I've put a post about Harry Potter up here. I'm pretty sure you guys will agree with me, but I'm interested to see if there will be any dissenters. I'm okay with it if there are--you certainly don't have to read Harry Potter if you don't want to!
I asked my husband last night, "Why do people who hold a certain position think they have to convert everyone in the world to that viewpoint?"--e.g. "I think books that mention magic are Satanic, so NOBODY should read Harry Potter"--and that's not really an exaggerated example of their approach. Then a lot of them bring out the big guns and start citing the Bible. If your interpretation of the Bible is different, then you're just a godless heathen. (Think about how this comes across to non-Christians who don't decide what breakfast cereal to eat based on the Bible.)
Okay, I guess I am just a little angrier about this issue than I realized. Why can't we hold a belief and just LEAVE OTHER PEOPLE ALONE ABOUT IT ALREADY? I mean, if you're right, we'll all come to accept it anyway. If you're right, you aren't going to convert people by telling them over and over they're wrong, wrong, wrong. People don't change by criticism or rejection. People only change if they want to change. You can't make them change by arguing with them. It's true that you can love them, but people are pretty good at sensing ulterior motives and they're going to figure it out if you say you love them but you are really just waiting for them to change. To be like you. Because YOU'RE RIGHT. Because if they aren't JUST LIKE YOU and if that's okay then YOU are NOT RIGHT.
And everyone knows Jesus said that his followers need to be RIGHT at all times no matter how many people get hurt.
p.s. that rant had nothing to do with my HP post, so do go over there and comment--but only if you want to, I promise I won't judge. :-)
godless heathen!
ReplyDeleteHear, hear. I'm tired up to here [she waves a hand above her head] of right-wing, socially conservative, rule-obsessing, intolerant, exclusionary American evangelicals being held up as representative of the whole of Christianity.
ReplyDeleteUgh.
You do know that today's evangelicals would almost certainly, were they transported back to first-century Israel, be right up in the front row, throwing rocks at Jesus on the cross.
Because he was inclusive. Because he ate with "tax-collectors (social pariahs) and sinners", because he spoke kindly to prostitutes and immoral women. Because he didn't Keep the Sabbath. Because he didn't live by the RULES, dammit!!