If you would have known me 3-4 years ago, you probably would have be surprised at what you saw. While professing to be a Christian, I wore my faith like a patch...I could removed it at will. This behavior caught up to me and allowed me to FINALLY understand why secular people think Christians are hypocrites. Most of us are. I did not say all of us, I said most of us. We have the word of God in our lives only when we want it, not all the time the way God wants it. I was not letting the people I interacted with OUTSIDE of church know what I had professed. I am not 100% sure why I did that at first. Maybe I felt I would not be accepted. Maybe I was somewhat embarrassed. I do not know. What I do know that God convicted me of this behavior and I have not returned. I now defend my faith instead of ignoring the jabs at it. It has been tough at times since I am a people pleaser a big part of the time.
People in the real/physical and Internet world have distanced themselves from me. I am often ignored/ridiculed in secular chat rooms, often to have specific comments made to taunt me into verbal attacks. My web page (which was very popular for some time) has see a 50% drop in traffic in the past 2 years. Work has been different, mostly because we have a few closet Christians who will talk with me now that I have openly professed my faith. However the online world is very harsh at times.
I visit, on a frequent basis, a web board frequented by computer savvy geeks, gamers, and those who have to deal with "users" of pc's, ISP's, and like tech products. I am a very big participant on that board. I enjoy reading many of the posts there and share many of the thoughts the others have. Some of the people there are quite intelligent, however the larger percentage of them are not Christian. As a matter of fact, many are down right hostile to anything Christian. In some ways, I can see their anger. They see the actions of a few overzealous Christians and assume all Christians are the same way. Many times I get involved defending my faith, but more often that not, it turns into a gang up on the one person who has decided to speak up, namely me. I do get a defensive post in my favor every now and then, and I do appreciate it. There are even a few neutrals who jump in and pull some of the radicals off my back. I guess it says a lot when a neutral party has to calm down the scene.
One subtle sign of bias I have noticed is from my old friend, "Flute". Most of us on the board use an "avatar", or a symbolic representation of ourselves that shows up when we post. I have changed mine many times. I have used my picture, the Firefox logo, little animated geeks, geek characatures, and even the logo of the Wildcards on an old Sci-Fi show on Fox, "Space: Above and Beyond" (which by the way was an awesome sci-fi show). However, with my new attitude of my faith, I have simply chosen to use a simple sign of the fish. It has been there for about 3-4 months now. How "Flute" has shown her anti-Christian bias has been to recently change her little 8 bit animated cartoon icon (of a wizard, I think...I am not sure) to the walking "Darwin Fish" that the evolutionists like to taunt Christians with. I am sure the jab is at me since she just started doing this and it is similar to my fish. What she does not know is that I do not care she does it. We are charged to love our enemies. While that would be a tall order for me, I wish her no ill will and tend to ignore her now.
According to those who interact with her, "Flute" has recently moved from the west coast (Seattle area) to Philadelphia and is living with another board member. What really was surprising is that this board member has posted on the board he is a "biblical scholar" and is a lay minister for his church. He also posts to the web board frequently and does not seem to defend the Christian faith when we are attacked on the boards. What is odd is that he prefers to debate other Christians and defend his knowledge (which I must admit is vast. He seems very knowledgeable) instead of defending God's Word. He has even gone as far to publicly post that, "Jesus hung out with hookers and drunks. My guess is he knew how to have a good time." Such a pity. Like my friend Jim who has a gift for cartooning and does nothing with it, this scholar has great knowledge and chooses to defend it rather than God's Word.
I have often been asked, "Why do you keep going back?"
Did Christ run? Did he deny his destiny? No he did not. While I am not Christ, nor perfect like him, we are called to live a life like his. The world needs light. While I cannot change the world, I will plant seeds and if it takes 50 years and only one person I have shared with comes to the Lord, then it is worth it.
Come at me with your slings and arrow, non-believers. God is my armor. In him I trust.
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