had a near fight the other day.
It was about Focus On the Family. You know, the place down in Colorado Springs, headed up by Dr. Dobson? Well, my mom agrees with most everything that old man says. And for the most part, I do too.
But I find myself pulling away, and wishing he would shut up. Does he stand up for good things? Yes. Do I wish he would sit down? Yes!
Sometimes, I feel that America looks at Dobson and sees the whole of Christianity. This bothers me, because I see Dobson and see all of politics. One of the top sections on his site, is titled "Life, Death, and Judicial Tyrany." It's an article, that I haven't read, but from the title and first few sentences is perfectly political.
Dobson is all hammer down, protect morals, drive out the infidel. Or at least, that is the way he comes across. I hate people like that. Mainly because, they are annoying and the epitome of why the world hates us. They do not hate us because of Jesus. They like him. They hate us. Because we scream truth from the rooftops, and we forget that there are people down on the ground who need love.
I don't want the world to see Dobson when they hear that I am a Christian. I want them to know, that I will love them no matter if they are gay or pro-choice, or whatever. Will I agree with those decisions? Well, obviously not. These are black and white issues for me. But those are not the things that I see the Christian life as revolving around. I see it revolving around love, grace, and mercy.
What an idea! I think that many of Christians today have become obsessed with the truth of God, and have laid his love to rest inside the church where it is conveniently forgotten throughout the week. But what is truth without love? People are not drawn to truth and morals, they are in fact frightened by it, because it is so far from our human capability. They run from it in shame.
But love! Love is such an amazing thing! Do you think it was simply because he was told to, that Christ died? No! It was because he loved us beyond all imagining. If we were to love the world with only a fraction of that, how could they resist?!
But instead, we are obsessed with morals and truth, with right and wrong. We seclude ourselves into a cocoon of holiness. A cocoon of religiousness. We are like Dobson, who talks and talks, and never gives out hugs to those who are frightened by their pregnancy, confused and overwhelmed. We do not love. We do not talk with, we talk at.
We have become the very thing that Jesus hated when he was here. We have become the pharisees, and teachers of the law.
Teachers of the law. Not love. Law.
Hyarcha,
Sara
About Me
- Sara without an H
- In my Father's house are many dwelling places, if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and recieve you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
7 comments:
my dad said that exact same thing a few weeks ago. like the exact same thing. same examples and everything. thats really cool. i must say i agree with you also.
"Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody."
1 Thessalonians 4:11-12.
I think that from Dr. Dobsons point of view (which is the family) you do drive out everything that is evil its the only way to raise pure little christfollowers with strong relationships with God. However i think that agreeing with dr dobson is a necesity, look how the boycott of abercrombie set in motion by dobson got them to stop advertising with pornography... i guess im just saying that its important for christians to be united, some advise from me is not to reject dobson completely due to an article here or there but bear with him... we are all human
sincerly
ryan
I said I do agree with him, and I do. I just think that he could be a little more loving in the way he goes about things. He comes across as just being this old legalistic guy from another generation. I think that's bad. I agree with his values and all that jazz, I just don't like that he is so political about things. It's great to be involved/concerned about politics, but I think the place of the church is among the poeple, not the government... Sort of.
And it isn't just one little article, here and there, it's everything he says and does. He's always on the news for condemning this, or that. Condemnation, that's a bad thing for the church. If that's all the world sees us as, they won't ever come to us and want to experience Christ's love. Because they don't see it.
And I wasn't trying to trash the poor guy, he just happened to be a convenient example of how a lot of Christians are today. We have the legalistic ones, and the ones who don't care about anything once they get out of church. But I don't think either of those are right. Neither of them reflects Jesus.
We need to love more, that's all I was trying to say.
i think you said it perfectly sara. i agree dude.
yaaay. For once, I didn't screw it up!
I really enjoyed reading this. I found your blog because you listed Nicaragua as one of your interests and Nicaragua is my passion. You totally hit the nail on the head. It makes me really sad sometimes when I see how legalistic we are. As Church, the Body of Christ, we should be reaching out to people and loving them no matter what, even if we disagree with their behaviors or politics or lifestyle or whatever. Because when it comes down to it, we're all sinners and we all fall short of God's standards. It;s just inexcusable the the very place people should be able to find love, acceptance, forgiveness, the Church, is where they often receive the most judgement and rejection. The Church is a Hospital for Sinners, not a Country Club for Saints, but a lot of us don't act that way.
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