Day One: The Beginning
By Edwin Lester
I was going through my blog roll yesterday and I stop by Free Slave’s spot and he had a post called:
Religion: What is it Good For?
Check him out when you get a chance. I always feel like I walked in on a convo with Cornell West and I’m in the 10th grade trying to comment. That is the beauty of his posts it challenges us to think past our first response. I am a firm believer that if you want to elevate your game you must get in the presence of people who make you work harder.
That said… My post is a spin off of sorts.
I have often wondered why my liberal “free-spirited” nature is often times criticized as an enemy of my fundamentalist beliefs. In case you missed the news flash I am saved. Sho nuff. Short of speaking in tongues (not my gift) me and Jesus got a thing goin’ on. I recognize the blessings afforded to me when I stumbled around blindly. God’s mercy is outside amazing to me. I understand that God is my rock, my friend, my love, my life and “just is”. Regardless of what I need he manifests himself there. All he asks of me is that I tell people about him and that I praise and worship him.
Okay, before you all saved bashers get your pens sharpened — just slow your roll. While I understand that as a Disciple I am charged with bringing others to Christ I don’t believe he meant for me to beat you over the head with bible verses about how you are going to hell if you don’t get on board. I have never done that. It’s not my way or my style. I prefer to live a saved life of FREEDOM in Christ and let you wonder what I have going on that is so cool. Maybe if you see enough of it you’ll make the choice to ask me or someone about it.
For those of you who don’t know I spent some time studying Islam, Buddhism, and a few other faiths trying to find my place. I settled on Christianity because it was the best fit and was the most natural expression of my faith.Having said that I have a problem… I need explanation as to why I can’t be a liberal also.
I don’t smoke weed (some days I wish I did) but if your conscious, higher power, or however you call it (if you call it) doesn’t convict you that its wrong — PLEASE explain why my salvation has to dictate me preaching your ear off and blowing your high? There are plenty of Rastas out there who wish us saved folks would reel ourselves in. Ja likes sensi.
Pastors tell their flocks not to do drugs, but they are preaching to a congregation of people who are at best saved and at the least willingly subjecting their lives to this criticism. Outside of the church; however, this is a different story.
I have never been a crack head, drunk or weed head so I don’t have a testimony that can get you off of drugs. All I can say is “Jesus said no” and you shouldn’t defile your temple. There is a strange thing about defiling temples though… there are Muslim’s out there wishing I stopped with the bacon already. Funny how that works.
If I have never been where you are how can I force you to put the crack pipe down by bible bashing. I can’t do that anymore than the brother with the bean pie can make me put down my BLT with cheese, extra “B” and no LT by beating me up with his Quran. My best bet is to pray for you in hopes that God shows some mercy and you come to your senses if I am that worried about you. If I am claiming salvation then I am charged to be worried about you. My prayer closet should be jammed packed with prayers for other folks. If all I ever do is pray for me and mine then I am coming up short. While we should be “on fire” for God we were never charged with the duty to be offensive.
I used that as an example to illustrate the core problem with the “Holy Rolling — Bible Bashing” Christians. They forget that God is a gentleman. He accepts our free will and does not force his will on us. If you think about it none of the major faiths portray God as a breaker of free will. All of the faiths demonstrate consequences for “bad” actions and rewards for “good” actions.
Nothing gets on my nerves quicker than religious arguments where people try to convince each other their faith is wrong. Each faith claims it holds the monopoly on religion. In truth Judaism and Islam are the most liberal in that they accept each other and Christianity as core faith with doctrinal differences that are still accepted by God if the person who practices is not taught different. I am trying to understand when “us” mere mortals got God all figured out.
God is the dude who set out in the middle of nothing and created the heavens and earth! That’s a bad mutha fo ya! So, if God has the capability to do all that you mean to tell me your skill set is so fierce you can get in his mind and figure out what he was/is thinking with regards to everyone on the planet?
I prefer to believe that God it completely sovereign and can do as he pleases. That said what makes us so clique-ish to believe we are the only ones he listens to. He understands every language and sees every action but he only likes us? I like to think God has a soft spot in his heart for Christians. I know for a fact he sho nuff likes me . He would have to in order to pull me out of all the crap I was in.
I prefer to see God as a parent with a bunch of kids vying for his attention. All the children have different personalities and quirks, but he loves us all. He would prefer the “black sheep” of the family to behave more like the “honor roll student”, but at the end of the day his love knows no limits. He disciplines and admonishes with his heart and mind on correction first and punishment second.
Now, I will leave it to you all to decide within yourselves which one of God’s children you are (unless you are an atheist then this whole post was a waste of your time…), but if you take nothing else from my ramblings please understand that tolerance and communication without judgment go further than argument. Your belief does not negate my belief.
I’ve seen examples of his miracles in the lives of people who will never believe like I do, and I refuse to be so arrogant to believe that God only listens to me. If you can see the world from that perspective then acceptance and love for your fellow “man” comes much easier.
