So, what do I say to follow up yesterday’s post? Maybe I should post a list of people that I will let into heaven and those who I won’t. Based on how some people are acting towards me, that’s exactly what they expect me to do. In response to some of the responses, it seems necessary to me, to tell everyone my true perspective on judging others. I thought I had expressed this enough, but apparently, people’s view of me is slightly skewed. Okay, here I go . . .
First, off, I want to complain to other conservative Christians today. Most Christians wander around in their little bubble judging all others who are outside of it. Christ explicitly gave a charge to all Christians to “be in the world, but not of it.” Most Christians today that aren’t bold about their faith generally are “in” the world and “of” it. Most Christians today that are bold about their faith, like me, have a tendency to be neither “in” the world nor “of” it. When Abraham was coming down down from I think Mt. Sinai, the road forked in front of him. He had a choice to make. First, to go down the left road to Ai, a city of lust, thievery, sin, and abomination, or go to the right to the city of Bethel, a city that was holy, pure, and God-honoring. Where did Abraham go? According to Genesis, Abraham pitched his tent “between Bethel and Ai.” We as Christians are not meant to spend our whole lives in the holy city, nor in the unholy city. You must find the balance between the two. It’s a very difficult thing to do, but it must be done. Many Christians follow what I was venting about in my previous posting: they change for the world. Many others, though do the opposite, they remove themselves from reality.
My dad refers to these Christians as those who are “too heavenly-minded to be of any earthly good.” I personally believe these Christians pose the biggest threat to Christianity as a whole. They not only have created the stereotype of Christians, but have reinforced it in every way. It is these Christians that prevent me from being able to put a post up on my site that expresses my opinions and not have everyone think it feeds right into the stereotype.
All my life, I have heard from every type of person out there that I am the only Christian they have known that is not at all “of” the world, but it also not completely “out” of it. Sensitive to others but not compromising to myself. Most people here at VCU also have said that, except for a few.
To all “the few”: as my Social Psych teacher said about the student evaluations of his course he received, “the majority of these are great and positive for me, with only some people giving a negative evaluation, of which there are varying degrees. So many opinions, yet I’m still the same person! I did the same things with all of you! thus, following statistics, my true abilities and evaluations must be based on the majority of evaluations, of which most were very positive!”
I don’t blame all those that may have received the wrong impression of the way I am, I really don’t. When most of your experience with bold Christians has been of a certain type, you will be looking for certain behaviors, and will just naturally put more emphasis on those behaviors that match your mental schema for Christians more rightly.
I am a Southern Baptist. At least when it comes to beliefs and doctrine, I am a hardcore Southern Baptist. When it comes to my practices, my way of carrying myself, and conduct myself, I am not the typical Southern Baptists. Most Southern Baptists that are strong in their belief can be characterized by how they judge others. They do it constantly, incessantly, all the time! They seem to have forgotten that in the Bible, God says that all sin is equal in the eyes of God. This one thing holds many ramifications.
One, it smashes the “i’m a good person, so i can go to heaven” myth. In God’s eyes, every sin is equal, so as long as you’re a sinning human being, you are on the same level as every one else on earth. The only determining factor for heaven is whether or not one has dedicated their life and faith to Christ and has fully accepted his forgiveness.
Two, it shows that no human has the right to judge another fro their sins. This especially applies to Christians, and definitely applies to me. Under no circumstances do I – can I – see myself better in God’s eyes than another person. Until I stop sinning, I am right there with every other person. When I put up things like that last post, it is done knowing full well my own faults and sins.
On the last post, I simply gave a commentary on my personal frustration in my relationships here at school with people that seem to be changing, actually, more like compromising within their lives/lifestyles. A couple of arguments I heard tonight against my post: This is the first time people are thinking for themselves, thus they will change. The change is inevitable. My answer: Yes, change, is inevitable, and it will happen and it should. But, if these kind of truly positive maturing changes would be made, the vast majority of college students’ standards would not be lowering dramatically. There would be mostly positive changes, or slightly lower standards as people try to see what things are “wrong” and “right.” This is not maturation, this is not experimentation, it is all out stereotypical rebellion against the way one was raised. It’s cliche by now. It’s so utterly predictable that it has become the norm. The general rule nowadays in college is no longer to try and rise above the faults of their parents, but rather to disregard their parents all together. Does no one else see this? Another argument I heard was that I was trying to impose my morality as a standard for all other to follow, and if they don’t follow it they are seemingly evil horrible people. First off, no, they are not seemingly horrible evil people, they have just become the norm. Secondly, recall that my commentary was on everyone changing, and those changes usually consisting of a lowering of one’s personal standards that they had before going into college. I don’t care if it’s from someone thinking it’s wrong to kiss someone to actually kissing someone, or someone believing it’s wrong to drugs and ending up doing them. In both cases, they fit my commentary on the lowering of one’s personal standards that they had before college.
The most difficult part of being a parent is getting your children to internalize the morals you teach them. Getting them to make your morals their morals. By the age of 18, when you enter college usually, you should have internalized those morals, or at least a certain set of morals even if they aren’t your parent’s. College should be after you know what standard your living by and any change to that standard should logically only be a change up. This is why I see people with very similar upbringings to me starting to lose their standards. They don’t seem to have internalized their moral system at all, thus they have none when they come to college. They are still living their life through their parents. No matter what anybody may want to think of me, one thing I am not is spoon fed to be a walking carbon copy of my parents. I know what I bleieve, why I believe it, and have tested those beliefs whenever I can, and every time they have come out right; and I’m willing to defend those beliefs at anytime to anyone.
Okay, that was a lot of damage control. Under no circumstances will I change what I have already typed previously. I’m not apologizing for any of it either. I just want to let everybody know I really don’t think I am more pure, good, or holy than any one else out there. I really do love everyone that I have a relationship with, and I just hate to see them change their standards – the very blueprint by which they make their decisions. Just remember that, please. I am not judging, only expressing concern for this apparent characteristic of our generation. I really think we can do more, and I hope to meet more people that only want to raise the standards of their behaviors socially, morally, spiritually, and personally.
Once again God Bless and please leave comments!!!
–Paul<
the long way home 