*Takes deep breath*
This is a hard post to write. I have wanted to write it for quite some time, but has not had the nerve to do it. I worried I would lose a lot of readers or be seen as “lost” by my fellow Christians.
I feel it is time I “come clean” and confess my true thoughts on who I am and what I believe. This may get heavy, so please bear with me.
I must start by saying I am really disappointed when I am attacked because I am a follower of Christ. It is assumed I am a bigot, I hate poor people, I spread hate and If you disagree with me, you will get met with attacks telling you that you will meet fire and brimstone. This is so far from the truth of who I am and I am tired of being told that is who I am by others, simply because I call myself a Christian.
I have been doing a lot of praying and reading my Bible lately and searching within my heart. My confession? I am not a bigot..I am actually supportive of gay marriage and I don’t hate poor people. In fact, it may surprise you, if you don’t know me, but I am at poverty level myself and yet, I know there are people worse off than me and I pray for them.
I am a democrat. (if I have to define myself politically) While I don’t want this to be a political post, I want to point out that it is possible to be a democrat and a Christian.
I don’t think supporting gay marriage, a woman’s right to choose or helping the poor makes me a lost Christian. I think it makes me compassionate to the struggles of others. I think it means I can see outside my own struggles and love those who struggle differently than I do.
I want to make things clear-I am not saying that being a republican is wrong, but rather being a democrat and more liberal is not wrong for a Christian as well. While I follow politics, I admit, I don’t follow them as closely as I should because I fear what I read and hear is not entirely accurate. I don’t necessarily stick my head in the sand, but I don’t believe everything I read or hear either.
Why do I identify with gays, the poor and others who tend to have a small voice in our society? Because I believe in love. I believe as a Christian, my #1 job is to love. While I can never love the way Jesus did, because I am only human and I admit, I sometimes make rash judgements of not only others, but myself, I strive to love the way he did. I believe God has called me to love everyone, even those who hurt me and even those whom society deems as second class citizens.
I guess what I am trying to say is, my mission in life is to love. I find peace in that and I find a greater understanding of who God is when I love others.
I hope this doesn’t affect your ability to keep on following me on my blogging journey. If it does, I don’t apologize for being who I am or for what I believe.
*exhales*
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About Christine
I registered unaffiliated because I can’t stand to have that label of a democrat or republican. I see rights and wrongs in both party, and neither one truly seems to work for me. But that’s just me. We are all entitled to our own beliefs, religion, political views. Don’t apologize for standing up for what you believe in, especially when it is something so heartfelt and caring as LOVE.
I struggle with any political label, “if I have to call myself something”, because I think it limits me too much to what I am “allowed” to think, feel and believe, so I understand what you are saying. I just more closely identify with Democrats, I think, so that is what I call my political beliefs, but I am not a registered one. I think the labels we use as humans really limit us and hold us back.
I love your post Christine. You know that I personally float in the land of no where as far as religion goes, but I know many of my friends are Christians and they like you (Oh, and yes you are my friend.)are NOT bigots and believe in helping others.
I personally classify myself outside of the party’s. I am not a Democrat. I am not a Republican. And I am not a Liberal. However I AM a Libertarian.
Thanks for sharing your beliefs.
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I know this was hard for you but your honesty might help others. Thank you for your honesty!
Julie @ Naptime Review
Dear Christine:
I love your candor, and I love that you love people. I love people too. In fact your statement that “It is assumed I am a bigot, I hate poor people, I spread hate and If you disagree with me, you will get met with attacks telling you that you will meet fire and brimstone.” I so much identify with what you have written here.
You also wrote
“I am not a bigot..I am actually supportive of gay marriage and I don’t hate poor people. In fact, it may surprise you, if you don’t know me, but I am at poverty level myself and yet, I know there are people worse off than me and I pray for them.”
This kinda begs the question, or assumes the answer, which puts me in the category of the 1st quote by the you of the 2nd quote: because I believe that the Bible and by revelation, God is not supportive of gay marriage, then I must be the accused bigot of the 1st quote. If I believe that 2 or more homosexuals joined in marriage is in fact, by definition, no marriage, then I am by your definition (or must be by extension) a hating bigot. Hmmm….
You also wrote “I don’t think supporting gay marriage, a woman’s right to choose or helping the poor makes me a lost Christian. I think it makes me compassionate to the struggles of others.”
I do agree that this does not make you a lost Christian. I doubt that many Christians believe that it does. I commend you on your compassion to the struggles of others. I like to think of myself as likewise compassionate. I believe that we all struggle through different areas of our lives, and daily must confess our sins, known and unknown. Many of us have to battle sins that we are naturally drawn to, yet we know to give in to them is to sin. Still we struggle, we fall, we get back up, and confess, and struggle again. This is no different than the struggle of the homosexual. None-the-less, we don’t support surrendering to the sin. That does not make us bigoted; to believe so would be to confess that believing that any sin is a sin is bigoted: theft, or violence: “It’s just the way god made me so it is bigoted to say I can’t take what I want”.
Now regarding a “woman’s right to choose”: I also support a woman’s right to choose, right along side a baby’s right to choose. I believe you lack some crucial information here.
Dr. Alveda King is the granddaughter of Martin Luther King, and from her facebook page has published some information about the practice of abortion. You know that many fetuses (latin for “baby”) are dismembered inside the womb, and the parts are delivered, or removed by forcep. The problem is that the baby’s head is difficult to remove because it is slippery. So, not wanting to leave baby parts in a Mother’s womb, the doctor elects to induce labor, deliver the baby breach, until the whole body is delivered up to the back of the head, at which time the baby’s head is impaled with an instrument designed to effect healing of patients, not kill them, then the brains of the baby, which are up until this moment engaged in surviving any way possible, are suctioned out. So personally, I believe that a baby’s desire should be taken into consideration when considering abortion: does the baby do everything in it’s power to survive? or is it refusing nourishment, wrapping itself up in it’s umbilical trying to hang itself? Not difficult things to determine. Otherwise we should wait until the baby is old enough to speak for herself. I have compassion for the Mother. There are pregnancy aid centers all over the country to offer non-judgmental help to the Mother and the Father. Often that is the problem: The “Father”, who may have another family, may be an adult in an illegal and abusive relationship with a minor, or a man just having too much fun to be saddled with a baby wants that baby dead. So many times, it is not the Mother’s choice, but the father’s choice. But we wouldn’t want to be bigoted and judge that father do we? Even if he pressures the mother to kill the baby? Well, we wouldn’t know that would we? The evidence is in a biological waste landfill.
Christine, I love your post, that it is so thought provoking. Thank you!
Your Brother,
Duane
Duane, The main issue here is, people do think I am not following the word of God if I say I don’t even believe being gay is a sin. I don’t see anywhere in Jesus’ own words where he talked bout it. If the Son of God didn’t spend a bunch of time talking about it or at all, I can only draw the conclusion that it is not as sinful or even sinful to begin with as many Christians seem to think it is. It is a non-issue for me. I don’t make it an issue and I certinally do not think one’s partner’s in live and the joining of two consenting adults should be a governmental issue at all. If you do, I don’t think that makes you a bigot, I just think we differ on our beliefs. The post was meant to elude to the fact that many non-Christians associate the mere title of being a Christian with bigotry when in fact, that is a blanket judgement.
About abortion, I am fully aware of what happens when a fetus is aborted. I am sure it is not something God desires, however, my being pro-choice is because if God loves us enough to give us free-will, that means those that make the choice to have an abortion have just as much right to that free will as myself and therefore cannot be judged by anyone but God himself, so I support their right to choose, aka, their right to free will. I also believe that God does not desire his children to starve, be abused and neglected by mothers that didn’t want them or were not prepared for them either. There are so many grey areas on why women have abortions that I can’t even begin to imagine a world where it is completely illegal. I used to actually be staunchly pro-life,. I then realized that that is not something that is realistic. While it is true there are support centers all over this country, there are also people who complain about having to pay taxes for “those welfare queens” and will do everything in their power to make sure programs for the poor and single parents are cut as much as possible. I have actually had people tell me that those mothers who want to abort thier children should have them because the child has a right to live, but in the same breath say they want to do away with all programs like SNAP, TANF and medical assistance because people shouldn’t have babies they can’t afford. I can only draw from that conclusion that these people only care about the baby when it is in danger of losing it’s life, but after, they curse the fact that they now have to help support it. Can you imagine hearing this message as a single, alone woman, maybe one that is young or a victim of rape? I was once one of those mothers who as in a position where I considered abortion. I didn’t have one, but that is ONLY because I happen to have family and friends to help me. Some people do not and as a person who has used those support centers, I can tell you, they can give the very basics and emergency supplies, but for a person really seriously struggling with nothing and no one to help, they are a far cry from being enough.
Thank you for your comments. We do not agree on everything, but I appreciate your feedback!