You know, in the last week or so I have seen so much
dissension in our country and it saddens me.
We have seen dissension within our country, within churches, even within
families. I can truly say that I don’t
understand it.
I don’t understand it as an American. I mean, I don’t fly a Confederate flag
because, in all honesty, it means absolutely nothing to me. I have no reason to fly that flag. I’m an American. I’m not with the Union, I’m not with the
Confederacy, I’m with the United States of America. If you want to fly the Confederate flag, by
all means, I think you should have that right. It’s the American flag that gives you that
right, and I have no reason to tell you not to fly it. It doesn’t represent anything more than an
old part of history, that I would have assumed our country moved on from many,
many, years ago, but do what you want, it’s America.
I don’t understand it as a Christian. I’m a Christian, and not one bit ashamed of
it. I’m not perfect, in fact I’m far
from it, but in my faith, perfection is not a prerequisite, in fact, it is
stated that it will not be achieved in this life. I believe that we spend so much time hating
people, groups of people, other religions, that we have lost sight of the fact
that God IS love. If you support gay
marriage, I applaud you on your victory with the Supreme Court of the United States. If you do not support gay marriage, well, I
don’t really think there is much for you to say on this issue. It's done, the court has set a ruling. I have checked and the ruling from the
Supreme Court does not mandate any person, religion, church, pastor, or
organization to support gay marriage or homosexuality in any way shape or
form. If your church did not support
homosexuality or gay marriage prior to this ruling, well, nothing has changed
since then. You still have that right,
and I applaud you for standing for your convictions. Now (this is where I’ll get the hate mail),
if you support the gay marriage ruling, don’t be offended by those who don’t
rejoice with you over the victory, they have a right to stand for what they
believe. Just as you have asked for
respect for what you believe, I think it’s only fair that you extend that same
courtesy to those who disagree. Be clear
of this though, disagreement does not mean hatred. I have seen “Christian” people, and any more,
I use that term very loosely, but I have seen them posting things, saying
things, fabricating things that simply are not true and are very hurtful to
people, and that is not the love of Christ.
Many who are doing all this bashing in the name of “religion” know less
about Christ than most people who do not affiliate with any specific religious organization.
I don’t understand it as a human. You know, no matter who you are in this
world, at the end of the day we all have pretty much the same basic needs. We need food, water, shelter, and we all need
to feel that we are loved. That is
exactly what God is. In the last couple
of weeks all the hatred spewed from so called “Christians” has baffled me, as
well as people wanting to be treated with respect, yet they show no respect to
others who disagree. I have a lot of
people in my life that I don’t agree with on many things, but we’re still
friends. We still love each other for
who we are, in spite of our faults. Why
can’t we all grasp this idea? If you
choose to fly a Confederate flag, I may not agree with you, but I’m not going
to deny you that right. In fact, I’m not
even going to tell you my thoughts on it, because we’ll probably not agree on
things, but really, what difference does it make? If I know that you fly that flag because you’re
flying it out of respect for your loved one who fought and died standing for
what they believed in, I’m going to respect you for that. If you fly it because you’re a bigoted racist,
who chooses to feel that people of different races are inferior to you in any
way, shape, or form, well, we’re not going to be friends because I do not
prescribe or associate with that thought process. If you’re a supporter of gay marriage because
you feel that everyone, regardless of sexual orientation, should be treated
with respect and dignity, I’m going to respect your opinion. If you choose to oppose a lifestyle that you
feel is not compatible with your religious beliefs, and you do that with love
in your heart and in the way you handle those situations, I’m going to respect
you and your right to opposition.
However, if you choose to try and push a lifestyle on me that I don’t
support, and treat me as though I’m an uneducated idiot that is inferior to you
because I may or may not agree with you, well then, we’re probably not going to
be friends. On the same token, if you
start land blasting someone with your beliefs and tell them that God hates them
because of who they are, and start throwing scriptures from the Bible at
someone, well then, you better get ready for a debate because I’m going to hold
you to what your stating from a book you better be well versed in. If you exude hate to someone, for whatever
reason, I’m not going to be your friend and will probably try to avoid you like
the plague, because in my opinion you’re diseased, and I know how quickly
diseases spread. I care not to have the
disease of hatred in my life.
I guess all in all, after all this ranting, I just wish we
could learn to respect each other. We’re not going to all agree. The reason there are so many churches in this
country, and many churches in the same towns associated with the same
denomination, is not because the sanctuaries are full. It’s because people do not know how to disagree
in a Christ like manner. So, instead of
learning to respect and appreciate opinions that aren’t maybe the same as ours,
we pack up and start another church….we see where that’s gotten us so far. I think the thing we need to do is love. Not as humans love, but as Christ has loved
us.
That’s all!!!
