Wednesday, August 6, 2008

oh the colors...

this is the most quiet moment of my week, and it's everything i dreamed it could be. but there is one thing that has been rolling around in my head the past few days. it started when i had a conversation with a friend (who name i will spare for his/her sake), and the further we got into the conversation the more and more frustrated i got at how (for lack of a better word) stupid some "christians" can be. it amazes me that "christians" today try and paint the world black and white, insisting that some things are always right and the rest is always "evil". it takes everything in me at moments like these to not point my finger and blame the state of "christianity" on legalistic fundies, but to do so would defeat my own arguement (so i respectfully disagree with them). most of us have been in a church setting in which we are told what to believe...but never why. that is how it was for me in the latter half of my teenage christian walk, but then i met some people who encouraged me to start thinking... and through these men Christ set me free.

why christianity has become o.k. with the easy answers. we don't want to learn about truth and beauty, we just want our music labeled. we don't want to learn about politics and government, we just want to be told who "Jesus would vote for" (which in my opinion if some guy thinks he know who Jesus would vote for he has got some brass... well lets just say he is bold...). we don't want to learn about moderation and liberty, because "good christians" prefer a shot of grape juice. we don't want to learn how to live like a free man, love our enemies, or listen to the Spirit, we just want a new law and more rules (because supposedly that will make things better). we don't want to know if the answers aren't easy, and we want everything brought down from the mountains for us without having to go up there ourselves! the only thing is there is no use in trading a law you could never keep but can free you, for one can but can't get you anything!
****much of the above paragraph is adopted from Derek Webb's song "A New Law".

when did christians stop being o.k. with not being able understand everything about the Unknowable God? when did we let go of the life Christ called us to (which is and impossible one, but the one we are called to nonetheless), for our own cheap imitation of it? it truely breaks my heart that we have divided the world in half between good and evil, when, whether we want to admit it or not, this world is littered with "gray areas". the only problem with some christians today is instead of embracing their freedom, they slam on more and more chains. i do not intend to say that everything is fair game, but i do intend to say that most of us need stop living like the pastor's pet parot (yes that was alliteration for sake of alliteration, try it sometime) and use the beautiful mind that Christ has given to us. its time to stop being told what to think about everything, and embrace being free in Christ and try on liberty!

it's a beautiful, colorful world with things we will never be able to fully get a handle on, but that is what makes this life so great. we have freedom in Christ, not to live in whatever fasion we please, but to embody love and be purveyors of it in whatever fasion necessary to help prepare this beautiful, multi-colored world for the kingdom of God!

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