I was reading various online articles which I do in the course of research about the many issues I address in my column. A perennial issue raised by critics of Christianity is that those who claim to believe the Scriptures do not always behave according to what they claim to believe.

     Critics are quick to quote Christ saying Christians should “not judge,” Matthew 7:1 (without considering the context of Christ’s words) but are quick to judge a believer as a hypocrite if they don’t live up to what they expect a Christian to be. So much for “judge not.”

     Yet, some of the criticisms are justified, and what should be our response to genuine contradictions between Christian belief and behavior?

     A simple answer would be that not all Christians share the same beliefs and subsequently do not behave the same, but that ignores the fact that Christians do share a common core of beliefs about what is morally acceptable.

     As one writer said, “Christians of all stripes are opposed to cursing, skipping church, to disrespecting parents, to divorce, to cheating on taxes, to lying and gossiping, to greed, and on and on.”

     My first response is not everyone who claims to be a Christian actually is a Christian. It should not surprise anyone that there are nominal Christians, those who are Christian in name only. They say they are a Christian but do not live as one.

     Paul addressed this issue in his letter to Titus, “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed,” Titus 1:16. And James addresses this dichotomy between what people say and do when he writes, “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?” James 2:14. If what you say you believe does not translate into practice it is doubtful that is saving faith.

     Then there are those believers who are sincere but imperfect. You may have seen the bumper sticker that says, “I’m not perfect, just forgiven.” That is a true statement. None of us are perfect, even our critics, and that is why we needed a Savior who is perfect and offers us forgiveness.

     Each believer is on a separate faith journey and is at different levels of Christian maturity. Some may seem “more” perfect than others but none of us are. So there will always be critics. What we must not do is allow our imperfections and the criticism of others cause us to forsake the pursuit of holiness.

     Some may subscribe to the philosophy “fake it till you make it,” but Christianity is one of those places where you will not make it if you fake it. “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves,” James 1:22-24.

Sadly, most of the criticisms levied against believers only serve to make critics feel comfortable in their unbelief.

It has been reported that, “More than 12,000 military service members refusing the COVID-19 vaccine are seeking religious exemptions, and so far they are having zero success.” This quote is from an article titled, “Troops find religious exemptions for vaccines unattainable.”

     The United States Constitution was adopted as the law of our nation when three fourths of the original thirteen states voted to ratify it on June 21, 1788. About three and a half years later the first Ten Amendments to the Constitution known collectively as the Bill of Rights was ratified on December 15, 1791.

     The addition of the Bill of Rights was to address concerns that the basic freedoms the nation’s citizens had come to enjoy in this nascent nation would not be abridged by a powerful federal government. We became a nation governed by law rather than a nation governed by the tyranny of a monarch.

     The First Amendment is considered a cornerstone for the following nine in the Bill of Rights. Our basic freedoms such as freedom of speech, of the press, to peacefully assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances are in it. I think it is significant that the first freedom protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution is, “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

     Over the course of the history of the Supreme Court of the United States there have been moments when the Court has arrogated the invention of rights not mentioned explicitly in the Constitution and in violation of the Tenth Amendment which declares, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or the people.”

     The two most egregious examples of this are the opinions of the Court in Roe v. Wade, and Obergefell v. Hodges. There is not a single word in the Constitution that addresses abortion or marriage and for this reason abortion and marriage have been considered historically and traditionally under the legislative purview of each individual state.

     In both cases the Supreme Court violated the Tenth Amendment to rule as they please, and our President violated the First Amendment in mandating members of the Armed Forces to be vaccinated despite their religious convictions.

     In other words, our government is saying members of our military should put their lives in harm’s way to secure our freedom to exercise our religion while denying them exercising that same right.

     The spiritually and morally darkest period of Israel’s history is recorded in the book of Judges. This time was characterized by the verse, “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes,” Judges 21:25. I cannot think of a clearer definition of anarchy than this.

If our nation devolves from a constitutional republic ruled by law into monarchial-like tyranny it will be because our Supreme Court and President led the way.

My wife, Joyce Ann, and I read through the Scriptures together last year and have begun reading through them again. Some may wonder why we discipline ourselves to read through the Bible each year. Here are a few of those reasons.

     One cannot read about the life of Christ without realizing the Scriptures were important to Him, and if they were important to the Son of God they should be important to us as His followers.

     I think sitting under the preaching of God’s Word each Sunday should not be a revelation of what the Bible says, but a confirmation of what I have been reading for myself. I prefer to know what I believe about the Scriptures and what they say firsthand and think through why I believe them.

     Although written by approximately forty human authors over a period of around 1600 years the Bible has a wonderful unity and needs to be read and understood from this perspective. Reading it over again reminds me of this truth, spares me from being isolated on favorite passages, and prevents my memory of what they say from being supplanted by my imagination of what I think they said.

     Constantly pouring over the Scriptures I see things I missed before but have become clearer as I (hopefully) mature in Christ. Reading the Word of God is one of the disciplines that aids in that maturation. The Book of Books enjoins us to renew our minds so that we begin to see life from God’s perspective.

     Focusing on His perspective helps prevent us from being blinded by the confusion of current events that can overwhelm the thinking of the best of us. We see events through the lens of time, God sees the same events through the lens of eternity, and we are in constant need of His eternal perspective so that we do not lose our way in time.

     I have said the first four words of the first chapter of Rick Warren’s bestselling book, “The Purpose Driven Life,” are the most important in the whole book; “It’s not about you.” If you believe as I do that God created us, then He created us to fulfill His plan and purpose, not ours. The Father has revealed His will to us in His Word.

     If you are searching for the true meaning of life this is the only book that has it. Why not read the Manufacturer’s owners’ manual that reveals to us in grand detail the One who made us and why?

     I have a very simple reading plan; I begin with Genesis 1:1 and read an average of five chapters a day, Monday through Friday. I keep a journal and post my thoughts on some portion of what I have read on my Facebook page “Christian Concepts” Monday through Friday.

     I pray you will consider reading through the Bible in 2022.

     “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever,” Isaiah 40:8.

Another holiday season is upon us and many are absorbed with Christmas shopping and looking for that gift that is just right for each one on our list. As one grows older the list seems to grow longer.

     Each year I am reminded of how the hustle and bustle of shopping can cause our attention to focus more on things than on people. It is very easy to allow our focus to shift from what the real meaning of Christmas is to things that are far less important.

     Most of you probably do not know who Hugh Haynie is, or should I say was; he died in 1999. Hugh was a political cartoonist. His cartoons could be seen in the Louisville Courier-Journal on the editorial page. But his work was often published in the newspapers of America because Hugh had a way of making his point very clearly in the cartoons he drew.

     I grew up in Jacksonville, FL reading the Florida Times-Union. Every year at Christmas time one of Hugh’s cartoons ran in the Florida Times-Union that even as a boy touched my heart with its simple truth. I think it was published in the Christmas Eve edition, but I began to look for it every year.

     The cartoon pictures a man going over what must be his Christmas list sitting at the bottom of a small hill of wrapped presents. In the top left portion of the cartoon is an artistic rendering of the face of Christ superimposed on the scene. The caption reads, “Now let’s see. Have I forgotten anyone?”

     It is a poignant reminder that during this time of the year that we celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ, our busy shopping schedule and hectic preparations for the big day can cause us to lose sight of the “Reason for the season.”

     That first Christmas was not celebrated then as it is now, nor attended with the same attention it receives today. In the grand scheme of things the birth of Christ went relatively unnoticed. The nature of Christ has not changed in over two millennia, He did not force His way into the inn then and He does not force His way into our thoughts and hearts today.

     If we are not careful His birth and its significance will go, even amid the lights and festivities, as unnoticed today as it did then. Now let’s see. Have we forgotten anyone?

     “Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn,” Luke 2:4-7.

November 23, 2021, an article titled, “Former Christians, Tell Us What The Turning Point Was That Made You Leave The Religion,” was published by “Yahoo! Life.” A follow up article was published by “Yahoo! Life” on December 4, 2021, titled, “Former Christians Are Sharing The Turning Points That Made Them Leave The Faith, And They Did Not Hold Back.”

     The first article opened the floodgate for every malcontent to whine about something they disliked about the church. The article that followed contained some of those complaints. It is not possible to investigate each one but here are some general observations about the articles.

     Not everyone who says they are a Christian is a Christian. We live in a culture that thinks saying something means something. For example, we have men who say they are women and women who say they are men. They think that means something.

     So, it is understandable that there are people in church who say they are Christians but do some very un-Christian things, because in reality they are not Christian.

     In each of the complaints we are only given the grievant’s side of the incident. To be fair, I need to know both sides of the issue. But the purpose of the articles was not to resolve anything, the intent was to make the church look bad.

     Some left the church because they were offended by biblical morality on issues such as abortion and homosexuality. Christians have a high view of Scripture being the Word of God. We are not going to forsake God’s Word simply because someone feels offended by it. We will not offend God to spare your feelings.

     The church is made up of people who are flawed. I know because I am one of them. Each of us in the church is on a spiritual journey and are at different levels of maturity in Christ making the church an imperfect work in progress. We make mistakes while learning to do better.

     But the same is true of the public’s perspective of the church; it’s flawed. Those who would be the first to quote Jesus saying, “Do not judge,” are quick to judge the church and say things about it that in most instances they know little about.

     Then there are wolves in sheep’s clothing who have committed atrocities and brought dishonor on the name of Christ and the work of the church. Things have been done that are inexcusable and received the just condemnation of a watching public. But these are the exception and not the rule.

     John writes, “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us,” 1 John 2:19.

Here is the reason the Scriptures give that people leave the church; they are not truly Christians, believers, if they were “they would have remained with us.”