Yeah, I'm A Christian....What of It?

In a previous comment on one of my posts, the great one OGO made the statement that many Christians are percieved by the media as zealots or radicals. This statement hit really close to home for me. In order for you to understand that, I must first begin by explaining what it means to me to be a Christian.

According to what I believe, as a Christian I have obtained eternal salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words I have been "born again." Simple enough. However, living as a Christian can be a little.....sticky....sometimes. The reason for this is mainly because people have already determined what I think, what I feel and how I will respond to any situation before they have even spoken to me for more than 5 minutes. And so, due to their preconceived notions (hmmm...can we say "prejudice"?)...they think they 'know' me. They don't.

As a Christian:

1. I DO NOT think that I am better than anyone. We are all human and we are all stuck in this together whether we like it or not. I am just the same as another Christian, another mom, another woman, another person on this earth no matter what their beliefs are. We all feel the same joys, the same pains, the same humiliations, the same fears. We all long to be loved, needed, wanted and accepted by others. We all make mistakes and we all have regrets. We all have days when we feel that we could take on the world and we all have days when we would just rather hide under the covers and hope no one finds us. It's called the human condition and as long as you are human you are subject to it.

2. I do not agree with abortion;however, I also do not agree with blowing up abortion clinics and killing doctors who perform them.

3. I do not condone suicide. I do understand completely why someone would want to commit suicide. I have been there myself before....once..a long time ago. And I'm glad I didn't.

4. I GET ANGRY sometimes. What? You don't think a Christian can get angry? Of course we can. Doesn't mean I make a habit of it...but it happens. (See the human condition notation in number 1)

5. I'm not always happy happy joy joy but I try to extract as much happiness as I can out of any given day. Some days it's a lot, somedays not. Just depends on how the day goes.

6. I don't want to get hurt and I don't want to hurt anyone else. (Unless it comes to protecting my kids....then all bets are off)

7. I think that serving other people is a much better thing than always serving myself (I'm not talking about self-preservation....I'm talking about self-absorption).

8. I don't always have a good day. Some days are good, some days are bad and some days are just days. But I'm grateful for each and everyone that the Lord sees fit to bless me with.

Now.....you have read the list above. Read it again. Sound like anyone you may know? Maybe, with a couple of exceptions, it maybe sounds a lot like you? Are you a zealot or a fanatic? No? Then why would you think that I would be just because I'm a Christian?

Why are non-Christians who have dissenting opinons simply looked at like regular people who have dissenting opinions? But when a Christian doesn't agree well, then, they are .....zealots, fanatics, nuts, hypocrites, self-righteous, holier than thou or pompous and pretentious? (Just pick one)

In the past few years since I have become a Christian I have been dogged out, made fun of, ignored, spit on, cursed out, rejected, shut out and shut up (although the shut up part hasn't happened much....I'm a little to contrary for all that;)). I have been expected to apologize for my beliefs and have seen much disbelief (not to mention anger) when I have refused. I have not and will not apologize for being a Christian. I can't. It's who and what I am. And if you expect me to have tolerance and forbearance when it comes to your beliefs, I think you need to begin with you.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Peace alllll..........