Defending the Faith
In recent years as George W. Bush has made his faith clear, Christianity has fallen under attack. What bothers me most about the generalizations made about my faith is that too many of the arguments made make sense to me. Having grown up in and out of New England Evangelicism, I agree with many detractors in the notion that Christians are narrow-minded, spiteful, and arrogant. We have the answer to life. Jesus is the Answer. God is my co-pilot. God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. And when these charges are leveled, the Christian Apoligists jump to their pulpits and preach about the laws of Christ.
What, of course, they fail to mention is that they do not speak for all of Christendom. But there they stand, telling Christians that we must vote for this person or that person. That a true Christian will rise against the immorality of homosexual marriage and fight to protect the sanctity of marriage. I believe that if two people love each other and want to be married and that affects your marriage, you have issues of your own. So I find myself, as a person who has some measure of faith that falls into the category of Christianity, having to regularly defend my faith to not only myself but to others.
I won't dare speak for all of Christianity, or for God, but I think that we as individuals need to be able to better defend our faith instead of relying on pastors, evangelists, and presidents of Christian organizations. I have a hard time buying that what many pastors preach as absolute truth is really just that. Jesus is truth, we are told, and even that statement alone is rather vague, much like like the stories he told were vague. But if Jesus is truth, then how can we be absolutely positive that what we preach, outside of Christ crucified, is truth?
I don't mean to imply that there aren't any truths in life, though many of the truths we proclaim are nothing more than human interpretation, only that we ought to be far more careful in how we defend our faith. But more precisely, I think we ought to focus on our faith instead of defending Christianity. If we would step outside of our bubbles, we might find that much of modern Christianity is not worth defending.
If the apologists and pastors would focus on teaching their students and leading their sheep, and looking inward at themselves, maybe we can get to the task of defending our individual faith. The faith that we posses within ourselves and has not been given to us on a platter from well-intentioned pastors. Because the faith that will change the world will be the honest faith, the truth of who we are inside of that faith, and the honesty of our actions as a result of our faith. We need to turn inward as individuals before we can lead the world.
What, of course, they fail to mention is that they do not speak for all of Christendom. But there they stand, telling Christians that we must vote for this person or that person. That a true Christian will rise against the immorality of homosexual marriage and fight to protect the sanctity of marriage. I believe that if two people love each other and want to be married and that affects your marriage, you have issues of your own. So I find myself, as a person who has some measure of faith that falls into the category of Christianity, having to regularly defend my faith to not only myself but to others.
I won't dare speak for all of Christianity, or for God, but I think that we as individuals need to be able to better defend our faith instead of relying on pastors, evangelists, and presidents of Christian organizations. I have a hard time buying that what many pastors preach as absolute truth is really just that. Jesus is truth, we are told, and even that statement alone is rather vague, much like like the stories he told were vague. But if Jesus is truth, then how can we be absolutely positive that what we preach, outside of Christ crucified, is truth?
I don't mean to imply that there aren't any truths in life, though many of the truths we proclaim are nothing more than human interpretation, only that we ought to be far more careful in how we defend our faith. But more precisely, I think we ought to focus on our faith instead of defending Christianity. If we would step outside of our bubbles, we might find that much of modern Christianity is not worth defending.
If the apologists and pastors would focus on teaching their students and leading their sheep, and looking inward at themselves, maybe we can get to the task of defending our individual faith. The faith that we posses within ourselves and has not been given to us on a platter from well-intentioned pastors. Because the faith that will change the world will be the honest faith, the truth of who we are inside of that faith, and the honesty of our actions as a result of our faith. We need to turn inward as individuals before we can lead the world.
posted by Mr. McNamar at 1:43 PM
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