People Are Flawed. God Is Not

I am in no way, shape, or form putting myself up on a pedestal, but I can honestly say that I don't remember a time in my life when I turned my back on God and denounced Him.

Oh, I'm sure there were low moments when I felt alone and had destructive thoughts, and if I told God I hated Him it never lasted very long.

I grew up going to a small-town Lutheran church.  There's always something special I felt about Lutherans--how one man stood up to the Catholic Church and starteed a movement.  Here's a trailer of the 2003 movie Luther.

This is in no way a sales pitch for Lutherans, however.  The point I'm making is that there are many routes one can take to worship God, and not to let the workings of a specific church or pastor or religious organization cloud your vision of what God wants from you if that church or pastor or organizaiton isn't run in a way that matches with your values.

Back in college, at Bemidji State University, I came in contact with a non-denomonational religious group who held weekly song/worship nights--I will refrain from telling you the name of this group, and with good reason.  I had a lot of fun the first year I went, and even have a few friends I met there up to this day.  But something happened the second year.  I was ignored.  Completely.  There were nights when not one single person said a word to me (of course, on those nights, my friends weren't in attendance).  I almost felt like I was being shunned for something, but had no knowledge of what that was.

I wasn't the only one who felt this way.  Remember those friends I mentioned?  They felt the same way.  It didn't take long before I quit attending.

I could've very easily turned my back on God because of what they did to me.  I was hurt by them.  But I didn't turned my back on God.  I knew this organization was run by people, and people have flaws.

God does not.

What's funny about this whole thing is that a girl got me into this organization (okay, that sounds like a cult, but they're not okay?) by teaching me about the Bible (I knew about the Bible, so I was a little confused by it) and ended by my asking Jesus to be my Lord and Saviour.  She called me a born again Christian.

I was confused . . . if I was born again, wouldn't that mean I was somehow lost in God's eyes?  Or somehow walked away from God and then came back?

Like I said in the beginning of this blog post, I've never known a time in my life where I doubted God's existence--or even Jesus's, for that matter.  I've always believed.

Or, as much as my sinning can do, always believed.  I am nowhere near perfect.  Not even close.

If you're uncomfortable in your current religious surroundings, then go look somewhere else.  Find another church where you fit in.  They're out there.  Just remember: people are flawed; God is not.

Besides my 2-3 true friends I met in college, the music they sang was dynamic.  Here are two of my favorites:

People are flawed.

God is not.

Go find where you fit in.  God wants you to.  I did.  And the leaders involved back at Bemidji State?  I forgive them.  I forgive them their short-sightedness and ignorance.  I'm not sure if they intended to treat me the way they did, but for whatever the reason, I forgive them.