If there were a motto for our generation, which I’ve fondly dubbed “Generation A.D.D”, I think it would be “My God is bigger than your god.”
My god is bigger than your god.
My god is bigger.
My god is…
My god.
What have we become? We are the cookies who have jumped out of the baking tray, to proudly proclaim they are the all-powerful beings, rather than their creator. Even worse, we cookies have even taken the audacity to proclaim to the other cookies, also in the baking pan, that our side of the oven somehow provides a better baking experience.
One one of my favorite scenarios involves the interactions between Muslims and Christians. Well, it starts there. I will explain. The Muslim man proclaims to the Christian man “We serve the same God!” a fact the Muslim is accepting of. The Christian, however, cannot muster down his ego enough to see the perspective of the Muslim man. This happening becomes even more interesting when the conversation happens between a Jew and a Christian, or an agnostic and a Christian. Add in, perhaps, the Hindu who says the same thing. Any devout Hindu would tell you the many ‘different’ Gods of their religion are not different Gods, rather, they are different characteristics and attributes of the One God.
The native Americans called it the “Great Spirit” who created the universe. Jews reverently worship Yahweh, the Muslims serve Allah. All believe this divine being was the creator of the universe, loving and kind. And yet the Christians, who have only existed for 2000 years, have the audacity to proclaim all of these others are 100% wrong, when they have existed for thousands of years before Christ ever walked the earth?
I’m very aware this is some thin ice that I am treading. However, I cannot simply stand by and watch as others are ridiculed, mocked, and thought of as fools by the pompous modern day christian culture which I have been raised to be a part of. Christ taught the practice of showing love to others. Where is the love?
I have a very difficult time accepting the fact that it’s “love” which compels the fundamentalist Christian groups to stand outside of military funerals and picket with signs. Many I know would try and write this off as ‘extremist’ or ‘non-christian’ actions/individuals. However, I say if ugly cousin Vinny is part of the group, you had better factor him into the way you conduct yourself as a member of the same family.
Too many people I know feel they are living the ‘good’ christian life by attending Sunday morning church services, or even by leading a small group bible study and having a large variety of cookie-cutter friends, er, community in their life. Nowhere in the bible do I see direct commandments that tell us to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world. How can you take a stand for truth if everybody around you is at eye level? How can you be the salt of the world in a salt mine?
My biggest, deepest hurt comes from the fact that those in the church are incapable of accepting or even attempting to understand the mindset of those who think differently than they do. I’ve seen outbursts of laughter, pure mockery, and harsh insults directed directly at those who choose to think something aside from the lessons taught in the walls of the church. This is not Christ-like, nor is it intelligent.
My heart breaks that there are those too arrogant or pompous to pry their noses from the pages of their bible, or to break from the walls of their small group to meet those who desperately long to experience true relationship with their Creator.
I often feel like an outsider from this very same loving “community” because I do not think, nor always agree, with the masses of groupthink and the restrictive conclusions they have limited the Creator of the universe to live up to.
I worship the Creator of the Universe, and am grateful for the life this divine being has granted me with. I believe in Jesus Christ and His divinity, resurrection, and message. And I believe this message does not require a steeple in order to be properly learned, lived, and loved.
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