It’s Hard To Be a Christian These Days
By Sally Bishai (01/25/06)
I was recently told that a Catholic bishop said that it was “hard to be a Christian these days.” I agree with him, but with the added qualifier of “true.”
It’s hard to be a true Christian these days.
What do I mean?
Well, stepping aside from the whole issue of temptation—What? Oh, you don’t know what I mean? Then I’ll clarify it.
Christians are supposed to refrain from certain activities, such as defiling the temple of God (smoking, drugs, gluttony, or drunkenness) and sexual immorality (sex outside of marriage).
While these sins may have physical or emotional consequences, thus making many “moral people” wonder how anyone could ever wish to do them, it must be said that these things can be, for a short time, enjoyable.
Maybe cocaine gives you an exhilarating rush (I wouldn’t know).
Maybe drunkenness is actually fun (again, I wouldn’t know, but I doubt it).
And I’m sure that the rush of meeting someone new, connecting emotionally, and taking the next step (or three) might have its charm (I’m an Egyptian, I’ll leave it at that).
Chowing on macaroni and cheese, a porterhouse, and three orders of Vietnamese soup (in one day) certainly has appeal, too! (What? Oh, it doesn’t? Sorry.)
Point being that “Just saying NO!” isn’t as easy for us as it might seem. (I can just feel some readers out there thinking 'Well, YOU'RE the genius that decided to "be religious.."')
But back to what I was saying about two hours ago.... the difficulty of “walking the walk” aside, it should be noted that “walking the straight and narrow” is made even more difficult for us by those who feel as though Christianity should be abolished. AKA “The Tolerant People.”
I was recently informed by one of these “people” that everyone in the world that followed Jesus should go live on a deserted island, so as not to contaminate everyone else with our alleged neuroses. (Didn’t they used to say that about people with AIDS?)
Seriously, though, you know what I’m talking about. You have to.
Tolerance is preached everywhere these days.
Being “politically correct,” whatever that is, is practically a requirement if you want to avoid a lawsuit.
Being accepting of everyone, even Satanists and atheists and transsexual Buddhists, is the new norm.
But what about the Christians?
Why is it “cool” to protect everyone but us?
Did we do something to offend everyone? I didn’t realize that “God is love” and “thou shalt not kill” were getting on everyone’s nerves.
Christianity is a religion based on love and peace.
Don’t bring the Crusades into this, don’t mention cosmic killjoys and fire and brimstone, because it doesn’t mention any of those in the Bible.
Just because people may have misinterpreted something and acted accordingly—or even gotten thousands of people to act “accordingly”—doesn’t mean that everyone agrees with the validity of the act. Furthermore, you don’t avoid airplanes JUST because one or two pilots have been total drunks, do you? (Well, maybe you do.)
Christians might be deemed “intolerant” by liberals and others and, in a way, we are. We are taught to be “in the world but not of it.” We’re counseled to be intolerant of sin—and the appearance of sin!—in our own lives. Meaning, we should shy away from getting drunk and having flings with the spouses of our best friend(s), but also hanging out at bars and sweeping said spouse-of-friend into a torried embrace on a street corner, even if it’s done with the utmost “innocence” of heart.
This does not mean we should shun those who do sin—if we were to do that, we would not only never talk to anyone, we’d also have to just pack up and die, because we aren’t perfect, either!
My point here is that, while Christians have an excuse for being intolerant, liberals don’t. It’s in the “Handbook of Liberal Thought” that they should be “tolerant” of everyone—even the intolerant.
But, sadly, these “liberal-minded” people can’t live up to their job descriptions. Not that I’m condeming it; I just think it’s interesting to note that “the tolerant people” are (sometimes) the least tolerant of all!
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