How Many Pew Warmers Do You Know?

Stop Buying What They're Selling!

Hi Everyone,

Because there have been a lot of tweets and Twitter pictures lately courtesy of @guyiusedtoknow and his followers re: God and religion, I thought it was about time that I finally blogged about this topic. In my opinion, all of the tweets and pictures contain valid points that should be addressed.

Just for the record, I was born and raised as a Roman Catholic, or RC. Even though I rarely go to church and don’t read the bible, I’ll always be a Roman Catholic. How a Roman Catholic differs from a Catholic is something that I haven’t investigated so I don’t know.

One thing I do know is that, even as a child, I noticed that some people go to church for show. They dress up, show up, go through the motions of singing, standing, sitting, kneeling and crossing at the appropriate times but never hear or understand the message. When people do that, I call them, “pew warmers.” Some people call them “baby-Christians.” Either way, they are the primary reason I stay OUT of church.

Now I am not saying that everyone who goes to church or believes in God or a higher power etc. misses or doesn’t understand the message, BUT a lot of people do.

In my opinion, a lot of people think that if they announce to anyone who will listen, that they believe in God or a higher power etc., that they are for a lack of a better word, Godly. Osmosis works in science but it rarely works with religion. Let’s use my family for an example.

So my favourite aunt goes to church at least three times a week, prays a lot and reads the bible every day at least once. She is my favourite aunt for the following reasons.

She leads by example so she rarely preaches, “The Word.”
The above makes her understanding, kind and generous. She may not have as much money as the other members of the family but whatever she has, she has earned it and invested it legally.
Because she knows and fully understands, “The Word,” she practices it by compensating for those who don’t or won’t.
Granted she complains about the size of her bottom, but when she sits in that pew she is there to learn or be reminded of something.

Now here is a kind overview of THAT cousin. I’ve mentioned him before in a couple of blogs.

He dresses up, shows up, goes through the all the motions of being in church, but never hears the message so he never understands it. Proof of this is below.
After every church service he promptly goes to the bar for a couple of hours. When he is done there he goes home just as his wife is setting lunch on the table. Okay maybe that doesn’t sound bad, but I’ve seen and heard him yell, scream at his wife so many times that I have made up names for each of her “looks” as he behaves like a two-year-old. One is, “The scared rabbit looking up the barrel of a loaded shot gun.”
He has one business with two sets of books. It’s the truth and a long story. In my opinion, people who have nothing to hide don’t hide anything, have two sets of books for one business and rip people off on a regular basis. That too, is the truth and I have proof of that too. Regardless, his chosen behavior is not God-like. Great, now I want to know what amount he tithes on because that is also part of the show.
He’s an excellent salesperson so he talks a good talk. Since I like to pay attention, I’ve noticed that he walks like drunken sailor still on a four day binge. This is what I mean.

One day when I went over for lunch after one of my guest appearances at church, (I rarely go to church but The Family had decided that I should FINALLY stop embarrassing them so I unwillingly went) he started flapping his yap. I looked at him and said, “That’s what the priest was preaching today. Didn’t you hear him?” This was huge. Not only was I, the non-church-goer paying attention to the service I didn’t want to go to, I also didn’t understand Hungarian very well at the time. That shut everyone up for a couple of seconds. (I was living in Hungary at the time.)

Later as he was going on about something else, I said, “That’s in the bible.” Even though he is 20 years my senior and has spent YEARS in church he still doesn’t know the bible, so he asked me how I knew. My response was, “I read a lot of books. That was in one of them.” He doesn’t read anything, including the bible he is always trying to preach to me. Got to love the bible beaters who don’t know the bible they are beating you with. ;D

Now the interesting thing is this. My favourite aunt has earned the respect of many, treats people well, (she is still human so she too has her moments) and forgives people including THAT cousin.

THAT cousin demands respect, even when he is disrespectful. He also expects to be treated well, even though he and other members of his family treat others very badly. He is quick to hold a grudge and forgives few.

My favourite aunt goes to church and learns. THAT cousin goes for show. But get this, he and his family, are not alone. A LOT of people go to church for show. Remember Ariel Castro, the person who kidnapped those three young girls, now young women? He warmed the pews at church MORE THAN ONCE!!!

A lot of prisoners will claim that they “found” God a few months before they’re up for parole. One judge told a prisoner that they were happy that he found God and suggested that he be a role model for the other prisoners because he was staying in jail! Good call.

It is said that the sickest people go to church. That means those who need the most help. More people also “find” God as they age. How or why someone finds God or a higher power is up to them. As long as they do something positive for themselves and their society of two or more people I am happy.

The point of difference of a, “pew warmer,” someone who behaves like THAT cousin or Ariel Castro, and a Christian, like my favourite aunt, is HUGE. There are a lot of pew warmers out there that use God or a higher power as a cover for their many and repeated sins. Take off your blinders and start seeing people for who they really are.

Here is a line from the bible that I read in a book, “You will know them by their acts.”

How many pew warmers do you know? Better yet, are you one?

Thank you for reading, A. Rebel’s Rant! ;D