Poison In The Pews

Ever since I was a little boy growing up in the church in Mississippi, I would always hear the word "Favor" from the mouths of people like the old church deacon in the flooded slacks or the church mothers on the front row wearing ostentatious hats in order to signify their position as a church monarch. Some say that the greatest gift man can receive while he or she is on this earth is God's favor. Others would argue that favor is not fair or is exclusive to a few. So in this a form of separation within the Christian faith? Do we believe that favor come from the feeling of God's presence in our everyday lives or do we believe we are favored, because a church mother or someone over authority says so.

As a son of a national evangelist and pastor, my life always seemed to be under the microscope. I was told that I could not go certain places, hang with certain people, and do certain things. It seemed as if where ever i went, someone pointed me out as a Quinn. I was almost, if not always judged by the choices I made on my own, but because my father had a high ranking position in our particular denomination, my sins somehow carried more weight. I agree that there are somethings that people who claim Christianity should not do, but we are all humans with many flaws. I would cringe at the way church people would look down on that pregnant teenage girl, the lady with the alcoholic-abusive husband, or the man whose son is in a gang. Luckily I had parents that understood people. They were strict, but people loved them for not judging them based on their past, their sin, their failure to fully submit to God.


I wanted God's favor, but I couldn't see past the way people who say that they have God's favor would block the entrance to the kingdom of God as if God has appointed them "Holy Club Bouncers". It broke my heart to hear young people my age say that they felt more pain from "church folk" than from their "worldly friends" who may not even have a spirituality. They would rather feel love from their "worldly friends" than to feel the hell that church people promote over God's love for all. God's favor is the most precious gift, but God never gave man the authority to decide who could recieve it or who deserves it.