I'll take religious hypocrisy for $500, Alex!

So, we went to church last night. Why oh why oh why? Seriously, sometimes I wonder why I go against my gut instincts and do some things. It almost always comes back to bite me.
Anyway, all of us, and I do mean all of us, loaded on up and headed on down for the Wednesday night services. It was only at the last minute that we realized it would be a guest speaker and not the regular pastor.

It ended up being this man, Cam Colombo. He was apparently there to do a multi-part series on gifts of the Spirit and healing. Now, let me say up front that both Mr. P. and I are not big believers in faith healing. Speaking purely for myself here, I won't say it's impossible, for nothing is impossible with Christ, but I think it's not probable in the setting of a "healer" pushing on people's foreheads in a church to have them become "slain in the Spirit". Again, just my personal take.
So, back to the service. Mom and my aunt were with us and Mom wanted to stay because she was hoping to learn about the gifts of the Spirit. In her own words, "I really don't know much about that junk.". I was prepared to explain some of the "finer points" of the various ways one could look at the gifts of the Spirit to her once the service was over. I was not prepared to find myself somewhat flabbergasted halfway through, nor to have my husband walk out.
I should probably confess right here before I go on that because of the worship team's insistence on playing background music, I didn't hear much of what this man had to say. Maybe he clarified his point after, I'm not sure. Regardless, it's pretty high on my not-cool-o-meter to hear stuff like this in church:
An example he used to illustrate a point was one of finding an acceptable marriage partner. Speaking to the men, he asked them if they would take a "filthy" wife. As he continued, it was clear he meant a woman of, shall we say, loose morals. Then he asked of the women, would we have taken "a man from the streets" as our husband. And as you can imagine, his hoped for response was a resounding NO!
Except for Mr. P. and I. We just looked at each other. Granted, we kinda laughed it off at first, but the more we thought of, the more offended we were.
You see, Mr. P. and I had started our relationship as a 1 night stand. And frankly, though I was "a filthy woman" and he "a man from the streets", we knew within just a few weeks that we loved each other very much. Almost 9 years later, here we still sit, committed to one another.
As Pastor Colombo continued, Mr. P. and I stewed in our own juices a bit longer. Shortly after, Mr. P. went outside, and not long after, I got the kids and we left. Maybe that was wrong, maybe that was rude, but that's how it went down.
Last night, I just couldn't help but ponder that whole analogy of his. I've heard stuff like that before from Christians likening a pure marriage to what Christ will find acceptable. Perhaps I'm being naive, but I often wonder what Bible they are reading. In mine, the overwhelming theme is one of Redemption. Redemption came to this world, hung on a cross and sacrificed all for each one of us. There are no strings attached, no ifs, ands, or buts. Redemption is available for all, regardless, and dare I say especially for those who seem filthy and stuck in all the world's bad places. I don't know, maybe it's just that I am still a very young Christian, but it saddens me that many forget that there are those of us who weren't raised in the church, who came to Christ in our adult years after many mistakes, but who I believe God still values as His children. I know oftentimes the church at large does not. It becomes apparent in the attitudes displayed when Christians believe they are speaking among their own. It's a different ball of wax than when ministering to the world, eh?
Alrighty, time to hop off my soapbox of religious hypocrisy. My man from the streets needs his filthy wife to wake him up for work.

Til next squeak,