No Body Expects the Spanish Inquisition: Church Conflict

It really makes me angry when people use the church as a means to their own ends.

It seems to be happening a lot these days. I've seen church youth groups be used as a means of spreading gossip in the name of "prayer requests." Heck, I've seen church sunday school groups formed entirely of senior citizens that use their "prayer chain" as a means of completely legitimating their old people grape vine of mindless prattle. I've seen prayer used as a means of accusing someone of doing something wrong. I've recently seen people attempt to use church as a means of ambushing someone to force them into interacting. I've seen churches used as a battle ground between feuding friends, or worse, feuding exes.

What happened to the love people? What happened to wanting to go to church to go to church? Wanting to learn, to pray, to commune with others? What happened to the church as a sacred space? Where is the house of the Lord to be if we continue to profane it in such a manner? Where is the love?

Then again, the church has used itself as a means of conflict, such as in the Crusades and in the Spanish Inquisition. Click the link. It'll be good for your soul. Every soul needs some LOLz sometimes. But conflict that the church performs as a whole is remarkably different from the conflict church members cause with each other. Members of the modern church have really dropped the ball on this one. We're supposed to be helping and supporting each other, not accosting each other in the name of the Lord, or in his house. Not cool.

Rawr.