Part One - Will The Real Bigot Please Stand Up!

Part One
Have you ever wondered why you choose to focus on the absolutely absurd statement, "Churches shouldn’t always be asking for money!"? Have you ever taken even thirty seconds to think about that statement? Do you think maybe the power company should donate the power? Do you think the gas company should donate the heat? Should the furniture manufacturers donate the pews? Should publishers donate the hymn books and teaching materials? Should the contractors and labourers donate the building? Do you think the Pastor should support his family by going on Welfare? Who do you think pays for and runs the Orphanages, Emergency shelters, Treatment centres, Schools, Home building projects, Emergency food programs, Treatment centres for leprosy, AID’s shelters, Relief programs, Hospitals and Seniors homes, Drop-in centres, Clothing depots, and all the Missions programs that Churches build, furnish and staff all over the world? Do you actually think there is some way to make all of this magically appear at no cost to anyone?
Have you ever wondered why it is that you continue to focus on the five or six televangelists who have publically stumbled, all the while ignoring the millions of Pastors and Churches around the world that are fiscally responsible? Have you ever wondered why, when making a decision about religion you refuse to consider the majority of Pastors who work for wages so low, hours so long and work with cases so desperate that you and I would never accept the job? Have you ever wondered why you are like that?
Have you ever wondered what it is about you that causes you to focus on those who struggle in their faith, those just like you who wear one face in public and another in private? Have you ever wondered why you focus on those people, while purposely overlooking the many, many more people in Church who are honest day in and day out, who don’t break the law, who love and respect their families, who have stable, long term marriages, who are women and men of integrity, who experience love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control on a level that you never have and perhaps never will experience? Have you ever wondered why you try to not think about these people when vilifying Christians? Have you ever wondered why your only response to these quality people is to ridicule them, and discount what they say without understanding what they say?
And so the question remains, Have you ever wondered why you choose to scorn Christianity based on the poorest human example that you can find? Have you ever wondered why you refuse to judge the merits of Christianity based on the character and teachings of Jesus the Christ?
Have you ever noticed how you dismiss twenty good points in a Christian and focus on the two flaws that they can find? It’s like the only thing you’ll allow in a Christian is perfection. Have you ever wondered what kind of a person you are that considers it acceptable and even sophisticated to think that way?
Have you ever wondered why you will think back to some Church couple who divorced, or someone in the Church who drinks too much, or a Christian employer who treated someone badly, and you store these incidents in their memory bank for decades? You’ll refer to those examples again and again down through the years, all the while ignoring and pushing out of your mind the great multitude of people in the Church who donate their time to run weekly groups for kids, perhaps even for your kids?
Isn’t it odd how you don’t have one single worry about holding that kind of a bigoted attitude? Do you ever wonder why you don’t allow yourself to consider the fact of how Christians are unbelievably, incredibly, fantastically under-represented in the country’s psychiatric wards, detox and treatment centres, prison system and local jails, impaired driving programs, divorce courts, social welfare system, family courts, barroom fights, etc.? Do you ever wonder why you mock and malign those who follow Christ Jesus?
And isn’t it weird how you will focus on a war, or famine or school shooting and demand an answer from God as to why He allowed these things to happen. And you’ll say something like, "How can He be a God of love when, blah, blah, blah!" You sound sooo enthralled with your logic.
It’s even more weird how you never demand an answer from God as to why He gave you hands that work perfectly, picking up, turning things off and on, fixing, adjusting, caressing, creating and exploring with exquisite dexterity. It’s mind-boggling to watch how you don’t demand an answer from God as to why He gave you a mouth with the ability to sound out words, taste foods, sense temperature and texture with extraordinary sensitivity; a mouth that can moan, cry and sing. You never seem to consider the contradiction in how you don’t demand an answer from God as to why He gave you eyes that can communicate emotion and explore the majestic beauty of creation. You use the word creation without ever considering the Creator. Don’t you wonder why you don’t demand an answer from God as to why He has allowed you to be born in an unimaginably huge and hostile universe on this little jewel of a planet? Do you ever wonder why you don’t demand an answer from God as to why He continues to allow you to take for granted the fact that you have more food than you can eat; as much money as you need, and a health care system that the majority of humanity cannot even conceive of? Do you ever wonder what kind of a person would take all of these gifts and still curse the God who gave it all to you? Do you ever wonder why you don’t demand an answer from God as to why He is so good to you even when you hate Him, ignore Him, reject Him and hate those who love Him? Of course if a conversation goes in this direction, you will immediately yell "Evolution" or "There is no God," since it doesn’t work so well to let God exist only when you want to blame Him for something.