Not sure what I expected
Outside the blogosphere...I had sincerely hoped my offer to release a friend would be rejected, or at least accepted as a temporary cure for some challenges the friendship is experiencing. Afterall, this is about a friendship based on Christian love. Unfortunately, my offer was accepted as it stood.
I am sitting here stung by the memories of why for years I rejected the offer of salvation Christ presented to me with because I struggled with the humanity of those who shared the offer on Christ's behalf. I am hurting for those disenfranchised young people who will will seek Christ and turn away disappointed by people (even though that is a wrong reason to turn away.) And selfishly I am discouraged by my own thoughts of feeling I have to decide between friends and being real.
Sweet Jesus give me strength...
posted by Sandy Mc @ 9:28 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Thanks Chuck...
I still feel a bit lost and sad. Thanks for remonding me I am not alone.
WEll what a thread.
First off..I've lost a few VERY good, close Christian friends, some through no fault of my own. ONE==The pastor "ratted" me out, the friend left the church, blocked my emails, and changed her phone number. I took the hint.
ONE=was a Christian I led to the Lord in bible college..she got saved, started attending, and got WAYYYYYY deep into it, and of course..I was parahiah after that. I tried to win her over..to no avail. ITs been years and it still hurts. You invest in someone, time, and money and emotions..and it simply sucks BIG time when it ends.
On the other hand..we have to be true to God, and I've been throught the closing of "groups" on line too. I loved one..it was poetry for homeschoolin mom's, I visited it freqenty , and the lady just "Decided" god wanted her to close it...I asked her to keep it as a "open" group and relinquish the "ownership" ..she wouldn't do it. That sucked big time.
LEt alone all the "Rightous" people when I would leave a church, through divorce or whatever..suddenly were too good to "do tea" with me.
Ah, yes, friends in Christ, it's almost a paradox. True, Christian friends can stick it out to the end, but what makes them different than just friends?
The truth is that Christian belief is just like two identical people, which we know is impossible. Even the identical twins have differing features and/or characteristics/attitudes. If you take two friends who believe they have the same beliefs, I feel (theoritically) there will be one topic that they religiously disagree upon, whether they admit to it or not. However, it doesn't have to be just religious beliefs, it can be simply any belief. I think these differences are changing and evolving in people as they age and experience life, which can and is usually responsible for ending friendships.
I have a sterotype of Christians, which is contradictory in itself. I have this view of Christians as very judging people, always ranking their surrounding community to some degree or another. This is a natural flaw in humankind, but it just appears more apparent in proclaimed Christians. I say "proclaimed" because I don't think any one human has the right to call themself a Christian. What does it matter if you say you are or you aren't? God is the one who decides. I believe in God and I try to follow His cryptic advice and I hope when I finally meet Him face to face, he calls me a Christian. With this view, I'm not so dissappointed when a proclaimed follower does something obviously wrong. I can understand they've made a mistake and avoid judging them as being either Christian or not.
I offer no advice, as the human race is doomed to a certain degree of flaws in each individual, advice is not 100% safe (it can really mislead someone). Instead, I offer my thoughts (pray that they be wise) of which can be used as means to augment one's own.
I suppose I'll stop ranting. :)
Hey Onewing...nice to see you! I followed your progress on the contest and it sounded like you got your enrty finished. How did you do?
I DEFINATELY appreciate you stopping by and sharing your thoughts here in this thread.
One thing I would love to share with you is that much of my ponderings are to get others to think about the very things you mentioned! The seperation from the friend I mentioned in this post was because I was involved in a discussion on the one friend's blog and was *trying* to share that even though that friend had something *figured out* for how it looked in their life they might not be able to just transfer that knowledge to someone else who experiences things differently. I was *trying* to help dump out the stuff in "the box" so we all could figure out how it fit us. I guess I was too OT ;) (translated: not supporting the writer's theory)
As you pointed out so wisely, we ARE all different, and need the grace to agree to disagree. It is part of my passion to see people released to be who God made them to be and not feel they need to be some version of the "happy plastic people" found in most churches on Sunday mornings.
I find it extremely sad that you (and SO many others including myself) notice that those who proclaim Christ are often NOT the loving people I am confident God intended.
If you get a chance and want to know a bit more about what I am into, come and jump into http://www.theooze.com/main.cfm
...and heck, pass the word as I just received word that I have been accepted as a start-up leader of the NW Arkansas Emergent Village Cohort!
You can get to that blog at: http://emergentnwa.blogspot.com/
Take care and I am glad to see you around. Hope your Spring Break is awesome!
Post a Comment
<< Home