The past few years have been an evolution for me. As most of you have probably picked up on, I was raised an extremely Christian fundamentalist home. I was taught that gay people are on the same par with pedophiles and that Gandhi was a bad person. I believe my parents meant well in what they taught me, but I also strongly disagree with this mindset of "us (Christians) versus them (non Christians).
When I was in college, I embraced a world where all things Christian were not relevant. As i matured though, I found that I was not willing to give up all of my former beliefs and began to study the Bible and try and decipher for myself what I believe. That’s when things really started to happen in my life. Things that made me question everything I was taught as a child, and ultimately things that helped me shape my belief system as it stands today.
I began to look at things from a radically different point of view than my parents, while still holding on to the same basics. (I believe that Jesus died for my sins, I believe he rose again, I believe I'm going to heaven because I have been chosen by God and because I have faith in the promises outlined in the Bible.)
I think it's more about the things that I don't believe that have caused me so much grief when speaking with my family or friends who still consider themselves "traditional" Christians. I don't see anywhere in the Bible that condones mixing politics and religion. In fact, quite the opposite. I don't think Jesus’ message was that of exclusion and legalism but of acceptance and freedom. I don't think it makes me a bad person to label myself a feminist (someone who believes in rights for women), and I don't think being one makes me a "bad" Christian woman. These are just some examples to show you where I am coming from. It frustrates me to see the teachings of the most amazing God/Man on the planet being trivialized to the point that people are arguing if He was a democrat or a Republican. It hurts me to think that there are people out there who think that Jesus wants us to be at war with another country over oil and democracy. I know Christians who have no problem talking about killing another human, as long as that other human is a different religion and creed than they are. These are the things that make me angry and often I can't articulate these beliefs without letting my emotions get in the way.
So, if you are one of the people who think that I have lost my way as a Christian, than please read this post and try and understand where my heart is on these issues. I used to worry that
this passage in the bible would be true for me. These days my heart grieves that it will be true for those who think they are doing God's work.
Labels: Religion
