How Great Thou Aren't

By Jay --

For many years I was not a "believer" for various reasons. One day I found my confessing my sins and turning over new leaf during a hard time in my life.

Image by CR Artist via Flickr

For almost five years I fervently believed I was right about the choice I had made. However, over time I noticed that I did not exactly fit into the country club. Oh sure, I had been granted entry and was allowed to sit at the big table, but I was an outcast in among the true believers. It dawned on me one day that it was not the other people, but me. I was seeing things for what they really were and that was bothering me. After all, the Bible teaches love, kindness, patience, forgiveness, etc. All of those things are preached, but are never practiced.

I found myself looking in the mirror and wondering how I fell into the trap so easily? I realized I had become the hypocrite of the Bible because of the Bible! Once I decided that I could not go on being this way and that religion was nothing more than a way to make yourself feel better about the finality of death, I decided to leave the church.

I now know why some people must be whisked away in the night to get out of some cults. These same people who once claimed to love me where now telling me that I was being possessed by evil spirits and that they would pray for me -- harassing me night and day. "Friends" stopped calling, and at its worst I was getting phone calls and visits from people I did not even know. It was scary for me and my family. The great thing about it is that if I had any doubts about making the right choice, that had been erased quickly.

I don't know why I am writing this, perhaps I needed to let this out among others who understand. "How Great Thou Art" surely was a misprint, because the people of God are far more lost then any other group I ever met.

Thank you Christians for opening my eyes to the err of my ways, and may you one day be brave enough to look the mirror as well.