Nathan's Occasional Blog

I previously wrote that I was “ashamed to be a Christian” … and I need to clarify that statement.  I saw Jill this morning at church and she mentioned that she has a problem with that statement.  She understands what I’m really trying to say, but the statement itself is a bit “harsh” and easily misconstrued.

So I want to clarify what I meant, for the record (and the other couple readers of my blog).  🙂

What I mean is that I’m ashamed of what the label ‘Christian’ means in our society.  I’m ashamed of the friggin right-wing religious zealots who have created a stereotype of Christians as single-minded biggoted assholes (pardon my language) who hate anybody who doesn’t look AND think like they do, and do their best to make everyone else share their opinions (otherwise they’re damned, right?).

Jesus taught people to love each other and lend a hand to those less fortunate … he’d do the rest through their hearts and minds.  That’s it.  It’s not our job to convert the world – it’s His.  Our job is to be nice to everyone.

It’s He didn’t teach that we should hate gays.  He didn’t say we should never have a drop of alcohol touch our lips.  He didn’t tell us that it’s okay to bomb clinics because we disagree with their policies.  He didn’t join the Republican Party … or the Dems either.

Jesus said we should all get along (love thy enemies even) and his first miracle was effectively a beer run for a week-long kegger.

Can’t we all just get along?