I don’t know what else to say. Keep loving others for His sake.

It’s so fucking simple but people still don’t get it.

You’ve got a fire and the word is alive.

Well said, Ryan. Well said.

And no, I’m not a Christian. But I respect and appreciate all that you do and share, and I hope your faith grows stronger and influences others to follow.

This is absolutely wonderful.

eris - those who call themselves Christians have to do it because otherwise we’d never know. The true Christians rarely saw a word about it - they simply do as Ryan says here: They love, love, love, rinse, repeat. And more and more of those are turning up in my life every day.

LESS preachy mumbo jumbo. I don’t come here to be preached at. I come here for the entertaining restaurant stories and observations!

So please get back to your roots and give the people what they want!

I could go on, but I won’t. I’ve just never understood how people who claim to believe in God and love Jesus, blatantly spit on his most basic teachings of loving each other, turning the other cheek, and just being a good and kind person.
It’s nice to see that other people in my generation realize that all the talk does nothing when it’s not followed by the appropriate action.

Maybe in one of you’re next posts, you could add links to sites for Habitat for Humanity, or local food shelves and shelters, so others in your area can see places to donate time or money.

Fortunately for me, I’m not a crazy person so I don’t believe there’s a man in the sky who controls everything, nor do I believe that same man made everything 5,000 years ago and then put the shoebox under his bed and forgot about it. I am unburdened by the need to be a hypocritical, illogical, self-important moron who bases his life on the land of make-believe. We have but this life, these few years, to either make our mark or to die, unimportant.

Our lives should be dedicated to improving our world, and improving the lives of others in our world is part and parcel. I don’t need a 2,000 year old book that has been edited and eviscerated by priests to COMMAND that I do so. I do so because it is right.

I belong to the church of iserveidiots, and whatever you f’ing want to write, you write.

Peace and love,

Fredo

And I agree I know many people that go to church every Sunday, claim to be all about god, but then do the most terrible things to other people

I don’t know a thing about religion, and I have never really gone to church, so don’t judge me here, I am just saying. And your right, I just don’t get it. Help me understand…..

What I meant was that all Heather cared about were stories about being a waiter. There’s some bigger stuff than some idiot’s rantings about the restaurant industry and if I choose to write about that bigger stuff, then it should be okay.

I would ask, though, that in criticizing the Church you also consider how much the Church is doing right. While there are many ‘christians’ (those who do not really know or seek Christ) who could not care less about helping others, there are many, many others who are faithfully serving God and their fellow. This is not because they are ‘good people’ who happen to be Christians, but because they are true followers of Jesus’ life and teachings.

Its easy to call names at the Church and point out everything it is doing wrong (and these things certainly must be said). Still, let us not forget how much good has also been done, and the examples set forth by people like St. Francis, Mother Teresa, and the countless others who are giving their lives in service and sacrifice to the Kingdom.

I now have a much deeper respect for you, Ryan. Keep writing, and keep putting faith into action.

Grace and Peace.

I was raised Catholic, and occasionally attend mass and read my Bible, sometimes willingly and sometimes because part of me feels forced to because that’s what people expect to see. But that’s not the point of being a Christian, really. Like you said, it all comes down to Love. I don’t need to read the Bible over and over, or to have heated conversations regarding its interpretation to understand that it all boils down (if we go by the example of Jesus) to Love…and we should spend more time practicing it than talking about it.

I always like to quote St. Francis of Assisi: “Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.” I think you’re doing a good job at preaching, Ryan.

And its your blog, write what you want!!

Who says we are doing a “whole lot of nothing”? I believe that I don’t need to go to church to do well in the world. I don’t need to stand in services for a couple of hours so that other people can see how good of a person I am. In fact, doesn’t the Bible say that you should pray in private, and not in front of others as to show off? The best kindness acts are those done in silence, without any of this “look at how good I am!” business.

You are making assumptions that because we don’t attend church regularly, we must be doing nothing good. You are mistaken, and making stupid assumptions.

If you choose to volunteer at church, good for you! But that is not the only place where people can choose to help. Like Ryan said, there are many people out there who don’t call themselves Christian and yet they do so much more to spread Love than many self-proclaimed Christians. You can keep driving teens to retreats where they will continue to talk about God, I will keep donating money and time to uninsured patients and homeless individuals.

I’m trying not to turn this into a battle with anyone because I know Ryan doesn’t like that stuff and won’t put up with it here. I will how ever clarify my points.
You claim I am making assumptions about people who don’t attend church regularly are not doing anything. I’m not you are. I merely pointed out for those who do attend how ever regularly whether full time or not that complaining about people who do nothing are doing nothing themselves but complain and thus are taking no action themselves.
You are right, you don’t have to attend a church to do things. My whole point was directed towards those that say they do how ever regularly and do nothing. That’s it.
I hope this clears things up and that will be that.
Have a great day everyone.

Later!

-HOWEVER-

You yourself are known for your literary abilities of fiction to bring one to laughter.

You yourself in this post did an awful lot of talking. What you did was simulate the experience of a homeless person. Crazy, awesome, insightful,dangerous,

But in the end you didn’t do anything about it but talk. What exactly are you doing besides complaining about other people’s error in their ways? Not that I am bashing what you did, because it was purely courageous.

You are quite a brilliant person for your realizations, so I think your next step is to continue writing and start your own movement. I am also a former resident of St. Augustine, but for only about 5 months, so i did not have much exposure to the homeless you speak of.

My personal belief is that Homeless people definitely don’t choose to be homeless. (Let’s remove the small margin of people that actually do choose, because its irrelevant)
Being homeless is like being trying to build a house without any tools at all.

It cant be done.. a homeless person will have EXTREME difficulty get on their feet if they don’t have the proper help and tools to do so.

Back to my original point though, I’d like to see what you are proposing to do about the disgust you have with certain parts of humanity. Now that you have made insightful discoveries I want to see what you do to step up and do something about it.

I will gladly help in your movement. I’m not anyone special but I am more then willing to help

And I’m not going into the religion thing because we’d be here all night with everyone’s beliefs, criticism, praise, and so on. So, we’ll leave that for another time.

Good job, Ryan. I hope you continue to do great things.

Bummer…

I also know I’m going to get blasted for this post, but someone had to say it…

Later…I guess.

however…my church is the only church in a city of churches…that sponsors 1 of 2 homeless programs in a city of 500.000+…that has only 4 regular volunteers out of over 100 church attendees. christian love? love is a word to them. it ends when you have to get your hands dirty, even though the only dirtying would be shaking hands with or praying for one of the street folks. i don’t get it…these are their countrymen, i’m a freaking foreigner and i’m the one eager to volunteer?! i don’t get it. no one cares.

so next time you get discourged about the US generation…try to remember it’s a universal problem. God bless you, by giving your time to draw attention to this problem, you’re helping.

every little bit helps, skeptical commentators ;]

I am a follower of Jesus Christ. I live what I believe. I spent three of my college years volunteering at a women’s shelter in Nashville a few times a week (even going so far as to help a few ladies move when they finally found housing), and my husband and I now work overseas through an NGO where it is illegal to share the gospel–we provide relief and development while creating opportunities to share Truth with those who would not hear it otherwise. At my college, we were required to do some kind of “Christian Service” as a part of our studies–the women’s shelter was an extra one I picked up in addition to my required service. I say that to say this: not all Christians in name are as you stereotypically describe them. I know many people like those you mention, but I also know many genuine believers who do much good as an outgrowth of their faith. Some of the best advice I’ve ever heard is this: do not judge God based solely on people, because people are imperfect, sinful beings to the core. The only good we can possibly do is through Jesus Christ, but if we begin to grow cold in that relationship (as we all do from time to time), then our base, sinful nature shines through more than His holy, loving one. Of course it is our goal to be more like Him, and I pray that as we study His Word we are ever growing, but we still must acknowledge that we (and those around us) remain fallen beings, subject to failing God and mankind alike. This is where GRACE is such an important part of the believer’s life–grace for ourselves and for others. I am praying for you–that you may learn to forgive and experience the grace that flows from it–knowing from experience that true, undeserved forgiveness is one of the most difficult things you will ever do, even with His help.

It appears that throughout history there has been a pendulum swinging from one extreme to the other: from Romanticism to the Enlightenment; from Existentialism to Modernism, to Postmodernism; and recently, from the traditional church to the emerging church movement. In every case the flaws of one movement are overcompensated in the next, and that which remains true is in the balance–never en vogue, but never on the fringe either. Just thought I should say that. There have always been flaws in the church, but there has always been truth there, too. The flaws are “our” fault (see above).

And FYI, I “have never been happier than as a Christian” and seeing as I have sacrificed the comforts of America and the closeness of my family and friends to serve the needy overseas with my husband and son, I think I can safely say that your following statements don’t apply. Please be careful when making such blanket remarks… You can be happy/satisfied/content in Jesus Christ.

BTW, kudos to you for living homeless for a few days. I wish more people would be willing to exit their comfort zones like that. I pray that your experiences will help you to grow and develop a plan of action to make a change in Jesus’ name.

Sorry for the tome–your article just hit me in the right mood.