The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
The Importance of Being Born Again
Dear Editor,
Last weekend, I had a very different and enlightening experience. It involved attending a huge (several thousand members) Assembly of God Church in St. Joseph, MO.
It is hard to describe the enthusiasm and joy exhibited by many born again Christians.
Many had been drug addicts, alcoholics, excessive gamblers, sex offenders, etc. However, it was apparent that they had turned their lives around by accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior and were seeking to serve Him the rest of their lives.
Sometimes you go into different churches and the services seem to drag.
There is a lack of friendliness, messages do not seem very practical to your everyday life and you are truthfully not very inspired.
At St. Joe, it was definitely not conducive to falling asleep! You got the feeling that everyone was completely accepted, no matter what their past life may have involved.
There were all sizes, shapes, and colors of people, yet no one seemed to think they were any better than their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
The messages were down to earth and easy to understand, yet directly related to biblical teachings and one's everyday life.
Everyone seemed friendly but not overbearing. The thing which especially made you want to go back was the jubilation that was displayed.
Sometimes you have Sunday morning Christians, who like to put on the good front, but then become two-faced during the week.
Others demonstrate their Christianity by living daily good works. For example, a few year ago we ran out of gas a few miles outside of Roseville.
A family had just attended a church service and were on their way to the hospital to visit a son who had been severely injured the night before in a motorcycle accident.
They did not know if he would live or die, yet bothered to take me a few miles for the unimportant task of getting gas and then back to our car.
Individuals interpret the Bible differently and each religious group has varying degrees of differences in beliefs. Some denominations think they have all of the answers.
However, since we are all humans, this of course, is not possible, and only God has that knowledge/power.
Therefore, we should seek to learn from all other religions and become as unified as possible, rather than forcing our beliefs on others.
If we could all demonstrate the genuine joy and enthusiastic works which true born again Christians demonstrate in their daily lives, think of how much better our world would be!
Weyman George, Macomb