I am a Christian (that voted for Obama, BTW). I love Jesus. I want to serve the Lord. I want my life to be pleasing to Him.
I am a Christian that believes in love and acceptance. Even if I believe differently than you. Even if I disagree with your lifestyle. I will love you and accept you anyway. It is not my place to judge you. You will deal with your life decisions when you face God…just like I will.
I believe that God loves you AS YOU ARE, WHERE YOU ARE. I don't believe that there are conditions to God's love.
We, as Christians, are supposed to witness to non Christians. To bring people to Christ. I personally believe that the best way to do that is to live a life of LOVE. Not to point fingers. Pointing fingers and condemning others turns non Christians AWAY.
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I know all of this seems random. Actually, the above comments stem from several emails between Rachael and myself. She's confused and upset by all of the Obama bashing happening around her...in school and in church. She was actually told yesterday that she was going to go to hell because she supported Obama. *rolling eyes* She was wondering why people thought it was non Christian to vote Democrat...because that's the impression she's getting from her church. I just told her that, of course, we aren't any less Christian than the people in her church that voted Republican. It just means that we aren't "one issue" voters. *I'm not saying that all Republicans are "one issue" voters. Just the ones that are attacking her. You'd have to read all of the emails to get the full story.*
The only reason why I'm writing about this at all is because Rach feels scorned. She's hurt and confused. I really hate that! I've been there. I don't want her to go through this. I told her that because I felt hurt and confused and judged, I made the decision to stop going to church three years ago. And that's the reason I've been afraid to really search for another church home. I don't want Rach to feel like she can't go to church anymore. More importantly, I don't ever want her to question her faith.
I told her that these last three years I've been really searching myself and after much prayer and soul searching, I've decided that I want to be a Christian that LOVES. I will no longer be the legalistic, hypocritical Christian that I was for so many years. I'd like to think that during those legalistic years that I loved. But, looking back, I'm not so sure. I can recall conversations with my friends where I said the most awful things. *cringe* I regret how I acted.
My hope now is that I can help Rach through this confusion. Hopefully, this is where she'll come to the decision to LOVE...without all of the drama and hurt (and now regret) that I had to go through.
That's all I have to say on that subject right now. =)
