It seems a lot of Christians have a problem, the lack of an open mind. So why is this a problem? It's a problem because for many non-Christians this is the number one thing that turns them off to Christianity. Christians who lack an open mind have made Christianity into a religion of dos and don'ts. These things you can have these things you can't have, these things you can do these things you can't do. This isn't the Christianity I have come to embrace. This is not what Christianity is all about. Christians who lack an open mind are missing out.
For most of the early years of my life I fit into the narrow minded Christian stereotype. If I still felt this way I wouldn't do have of what I am doing now. I would not be Ballroom Dancing, playing Dungeons and Dragons, and in general have non-Christian friends. This is why I am saying Christians who live in the Christian bubble are missing out.
Granted there are somethings in the world that are damaging not only to one's spiritual life, but also to one's health. I am not saying to run into everything the world has to offer with open arms. What I am saying is, it can't hurt to keep an open mind about the things the world offer that can be good and beneficial to us. Remember, the world was created by God. Once upon a time the world was good. Granted Adam and Eve screwed that up for the rest of us, but that doesn't mean we need to go around the world with spiritual gas masks. It simply means we need to be careful about what is in the world.
As Christians we are called to be IN the world but not OF the world. Many Christians are not even in the world. They are part of their own subculture. This is wrong, and it is not what we are called to do. True we are also called to be set apart, but there is a big difference between being set apart and being completely apart and so wrapped up in Christianity we fail to recognize the other members of the world even exist. And so, people like me, who are too liberal for Christians and too conservative for non-Christians are left trying to figure out to which group they belong. Is there ever a point at which you can be neither Conservative nor liberal?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
So you finally sent me the address to your blog, so I'm trying to catch up with everything you've been doing. Sounds like someone has been incredibly busy.
I decided to comment on this posting because I'm going to take issue with a couple things you said. First off, having an "open mind" can be a good thing - if it's not so open your brain falls out (to steal a phrase from Winston Churchill). Some people cannot handle having an open mind because they are not strong enough to deal with the implications, and those people I'd rather deal with them as close-minded than with the mess that "open-mindedness" would result in. While yes, some Christians have made our beliefs into a set of rules, I think there is a large number of believers who are fairly "open-minded" - I would include myself in that group, and yet I would not play D&D...though I'm not going to get on your case for doing it.
I think what you're really frustrated with are the people who try to impose the rules that they have for themselves. I would argue that an "open-mind" and a "closed-mind" are relative to the situation. I know several people who would consider you very close-minded because you reject evolution and accept creationism. Shoot, they'd get on your case because you believe in a god, much less The God. Hence, I have a hard time with your assertion that you are completely "open-minded," which, if you were, I wouldn't like you nearly so much. I honestly hope you are very close minded to such things as drugs and cruelty.
(Now that's I've waxed eloquent/rambled for the last 10 minutes of my International Marketing class, I'm going to go outside and enjoy the beautiful day. Hope this makes your brain hurt to make up for all those poor people you have been abusing. :-)
Post a Comment