I have been debating writing this
post all afternoon after a conversation/debate with a friend via Facebook left
me feeling very out of sorts, disturbed would be the best way to put it I
guess, maybe even a little hurt. Now, I
will say I should never have even gotten started in the conversation in
question to begin with and should have known better. Please do know as you read this, I mean no
disrespect to the other person involved in this conversation at all, but I
think the direction the conversation went is a testament to some of the
situations I sometimes find myself in as a Christian who doesn’t always follow
along with the mainstream.
I have a friend (well lots of
friend actually) who have varying beliefs about homosexuality and specifically
gay marriage. It is no secret that I fully support gay marriage. I make no secret of it and often find myself
in heated conversations about it. Well, today, I once again opened my big fat
mouth in response to a Facebook post. I
just couldn’t help myself. I have had
debates with this friend before and they have gotten rather heated in the
past. However, we have always remained
friends and just agreed to disagree. We’ve
actually had conversations about the benefit of having friends who challenge
you. I thought today was just the same.
Our debate included conversations about the constitution, freedom of
religion, civil rights and pretty much the same as our previous conversations
when the conversation took a turn I never saw coming. I was told, “…. I
just wish you took God's word as literally as you do the constitution...” Ummm, wow.
It completely 100% caught me off guard.
My immediate thought was, “Ouch.
How dare she question my faith?”
When I told her pretty much exactly that, the response I got was that
she had every right to question me and that when I professed to be a Christian
but don’t support His laws my faith is called into question. I did and still do 100% feel that calling someone
into question like that, especially when it comes to their beliefs and faith is
wrong, especially when I don’t feel like it doesn’t come from a place of concern
about my well-being as a Christian, but from anger/discontent over different
beliefs. I felt like I was basically getting told I was a bad Christian, if
there even is such a thing. Now, I am
not saying that is how it was intended, but definitely the way it felt.
I know that some think we should
take the Bible literally as it is written and a lot of people say there is no
room for interpretation. My question to
that is then how the heck is it that we have so many denominations of Christianity,
all with varying beliefs? I’m a
Methodist and we believe in infant baptism and have the scripture to back it
up. However, Baptists believe in
full-submersion Baptism when you are ready to publicly commit to Christ. They also have scripture to back up their
belief. Catholics has very different
beliefs from Protestants. We’re all
Christians, though, right? If the leaders of the varying denominations have
different interpretations of the Bible and they can’t come to a consensus and
they are experts on the topic, then how is it that there isn’t room for
interpretation? And why do we all have to be so caught up with being right? I
mean if we as Christians feel the need to attack each others beliefs and call
each other wrong, then what does that really say about us? And how can we really impact the world if we
are too busy arguing among ourselves to really help? I think healthy debate and discussion is a good thing, but not when it means we have to question whether you are a true Christian because you have varying opinions.
I guess as a Christian this is my
thing. You hear all the time about there
being less Christians today. I don’t
even know if the statistics are correct, but I do know that I see a lot of
people that automatically make judgments about me when they find out I am a
Christian because of what they see on TV. “Oh, you’re one of those church people.” I
think as Christians one of the biggest things we can do is bring other people
to Christianity. For me, I want people to look at me, the life I lead, the kind
of person I am, my lack of judgment and disdain for those that feel differently
than me and think, “Wow, she’s pretty cool.
If that’s what a Christian is then maybe I ought to find out what it is
all about.” I think that’s how I bring
other to Christ. I don’t claim to be an expert.
I don’t claim to have all the answers or be the perfect Christian. I don’t claim that my beliefs about certain
subjects are the “right” ones, but they are mine and those beliefs are the
things that help me sleep at night knowing that I am the kind of person I want
to be.
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