Then later on, I was reading a message board that is Christian and I could not believe how many of the Christians on that board represented the self-righteous, holier-than-thou, God-loves-us-but-not-you type of Christians that everyone hates.
No wonder so many people dislike Christians. So many Christians give everyone a reason to hate us.
I had never in the course of my life had a bad personal experience with Christians, but that is largely because I went through most of my life not knowing any Christians. I was raised in a religiously sterile home. My mother had had such a damaging experience with religion, that she swore it off and never shared a single iota of her spiritual beliefs with me. We celebrated Easter and Christmas as purely secular holidays and I never, ever went to a church. I knew nothing about God.
Within the last couple of years I have had many personal encounters with God and I am now a Christian, but I came to that through a much different avenue than most people. It’s not about religion, it about a relationship with Jesus Christ. I’m not a Christian because I think I am perfect, I am a Christian because I know that I am so far from perfect that sometimes I find it hard to forgive myself, but Jesus will always offer me forgiveness. And I know that God loves me and wants to be a part of my life even though He knows that I will never be perfect.
When I was first curious about Christianity, my neighbor lent me the book, Son of a Preacher Man, written by Jay Bakker, son of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. Now there is someone who has every reason to hate Christians for being self-righteous and casting out their own when someone makes a mistake. Yet after a long battle with addiction, he was able to find his way back to Jesus because it is about Christ, not this religion called Christianity. Jay Bakker and some others started a church called Revolution. It’s interesting stuff. Check it out. This is what it means to me to be a Christian.
2 comments:
It's nice to hear from someone for whom Christianity is not just lip service, who remembers that Jesus taught meekness and humility, who remembers that Jesus kept company with people whom the rest of society gave up on. Jesus doesn't give forgiveness because we deserve it, but because we need it.
Also, thanks for the nice post you left on my blog. I appreciate it very much.
Thanks for your comments, too.
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