Nones

My pastor recently talked about nones. I’ve heard about nuns, but not nones. Many explanations say that nones are folks who have nothing to do with organized religion, intentionally or unintentionally. Sometimes folks simply get busy, as we know we can, and church ends up at the end of their to-do lists.

Others are nones because of the way they have seen religious folks act in everyday life. How many times has a super-speeder gone past you, cut you off in traffic, or honked their horn at you, only to see a fish symbol on the back of the car?

All you were doing was driving according to the laws of driving, only to be treated less than ideally by one of those Christians. You can think of other examples but that is one that comes to my mind since I was honked at by a vehicle recently with both a fish and the name of a Christian school on its back window.

Some people stop going to a religious organization because it is more of a social or country club event. You must pass a litmus test of sorts to be a part of their organization. After being excluded or treated as an outsider, time and time again, you stop going. Ironically, many of these organizations see themselves as a loving family.

As a Christian, I’ve been in churches which call themselves loving families. However, they are anything but loving and inclusive. Many of these churches consider real members as those individuals whose families have been in the local church since it was created, or, as a newcomer, you have deep and giving pockets. Otherwise, you are a nobody.

There are many reasons why people choose not to affiliate with religious organizations. Another primary reason is that the religious organizations are shallow. Many see the participants as nothing more than pretenders of their faith. There is also a large group of people who think that the things they have done in their past and/or doing in the present exclude them from ever being a part of any religious organization.

While this may be true in some organizations, it is not true in Christianity. If someone accepts that Christ came into this world to save them from their own sinful nature in order to make them righteous before God and through the power of the Holy Spirit continues to move him or her towards perfection, then they are forgiven of their past sins. They are new beings.

However, while God will work with them to continue to make them better, day by day, this does not mean that they will never sin again. They will. Nevertheless, as long as they realize they have done wrong and repent, God will continue to bless them and encourage them in the faith.

One of the worst sins they could commit, or we as long-time Christians could commit, is to continually remember our sins of old. This hinders us from becoming what God wants us to be and diminishes what Christ did for our salvation and future.

God loves you. He wants you to be His for eternity. Through His Holy Spirit He will guide you through your good times and tough times. He will include you and receive you into His Holy kingdom, regardless of what organized religions may do to you in the here and now.