Lately I have been thinking about the way christians, gays and atheists treat each other. Certainly talking about this can easily upset a lot of people, especially christian people.
I write from a christian perspective and I have many christian friends, along with many gay and atheist friends. I do not want to sound like I am taking sides or be condemning of anyone.
What bothers me is the way many christian people have so much hatred and animosity toward atheists and the LGBT community. When speaking of christian people it seems many have feelings toward gays and atheists that are not very Christ-like. There are times I can hardly believe the words and actions of christian people toward them.
True christianity is not a religion, it is people who believe in and follow Jesus. As followers of Jesus we want to live like him, and he was loving and kind to all people. So many people who call themselves christian are so far from following his example, especially when it comes to gays and atheists. Rather than being known for our love, some christians seem more like the pharisees of Jesus day. Pharisees were the religious leaders who Jesus would continually reprehend because they thought they were so much better than everyone else. Many christians nowadays see gay and atheist people as their enemy, and that is certainly not the case.
The fact is God loves all of us, and as his followers we are to do the same. Just because people do not all believe the same or act the same, we all deserve to be loved and accepted as we are. God loves us as we are, even before we came to follow him. A lot of christian people tend to forget this fact.
Now I also see a lot of demeaning comments from several gay and atheist writers about christian people from time to time. Sometimes I wonder if it started because of the mean comments from christians, but I do not like to see such things from anyone. If we could just get past the labels people put on one another and see the human being, the person who wants the same things: acceptance, happiness and love, I think we could do much better at getting along even in our differences.
I know we are not all going to agree on things, although as christians we have the power through the spirit to love and accept all people no matter who they are or what they believe. As people of God, we are to be known for our love for one another. Many of us have a hard time loving other christians not to mention those who think differently. Showing love goes a lot further than fighting, arguing and condemning.
We know not everyone is going to change their mind and believe in God as we do. As christians, we want everyone to know and enjoy the love and acceptance of our Father, but we need to remember it is the Spirit, not us, who draws people to the Father, and it is through love rather than rule keeping and condemnation. Those who choose not to follow a christian belief still deserve our love and understanding, even when we do not agree. I think many times christian people are afraid to accept others who are not christian because they feel it is denying their faith. They feel accepting others in love is saying we are in agreement on everything, yet they think they should be pointing out what our differences are and leading them to a christian faith. My viewpoint is we should love and accept others as Christ did and leave any convicting or changing to the Holy Spirit.
Rather than condemning and avoiding those who are different than us, we should be willing to spend time getting to know, accept and understand others. We can talk and discuss our differences and learn from each other, yet without the expectation that we are going to change anyone.
A street preacher, one of those “repent, die to self and do good works” types has told me that the word Christian is actually pejorative and was used back in the first century to mock believers. He hates the word, but then he hates the grace gospel. I just wonder about this though, I think the meaning of the word has changed over the years. I think it is true the word Christian now has more negative connotations than it used to. I tend to avoid it as well, it creates an unpleasant stereotype unfortunately.
Angela
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Yes, I have heard that it originally was meant for an insult. Saying christian today brings so many preconceived ideas that put a lot of us in a mold that just isn’t what we are any longer. You are right, there seems to be more negative meaning to the word than anything. I think the main thing is to let the love of Christ flow through us by the power of the Holy Spirit and the word we use to describe it may not be so important. Thanks for the comment.
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I agree! We are in a time of certainty extremists on both sides of the debate of Atheists vs. Believers. This certainty has bread arrogance and out of this arrogance Jesus is lost. Lets be on a mission to out do one another in love….this is what we are called to do!
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So true. Love is what we are to be known for, not arguing and condemnation.
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I believe there is a simple reason for Christian’s hate for gays, for in them, they see a metaphoric physical reflection of their spiritual self.
It is written in Ephesians 5, that husband is to wife as Yeshua is to the Ekklesia, i.e., a relationship capable of producing life / offspring. Husband and wife produce children, Yeshua and the Ekklesia produces re-birth – a new creation – someone who is “born again” – one who was dead in sin is now alive in Yeshua.
Christianity is man’s new and improved version of “The Way” … men have changed just about everything Yeshua taught and made it into an organized, for profit, religion under the control of men. Thank you Rome! Religion, as you know, does NOT produce life, rather, religion whitewashes the dead, but they remain dead. The single biggest failing of religion is that it fails to reproduce. Religion is always on the path of death.
In the same way that religion is impotent, so is homosexuality. Gays, metaphorically at least, are a kind of reflection of impotent religion. Thus it seems, a religious person’s hatred for gays, is a kind of self-loathing.
Since I have been born-again, Spirit baptized and filled, and led out of man’s religious system and man’s corrupt teachings about the Kingdom of God, I have only love for gays. Honestly, with the increase of religion on the earth, I’m not at all surprised that there seems to be a commensurate increase in homosexuality.
No “thus saith” and all that – just sharing what I’ve come to see and think. Christians, if they really are lovers of God, need to lead with love for everyone, not just those they like and agree with.
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Thank you Jack for your comment. Love is the name of the game.
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I particularly like your analysis of the reasons why Christians have so much animosity – that they are afraid they will be denying their faith. I have, for quite some time now, tried to avoid calling myself a Christian for these very reasons, preferring the phrase ‘follower of Jesus’. Whenever I used to mention that I was a Christian in an public context, I invariably found people would start to assume they knew what I believed. So much of the stereotype was not representative of my beliefs and I began to feel distinctly uncomfortable with the connotation of the name particularly as seen by those outside the ‘church’.
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Thanks David. I understand, I also am hesitant anymore of using the term christian just because of the box people put you in when they hear it.
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