Beliefs

So, my husband and I have been trying out churches recently. I've managed to convince him to get up Sunday morning and make a Sunday service at a newer church up the street from us. Not a great distance away, not super early, and service is done in an hour and a half. It's a more contemporary church- very diverse crowd, black, white, Asian, and less traditional hymns than I'm actually used to. But it’s a nice. The couple times we've been we've liked minister and his sermon.

But this past Sunday, we had a visiting minister, who categorized himself as a “southern Baptist minister”. On several occasions, the visiting minister brought up how accepting Jesus Christ as the son of God, makes you a Christian. This doesn’t bother me so much. It’s what Christianity has deemed as their basis. But what does get me is the negative inference that I hear a lot of Christians make as a result of that statement, “You must accept Jesus Christ as the son of God, or else you’re going to go to hell.” I even felt that the visiting minister led such an inference when speaking of his mission work. He spoke of doing missionary work in non-western countries, and how it worried him that as world events destroyed these peoples and their homes, they would be “lost” because they had not yet accepted Christ.

Yes, it’s a major doctrine in Christian belief, but why does the “or else” part have to be so damming and exclusionary? Why is there an “or else” part? What if I believe in God? One God only, and worship no others before Him? And I even try to live in His image through my everyday actions and thoughts? BUT I have my own set of beliefs on accomplishing that? So Muslims and Jews are just out of luck when they die? Who is Christianity or ANY religion for that matter to judge another religion?

In another part of the sermon, the minister claimed how diverse the Christian church had become with the many people from different backgrounds and cultures and how we should be open minded and respectful with all people and their cultures, accepting differences. Ok, hold up.

So another person believes in the same principles and values of a monotheistic religion. More so, the theology, some stories, and characters of their religion are very similar to my own, varying most likely because of culture. But. because they don't believe the WAY I believe, then they’re wrong? And furthermore going to hell? It just doesn’t feel right. What happened to accepting the differences?

The minister went on to tell a story. An American businessman and Muslim businessman started doing business together. The Muslim businessman noticed the American had a bible and being religious himself, asked if the American felt comfortable telling him more about his faith. The American did, and over the course of the next 6 months the two sat side by side, along with the bible and Koran, discussing the two books, and the faith that stemmed from each. At the end of the story, the Muslim decided he wanted to convert and went on to help 100s of his own people accept Christ.

Uhm, no.....

Why couldn’t the story end with the two businessmen realizing that their basic principles of faith were very similar although they embraced it in different ways- and that’s OK. And this blog isn’t to just call out Christians. There are other religions that are guilty of the same exclusions. Whether or not it is called Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Purple-ism, it just shouldn’t matter.

Sex in the City

If you know the littlest bit about me, then you would know that I am a Sex and the City FANATIC. I love the show, the stories, the fashion, the friendships. And I regularly (yes, regularly) watch the original episodes on demand. It just doesn’t get old to me. And that’s something, because I easily get tired of things.

Sure there are issues with the show. It focuses on a completely non-diverse group of women. These women ONLY ever take cabs. What kind of bill does that look like? Where are all the buses, trains, or other forms of public transportation? And pre-book deal, Carrie is a single gal, living in Manhattan, writing a column for a tabloid newspaper, and yet she dines out all the time and has a shoe collection that would rival that of a teenage heiress. Does that make anyone else raise an eyebrown? I mean honestly, that just doesn’t seem all that realistic.

But once you get over all that, what I love most about the show are the relationships. The relationships between the women, the relationships with men- I really feel that the show brings up real issues among people. The show does a neat job showing women’s reactions to challenges with men, other women, life events, and many times conflicts we have with ourselves. What I love most is the portrayal of the 4-woman friendship. These women prioritize their relationships with the gals. They regularly meet for dinners and drinks. They go out together, they shop together. They check up on each other. They show amazing loyalty to each other. They accept each other for who they are. I think people can agree that it’s hard to have a consistent group of friends, all geographically close, who all accept each other. Maybe it’s because these women are older? Who know’s. In the real world, close friends don’t always live so close, female personalities conflict, and relationships in general are just hard. But I will say, although it is only TV, it’s the fantasy world that I occasionally like to get away to.

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