Trying to be a lover and not a hater
I think, because I don't know for sure, that a posture of love presents as civil, kind, humble, generous and inclusive. For whatever reasons, especially in my defenses of fundamentalist christianity, more so online than in real life, I have not presented myself in these ways. I might have thought was behaving out of love, but I wasn't.
One of the slogans in evangelical christianity is that we become what we worship. What was I worshiping that was hard, lacking grace, ignoring other people's stories that didn't align with the big picture I believed? Words on a page? Elaborate assemblages of those words? Safety? Worshiping the Word of God, a person, deity in the flesh, complicated and dangerous is so much more difficult. It's the simplicity of it that makes it difficult. Living by two rules, love Him and love my neighbor, is too open ended.
I wanted to title this post, "trying to not be an asshole," but it might not be very loving to some of my neighbors who would read this. That's my current life goal, to not be a stinkin' chute of waste in the world. It's still not as good as love my neighbor and love Jesus. The difference with Jesus's commands and others is the lack of the word "not."
A lover is civil. A lover is kind. A lover is generous. A lover is inclusive. A lover also pulls down old blog posts that do not present love.
One of the slogans in evangelical christianity is that we become what we worship. What was I worshiping that was hard, lacking grace, ignoring other people's stories that didn't align with the big picture I believed? Words on a page? Elaborate assemblages of those words? Safety? Worshiping the Word of God, a person, deity in the flesh, complicated and dangerous is so much more difficult. It's the simplicity of it that makes it difficult. Living by two rules, love Him and love my neighbor, is too open ended.
I wanted to title this post, "trying to not be an asshole," but it might not be very loving to some of my neighbors who would read this. That's my current life goal, to not be a stinkin' chute of waste in the world. It's still not as good as love my neighbor and love Jesus. The difference with Jesus's commands and others is the lack of the word "not."
A lover is civil. A lover is kind. A lover is generous. A lover is inclusive. A lover also pulls down old blog posts that do not present love.
Galatians 5:22-24
The Message (MSG)
22-23 But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.
23-24 Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.
23-24 Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.
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