from the pulpit ;)

The Christians of today's generation are a copy, of a copy, of a copy... Very few followers today have read the words of Jesus for themselves. Today's Christianity is an inherited faith. An immitation of the last generation's understandings.

Past generations have done an excellent job of passing on the dos and don'ts, the right and wrong, but what's gotten lost along the way is the unconditional love Christians are called upon to have for God and everyone around them.

This is not to suggest that modern Christians are in any way lacking in passion; however, once we've forgotten that loving others is above all other commands, this passion, combined with a very real knowledge of what constitutes right from wrong, can lead to disdain for what we consider "sinners"... which can lead to anger.. and even a condemning and hateful way of thinking.

Some of the easiest things for Christians to forget are that 1)we are ALL sinners, 2) that no one is getting to Heaven by their own means, but only by God's grace, and 3) it's not our place to judge and never was.

The loss of a loving spirit as the primary focus of the Christian lifestyle, is the greatest irony in the history of Christianity, for LOVE is the basis for all of Christ's teachings and the motivation behind his entire life on earth.