[This post is directed towards Christians. Christians who've gone to church for years and host a bible study and pray everyday. If that doesn't describe you, then the words below are not for you (although I'll bet you agree with them).]
The other day I was reading a review on Naomi Wolf's new book "Vagina". A catchy and decisive title, it's not hard to guess where her topic plans to stray. A renowned feminist and author, famous for getting arrested at a protest in an evening gown (but I love her for "Misconceptions"), her book takes a pro-team-woman stance and chastises feminists for being so divided and ultimately hurting their own cause. The reviewer, a feminist herself, points out that Wolf's flaw is in assuming that because we are united in one thing (we all have a, ahem, book title) we will be united in everything: she doesn't take socio-economics, religion and personal beliefs into mind to the extent the reviewer would have liked. In response to Wolf's question "why can't we all just get along?", the reviewer has a long list of suggestions and ultimately argues that feminism doesn't mean the same thing to everyone because the one thing all women have in common is often not the main thing that defines them. Before I am a woman, I am a leader. Before I am a woman, I am passionate. Many of our life's choices would be no different if, in a gender-equal world, I were a man or a woman.
I get her point. Whether or not I agree is besides the point because it's not feminism that brings me to writing today: it's Christianity.
The discussion over the book "Vagina" actually caused me to question whether the same principles can and do apply to faith, particularly Christianity.
It's no secret that Christians are divisive. We are so far from perfect it's a darn good thing we are looking to be redeemed and restored. We group ourselves into denominations, sure I get that, but then we group ourselves into cliques: she doesn't talk to her because her husband once offended him, and he despises him because he has more material possessions, and goodluck if you ever see them in the same room because things get messy quick. I get it, people are people and they make mistakes, but to the point of slandering and fighting or (worse) ignoring and shaming? How many times have you heard a negative word said from one Christian about another Christian? Trust me, I'm guilty of all of the above, but I believe something needs to change.
Because when you take away the fact that I am a woman, you still have most of my identity upheld. But when you take away the fact that I am a Christian, you are left with nothing. Behind it all I have Jesus standing as my King and the fact of the matter is that so do the people who I ignore or slander or debate with. Behind everything, we are unified not just by pieces of our identity; we are unified by our belief in eternity.
The fact that I hold belief in heaven, and I know for a fact that I will be spending eternity with many of the people I have wronged or have wronged me should change how I act toward them. It should change how we act toward each other.
I am sick and tired of being a member of the family that quit trying. If we gave the same lack of respect to our biological connections that we do to our faith connections, family would stand for nothing.
Heavy on my heart today is God's two commandments. If we live by these, our worlds will radically change. Love the Lord and love your neighbour. Not just your unbelieving neighbour you want to show God's love, but your faith-based neighbour whom with you have no eternal agenda. Love your Christian neighbour. The one who goes to church when you do on Sunday and prays for your community and whom with you have an imperfect relationship. They need the love, too. It just takes us growing a pair to get over our personal issues and giving it.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Let's hear what you think!