What do you think?

"Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." Luke 9:23

What exactly did Jesus mean when he said that?

Seems to me like there is a pretty sizeable chunk of the church in the US that views denying themselves in terms of "don't rules". You know, don't be gay, don't have abortions, don't drink, don't smoke, don't cuss, don't fornicate, and don't hang out with anyone who does any of that. These folks have a lot of rules but not much love.

This group seems to have made an idol out of morality and they like to impose morality on the unregenerate population. Isn't this the essence of pharisaism? {Don't misunderstand. I think those rules are pretty important for Christians to live by. Its just that our lifestyle has to be born out of love for God and for others, not for following rules.}

Then there is another pretty big portion of the church in America whose version of denying self (it seems to me anyway) is to "be relevant" to the unregenerate population. This group wants to get everyone saved, which is admirable. However, they're really worried about offending anyone. So they spend their time trying to keep lost folks happy and be their buddies. Unfortunately, I think its all to seldom that they actually get to the gospel with them. They forget that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, not relationships.

Some birds have two retinas in each eye. That way they can focus on multiple obstsacles as they flit through the treetops. Maybe the church needs to do a better job of focusing on more than one thing. Maybe we can take a stand for holiness, be nice to people, and still manage to tell them that Jesus is the only way to God. Maybe? What do you think?