No wonder so many people see Christians in a negative light. It is human nature to focus on the negative and ignore the positive.
Parents are much quicker to point out a child's wrongdoing than they are to point out what the child is doing right.
The child in the class room is given constant attention if unruly, but often ignored if quiet and compliant.
We read and watch the news more for that which is shocking and terrible than we do for the obligatory "feel-good" story of human interest that is thrown into the mix.
And would as many people watch American Idol if Simon Cowell was not there, throwing out his harsh and often shocking criticisms?
It is no surprise that people focus on the negative aspects of Christianity. When Pat Robertson makes certain remarks that are deemed un-Christian, we hear bout it constantly and it is not uncommon to overhear comments such as, "Its because of people like THAT that I am not a Christian."
When a minister or priest is arrested for child abuse, it is headline news.
When the Christian right bashes gays, suddenly all Christians are seen as intolerant, unloving, and judjmental.
When a Christian is seen struggling or addicted or in prison, people will say, "See? What good is it doing them to be a Christian?"
People seem to look for reasons to validate their non-Christianity. And guess what? We most always find what we are looking for.
So I have a challenge for you. Why not focus on the positive aspects of Christianity? Keep your eyes and ears open for Christians who are having a positive influence in the world. They are all around you. It could be your neighbor across the street, or across the ocean. It could be a church reaching out to the poor. Or it could be one of thousands of missionaries who put their lives at rist daily in places such as China and Africa.
I see these people everyday because I try and focus on the positive, knowing I will always find what I am looking for.
And what of the Christians who give Christianity a bad name? Remember they are human above all else. We are ALL works in progress. And if you look to any Christian for signs of being the finished product, you will always be disappointed.
Until Heaven, that is. I hear it will be perfect. No negativity there. And guess what? We won't even be looking for it.
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Comments: 54
Beryl...You make a good point. We need to look at the every day miracles, for there are many. Thank you for the reminder.
Libramoon...Thank you for your comment, and its good to know you have an open mind and are able to see both sides of Christianity. I agree with what you say here. Christians have no right to down anyone else in regard to anything..and that includes a person's spiritual journey.
Unfortunately, it's the negative in this world that gets all the publicity. And then all Christians end up being painted by the same brush and the non-Christians or former Christians take up arms and start saying "you people" when really it's just a few.
Lately it's just that the right wing faction of Christianity seems to have taken it upon themselves to speak for all Christians and make stupid statements that most Christians probably find as appalling as those of us who are non-Christians. It's most unfair since people think nothing of making stereotypical statements about Christians but would be all up in arms if the same stereotypical statements were made about a minority group.
The problem is that our current administration has played the "Christian" card to find strong backing among hyper-conservatives, and gone on to meddle with the constitution of this country, in the name of "christian values".
Now you and i both know that chistian values have nothing to do with the policies of GWB. It is corporate greed and kowtowing to the mega-rich that motivates him. But he can't say this. So he riles up a group of fundamentalists, and then claims that "the people" want the changes he envisions... aka, turning our constitution upside down. If we are afraid of the demons of islam then we will allow our government to lock our borders, profile our citizens by race, search without a warrant, bug our phones and our internet, all in the name of "security".
Meanwhile, we are bombing the crap out of those Muslims, making them hate us more than ever before.
This is not really about Christianity at all. It is a political ploy.
It is that mentality that I must disassociate myself from. If that is christian, I don't wanna play.
(I realize, as I said, that this is not the way the majority of Christians feel. Most are good, caring, "Christian" people. They need to speak up, though.)
Here's the deal for me at least. I feel like a lot of good Christians are maligned, just as a lot of good Muslims are as well. At the moment I find it unspeakably gross how the Bush Administration has taken on the persona of "Christ approved" when in fact we all know Jesus, (though not credited with military genius) would have never invaded Iraq out of principle. Many non-Christians feel rightfully miffed by that sort of hubris since war cost lives, changes lives, and isn't cheap.
Cheryl, I want to give you some snaps for your writing on this site and your honest declaration of faith. Christians like you do a great service in the name of Jesus and I for one, have considered things you have said. Keep up the good work.
What is all the fuss about anyway? So you're a christian.
and I'm not. now don't get me wrong....some of my best friends are christians, I went to school with some christians, someone in my family actually dated a christian.
I have also known some good protestants, jews, and followers of Islam, even a bhuddist, a hindu and a practicing coward.
Private, Eye, while I would like to believe Jesus would never have invaded Iraq, I am wondering if you can actually cite anything from the Gospel that proves this. I honestly don't think it's there, but I'm listening. And what about the time he said, "I came not to bring peace, but the sword"?
Being a Christian isn't about being perfect. It's about recognizing how very imperfect you are, and how desperately you need somebody divine to help you on the journey towards being better, to take all your wrongdoing on himself and forgive you.
Slinging about 'love' and 'hate' makes me pretty unconfortable. What is love? How about the time I gripped a child's arm while she screamed that I was mean and hated her because I would not let her run freely into a busy city street. She did not see that love, not hate, was my motive for hanging on tightly enough to keep her from getting away. It seems to me that people who want to hate Christians get things twisted and accuse of hate when what's at work is really a form of tough love. And is it loving to be 'tolerant' of behaviors that hurt people? Is it loving to be tolerant of drug abuse when the abuser is hurting both himself and others? Isn't trying to change the abusive behavior more loving, ultimately? Love just plain isn't the same as always agreeing with another.
I am a Christian because I know that I am so far from perfect, and so unable to get there, that I need Jesus to take my wrongdoing upon himself and clean me up. And the cleaning up process is going to take my entire life long.
Don't look now; God isn't finished with me yet! :-)
And let's talk about "tough love" in the Christian community. Many churches still practice shunning former members or members who have differing views or serious issues with what goes on in their church. Is that tough love? If that what Jesus meant in Luke 9:49-50? I am thinking not.
As to drug addicts, are they railing against Christians? Are they adamantly opposed to people believing and worshipping how they choose? No, their isses are not gemaine to religion at all, but instead real physical diseases or problems that often times cannot be solved by faith alone. Interdiction, patience, tollerance, assistance, and moral support are just some of the things they need. Not some "tough love" that mandates discarding them as fellow humans because giving them unconditional love is quite the difficult thing to do. Now I know that some can't be helped with all the money, love, medical assistance, time and resources in the world, but at least they have a patron saint in Jude, which in someone's eye meant they deserved some consideration.
It may be unrealistic, but just like the Muslim faith there will be issues as long as the nutbags and extreme biblical literalists are allowed a voice that has an impact on society. I said it about the Muslims in another thread. When they villify and chastize the crazies for giving them a bad name then things might start to change. Heck even Jesus got pissed off and kicked some ass when he went to the temple. Are today's Christians unwilling to stand up for humanity as a whole when so-called Christians make it hard for them?
Dorine, I've read parts of the Bible and have never memorized anything. To be honest, because it has been translated and edited so many times I feel it reflects a scewed vision of what was originally "Christian." For instance, I have heard rumors Jesus penned a few books, but those have either been accidently or intentionally lost. This would not be so out of the oridinary since Jesus was a product of two very literate societies - Romans and Jews.
So to answer your question; no. I do have an idealized version of Jesus, which is quite complimentary. As such, anyone who promoted peace, would never have gone to war.
Sandy....thanks for your comment. I think the subject comes up a lot because it is a sore point with both Christians and non-Christians. We are seeking to understand each other, and that is a good thing. Also, let me say that true Christians should not have to announce the fact that they are Christian. Their actions should speak for themselves. The fact that they don't is one of the reasons I wrote this article.
Whether or not a group gets 'good press' or 'bad press' is a function of which individuals in that group are getting the press.
It just so happens that, currently, we have a lot of really bad PEOPLE who are in the spotlight. I've done my fair share of complaining about/fighting against their influence here on Gather but, if you read what I've written carefully, you'll note that I try to refrain from being critical of any particular social group. I've been careful not to be critical of ALL Republicans (because I've known many good people who call themselves Republican). I've actually gone out of my way to emphasize that I don't even think these people who call themselves "Republicans" represent the ideas and ideals of that party. They are BAD PEOPLE, using the label because it suits their needs.
The same is true of Christians AND Muslims at the current time. There are BAD PEOPLE stirring up a lot of shit right now, using those labels to mask the BADNESS of what they do.
This is why tolerance and understanding and DIVERSITY are so critical to the human condition. We NEED wide and varied points-of-view to stabilize our culture. Whenever any single group gets too much of the power, the tendency is to abuse it in some way.
I think the people who founded this country actually understood this, and that is what I personally believe made them great men.
We hear from these members the word tolerance, tolerance, tolerance, in all things! But yet many of these same members cry "tolerance" towards Muslims, ie. "not ALL Muslims" are BAD, just a few fundamentalist extremes. The same stands true for Christianity.
Off my pulpit now....and remind them to practice what they preach ;)
Thanks Cheryl for this wonderful article.
John...I agree. That is ridiculous to me to to try and stop an important documentary such as that because of the language. I daresay some of the very people complaining about the language would have been using the very same language had they been in that place at that time. It boggles my mind how some people just cannot try and see the big picture. And yep...Catholics are Christians too.....at least the last I heard....lol.
Thanks, Cheryl, for hitting upon another important aspect of this topic: Hypocrisy. Again, from personal experience, I've known many a supposedly devout Christian who, when it comes right down to it, will gladly stab you in the back or rip you off.
I don't care how much these people profess, or even BELIEVE IN their faith, I can't help but think of them as bad people, who use their faith to gain access and advantage.
The important distinction, though, is that I think of them as 'bad people'. I know better than to go the next step and say that people who call themselves Christians are bad people...
I will say this, though; the louder and more vigorously one declares their faith, they more likely they are to ultimately fall into that 'bad people' category. This, from personal experience again.
I've seen it enough that those displays of 'in your face' faith tend to trigger a red flag with me...
It is soooooo easy to overlook the Jesus in someone's life, especially one who is humble and gives God the Glory.
Very well-written and compassionate article, by the way, dear, which I hope you don't think I'm slamming; not at all. Just expressing a different opinion, that's all.
An example would be Jimmy Carter and Habitat For Humanity, who is truly an inspiration - but I always comes back to the same thought, for a person to claim to be something, they must do the embodiment of that thing. Do not claim to be a writer and never write - just as the true meaning of christian (I thought) was christ-like - which means tending to the poor, the sick, following the actual words and deeds - these things I see in everyday people - I have seen these things in real people working a soup kitchen on christmas eve (in stead of praising jesus while getting hammered on the holiday punch) - or your example of the least christ-like people I know of - Pat Robertson being just one truly evil example.
How do you feel about certain groups telling those who disagree with our anti-bigotry opinions concerning gays to leave the groups I just left?
But to believe that "non-Christians" are somehow above the fray is truly naive. I here daily complaints from non-Christians about feeling pressured by things Christians say that reveal their beliefs, generally followed immediately with a critical analysis of Christianity, or religion in general, and then often a promo for their own belief system. It is utter hypocrisy to do this, and that is undeniable, just ignored.
A scan of this thread will reveal exactly this reality. Even folks who start out with a comment about how they know all Christians are not hypocritical and judgmental, will often follow with a but what gets me is statement throwing in one or more negative images about this or that type of Christian, or church, or belief. Or a truly un-thought out remark about "good" Christians controlling the "bad" Christians, as if we were joined telepathically, or had some special power to fix each other. A simple search will reveal attempt after attempt from Christians to get other Christians to stop being hypocritical, it happens often, your in one now.
The truth is; Non-Christians are excused almost without exception for making anti-religious remarks. And Christians are often derided or told their delusional as if this were perfectly acceptable behavior.
Go ahead; prove me wrong.
I'm kinda testy today too...tired of the "I hate hypocrites that hate." bull. Gather has a real problem I find, a lot of folks can dish it out, but when it's time to take it; they hide.
I honestly joined thinking Christians needed a wake up about hypocrisy, but what I find here is a great blindness on the part of the "gangs" to their own hypocrisy and judgemental-ism. I'm getting into hot water on all sides. But I'm with you, I answer to no one on this planet...cept me.
You'll come around.
Seriously, I love your comment about your mutual accountability.
You'll come around.
(to being less "much". Oh literal one)
I can do those two things. As far as trying to convince anyone else...I am not interested in that. We each have to find our own way. Peace and Grace.
Not perfect, but being perfected...
Not blameless, but forgiven...
I'm not a Christian, and I do see the good things they do, I was part of a church my entire life up until three years ago and I just decided I didn't want to be part of it. I felt like I was being brainwashed. But with the good things they do comes forced belief. I don't believe in missionaries, I don't believe in spreading religion, in fact I don't believe in religion at all.
But as much as I know I'm right.
You feel that you're just as right. And everyone else has their own strong opinion.
So I understand there's no changing minds here.