Simplification

Growing up in a Black Apostolic Church back in the seventies was a frightening experience for a kid.

The message was relatively simple: you get saved and go to heaven. You don’t? Well… you go to hell. Fire and Brimstone. Fiery death. Compare that to eternity in heaven. Streets paved in gold. Pearly gates and mansions. You get the picture.

The service and lifestyle was different too. Very on point and structured. No walking around, gum chewing, leaving early. Prayer caps for the women. Dresses over the knees. You want to talk during service? A quick back hand slap across the head (for a boy) should do the trick to ensure it ever happening again. Messages were read from the Bible, and you actually carried one with you. You also looked up the scriptures (without going to the table of contents) and read/follow along. The pastor worked a full time job and considered his pastoral duties a “work for G-d” and was available for funeral services, hospital visits, home visits, and counseling to his congregation no matter the time of day.

Fast forward to the new millennium. Where every body is a “friend of G-d” and lives in prosperity. The message is not of “fire and brimstone” but rather of receiving “All that G-d has for you”, How to live on the earth a blessed life, and Giving to Get. The new millennium saw “mega churches” where every body does not know or care to know your name unless you belong in a “small group”. Gum chewing, talking, leaving before the end of a service is not a big deal. Neither is wearing jeans, flip flops and tank tops for that matter. Technology has made it so that the messages appear on a screen and therefore looking up the scriptures in the actual Bible is now considered passé. The pastor considers the church his full time job and therefore delegates “overseers” to administer home visits, conducts funerals and counseling.


Having experienced both “scenarios” I can say that I have been disillusioned with both methods. Too scared to live for fear I would anger G-d with the old- time way and angry with G-d in the new way because He chose not to answer my prayers but instead seemed focused on giving Suzy a rich husband and baby.

One thing is definitely for sure. None of us were put on this earth to live either way.

For myself, I didn’t know what to do anymore. I had conflicting ideas of how G-d was, how He viewed me, and even questioned why I was here. I knew that I couldn’t be the only one. But I couldn’t help anyone until I had the answers for myself. With that determination, I read the Bible in its entirety. I studied scripture and chapters. I divided the first and new testaments into sections to determine what the point, purpose, and gist of it being there. I studied context. I studied what the Messiah did during and after His time on earth. I studied how He was perceived before and after His death. And that’s when it hit me. He came on the earth for something specific. And He directed others to do something very specific. He showed examples of how to live. And He taught examples of how to treat one another.

At the end of the day, it’s that simple. It really is.



Love, Peace, and …..