Short version of my Acceptance thoughts... mostly just questions to start thoughts
So, I was thinking a few weeks back (while showering, which happens to be one of the best times for ponderings) about acceptance. I'm talking about acceptance between people, not between someone and events in their life or choices they made or things they feel they should be but aren't.
It started mostly with the fact that a lot of the people I spent time with both in high school and college weren't necessarily the Bible-thumping, perfectly moral types of people my parents would have liked me to hang out with. My parents (and sister) have expressed disgust at the fact that I find people who may drink, smoke (cigarettes or pot), or have "alternate lifestyles" (I guess that covers a lot of things that are deemed "immoral") are still people and still worthy of my time, thought, energy, respect and friendship.
I understand that yes, sometimes these habits can rub off on you or make you think they really aren't "so terrible." But, more importantly, even though these people may be "sinners" isn't that who we, as Christians are supposed to be interacting with and showing that there is a different way to live that may (or may not) be better than they way they are living.
Jesus hung out with the "sinners." We're supposed to "be like Jesus." What is wrong with being friends with these people?
Part of it may also be that I always look for and find something good and beautiful in everything and everyone. And even if I don't feel that something a person does or believes is right, I will still treat that person with the respect they deserve as a fellow human being. I will not support someone's homosexuality or use of illegal substances, but I will not lecture them constantly about the sinful nature of their actions.
I have never been and hope never to be one of those people who sermonizes to everyone about everything they are doing wrong. I will never go out and force people to listen to me lecture about my beliefs and them being the only right beliefs to have. I know I am not perfect and do plenty of things wrong myself. Who am I to judge? Christ said, "Let him without sin cast the first stone." Can anyone out there cast the first stone? Not unless they live in a total state of denial for their own inevitable human nature.
I always hope that I can just be a living example of Christianity through my actions, love and patience. I will never hide the fact that yes, I have difficulties sometimes. I question God sometimes. Who doesn't? I will never hold back from telling people about my faith and beliefs *if they want to know and show a genuine interest in it.* I find there is no point in wasting my time or anyone else's if they truly don't care.
I feel that if I am just myself and make myself a friend to everyone, no matter their religious beliefs (or lack thereof), habits and morals, I will be doing my job as a Christian by ministering through my works. I heard some one say, maybe it was one of the speakers at my graduation, that there is a difference between "reputation" and "character". Character is much more important and only you will really know your true character. Your reputation and what others may think of you is less important. People will always think all kinds of things, good or bad, about you. What you know to be true about yourself, and what God knows to be true about you, are what matter and what the Lord will judge you on when the time comes for you to be judged.
Let people think what they will of me for spending time with the "sinners." They need me more than the Christians.
(disclaimer: I still think that having Christian friends and role models is important. We all need support and help in our lives from those who share our religious beliefs and standards. We all slip and need people to help us catch ourselves. We all start to loose our way and need a guiding hand back. This still does not mean that we should totally seperate ourselves from those who may have fallen or gotten completely lost in the woods. We can be helped by our guides as we help others as their guide.)
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5 commentaires:
I agree with you on basically all of that; I doubt Bible-thumping or lecturing does good to anyone 90% of the time. But I do think it's important that others know where we stand--not lecturing or nagging, mind you--being "in the world, but not of it" means that we can't be entirely comfortable with the things that Christ died to set us free from (which goes all the way from the "hidden" sins that the church tends to overlook to "obvious" sins). Somehow when Jesus interacted with people, they were simultaneously convicted of their sins and drawn to his love and character. I want to be like that. But I do know that it's hard to find balance (there's an excellent book on that, Dick Straub's Too Christan, Too Pagan, which argues that if you're truly living as Christ did, Christians will find you too "pagan" and non-Christians will find you too "Christian"); we tend to either be too permissive or too preachy.
Next time you're in a debate over this: There's nothing wrong with being friends with "sinners"--heck, we're all in that category, Bible-thumpers included. If someone wants to exclude "sinners" from friendship, they'd be stuck. :-)
Excitement about God is something like excitement about swing dancing or anything else--I talk about dancing all the time (heh, some of my non-dancing friends have said that I'm an evangelist for swing :-p). And music. And lots of other things that I'm passionate about (science fiction!). If we're passionate about God, if he's really the most important thing in our lives, shouldn't we be talking about him all the time as well? Perhaps not always "sharing the gospel," but if our relationship with him is real, it should form part of the fabric of our conversation, the way we talk about friends or the things that matter to us. We don't always wait for people to express interest in those things before bringing them up, though we will probably talk more with those who are interested than those who aren't as a matter of course.
A lot of this in the end comes down to less intellectualizing and more time with God... when we're spending time with him, we'll become more like him automatically. I think I'm going to do that now.
(Side note: You'd probably find it interesting that my dad was up in arms one year over the fact that one of my housemates then, a good friend, was gay.)
Wow, I didn't mean to write you a novel.
Oh--and one final thought: doubt is healthy. People who don't question what they believe worry me a little. Do I believe in God? Absolutely. Am I 100% sure that he exists? No. And I don't think you can be intellectually honest and not realize that there is a chance, however small, that 1. you are wrong and 2. you don't have all the relevant information. Wow, we should have a face-to-face conversation about this kind of stuff, I love it.
I agree. I would love to sit and talk about it with you. And I too didn't mean my post to be so long. It's one of those things where you sit down and start thinking and it doesn't stop and you end up with a huge vomiting of words on the page. But it feels so nice to finally get all those thoughts out.
"Huge vomiting of words on the page"--lol.
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