Some people love to make fun of Christians especially when they are immersed in worship services. Non-believers have uploaded several videos on Facebook showing them sniggering at the sight of Christians closing their eyes and raising their hands while praying, or going all out when singing church songs.
"Christians are easy targets it seems, even among their peers because even Christians take cheap shots at Christians," writes missionary Rosilind Jukic for Charisma News.
However, there should be some things that should be considered off-limits to mockery. Worship should not be made a laughing matter, says Jukic, because it's a person's holy connection to God.
She then gave five reasons why poking fun of worship is a no-no:
1. It offends God
"Worship is an expression God created for mankind as a way to fully and intimately convey the depth of our love to Him," she says. "To presume that we have the freedom to invade another person's intimate expression of worship, whether it be their physical expression of worship or their creative expression of worship through lyrics or music, is offensive to God because that worship expression was a sincere act of an individual to convey the depth of their love to God, and it was fully received by God with joy."
2. It desecrates worship
Jukic says that people fail to regard God as holy when they make punchlines out of acts of worship. Simply put, to make fun of worship is to desecrate it, and Christians need to be reminded that God takes desecration of worship very seriously.
3. It distracts us
Instead of praying to God sincerely during Sunday service, there are some Christians who would be distracted into looking at fellow church members and notice how funny they look with their hands raised at various angles, says Jukic. Thoughts in church fly away because of the mockery and the whole point of worship is then missed.
4. It distracts others
When Christians grow aware of the mockery against them, they might feel embarrassed to worship with freedom in the future. "When they enter God's presence, they no longer feel the freedom they used to feel. They can't just let go of their inhibitions and worship because they feel like they are the centre of someone's attention who is going to make them the brunt of a joke later on," says Jukic.
5. It reveals a cold heart
Lastly, Jukic says that the more people make fun of worship, the colder and more distant their hearts become for God to "check in" their spirits. "When we can laugh at this and not feel how deeply it offends God, we can be sure our heart has grown cold," says Jukic.
