being an example

over the weekend two women from a church who's beliefs we don't necessarily agree with stopped by our house to "witness" to us. the women from this church roam around our neighborhood ALOT. i admire their courage and their commitment to sharing what they believe - but its always sort of rubbed me the wrong way that someone would knock on my door to try to convert me to their religion. IF i have questions i'll come to you ladies. usually they swing by, give us a pamphlet and move on. this time though one of the women straight up asked me - what do you think about religion and politics mixing? say what?!? those are the two touchiest subjects that no one really even wants to talk about and you knock on my door on a sunday afternoon with my squirmy toddler running around my ankles and want to have a sit down about my personal beliefs about faith and government? uh, no thank you. BUT, i did remember sweet nuggie running around my ankles just then and i thought - hold on a second - i have to be an example to this little lady. and while she has no clue what i'm saying or doing right now so long as i love her and care for her, i better start practicing being the sort of human being i want her to grow to be. so i tried to dialog with them a bit.

i don't often talk about religion and stuff on here, though i do have very strong beliefs and convictions of my own. i just prefer not to jam them down anyone's throat. if you know me in real life, you know i'm a believer and if you want to talk about it - awesome. let's do it.

but these women got me riled up. we chatted a little. and i told the woman i don't think politics and religion NEED to mix. i think the two are separate. and she looked at me like i was a bug on the wall. and she went on to give me a spiel about Jesus being the head of politics. well yes, he was a leader. but that was Jesus. none of us are Jesus lady. and i said to her two things. first of all, my president is NOT my spiritual leader, that's what my pastor is for. second, i think the church needs to start taking on a leadership position. my elected officials, who are more often then not crooked, lieing creeps, do NOT need to be the one's telling me how to live my life. the church needs to be the gentle leaders - guiding us and helping us to come to conclusions on our faith.

so there's this whole north carolina thing going on right now. i get both sides. but again, it has me all fired up. hence this long blog. i have my beliefs. i'm a Christian who believes every word of the Bible is true. but i also think that those are MY beliefs. and i don't need to force others to live by what works for me and my family. so here goes - shame on you north carolina. shame. if Christ still roamed the earth today, i highly doubt he'd be all knotted about about gay people wanting to be married. i think he'd be more concerned with loving people. being kind, honest and just. this is how Christians get a bad name. getting our undies all in a twist about something like this. spewing hate gets us nowhere good. and it isn't what my Lord would have us to do.

the woman and i didn't get much talking accomplished. she was in a tizzy that i didn't believe what she believed. i invited her to come back (while nuggie is napping) and we can talk more then. i hate this sort of thing - i hate confrontation of any kind. but on the other hand, i want to stand for what i believe in - in a loving way - and i want nuggie to grow up being a firm believer who can also be a gentle light to the world. screaming and anger and putting others down gets us NOWHERE. and i do believe that Christ said something about calling others out on their splinter when you've got a huge old log hanging out in your life. a sin is a sin is a sin. and if you think someone's lifestyle is "sinful" then before you go putting them down - take a cold hard look at your own people. we've all got baggage. we've all got things we wished we hadn't done or do. denying people their rights and shouting that they're going to hell because of who they LOVE isn't the way Jesus would have handled this situation at.all.