With Thanks to "Ten Years Running Blind"
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/04/martin.jesus/ Sorry about my inability to do the link correctly. Fermi, I have other talents.
The link is to an piece at CNN.com by a Christian guy that wants to fight, figuratively, with the Christians that he sees as having co-opted his faith - those that hate abortion and homosexuals to the exclusion of all the other tenents of his faith that he feels are lost in the media perception created by the guys he wants to fight with, again figuratively.
I grew up as a Lutheran, Missouri Synod Lutheran if you please, which was an important distinction for conservative Lutherans back then, for reasons I don't remember now.
What I do remember is that people in the church didn't seem to care much about how their faith translated into good in the here and now.
Living in the South for most of my adult life, I've focused my ire, in a religious context, on Southern Baptists and their fellows. From the outside, they seem to me to have a preoccupation with making sure that everyone else is subject to the same morality, by way of law, that they espouse, but don't quite follow. The social consequences of their moral edicts don't seem to bother them.
Anyway. If you are a Christian, read the link. Even if you aren't, read it. Pay attention to what the guy says, you could do worse as a way to live your life.
Oh, the title. If you want to read what a Christian guy that seems to live his faith in the here and now has to say, try http://blindsiderawks.blogspot.com/
I got the link from his blog. The title of his blog is Ten Years Running Blind. I have a feeling he's talking about the past because he seems to have his eyes wide open these days.
6 comments:
Thanks for the comments Dave. I was wounded by the church because of all of the hypocrisy and legalism that goes on in most of them.
I consider myself a Red Letter Christian and believe in Christ's grace and mercy more than religious rules and legalistic crap.
I don't have to agree with you, but that doesn't make me better than you.
I appreciate a person for who they really are, not what somebody wants them to be.
I believe that God would put His arm around an unwed pregnant teen walking past a bunch of hate spewing trash talking pro-life people. He would love and comfort that little girl, not call her a baby killer.
Get my drift? And again, thanks for your kind words and your comments. Be well my friend.
Thanks for the links. Both were good reads with great points to be made. For years, conservative Christian extremists have dominated the media perception of Christianity. I'm not so sure that I'd say a holy war is emerging, but I do think that more diverse voices within Christianity are saying that it's time to be heard. I do feel like some have co-opted my religion for another agenda, and it makes me mad. The best way I know of fighting though is to speak my beliefs and what I've learned of God.
I may have strayed long ago, but I seem to recall something about "Suffer the little children to come unto me."
I don't recall there being any qualifications on what the little children's woes, sorrows or sufferings might be.
I just wish that Baptists believed in drinking beer.
For me to get a beer (which I don't drink anymore) I used to have to go to a friends place and "buy" it from him, except on Sunday mornings because he was in church.
I can see where you would get this
"From the outside, they seem to me to have a preoccupation with making sure that everyone else is subject to the same morality, by way of law, that they espouse, but don't quite follow"
I went to that blog site and linked over to the article... I'll need to think a little before I launch into a tirade.
Very good post by the way.
Yes, as I have also said many times. I really do not understand why the sex stuff is so all important here. For example homosexualtiy, Jesus never mentioned it. It appears in Leviticus with all the crazy dietary rules. And Paul mentioned it once in one of his letters. But, it is the absolute biggest issue to so many Christians.
~Becky
And how about alcohol? Jesus turned water into wine, but it must not have happened on a Sunday, since it is apparently so offensive for anyone to be able to buy a drink on that day.
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