The Bad Christian podcast spoke to Tommy Green, of the hardcore band Sleeping Giant, where he shared his testimony, and expressed his thoughts on church being fake sometimes.

Yesterday, BC wrote about the testimony side of his story which is incredible and can be read here.

Today's focus is on Green's thoughts about people of all types being accepted in the church, the perceived perfection of pastors and leaders, and using your gifts outside of the church.

"The Christianity I see is rated R," Green said, regarding real people with real struggles. He makes the claim that not everything is black and white in the sense of topical issues in the church. Sometimes just hearing God loves you, forgive, believe, etc, is not enough. There are people of all walks of life going through some of the worst things imaginable, and they are not often spoken about in the church because it is deemed too extreme.

People cannot function and be shamed into their conviction, and most are well aware of their wrongdoing he stated. "Most people are overwhelmingly feeling like garbage." Green was referring to bodies of believers being judgmental and just needing help and encouragement rather than being beaten down into a group of "sinners."

He believes the teaching in church is too overly complicated, and does not teach enough practical experience on "loving the unlovable." The church may preach love, but does not teach how to love. "We've made it about knowing things, instead of knowing people, or knowing a person," he shared.

Green certainly knows about loving the unlovable as he continued to love on his wife and the person she was cheating with. It was through his attempt to be Christ-like that he ultimately became a true Christian. Read about Green's conversion story and incredible testimony here.

The Sleeping Giants front man sees people at concerts and shows and knows they need to receive the love of Jesus just as much as anyone else. In the hardcore music scene, Green is around people with piercings and tattoos, and maybe other things that are part of who they are that "Christians" may frown down upon. If some of these people walk into a church there is a good chance they will feel uncomfortable because people may no be so receptive of them. The same thing with people that are struggling with depression, substance abuse, or whatever else it might be. Green wants people to truly learn to love as Jesus did with open arms for all. This is what he means by "Rated R Christianity," because the real world is not always so pretty.

Another topic of discussion on the podcast was the state of the church and how people are allowed to use their gifts. He feels God gives gifts to people whether they use them or not, and believes the church tries to restrict gifts to "perfect" people only. "There's people that the church hasn't given any room for," he shared. He pointed to the example of gifted individuals outside of the church walls expanding God's kingdom, but the gifts are not allowed in the church and sometimes even condemned.

"The church just has to wake up," and expect everyone to be a youth pastor, worship leader, or something else, he said. There are other gifts to spread. He thinks this often creates "fake expectations" that puts "too much pressure to be fake or perfect." God's chosen need to work together to change the culture as a whole, not just during Sunday service.

"The world needs Jesus and we are stuck in our own little one dimensional box waiting for everyone else to jump in with us," he said, "I think when people are free to love, it takes all the fake pressure off of it."

For more thoughts and context to what Green is speaking about listen to the podcast here and learn more about the Bad Christian blog here.