Over the last year or so, as I've delved further into the Bible, the Church and the World, there've been many occasions when I've been left disillusioned about it all. Of course, I expect to be disappointed by the world as the world has a different master, but almost as often I have been left despairing about the Church, believers, and how their actions measure up against the Bible. I'm not talking about people slipping up, about having good intentions but getting it wrong, I'm talking about systematic institutions, actions and beliefs of Christians and Churches that seem to be in stark contrast to 'Biblical Christianity'.
It frustrates me how modern-day Christians can read through the Bible and mock individuals and nations for how they acted, looking down on them and making them out to be stupid, whilst sitting on their high horse. "How can you worship statues when God has shown himself so magnificently?" they say; "How can you think it is fine to sleep around and to not uphold the sanctity of marriage" think others; "How can you reject what Jesus has done and think circumcision and all the other laws are still necessary" scoffs someone else, as they open their copy of the Daily Mail, nodding in agreement with their victimisation of the poor, the alien and the downtrodden.
Somewhere along the line, Christians' beliefs as citizens of heaven have become merged with the beliefs of citizens of the UK and The West. In this series I'll try to dissect what I see as some of the manifestations of this culture clash (or more accurately the seeming lack of culture clash...) - feel free to tell me whether you think I'm right or wrong!
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