In my last post I told the story of the first time I had somebody reject me because I was a Christian. It certainly wasn't the last. I've had people who honestly hate Christians befriend me for a time, only to discover they liked the idea of me, not the reality of me. In reality, they can't get past Christians to see their way through to liking me as a person.
The problem with outspoken, politically active, evangelicals is that they insist, loudly, that they are the real Christians. The only real Christians, and if you don't think the same way they do, about everything, and insist everyone else do the same, you can't be a real Christian. The problem isn't really that they think that or even that they believe that, it's that other people believe them.
I run into this as a problem when I tell someone I really am a Christian who is also a Democrat, Pro-choice, liberal, and a straight ally of the LGBT community. They're thrilled---and then they fall back into thinking that I must think <insert mean crappy thing here> because I'm a Christian. I have to be like the those other people because they're like that. When I'm not, or I call them out on mean crappy things they say about "religious people", they don't like it. They find themselves being (and not realizing it) just as intolerant as the people they hate.
In either case, we all need to get a grip and realize that sometimes things and people are not the way we think they are. Someone else likes it the way it is. (Dana Carvey Voice)
I wonder who that could be?
The problem with outspoken, politically active, evangelicals is that they insist, loudly, that they are the real Christians. The only real Christians, and if you don't think the same way they do, about everything, and insist everyone else do the same, you can't be a real Christian. The problem isn't really that they think that or even that they believe that, it's that other people believe them.
I run into this as a problem when I tell someone I really am a Christian who is also a Democrat, Pro-choice, liberal, and a straight ally of the LGBT community. They're thrilled---and then they fall back into thinking that I must think <insert mean crappy thing here> because I'm a Christian. I have to be like the those other people because they're like that. When I'm not, or I call them out on mean crappy things they say about "religious people", they don't like it. They find themselves being (and not realizing it) just as intolerant as the people they hate.
In either case, we all need to get a grip and realize that sometimes things and people are not the way we think they are. Someone else likes it the way it is. (Dana Carvey Voice)
I wonder who that could be?
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