Christian Wrong

I was talking to my sister this morning. She lives in a very Christian town in Texas. The very Christian woman who runs the local Curves recently purchased a new massage chair for her clients. For $25 you can sit in this chair for 30 minutes. Expensive chair...anyway the owner was offering your first 30 minutes for free. My sister was unaware of this free promotion when she wrote a check for $25 to give the chair a try. The very Christian woman took my sister's check and has since cashed it. The very Christian woman new it was my sister's first time on the chair - it may have slipped her mind that the first 30 minutes was free. So maybe she inadvertently kept the money. Herein is the problem. I don't believe she forgot to give my sister her free 30 minutes. My sister had a check ready and the lady took the money. She is a business woman and making money is her purpose - that is just fine. This same woman plays only Christian music in her store, her right, go ahead. There are bible quotes everywhere, and according to my sister she will preach to anyone at any time. OK, it is her store and she can do all of those things - However, if she is going to be like Jesus she can't accept money for a free trial or she cannot advertise a free trial. And if she is so much like Jesus then she should recognize her error and give my sister 60 free minutes in the massage chair. We are made in God's image but he made us human and gave us the power of free choice - we are not Jesus and though we can try to live good, honest lives we all make mistakes. No matter how much you can quote the bible or how quickly you can tell me I am a sinner - you are the same as me. Human and prone to mistakes - and while you may believe that when you falter all you are required to do is ask for forgiveness at services on Sunday or put an extra $10 in the basket - you must first make right to the person you wronged. God will forgive us all if we ask for it, this is a great gift. But when you wrong another human being, it is this person you must seek forgiveness from - God is not hearing your "I'm sorry" until you say it to the offended party. This nice woman may have done all of this in error and does not even know she made a mistake and is walking around proud of herself for the great services she provides all in the name of God - then again she could be human like the rest of us, she could be a woman trying to make a buck to pay the rent, and maybe she figured what she was doing was not stealing. It is hard to sit so high and mighty because the fall is far far down. It is difficult attempting to live in perfection because the mirror doesn't lie - and most challenging is to find so many wrongs and faults with non-Christians because in fact, Jesus teaches us not to judge - so this is why Christians are wrong in so much of what they do. They often use their religion to avoid responsibility or to avoid their lives. Either one is not right and thus they are wrong. Go ahead, be of faith and spirit and believe all that makes you feel peaceful and safe - but don't cross yourself with one hand and smack me in the face with the other. I will turn the other cheeck because that is what I was taught - but there will be a smile on my face because you will only have proven me to be the person living more in Jesus's image - and that makes me happy.