I've recently had very negative run-ins with Nazarenes. You all know this. (And some Nazarenes are still my friends, but more in the "Why I'm Staying" post next time.) Some of those folks think I'm a bit off the mark. They think I don't understand Christianity. They think I don't understand holiness. Some of them are afraid that I'll poison the minds of young people. Some of them don't like my lifestyle. No. I'm not gay. I'm not a woman, so I've never had an abortion. I actually believe in the deity of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, and the necessity of living a different kind of life. I'm not even a universalist. I do drink. I do smoke the hookah, which, by the way, contains tobacco when I smoke it. (Although I hear it's good for opium. I didn't know people still smoke opium. Awesome.) These folks are trying to convert people to Nazarene-dom. Next month is district assembly for our district. Pastors will get together and report to some District Superintendent (Naz Cardinal) and perhaps a General Superintendent (Naz Pope) how many "new Nazarenes" they have in their churches. Many of them will lie. They will count the Nazarenes that came from other Nazarene churches as new, and they will not bother to ask, "Why aren't we counting something else, like people fed, housed, loved, ministered to in prison?" Nope. So, in honor of the soon to be liars and the executive muckety-muck that will hear those lies, here's a visiting blogger who is far younger than me and far more experienced with Nazarenes. I hope she can help some Nazarenes understand that they don't really understand the culture they're trying to reach. It's not cracker-ass America circa 1955 anymore, or 1975 for that matter. Without further bitching...
Well, Here it is...
I Go to church...yet I party...
I say a prayer...yet i scream obsenities...
I sing to hymns...and shake my ass to hip-hop
I reach out to people who need it...I reach out for a towel when i'm piss ass drunk puking my guts up...
I've read the bible... i've read Cosmo...
...After looking at that list... i look like some bipolar, hypocritical jackass....
But its all true, and I don't go to church to be fake, or meet people, I go because it's a place where other people or 'only humans' can go, to be a part of a group of not-so-moral minds, with one common goal...to have a better understanding and grow as a community under the name Jesus Christ. I've been to ALOT of churches, alot of youth groups, with many different youth pastors...most of the time, finding the same thing time and time again...(in the moviephone voice)'If you give your heart and soul to Jesus Christ, and accept him as your Lord and Savior, you win..........(drum roll please)......ETERNAL LIFE!.... and then there's the small print..."you must agree to living your life 110% devoted to Jesus Christ, be nice to everyone, never hate your life, always volunteer, be charitable, never curse, give to the needy, love life...love yourself, love jesus..."
It's not so much that Christianity isn't about all those things, but throwing it all out there at once... is like interviewing for a job in india... You've got a lot expected of you but you aren't gettin' shit in return... I could be totally off pitch here... I would be more than happy to listen to any other opinions that might be out there.... Maybe I am just looking for an excuse to continue living the life I'm living without the judgement, which is a possibility, but I also think I have a pretty legitimate 'excuse'....
I call them my mentors, you might know them by other titles such as, minister, pastor, journalist, teachers...all leaders in the church i attend... Every single one of these people, are aware of how my friends and i live my life...but unlike what you would assume, these people don't lecture me, force their personal beliefs on me, try the good ol' intervention, or excorcisms...no...not at all... in fact... they do the exact opposite, they invite me into their homes, not to discuss my life's problems or religion, but to get together as friends and buy paperview movies, and play uno, and eat really really good homemade taco soup, they ask us over and over again to babysit their children...that's right they trust us with their kids...and then i realized... my idea(a common one) of christianity was all wrong...One of the main focuses, i believe, is not to make everyone the same, or follow all the same rules, or believe the same things...but maybe to express love to those who are least expected to be loved, to give a dollar to someone who is expected to waste it, but to at least have faith in them to use it for what they need, and maybe having that faith alone will show them something more than lecturing or preaching....maybe knowing that someone in this world is rooting for you is enough to give you a chance, and the drive to take that chance and run with it.
"He who is without sin among you, may cast the first stone"-John 8:3-11
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," - Romans 3:23
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