Thank you Ellen for the post. I have lots of stories as well, as do most Christians concerning the

 

abuse of those who wear a different hair style, have tatoos, wear certain styles of clothes,etc. It's pathetic

 

to see these things happen and to hear of them coming from the mouth of those who claim to be

 

Christians.

 

Here's one such happening of about 14 or 15 years ago. It was and still is a grievious thing to me and

 

certainly it was to the Holy Spirit and to that Lamb of God who gave His life so that all could be saved.

 

We know that Jesus never turned anyone away who came to Him for styles of hair or clothes or any other

 

reason. He is not willing that any should perish.

 

To shorten the story, this girl was about 18 and she went to church with a friend who invited her and

 

she wore of nice pant suit that was in no way immoral as to cut or fit or style.  When she came into the

 

church, the pastor shook her hand and asked her her name and she told him.  After the church service

 

started, this pastor called her name from the pulpit and he said "Theresa G. , you will not ever wear

 

pants to this church again. We don't dress like that here."  She was so stunned and embarrassed, she

 

couldn't even get up and leave and her friend was crying. Well, to this day,  Theresa has not entered another

 

church and somehow because of that and other abuses from 'christians', she will not attend any type of

 

church.

 

It just made me sick when Theresa told me that, and I read scripture to her, about the love of God, which

 

she had not seen amongst the churches she had been in. She promised to re read these scriptures and

 

to read the New Testament and see what God has to say about His love for all of us.

 

The worst part of it all was the life that Theresa had lived, being tossed to and fro amont foster parent

 

homes, and lonely for a real parent or parents...who loved her. Some of these foster parents claimed to

 

be 'christians' too and there was various abuses thruought her life. To my knowledge, she has never returned

 

to church and does not know the Lord...and in her eyes, she viewed God as treating people in such

 

evil ways as these 'christians' she had encountered did. She was so ripe for the harvest, but she wasn't

 

wanted in the harvest.

 

We need to remember that if Jesus walked into our churches (or tried to) today, that it is highly unlikely

 

that He would be allowed in. Suppose he came in with a robe, hair longer than the preacher, and

 

sandals (perish the thought), how fast do you think it would take for them to cast him out of that make

 

believe church.? It's my guess he might be allowed to stay 2 or 3 minutes, if he ever got inside the door.

 

Is it any wonder that something as simple as a tatoo would cause a person seeking God to turn away from Him?

 

Man looks on the outside, but God looks on the inside.

 

When we would deny the gospel to even 1 person, we can't sing the song of "look at me, I am a Christian' anymore.

 

And Peggy, thanks , some horrible ungodly things have and are happening in the local churches and amongst believers.

 

Just recently, I was hearing on television that 3 out of 4 young people never attend a church regularly again after high school graduation,

 

or beginning of college , or beginning of their first serious job, While the local church group served as a social group , it no longer

 

even does that after serious beginning of adult life.There has to be more to it than that.

 

You know, I use to go fishing as a child with family. Never once did I see a person clean up a fish and then go catch it. This is what

 

I saw. I saw the fish caught and after that, then the fish was cleaned. In case of salvation, however, the fish is caught and it is the

 

Holy Spirit, and only the Holy Spirit who cleans that little fish.....but it is done after he is caught (or saved).

 

It's not "us 4 and no more"...but it is go into the fields...the harvest is ripe unto harvest...come laborers, take the gospel of Jesus

 

Christ into all the world.