I want to say thank you to to all of you who read my articles. I realize not everyone is going to agree with what I say. I am in a constant state of learning and changing myself, just as we all are in one way or another.
No matter what your lifestyle, what you choose to believe, how you accept things, none of us will ever completely agree with anyone else. As believers, we would not expect those who do not follow the christian faith to agree with everything we think and say. Yet, we also know that other christian people will not agree with everything either. We have so many denominations in the christian world, yet none of them can agree completely. But this is all OK, we are all individuals who see things differently. The last thing I want is to make people feel I expect everyone to see things my way.
Accept One Another
I think those of us trying to follow Christ should be able to accept one another, believer and non-believer alike, talk with each other about how we see things and still be respectful and kind. We are to be known by our love, but unfortunately, that just isn’t the case most of the time.
No matter if we are gay, straight, christian, muslim, jew, hindu, atheist, asexual, baptist, methodist, charismatic or whatever label people put on us, the underlying fact is we are all human beings. We all deserve to be treated with respect and be accepted. We each should be able to live our life and make our own choices without being condemned by others. We should be able to discuss our differences respectfully, and none of us should try to force our views and choices on another.
Unfortunately there has been a lot of name calling and disrespect among different groups of people over time. Christian people saying God hates gays, and atheists are of the devil, people being afraid of muslims, one denomination wants nothing to do with another denomination…this is all wrong and sad.
Look Past the Labels
If we could look past the labels and see each other as people who overall want the same thing, to be happy, to be loved, be healthy, get our bills paid and enjoy life, I think things would be better even with our differences. This is not to say we have to agree with everyone and associate with everyone and be happy together, that just isn’t going to happen. There are too many different thoughts, ideas, beliefs, lifestyles and personalities for us to agree on everything and be totally comfortable with everyone, yet accepting each other and respecting each other in spite of our differences certainly is a possibility.
When you read about the life of Christ in the gospels, you see someone who loved people. He did not disassociate himself from any particular group, nor did he turn away anyone or think he was better than others. Jesus showed the love of the Father by caring for people, talking with people, eating together, healing people and not condemning them. The only crowd he had a problem with was the religious leaders of the day who thought they were so much better than everyone else because they kept the rules. Their reasoning was they didn’t do the ‘wrong’ things and they did the ‘right’ things. They didn’t associate with the type of people they thought were less religious and unworthy of God’s love. Jesus was always getting on their case for being so religious they were no earthly good to the Kingdom of God.
Separation?
Speaking of all the different views and lifestyles, I can remember when I was young and growing up in the organized church, how I always stayed with people of similar belief. I do not know for sure if I was actually taught this or it was just a common belief I picked up, but I felt I needed to stay away from people of different views and lifestyles. I still see this in the church today, a separatist mindset. I thought it would be great to work in the church system or for a christian bookstore as a job, then spend my off-time in church services and doing church work. That way I would always being around someone who saw things pretty much the same as I did. This way I wouldn’t have to be around ‘those’ people, whoever they were.
Sound familiar? So much of the traditional church setting is based on separation from those who think differently. This usually brings a feeling of superiority, being separated from those who need to see God’s love in action, and living a Pharisee-type lifestyle. (Pharisee: strict observance of religious ceremonies and practices, one who adheres to laws and traditions, self-righteous or hypocritical person).
Compare that to the life of Jesus we read about in the gospels, a person who loved people, wasn’t condemning or unkind, hung out with those who the religious crowd didn’t want anything to do with, spent time eating and drinking with the non-religious crowd, and truly cared for others.
I know we all see things differently. We all will not agree on things and we all have no way of proving our point in regard to spiritual matters. Yet I think it is time the christian ‘religion’ comes to an end and Christ-like people begin to daily show the love and acceptance of God to everyone.
The truly perplexing thing is how some people feel like the force of law should be used to deny the right of same sex couples to get married.
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Becky Johnson, what are your thoughts regarding same sex marriage?
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Thanks for the comment Jeffrey.
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I see no logical reason to oppose same sex marriage. Given the fact that it is not likely to devalue traditional marriage, why do some people oppose it? Why is same sex marriage opposed by people that it will have no affect on? Homosexuality and paedophilia are not synonymous.
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Thank you for your kind remarks. Glad you like the site. You can subscribe to our posts by going to the link on our webpage http://donewithreligion.com Just below the ‘Recent Posts” there are places to follow us on Twitter, Facebook and by email. You may also like our Facebook page, Outside the Walls of Religion. You can join, make posts and find other people of similar belief. Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/OutsideTheWallsOfReligion . It is still fairly small, but hope to have more people join in as time goes by. Thanks again.
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I like this site.
I am looking for others to connect with that minister outside of the church walls.
See my blog
ministryoutsidechurchwalls.blogspot.com
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My wife and I are also going through that ‘unlearning’ process you mentioned. It has been interesting following Christ outside the walls of religion. Thanks for your comment.
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My mother (a pastor’s daughter) was raised with “come apart from them” as a way of life. This was just one of the ways in which the environment I grew up in impresses upon me. I was running within a few years of “asking Jesus into my heart.” Upon my white-flag experience in late 2007, where I would come to find out was Him giving me HIS life, I have had much unlearning to do from all that early childhood impressions. I, too, have believed, though begrudgingly, that I should get to church and work in a Christian environment. None of which have transpires. The good Lord continues to blow my mind and rattle my cage and shake those once thought of and ran from ideas of Himself. What a riot! I wouldn’t have guessed it in a million years.
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As my Bible teacher said, “We’re all going to get a big theological adjustment in the last days.” Smile. I can’t wait!
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