Zechariah 7:9-10 says, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”
Discuss with your parents the following questions...
In what ways have American churches failed to obey these verses from God's word?
How do you think this has affected the growth of government social reforms and programs?
Americans today have strongly twisted the Lord's word, to make it easier to live by. The truth is, life is a challenge. It's hard to live to the highest standard, love those who don't love you, pray for those who are mean to you...ect. But, that's just life. In American church's the word of God has been suited to fit our lives and to"take the easy way". But, we just need to remember that the word of God is tough to follow...but that's just the way it is and we can't change it.
ReplyDeleteChristians have become very inward focused, and have been quick to criticize those inside the church. We have "weakened" our search for those that have become lost, because we believe that we are better than those outside the church. If less people are being accepted to the church, than that meens that there are less people who are able to expose ungodly rules that the government may be run by. This meens that not as many social reform group will be formed, which leads to corruption in the government. The first step that Christians need to take is to give grace to the sinners, becasue God has given us many more chances than we can count.
ReplyDeletebethany van rensburg said...
ReplyDeleteGod worship formula = holiness + justice (Amos 5:21-4). The church can push holiness but doesn't often deal with injustice. The church should be the first to help the poor, the rejected, and the lonely. Injustice is important to God and the church must speak up when bad things are done. The church is America is sometimes too focused on itself. It needs to put more focus on holiness + justice together.
Rachael Lewis said.....Many people in churches like to take the easy way out by not following God's word. People like to only use the parts of the Bible that they like and are easy for them. For example,instead of loving their enemies people in many churches are very critical of their enemies.We are all sinners, we only bless the people who we love and care about. We are all judgmental and like to use Christianity as a easy road out of our problems we face in life. Whenever goverment faces a problem their only solution to the problem is spending more money to help the problem die down. God intended that since we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, that whenever we face a problem that instead of going to the solution of the goverment spending more money that we work together to help solve the problems we are all facing.
ReplyDeleteChurches almost never pray for America's enemies. We usually pray for the soldiers fighting against our enemies, but we reach out to the poor and the helpless. I believe that praying for our enemies almost makes you a traitor. We don't pray for murderers and rapists, so why would we pray for America's enemies. I usually hear people praying to get more people to follow Jesus, and that can apply to sinners. If more people followed Jesus, and I mean really followed we wouldn't have enemies. I don't feel it is the government job to care of those who don't care for themselves. If you want the government to take care of you, please move to a socialist country. I believe Christians do have moral obligation to help the needy. Although, I do think governments handouts don't encourage people to help themselves, although I do believe everyone has the right to an education. If you give a man a fish he can eat that day, but if you teach a man to fish he can eat for the rest of his life.
ReplyDeleteI think many churches have diverted from the true meaning of God’s word. Prior to the Great Depression, churches were very active in their communities. They were the center of providing for the hungry, homeless, and poor which made them a great influence. Yet when the Great Depression started the churches were unable to provide for the overwhelming number of people in need. When the churches couldn’t handle the responsibility the government had to intervene. They created programs that could support the people until they had enough to support themselves. Social Security, food stamps, and unemployment insurance helped people get a fresh start. Sadly, people turned to these programs with a sense of self entitlement. With this the church lost most of its power to influence the welfare of the people. That power now resides in the government. There have been many disputes about such things but the church is never mentioned.
ReplyDeleteFelton says:
ReplyDeleteAmerican churces are now quicker to judge people and to criticize about problems that they are having in life and spread rumors about them possibly outside and maybe inside. Even though you may dislike this person we're told to love our enemies and to love one another as brothers and sitters in Christ, but all of the criticizing and judging of others have lead other people who become Christians to believe that its ok to criticize people which lead to huge groups of people forming one union to keep certain people from doing something that you see is not right but is not life endangering or doesnt allow people to have their civil rights.
Well my church has a ministry that help the poor, people with aids,missionaries that travel around the world spreading the gospel. I don't think all the churches are not obeying God by not helping the poor, but it is hard for churches to have all the responsibility. Government is a bigger resource that can benefit the people that have low income. So i don't think churches "oppress the poor",they pray, they donate,and they minister, but its difficult for individuals to supplement many low income people when a public government can support more people. Many conservatives think that government shouldn't have so many responsibilities to help the poor but really they are concerned about where the money is coming form to help the poor. They don't want to be taxed as much yet , where is the government going to get the money from if upper class people are too selfish and give all the responsibility to the church. All people do not have equal opportunities to advance economically in our society. For example if you are born in a poor family or neighborhood then you don't have the resources that a wealthier child will have to become successful. Good schools,good health care,safe neighborhoods all determine your future.
ReplyDeleteThere are some churches don't let gay, divorced and people from differnt races come there. Some churches don't even let the poor come there. The verses say to love your enemies but people wouldn't let their enemies go to the same church as them. This is excluding people from society so not everyone is treated like they are apart of the same society as everyone else is and this is excluding a ton of people. The government is havin to step in because some churches have not step it up.
ReplyDeleteI think that churches have promoted the division of denominations and that churches, in many instances, are really a last stronghold of segregation. In these ways, churches have allowed us to be comfortable in our own little bubbles and have not been a model for accepting those around us that are different from us. This has probably slowed the growth of social reforms. On the other hand, churches have many programs that really help people in need. We just have to be careful that our attitude is one of helping our brothers, not looking down on people.
ReplyDeleteThere are many different churches around the world. Lately in the different churches we, as Christians, have strayed farther and farther from God. He tells us to forgive one another, but most of the time we fail to do that also. Even though many people prosecute and judge us we still have to fight through. Martin Luther King Jr. had to go through so much hate, sweat, blood, and tears to get to the point of a historical idol he is today. Teddy Roosevelt was an unbelivable man that had to go through sickness, greive, and other symptoms to become the amazing president of the United States of America. I might not be a legend in the history, but what I have learned from them is that not listening to ridicule and judgement and you will make it where ever you want to go in life.
ReplyDeleteSome churches have strange and strict denominations. They don't let in poeple of different races and the poor even. ALthough some churches don't discriminate a lot of them still do. They don't invite their enemies to church or anything. Churches might say that they are doing drives for the homeless and stuff but really the people wouldn't want them to actually come. It has slowed the reforms greatly and everyone is sort of separated and not interacting. If they do however, it isn't good and it is hard for the government to control it.
ReplyDeleteI think that churches do try to help the sick, poor, hungry, etc. They do this by participating in prayer groups and service projects and donating to the needy. Churches have failed in following the above verses since they do not help all of the needy people and aren't quite as kind as they could be. I think that this causes the need for more social reforms and programs to grow to help the community and more are created. But is that a bad thing? The government needs to be involved, in my opinion, to a certain extent because one of the government's main tasks is to serve the people. Churches may have failed in helping every needy person and showing kindness to all people, but I believe their intentions and actions are pure.
ReplyDeleteAmerican churches do not follow all of God’s word. We do not love our enemies or help those who hate us. If someone threatened to burn down the church, we wouldn’t walk out and greet them like an old friend. We would be scared of them and try to avoid contact with them. The Bible also says not to think about evil happening to someone. That is impossible for humans and means the church isn’t following God’s law. Churches judge the poor and want their money. They don’t like it when someone doesn’t give even if they don’t have much. The church normally encourages the government to help people in need. If the Christians don’t follow God’s word, then why would the government. Believers need to take charge and lead the fight to provide for the homeless and needy.
ReplyDeleteI think that the church has done a better job of keeping the laws of God, but everyone at one point will not love anyone who hates us. We will just hate them back. Though the church does help those in need, and help the homeless. The government has done even more bad things. They let school forbid the use of a Bible when on campus or in the school. They also have made anti spiritual movies and criticize God.
ReplyDelete(Continued) Also the government does not seem to be putting much effort into stopping people who publicly insult God. The church, however, is trying to do the right thing, but we as humans can't be perfect. So that means that the Christians have to stand up for their religion. And when we don't speak up the government let more insults from different places insult God and more people will stop or not believe in God at all. All in all, I think Christians should take a stand to make a change.
ReplyDeleteMikaela: I believe that churches do help the poor, fatherless, etc. I also think that the churches haven't failed because I see that the churches have gotten the message through to the people and everyday people have come even closer to God. I do believe that non Christian churches do fail and they do not bring people closer to God in a way that is for their true salvation.
ReplyDeleteSince I do not think that churches have failed people, I do not think that this has affected the growth of the government and social reforms. The government is doing their job, they just need to help the people who can't afford to go to the doctor, hospital, etc. Both the churches and the government need to help those who need it and as Christians we have to do our part too.
America makes you think that revenge is a good thing that it is okay to stab someone in the back. When really we should care for them and be kind to them not hurt them. We always think if someone wrongs us that we have to get the back but really we just need to talk to them.Our churches are not toatally focused on these things I think that they think other things are more important.Both the churches and the govt. have not put as much effort into this as they could. The govt. needs to focus on keeping America towards God and not trying to chenge who we are. They can't silence christains. As a kid I think that our churches could be doing more to keep our focus on not hurting peoples feelings and more on what God wants US to do as a church and as a country and a government.
ReplyDeleteNever did Jesus say not to love your brother, so when churches are hateful to homosexuals and nonconformists, they are outside of God's law. We should love.How else will they know about God's love, except thru us.
ReplyDeleteSome christians, not all, but some think that homosexuals and people from a diff. race don't belong with them. This is portrayed in many movies,the Christians are the more judge mental ones. this affects society because less and less people are drawn towards christianity because of their sterotype. - Megan Rose
There are some examples of ways the churches have obeyed these verses and others that disobey them. We know to loves others, but we sometimes take it the other way. If someone insults or mocks us we may come back aggressively or we may come back in a way that is mature. With the thought of the fatherless and the less fortunate we have to step up and make the decision that we will help. Some people may say ,"i am to busy, or i don't have time." But what they don't understand is that there are so many people who need our help and they are to focused on what they have to do instead of others. Also we sometimes depend on the government to take care of abortion or the poor people, but God wanted us to do these things and not rely on others to do it for us. There maybe murders or thieves but we should hate them we need to pray for them. We don't need to stay mad at them because thats not going to help the situation.
ReplyDeleteThere are some examples of ways the churches have obeyed these verses and others that disobey them. We know to loves others, but we sometimes take it the other way. If someone insults or mocks us we may come back aggressively or we may come back in a way that is mature. With the thought of the fatherless and the less fortunate we have to step up and make the decision that we will help. Some people may say ,"i am to busy, or i don't have time." But what they don't understand is that there are so many people who need our help and they are to focused on what they have to do instead of others. Also we sometimes depend on the government to take care of abortion or the poor people, but God wanted us to do these things and not rely on others to do it for us. There maybe murders or thieves but we shouldn't hate them we need to pray for them. We don't need to stay mad at them because thats not going to help the situation.
ReplyDeleteChurch is not the same as it was like 50 years ago . I think that back then churches were more of a community than they are today. In todays time some kids come on wednesdays just to use the youth building our on sundays just to eat at the youth dinner and then they leave. They really dont care about God, they just want to watch football on a large screen TV. Even though the Matthew verse says to love your eneimies, I cant help but get angry that they come just to hang out.They do not care about God or give a tithe or help at the church. I just wish i could sit down with him/her/it and ask h/h/i to either be a part of our church or dont come anymore. I think that the churches have not reached out as much and invited new people into our community as much as they used to.
ReplyDeleteI think we have modernized churches to much. By doing this we have lead the point of church from God to it being like a show. With all of the lights and fancy bands and rock music that has made its way in to church it makes church about that and not about God. By doing this it’s effecting what church goers believe. We should also as Christians invite people to church and welcome new comers. Even if we hate someone we should still want the best for them and pray for them. With all of the technology out there, it is very easy to get away from God. Because of all the people who stopped going to church back like in the 60’s are world is changed now. It used to be you could pray in a public school and preach the true Word there. Now you can’t or you could lose your job or get expelled. The reason that is, is because of people when they were kids not going to church and finding Jesus. It’s also because of the government wanting to make everyone happy. They try and not show Christian things in schools so people like Muslims and people of those kinds of religions won’t get mad at the government. When really we should have more Christian things like that specify for those people. So we can lead them to Christ. If we proclaim to be Christian we should follow those verses so people see the good and God in us.
ReplyDeleteI feel in most ways churches has tried to follow God's teaching by feeding, clothing and sheltering the hungry. However, some churches are only interested in doing ministries inside the church wall instead of going out into the community. I beleive the vile political discourse this country has experienced in the past couple of years has somewhat come from the pulpits of our churches. I think as Christians God wants us to love our enemies and pray for them not call them awful names and trust that God is in control of our country and when we pray to him he will always have a plan and do what is best for us.
ReplyDeletePeople preach in church about loving each other but they don't practice what they preach. Even as Christians people gossip and spread lies on others and cause a lot of trouble, hurt and pain. But God says to be wise and to love one another. In Matthew 7:12, it says, "Do to others as you would like them to do unto you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the Law and the Prophets." Most people believe that the more things that they have, the better they are and that's not the way to live. This affects the growth of gov't social reform groups because the is no LOVE. People don't genuinely care about people anymore.
ReplyDeletePeople change God's word so that their lives will be more simple. For example the Ten Commandments, people think that and say that they only have to obey them sometimes when they should obey them all of the time.
ReplyDeleteevan johnson
I think sometimes the people in the churches are hypocritical. And talk all the time about how they giving. Saying it's better to give than to recieve. but sometimes when they see a homless person on the street they freak out. Alot of churches spend there money on doing missionary trips, and thats great in all but sometimes more of the money need to go to local shelters
ReplyDeleteThey have been this way against blacks. They did not follow these Bble verses in fact everyone in those churches that whent against this verse to tear a black person down was a hypocrite. This has affected the government because it started a war and they had to pass multiple acts
ReplyDeleteAnna Reeves
American churches have failed in many ways. God's word is very clear. People take verses out of context and use them according to their own purposes. If a verse sounds good and applies to the issue, they just use it and say "this is God's word". Many church leaders are afraid to preach the TRUTH. They "water down" the words to make others feel good at the time. It is a sad thing when we're afraid God's word is going to offend someone. We should stand firm on His word and never be afraid to share it in any situation. These ways have most definitely affected government. Government leaders are in the business for themselves. They want to please whoever they think will give them a vote and help them keep their jobs. We are allowing men to be in control of our country and forgetting to put God ahead of everything and everyone else. If God is for us, who can be against us. I've heard many adults say this and now I think I have a better understanding of what it really means.
ReplyDeletechurches play a large part in the society because many people in the us are christians we have failed to do this because we never show love to other religions like muslums we just hate them and we are always acting like we are better than everyone
ReplyDeleteAlex herden
The church has gone from giving people food and clothes to not doing that as much. Its more about people saving money. The church is usually involved in missionary journeys but not quite so much any more.
ReplyDeleteWilliam Charles