I witnessed a brief discussion on social media this past week that got me asking the question “Why does the world hate the Church?” There is the obvious answer that the world is Satan’s and Satan hates anything that is Christ’s. There is no question that there is true evil in this world and it wouldn’t matter what the church did or did not do, that evil will hate the church. But I think there is more to it than that.
What has the church (globally) really done to encourage the world to love it, especially recently? Has the church shown that it loves people? I contend that the church has not done much. Consider the headlines. Clergy abusing children doesn’t show love. Congregations looking down at the person that dresses or looks different doesn’t show love. The Church is better known for what they are against and not what they are for. This comes across as judgemental and people want nothing to do with that. But, I think the issue might be even deeper and more personal still.
So what might the root issue be? I think that people instinctively know that Christians are supposed to be different. That’s what we claim, that’s what we talk about all the time, but are we really? Divorce rates among Christians are almost identical as non-Christians. They see Christians cheating on their spouses, just like non-Christians. There are stories of people embezzling from their churches, just like you hear about in the secular world. There is little difference in the way Christians talk compared to non-Christians. Many Christians go to the same bars and get drunk regularly exactly the same way that non-Christians do. In short, the world sees nothing more than a bunch of hypocrites and it disgusts them. I believe they wouldn’t care about any of this, except that the church claims to be different and they just don’t see the difference.
There are many churches that are doing a great job and I am encouraged by them, but unfortunately, their message is drowned out by the broader global Church.
Friends, we need to do better. Our actions speak so much louder than our words.