Thursday, January 14, 2010

Coming out of the closet or why you should unfollow me

Pat Robertson is an idiot. That being said and out of the way there are some other things I have to get off my chest.

Ever since the aforementioned idiot once again opened his mouth I've seen all kinds of verbal/twitter attacks against Christians as a whole. And I don't understand why this is ok. This morning someone I follow/followED on twitter went as far as to say right-wingers/conservatives, etc hated colored people..yada yada yada you get the idea.

I grew up in church and then I quit going for a very long time. I realized that I only went because it was habit. Because that's what my parents did. I quit because I realized I wasn't going because I had any kind of real relationship with Christ. Over the past few years that's been changing.

I am a Christian. The born again kind. I'm not the best Christian I can be. I make a lot of mistakes and I'm finding my way down this road. I don't consider myself religious or part of a religion although I do go to a Baptist church. I consider myself a Christian. I accept the Bible as truth, I've accepted Christ as my saviour, I'm a sinner.

I'm also NOT a registered republican. I don't stand outside abortion clinics with pictures of unborn babies. Personally I feel that if you're standing outside an abortion clinic protesting you better be part of the solution. You better have adopted or fostered an unwanted child. You better be supporting an orphanage. You better be doing something to help solve the problem other than standing on a sidewalk and yelling at people

I pretty much feel that way about all kinds of, what I'll refer to as social causes. I attend a church that invests a lot of time and money in local organizations catering to homeless people and foster children. The woman that leads the charge with foster children adopted five of them. Those are the people I prefer to know. People who are part of the solution. My brother, a missionary, is currently organizing a trip to Haiti. He has a heart for Uganda and has been there already. He is part of the solution.

In the past few months I've been slowly awakening to what is required to call myself a Christian. I've been keeping it to myself because and I'm so ashamed to admit this, what if I twitter or facebook about my relationship with Christ and people don't want to be my friend?

I am ashamed. Because seriously, if you can't look past a label and see who I am as a person why would I want you to be my friend? Because I'm a pretty cool chick. I've done some bad things. I've done things I'm ashamed of. And I do a lot of good things and I'm hoping that I do more good in the future and less of the things I'm ashamed of.

So for the record here it is. I am a Christian. I don't hate gays, I don't hate minorities, I'm pro-choice and every once in a while I like a good cigar. I like to read the Bible and I accept it as truth. I have piercings and tattoos. I swear, but I am trying to stop.

But most importantly I try to part of the solution. Soapboxes are easy to stand on working towards a solution is a lot more difficult.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot....I married a right-wing, conservative, Republican. For the record he also doesn't hate gays, minorities, he's pro-choice, but he hates cigars :)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

As I'm sure you know, I am NOT Christian but I HATE to see the same Christian bashing you're talking about. I see a lot of Christians (especially among us Pagans) demonized just because they call themselves Christians.

I do recognize (and try to be mindful of) that I sometimes use the word "Christians" as a general label when I'm pissed off at something the crazy (CRAZY!) religious-right does. And if I have ever done that and offended you, I'm truly sorry.

I ended up w/ a Republican,too :) Well, actually,last election he re-registered Democrat but he's still pretty Republican if you ask me. And he's bisexual,pro-choice...father of mixed-race children. And other good stuff like that.

The Urban Cowboy said...

Just found ya...I am a card carrying Republican, but I am also pro choice, don't hate gays or minorities, I do like an occasional cigar though.

Jennet said...

Amen, amen, and amen! I am so heartbroken today as I read SO much anger at "christians" and I love how they bash the group but then accuse us of doing the same thing! I just want to love people, why do they make it so hard? Anyways, I am much the same as you and I want to punch PR in the face.

Unknown said...

Thank you for sharing your heart. And thank you for clarifying. As I'm sure you know, I'm a Christian as well, and I don't like when people throw that label around lightly. "Oh I believe in God." Yeah, so does Satan. I don't hate anyone, regardless of whether or not I agree with their beliefs or choices. Hating is not what Christians are called to do. Loving is.