there are people across the globe who could be KILLED for it and do it anyway. They are that passionate about what they believe. What are we so afraid of?

It's something I struggle with a little because I've always had a hard time having discussions w/ people about what I believe. I think my fear isn't that people will think it's weird, but that I won't do God justice. I get nervous when I'm put on the spot and then end up having a really hard time getting the words out that I need. So basically I'm afraid of looking like I don't know what I'm talking about. The knowledge is all in my head, and it comes back to me here and there, but I can never get it out eloquently....again, making it appear as if I have no idea what I'm saying.

But maybe I shouldn't let that bother me. Maybe I should be ok w/ looking like an idiot...if I'm doing it for God. I mean, King David danced around in his underwear, in public, when he was praising God, so I kinda feel like stumbling over my words a little bit is pretty minor in the long run. God is perfectly capable of taking my idiotic ramblings and turning them into something beautiful that touches another person.

So, while it may sometimes seem like things are bad......think about the people in a church compound in India who's pastor was just released from prison, who was there because he was a Christian. Think of the people who attend every week knowing that their lives could be in danger because there is a Hindu extremist group that they believe has infiltrated their church. Think of people like this who thirst so much for the truth that they put their lives at risk to recieve it and who can't even talk about it openly.


We really have it so easy.

Persecution.org - See what's really going on around the world.