Christianity, it seems at least, has become a religion of Either/Or. We are a religion that has divided itself into "us against them", and the sad thing is, most of the division is between fellow Christians. It's not Us (as Christians) against Them (The non-believers) most of the time...it has become Us (insert denomination/theological belief) against Another opossing denomination/theological belef. To be honest, it sickens me and frustrates me.
Now, I realize that there has to be some level of Either/Or. It's impossible to both believe in God and be an Atheist It's impossible to be a pacifist and yet believe in War. But a lot of the Either/Or's we have are needless. I hate how Christianity has become a large, diverse group of people at war with itself. I love the idea of diversity. I love the vast aray of denominations, and the fact that people can believe in the same God, and yet have healthy debate and discussion about things that they disagree with about that God (or the Bible). Unfortunately, the things that I love about Christianity is becoming a thing of the past. There is no longer a healthy community discussion. It's evolved into arguments, curses and verbal warfare. Not everything has to be a This/That. Not everything needs to be an Either/Or, and not everything needs to be a Us/Them. Here are some things that ae traditionally an Either/Or, that I personally am on the fencefor:
Creation/Evolution. Now, when I say "Creation" here I am referring to the traditional 7 day creation, not the mere fact that God ceated the world (because THAT I believe with all my heart). Christians have creed 2 camps. Either you believe in the 7 day Creation that God spoke into existence or you believe in the billion year Evolution that God had no part of. Most Christians it seems would say that it is impossible to be a Christian and believe in Evolution. To that I say, Bullcrap! I will agree that it is impossible to be a Christian and believe in an evolution that God had no part of...but Evolution in and of itself is not evil. I believe that God created the world. I also believe that God gave us brains, and knowledge and SCIENCE. I think we are stupid if we neglect the proof. Do we reject the idea of gravity because it's not mentioned in the Bible? Or the idea of a round Earth because the Bible refers to a flat Earth? No. We learn, and we grow as things become clear. I thnk God is shaking his head at many of us for rejecting some Science because we think that it disproves God. God is big enough to handle adversity. Instead of seeing Science and thinking, "Wow...so THAT'S how God did it" we end up thinking "Blasphemy! This is trying to disprove the need for God!". Just because Science takes away a lot of the mystery doesn't make it any less wonderful or amazing. Science doesn't disprove God. It's OK to believe Science AND the Bible. I give you my permission!
Pro-Life/Pro-Choice. What's that? I'm taking on the abortion debate? You bet I am! Now, first and foremost I believe that abortion as an act is wrong 99% of the time. I am a firm believer in the choice of life, and a firm believer that life begins at conception. At the same time however, I believe that God gave us free will and the right to choose. I think that, while I disagree with the act, the choice should still be legal. Will this be controversial? Yes. Will people hate me for saying this? Maybe. Here is why I believe it needs to be legal: First of all, whether it is legal or not will not stop people from getting abortions. The problem with it being illegal is that, the abortions that are done will be sketchy and will probably lead to more botched surgeries where both the baby AND the mother die. Also, if the mother ever needs help recovering from the abortion(physically, mentaly or psychologicaly) she will be afraid to come forward. She will have to deal with the effects for the rest of her life without anyone there to help her. At least now, she is a bit more likely to come forward and ask for help. Secondly, I believe that there are some cases when Abortion (while sad, and disappointing) is necessary. I believe that, if the pregnancy will put the mothers life in serious risk, that the mother should be able to choose to abort the pregnancy to save her life. I hate how the Pro-Life people ONLY care about the life of the unborn baby. Do they not remember that Life continues AFTER birth as well? If the mother is going to die while giving birth, or while carrying the baby in her womb, is it not better to abort the baby (which would likely die along with the mother anyway) and save the mothers life?
Final one (I could keep going on, but this is getting kind of long!) Chan/Bell. Now it seems you are either Pro-Rob Bell or Pro-Francis Chan. It seems that if you enjoyed Love Win, you have to hate Chan, and if you hated Love Wins you have to hate Bell. But why? First off, I would argue that, just because an author writes one controversial book doesn't mean everything else he has preached is wrong and blasphemous (on that note...since when did controversial=blapshemy?). I've heard people say that they returne Bell's books (that they used to enjoy) after Love Wins came out because they disagreed with his ideas in THAT book. It's ok to like both. I prefer Bell to Chan, but that doesn't mean I think that Chan is wrong, it's a preference for me. More specifically though, we have this idea that you can't like both Love Wins AND Erasing Hell. But I do. I like one more than the other, but I still enjoyed both books and can agree with where both are coming from. Can they both be 100% right? No. But is one of them 100% wrong? Most likely not. It's ok to like both. It's ok to read both, struggle with it and ask questions..in fact that is encouraged. Not liking one idea by an author and preacher doesn't mean we need to write off EVERY idea by that pastor of author. It just means we need to ask questions and discern!
Well...those are my thoughts. There are other Either/Or's I could get into, but I am interested in what you have to say. What are YOUR Either/Or's. What are the things that you are on the fence on that other people assume has to be one or the other? Do you agree with my ideas or am I wrong? Give me your thoughts, comments and questions!
