Challenging Church Compassion – 16: Chased Away “Barb”
Barb is another one of the people who have been a part of our compassionate ministry. She points out how much real spiritual damage the hardness of heart and the lack of church compassion in the churches can do, and how far they can push people away. She wrote:
“Hello everyone,
My name is Barb and I’m a new member to this list. I am very happy to be here. I don’t go to church because it upsets me to see Christians eating/hunting/profiting from killing animals.
I was agnostic for many years because none of it made any sense to me and I didn’t understand how Jesus was loving and merciful while Christians made a mockery of His Love.
Also, I was angry with God for allowing this to happen. I thought God condoned killing too.
I am very grateful to be here. I cannot explain how relieved I felt when I learned that man’s violence was not from God.
Barb”
As we can see, Barb wanted to be a true child of God, and the hardness she felt emanating from the church was chasing her away from not only the church, but also from God. To us, this is exactly the same kind of thing that Jesus was talking about in Mark 9:42…
42. “And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck.
NIV
The church needs to wake up to the damage their hardness of heart is causing people who care about animals and don’t eat them. They need to become the peacemaking children of God that Jesus called all of us to be.
Go on to: Challenging Church Compassion – 17: Christian Cruelty
Since