I don't think they read that book, honestly. You point out some extreme logical fallacies between what a certain verse/passage says and what they are doing/saying and they completely ignore you and attack even harder.
In the past couple of weeks I have gotten into some pretty hot discussions with some 'old' friends. (They are my age and we knew eachother from TeenPact, or Catholic Drama Camp, or some other homeschool function)
In one, I posted a video of the police brutality on the Berkley Campus (before the UCDavis debacle) where I commented that if you were not sickened/made angry, you should at least not feel as though Police were anything but a bully-service for the powers that be. I got a couple people commenting; everything from "Well, if you dont want to be punished don't break the law" to "I dont know all the details so I am not going to blame the police or take sides."
HUMANS WERE BEING BEATEN and cruelly treated. And they excused it with rhetoric or some other nonsense. I tried to argue from a human rights standpoint and pointed out that all of them were "Constitutionalists" in the sense that they would agree that the Constitution was the ruling law of the land and it says that all men were created equal and with rights and disagreement ideologically was NOT in any way shape or form an allowable excuse for brutality or harsh treatment. I tried to argue that these were AMERICANS and students and had the right on their own campus to make groups and have strong opinions and I was called liberal and feminist and other 'slurs' to the conservative fundamentalist mind.
If standing for humane treatment of people, especially Americans, makes me a liberal, I will take the label gladly. I thought I would have to have an abortion and vote Democrat or write for the Huffington Post before I got labeled 'liberal' but I guess not.
Then, my cousin began stalking me and some of my older posts and attacking me post after post.
I can handle opposition and dissent from old friends, and let them unfriend me, but family is personal.
This cousin is the perfect first born who was naturally gifted with musical abilities that his father and father's family and mother prize more than other talents and he has been the model son all his life.
He has never had a disagreeing thought in his life and never needed a job or had to support himself. He just recently went off to college in a different state and somehow he has the time to stalk me and berate me for my taste in music, my stand on human rights, and my disagreements with other narrow-minded homeschoolers.
Anyway, back to the title and point of the blog. I guess I got so fed up with these nasty, judgmental brats that I began reading the Bible and searching Biblegateway for passages that directly talk about love and acceptance and caring for one-another. Or for standing up for the abused or wounded. Or not putting one person or group over another.
I am expecting a comment about being thankful for that, but I am not.
I am upset that they are the ones who are seen as the Bible thumpers with God's direct number and yet they are the selfish, mean assholes who run others through the mud for disagreeing on one or two issues.
Have they EVER read Romans 12-15?
Get along with each other; don't be stuck-up.
Make friends with nobodies; don't be the great somebody.
Don't hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you've got it in you, get along with everybody.
Don't insist on getting even; that's not for you to do. "I'll do the judging," says God. "I'll take care of it."
Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don't see things the way you do.
And don't jump all over them every time they do or say something you don't agree with—even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department.
Remember, they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently.
If there are corrections to be made or manners to be learned, God can handle that without your help.
Or, say, one person thinks that some days should be set aside as holy and another thinks that each day is pretty much like any other. There are good reasons either way.
So, each person is free to follow the convictions of conscience.
So where does that leave you when you criticize a brother?
And where does that leave you when you condescend to a sister?
I'd say it leaves you looking pretty silly—or worse.
Eventually, we're all going to end up kneeling side by side in the place of judgment, facing God.
Your critical and condescending ways aren't going to improve your position there one bit.
These, remember, are persons for whom Christ died.
Would you risk sending them to hell over an item in their diet?
Don't you dare let a piece of God-blessed food become an occasion of soul-poisoning!
God's kingdom isn't a matter of what you put in your stomach, for goodness' sake.
It's what God does with your life as he sets it right, puts it together, and completes it with joy.
Your task is to single-mindedly serve Christ.
Do that and you'll kill two birds with one stone: pleasing the God above you and proving your worth to the people around you.
So let's agree to use all our energy in getting along with each other.
Help others with encouraging words; don't drag them down by finding fault.
So reach out and welcome one another to God's glory. Jesus did it; now you do it!
So I am reading the Bible. Dont jump all over me.
There may be hope for my soul yet.
*sarcastic
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