Christian content

I watch a lot of TV. A LOT. A lot of TV that involves murders, psychos, crazies, etc. And a lot of those murderers and crazies are labelled as "christian". I get tired of general society thinking that people who believe in God are either over-the-top-going-to-convert-you people or are using God as a reason to kill people.

One show I watched, the young Christian boy wouldn't lock his front door because he assured the police officer that God would protect him. Uh huh. Honey, God will protect you, but how about making his life a little easier by helping yourself?? Later on, the kid falls to his knees in public - in front of lots of people - and prays loudly. Uh huh... yeah. You know you can pray in silence, right? Remember that verse about prayer closets, etc??

The other show had a guy who killed people who "sinned" because God told him to. Now, it is a fact that many psychosis revolve around religious symbols and ideas, etc. That doesn't mean that God is bad, or that the symbols themselves are bad. Some people just have those delusions. One client I knew years ago had an invisible squirrel who told her what to do - including hurting self and others. Does that make all squirrels bad?

Here's the thing - real Christians are just people. People who make mistakes and who do dumb things. People who believe there is something beyond them and aren't shy to admit they can't do everything on their own. Sure there are some crackpots. There are some people who can't open their mouth without trying to convince everyone else that they are more right. But I shouldn't have to be embarrassed to say I believe in God. That I am a Christian. (Although, possibly the worst one known to man, but I'm a work in progress.)

I am a Christian. And no, I'm not going to beat you over the head until you are one too. I'm not going to force you to believe in what I believe. I'm not going to pretend I'm perfect, because I'm not. I'm not going to pretend I am better than anyone else (although I am).

I tend to try and give "religions" a break. I'm taking things with a grain of salt. If there is one thing I know, it's that even a perfect system - when given to a bunch of humans to administer - is going to get royally screwed up. It's what people do. So, I'm going to work on my relationship with God and be content to know that he's working on other people too.