There are real churches for that
by Angie
I used to have strange/prophetic type dreams a lot when I was young. I haven’t had them much as an adult. I had a very strange dream recently, and was motivated by a friend sharing her dream to be bold and share mine.
In my dream I was going into this store that was selling religious experiences. I went in several times and I kept talking to the old man working at the front desk. The last time I went in, he gave me a pamphlet of all the religious experiences you could purchase. There were different rooms in the store, and each was the religion you chose. In the pamphlet there were all kinds of false religions, from the common ones most people have heard of to ancient Baal-type sex worshiping religions I had never heard of. I looked through the pamphlet and then asked him where the Christian one was. He laughed at me and said “Why would we have that? There are real churches for that.” All of a sudden it was like I realized “oh wow, duh….” I left the store intent on stopping anyone from going inside. I started yelling for people not to go in and some of them started turning into demons and chasing me. Then the dream ended.
What does it mean? I don’t know. But it was unnerving and I have been thinking about it ever since. Some false religions do seem to be sold like a service, advertised to cure this, meet this need or that, solve something, answer something, oppress or indulge something. Even some Christian churches sell themselves like a commodity, falling in line with our increasingly consumer driven society. But, Christ doesn’t need to be sold, can’t be sold. Thats what makes Him different from other religious experiences. Its not an experience, its a relationship and a lifestyle, and it cant be bought, sold or imitated. Yet many Christian churches have been trying to package it nicely and sell it like candy, shaping and changing Christ to be what the masses approve of. Are they any different than the churches of false religions? We cant pick and choose what religion works best for us, what denomination agrees with our own self image, what we think lines up best with our own self worshiping religions, because in doing that religion become what we make it to be, from inside our own tiny minds, instead of from something apart from us, bigger than us, something from God. The words of that creepy old man from my dream ring in my head “Why would we offer Christ? There are real churches for that.”
I finally got around to reading this. CRAZY dream, woman! But really cool in a sense. I think you said it best here:
But, Christ doesn’t need to be sold, can’t be sold. Thats what makes Him different from other religious experiences. Its not an experience, its a relationship and a lifestyle, and it cant be bought, sold or imitated. Yet many Christian churches have been trying to package it nicely and sell it like candy, shaping and changing Christ to be what the masses approve of.
Perfect way to make something of the dream, I’d say.