I'm not going to lie. Lately, I've been ashamed to call myself a Christian. It's not that I'm embarrassed that I believe in God, or Creation, or Jesus' birth, death, and resurrection. I would gladly tell anyone who asks (and some who don't), what I believe. No, instead I'm ashamed of being categorized with other so-called Christians. I do not want people to lump me in a category of those who can only be called hypocrites. To be frank, I think God is probably quite embarrassed, too.
As you can probably already tell, this post is going to be offensive. And it's about homosexuality. If you can't handle these topics, do us both a favor and just stop reading, but let's be honest, if you feel like you need to stop here, this post was actually directed at you. I never, ever talk politics. I hate disturbing the peace.This is not political. I'm not taking sides in any debate. I just want to bring your attention to something. The peace was already absent. If you thought we were living in peace, you've been just as naive as I have. It's time to wake up.
Like I said, I'm not taking sides on anything. I just want to show you something. This is not about looking at reasons for or against homosexuality. I think the recent wave of suicides (actually, I call it mass murder, but whatever) due to bullying calls for a response. Of love.
We Christians like to talk about how Jesus spent time with the people that religious zealots would have nothing to do with. Personally, I think we talk about it so much because we like knowing He would've been hanging out with "us" instead of "them." But how do you think that translates to today's time period? If Jesus was here tonight, who would he be having dinner with? It's pretty easy to translate at least two groups because they exist today like they did then: the prostitutes and the poor. So, yeah, of course he would've had dinner with the ladies down on Magnolia and hung out at the shelter. Don't you ever stop to think of why? It was not just because of their social status. Zacchaeus was the opposite of the poor dudes at the shelter. Mary and Martha certainly weren't prostitutes. So what is it? Why did Jesus eat with such a variety of people?
God loves everyone.
Love should be the biggest message we, as Christians, put forth. I don't care where you get your Biblical references for why homosexuality is a sin (Old Testament, New Testament, Version A or B), Jesus said LOVE is the greatest commandment. It's important to note who said this: It wasn't Moses, or Paul, or Mary. It was God in the flesh! Sin happens when you break the rules, God's rules. So if we have the greatest commandment here (in case you missed it: LOVE), what must be the greatest sin? The absence of love.
At this point you might be like, "Oh, I'm definitely off the hook. I don't hate anyone." I didn't say anything about hate. Sure hate is bad, sinful, whatever, too, but not hating someone does not mean you love them. Love is a verb, guys. A verb is an action.
If you take nothing else from this, please hear me right now: Love is an action. It requires movement. You have to DO something!
Please, lives are being taken. This is murder, guys; it's serious. At this point, we are beyond political debate. Now, I'm through being naive; I know we can never have complete peace. But we can make a difference. Starting now. Wear your heart on your sleeve; put love into action.
♥,
C.
C.
4 comments:
Dear C,
Given your many selfish, self-centered, petty, and judgmental rants, I find it incredibly hypocritical for you to turn around and lecture the rest of Christianity about loving one another. I would like to call you attention to Matthew 7 verses 1-5.
1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
And in John 8 verse 7 it says, "So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her."
I agree with you that most of us need to be more like Christ, showing others love and compassion. However, you need to get your own house in order first.
-S
Dear S,
Thank you for your comment. As a preface, I know that it is sometimes very hard to understand tone in textual messages, so I would like to mention that this comment is not meant to sound bitter or condescending at all. It is sincere, honest, and I mean it to have a nice overtone.
You're absolutely correct. I am not perfect nor have I ever (seriously) claimed to be. In fact, I am filled with flaws, of which I am constantly reminded. In addition, yes, my blog is bitter, cynical, and selfish (and hopefully occasionally funny). That's how it was meant to be. I feel obliged to mention here that, though this particular post is the only one that is not meant to be about the writer (as you know, some of my posts don't actually come from me personally) because it was only added to the blog to supplement my non-Facebook friends. In other words, every single post on this blog is meant to sound selfish, on behalf of the writer.
All of this being said, however, my argument still stands. We all have our faults, but that is no excuse for allowing such insanity to continue. Assuming that you are a Christian based on your comment, I feel you must agree with this. Sure, we should make sure we are doing all we can to "keep our houses in order" but that does not mean we should be ignoring everything outside of our four walls, so to speak. If we wait until we have attained perfection in our own lives to take action, we will never be able to help anyone! In fact, I strongly believe that anyone ignoring this problem is not only refusing to act in a "Christ-like" manner but is also directly contributing to the increasing number of deaths.
Thank you for taking the time to express your opinions.
Love,
C.
Dear C,
My point was not that your argument was entirely invalid. On the contrary your argument in a lot of ways rings true. My point was that the your sincerity and the truth in your message was completely overshadowed by hypocrisy that surrounds it. Your "Dear Christians" may have been written with all sincerity, but in light of your other post it came across as "Do as I say not as I do." I guess my point is that we all need to be the example. If we all choose to live our lives in a Christ-like manner, it will speak volumes more and accomplish more than anything we could possibly say.
-S
How do you justify cutting people down and then admonishing the other Christians to love one another?
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