Raging against the bigotry...

Well... that was cool! :)

I just "unleashed" some steam on a dear friend (in the nicest possible way I hope ;)).

I was telling him about the conundrum of my life as a christian.

Now I'm about as biblically fundamental as you get when it comes to the expression of my faith. I actually believe all that stuff in the Bible! It makes me wierd yes! I know that! I like wierd! I embrace wierd! Wierd is what I like to be!

The irony to this though, is that all my closest and most abiding friendships, all the acquaintances that give me the most satisfaction and pleasure are with those who are non-believers!

I wonder why that is so?

I seem to attract non-believers to my hearth and home like lost pennies!

Is it because I relate to them? Yes!
Is it because they might be "attracted" to something of the Divine through me? I doubt it!
Is it because they aren't hypocrites in the expression of what they believe? DEFINITELY!

Now, don't get me wrong! I love my Christian family with a defiant passion and will go through hell on high water to defend her to the death!

When it comes to individuals as Christians - that's where it gets a little more....murky :/

You see! There is something about some christians that doesn't ring true! They speak of obedience and following Christ and all that but they forget the fundamental thing of their nature! THEY CAN'T!

Not on their own! We can't follow Christ anymore than a statue of Buddah could untangle his limbs from the lotus position!

Don't speak to me of obedience christian! Don't give me waffle about following Christ out of sense of pious duty!

You are saved by undeserved Grace on a cross on calvary! There really isn't anything more to it - the ressurrection notwithstanding!

The thing is, there are some christians who are too danged difficult to like because they don't particularly enjoy themselves while still here on earth!

That's what I like about non-christians! They love life, they indulge it, they don't deny themselves pleasure for the sake of it! Some of us christians need to understand that we've been given insight into a whole BIGGER pleasure and to forsake the wonderful bounty of what is here is like biting off your nose to spite your face!

So go ahead! Drink your wine (yes! I said wine), eat your food. indulge your passions and thank God he has rescued you while you EMBRACE life instead of trying to wallow in "obedience". I don't want to tip-toe around you for fear of offending your sensibilities and propriety's sense of what "should" be! What SHOULD be is an overwhelming joy in life not some laboured expression of dour sonambulistic faithfulness!

You cannot BE faithful without the spirit! It cannot happen! Our very nature makes it not happen! We are about as obedient as wilful toddlers chucking a wobbly on the lounge room floor! God knows that but he loves us anyway!

Give it up and come on over for a laugh and a scotch eh? ;)