So to start things off I have a couple of hard hitting news
items to share with you, both from highly acclaimed Christian bloggers.
Now having read both blogs I am sure that you have some very
definite opinions rising up in you. Or potentially, you have none and really
remain quite apathetic towards both situations.
Both of these have at their core one central argument: the
argument between what we believe as Christians, and what society holds to be
true.
For me personally I had two very different reactions to
these two very different blogs. I appreciate the way in which they both deal
with the issue at hand and are able to express their own opinions on these
items. But there was one I agreed with and one that really made me question
what the definition of a Christian was.
One of the sentiments expressed in Jones’ post was that of Obama’s
acceptance of homosexual marriage[ii]
as being a true representation of Christianity. I have to admit that I took a
bit of offence (is that too strong a term?) to the comparison. Whether or not
Obama said what he said out of political concerns or whether it was just
something that he felt the need to express, I don’t know that I would qualify
that as something that exemplifies what Christians are.
I think what Jones is getting at is the idea expressed in
the message of the
woman at the well and the woman
caught in adultery where Jesus had the opportunity to yell at them for
being damnable sinners and instead showed grace. It’s a nice message, right?
Jesus totally overlooks everything that these women have done and sends them on
their way. Well, not quite. Here’s where I get up on my soapbox.
Jesus never
once said that he condoned what they had done. He told the woman at the well
all of the things she had done wrong. With the woman caught in adultery he told
her to go on and refrain from sinning. Jesus told them they were sinners. Jesus
tells us that we are sinners.
So fine, as Christians we recognize that we are sinners. What
about our neighbor that is living with his girlfriend. What about our colleague
who frequents the strip club every Tuesday for “hot wings”? What about our
grandmother who “samples” a few grapes at the grocery store? What do we say to
them?
As human beings, our natural response is to do nothing. These
people are capable of their own thoughts, they can manage their own lives and
whatever we do is going to upset them rather than cause anything good to
happen. I mean, we read that first blog about the boy in Nova Scotia
Does that actually work for us? Not really. I don’t know how
we can go forth and proclaim the word of God without actually going forth. How
we can be the light in the world, when we are trying to hide it from everyone.
I have to admit that I am as guilty of this as the next
person. I don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings, I don’t want them to dislike
me because of something that I’ve said. I really don’t want them to call me out
for something that I’ve done and then allow that to negate everything that I’ve
just said.
What I do want is to have the conversation that I am not a
good person. What I want to say is that I have many things of which I am
ashamed, and even when I try to do good things, I
always end up screwing it up and looking like a fool. What I really want to
do is to be real and to be honest about the things that I’ve messed up and to
have the opportunity to be honest with you about the same things. I don’t want
to be tolerant because it hurts you and it hurts me.
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