Wednesday, 14 May 2008
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Christian Identity
ok ok - i bet you're thinking - not another 'identity' post...but this one's different. allow me to rant a little bit here...
Is it me or do you find that media and even society in general tends to freely insult Christianity more and more these days? i can't even count how many times people have insulted my faith, in front of me, and exhibited a fair amount of disrespect. but let me back up here - i'm not talking about the random exclamations of "Jesus Christ" or even the AIM lexicons of "omg" etc...but more of just blatant insults juxtaposed with attacks on my intellectualism.
This was ever so evident in Comedy Central's show South Park, when the studio decided to pull scenes of an image of Mohammed and replace them with a black screen and words. But in the same episode Comedy Central decided to keep the scene where an image of Jesus Christ is defecating on an American flag.
Now - let me just make things clear. i wholeheartedly welcome statements of people refuting Christianity and questioning it. In fact, i love that i'm living in a country that allows people to freely do so and i would fight for your right to be able to do so as well ....but at the same time, there's a degree of social expectation or social decency. You see, Christianity isn't a fashion statement that I put on in the morning. It's my identity.
I'm a Christian first, then I'm American, then I'm korean...etc....It's like that to me - afterall, it's the most intimate thing in my life and defines who I am in a lot of ways. It's worse than insulting my mother and more tasteless than a racist comment.
I might very well be the only person thinking this, but i think i've grown way too complacent and letting all these insults slide.
But in the end - what can we do. Maybe this is what we read from the Bible, that when we get slapped on the right cheek, we're supposed to turn the other cheek....
and here's an interesting piece to that statement - notice that it says "right cheek". Assuming that everyone was right handed then, figure out how you would have to slap someone to strike the right cheek - not a normal slap. but rather, I believe this was more of a representation of an insult.... so in ways, I guess God was telling us that this would happen all along.
what do you guys think? have you been personally insulted because of your faith? what did you do about it?
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Comments (6)
I live in a country that's tolerant and accepting of all religions, and I'm thankful for that. I've never been outrighly insulted because of my faith, and I'm not complaining whatsoever. But I'm thinking that a bit of persecution won't kill Christians here - we're getting a bit complacent. I'm thinking of China, where the Christians are so persecuted, but in spite of that, the church is growing. Or maybe it's because of the persecution. Hence my train of thought... :)
Oh yes, holidays with some of my family members are interesting. I'm the only believer in my family, it does provide for difficult times. My cousin is one of those people who loves to push other people's buttons. We will usually get into a heated discussion about God. I try to keep my cool, but it is hard sometimes.
And you wouldn't believe how much I'm insulted because I want to go live in a third world country. *Gasp* Oh well, I'm not doing it to make them happy, I'm doing it to make God happy.
Have a great day! And yay for subscribing! :D
I havent really had a lot of personal experience of this, but I do feel offended by some shows like South Park. Apart from what you said, even if they don't try to be offensive, they often give off wrong impressions of Christianity, for example, that it's about being a good person. People rely a lot on the media for their views these days and I think these could greatly affect the way non-believers perceive Christianity.
Great post! I too have experienced this... in fact almost even lost friendships over it. I have a friend, a very liberal lesbian friend who considers herself Catholic. And although she CLAIMS to be very open-minded and tolerant, she gets wildly offended and insulted by my beliefs (which, I thought, were the same principals that her own Catholic faith is supposedly built upon, but who am I to speculate?). I never try to sound judgemental or condemning when I express my views on my blog, but she takes them really personally anyway. Its just frustrating because she's so stubbornly close-minded (even if she claims to be very liberal and open-minded). And then I've met people who downright make fun of me for being a Christian and for my beliefs, just to try to get a rise out of me. It can be frustrating at times, but you're right... we are called to just 'turn the other cheek.' It is to be expected, and is something Christians have been dealing with for years (sometimes even going to the death to defend their faith).
When I was in college, I took a biology class taught by an extremely liberal professor. One day she loudly proclaimed to the class, "Anyone who believes in creation is a total idiot!"
Looking back I wished I wouldn't have just sat there. I wish I would have stood up and left. I wonder what she would have said if I had.
Yes people do insult the Christian faith more and more these days. It's never happened to my face vocally, but just reading comments on various sites on the web...I'm often shocked that they are so open with their insulting another person's faith! But hey, like the first commenter said, perhaps we need a little bit of persecution -- we are too soft in our faith...if we have to defend it and fight for it a little, it can only help us out in the process!!!