First Impressions.

I've basically grown up at church. I've been attending and involved for as long as I can remember. I honestly can't think back to a time when church hasn't been a HUGE part of my life. There's a lot of who I am that stemmed from the things that I've learned and experienced through church. There's a lot of friendships I've made through church activities that I know I'll maintain throughout the rest of life. 

That said, the church is so ridiculous so much of the time. 

And I mean that in the most respectful way possible. 

For the most part, the members of the church are insanely judgemental. It's absolutely revolting how the people found inside of the walls of a church are easily the most judgemental and condescending people you could find, at least 85% of the time. 

How is that even possible?

Based on everything I've learned in church, the church should be a place full of vibrant, genuine and loving people. The church has even taught me that the Bible makes it clear that God is in the only one who is in a position to pass judgement on people. Other people are simply not equipped to pass this judgement. 

I hate how unloving the vast majority of the Christian community is, especially the sect which would identify themselves as "traditional", "fundamental", or "conservative". 

I think that attitude has everything to do with my general sense of distaste for those three aforementioned words. 

So many times people act like the only people who deserve their respect are other Christians who would label themselves as such.

Honestly, that's ridiculous. 

Ugh. It just disgusts me so much. I really don't blame people for being turned off of Christianity and church. If it hadn't been such an integral part of my life from such an early age, I might very easily be turned off of it myself. And maybe to some extent I am.  Perhaps I'm unjustly passing judgement on the Christian community, percieving a mind set that might not even be close to reality. Based on what I hear from people outside of the church, though, it's perfectly accurate. Maybe I really am cynical towards the general population of church-going, conservative, fundamentalist Christians. Maybe this is even my own way of judging others.

And maybe that's harsh. 

All I know is that I've been able to disassociate God from the broken institution that is the church, so that my own faith isn't affected by the attitudes I see around me. I still do consider myself a Christian. I simply do not want to be categorized as the stereotypical and all to common judgemental Christian.

In church, you're always taught to live your life different from the rest of the world. I'm not satisfied just living differently from the general population of people, though. I want to live differently from the general population of Christians, too. 

"We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them." [Abigail Adams]

The Essence of Inhumanity

So.
I hate posts that begin with "so." It sounds like you don't know what you're talking about. It reminds me of some sort of valley girl. "So" is one of those fillers that I actually used to get in trouble for using Freshman year of high school. I have lots of terrible memories surrounding the word "so."
But, I digress (I also love the phrase "I digress"; I could use it non-stop. But, I digress).

Last Thursday, the Amnesty International at my school hosted this screening for a film made by Invisible Children (http://www.invisiblechildren.com/). Basically, the organization raises awareness about the situation of abducted child soldiers of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda, working towards their rescue.

It really got me thinking about being indifferent, apathetic, complacent, or any other synonymous word that could go along with those.
It's so easy for us to see something like that and go "Oh, that really sucks" without taking any further action, or at the very least thinking about it more than that. The most people do when confronted with issues and situations like that is become immediately more thankful for their own way of life.

That's so bogus, to put it mildly.

Caring is one thing, but caring can still become identical to indifference if you simply care on the inside. If you only do that, you might as well not care. I really don't think the general cliche of 'it's the thought that counts' applies to situations like these. Your thoughts don't count if they don't compel you to actually do something. If your thoughts don't make you rethink your indifference, you might as well not be thinking, since it isn't doing anyone any good.

I love George Bernard Shaw, for many reasons, but mostly because I found a quote by him last Friday that completely summed up all of my feelings on this subject:
"The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent towards them: that's the essence of inhumanity."

People so often attribute the label of "worst sin" against other people to the direct and outright hatred towards other people, mainly seen as the deprivation of basic rights or the dehumanization of another individual. That's not it, though.

While those things are wrong, I think it's the person who hears about these things being done to a fellow human being and then proceeds to do nothing that has inflicted the most wrong upon them.

Valentine's Day

Well.
It's that time of the year again. You can't go anywhere without seeing people who are in love. Everyone's in love on February 14th.
Naw, I don't want to do some deep entry about what love really is (Mostly because I've already done that: http://changetheworldplease.blogspot.com/2008/08/i-love-you-so-much-i-would.html).
And I don't want to go all cynical about love and relationships (Mostly because I haven't done that yet, and don't want to disrupt my perfect record).
For everyone out there who actually is in love, there's about three people who's hearts are broken. And have been broken for a long time. This isn't a statistic that I found on some government website.
I just made it up.
But, when you've got that broken heart, how should you deal with it? Well, match.com has some ideas, for starters. While the original ideas were much longer, the gist of their seven tips was:
Court your career, focus on the negative, (my personal favorite) make out and move on, shush yourself, pump yourself up, go all natural, and trash it.
Do we want to simply be making out and moving on, while constantly focusing on the negative in order to shush ourselves?
Obviously, match.com was made to get people together, not help them cope with being apart.
Anyway.
I don't want to talk about match.com, either.
If you've got a broken heart this Valentine's Day, here's what you do in five tried and true steps:

[1] Do not watch the Lion King, under any circumstances. Simba and Nala are a sure fire way to make anyone tear up.

[2] Make Valentines. Make them make them. Don't just buy a box and write your friends' names in them. Get out the construction paper and the ribbon and make a pop-out Barack Obama Valentine for your best friend. Not only will they appreciate the gesture, but you'll be so insanely proud of your creativeness that it just might distract you.

[3] Say no to band-aids. They don't work. They only make you think it's better, but it's really not. It's been proven that a band aid could make any injury feel better. Actually, I don't know if it's been proven, but the point is that band-aids don't last and shouldn't be used for something this serious. Try The Office instead. The Office is more like a splint, or a cast, or really really strong Tylenol.

[4] Play Scrabble with your grandmother, or an equivilant relative. Be sure to use the letter 'Q', though. The best words to use it in are: Quick, Queen, Quarter, Quack, Quaker, or the two very best Quartz and Quiz (you get the 'Z' in there, too).

[5] Cry, if you have to. Sometimes, crying really puts things into perspective. After you've spent a good hour or so at it, not only do you get a headache, but you start realizing what actually caused you to start crying which gave you the headache in the first place. After you realize that, you usually come to the conclusion that maybe it wasn't worth crying at all, because now you just have a headache. This is the point where most people go to sleep. Once they wake up, they may not be cured of their broken heart, but they now have a new perspective on their brokenness, all because they cried about it and gave themselves a headache. Make sense? Probably not, but that's the reason why it works.

And a bonus #6 for this Valentine's Day:
Love like crazy.
No limits. Everyone gets some love. Hating anyone is a sure fire way to keep your heart in its broken down stage. Don't be so afraid of getting hurt that you forget how to love. Keep an eye on your heart, and you'll be just fine.

Happy Valentine's Day.

"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give." [Winston Churchill]

think about it....

Easier

Without a sound
Without a noise
Without a whisper
Without a word
Voices fill the air
thickening the atmosphere
Screaming silently
Forgotten voices
Forgotten by the world
Cruely forced to retreat
to disappear, to remain forgotten.
Their existences only distub
the world's complacent comfort.
God forbid that be disturbed.
And so the voices continue
Silently haunting,
Crying for remembrance
Without a word
Without a whisper
Without a noise
Without a sound.

"Sometime they'll give a war, and nobody will come" [Carl Sandburg]

Yes we can, I guess

Change.

I've heard so much talk about it this past year. People like to talk about change, I think. It's one of those things that just sounds exciting. There's been a constant flow of change talk, so it's basically my turn.
The dictionary defines change as:

to make the form, nature, content, future course, etc., of (something) different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone

"if left alone" implies that change comes from outside of yourself. Perhaps people don't have the ability to change just out of sheer will-power. Or, the dictionary just doesn't know what it's talking about.

First possibility: change does not occur naturally. If you think about it, this really makes sense. Changing something means making it different than it was before, different from its natural state. Change is one of the most un-natural things, and yet it happens everyday.
Paradoxical, much? Eh, not really.
Alright, so change doesn't just happen on its own. Change has a cause. All the time.
People change for many reasons, but there is always a reason. Maybe these people do change themselves. I'm inclined to think that those kinds of changes don't last for very long.
In order to for someone to truly change through and through, there has to be an outside factor influencing the change.
Change is still a lot of work on your part, though. Change may not be easy, but it is possible.

Second possibility: the dictionary gave a bad definition, meaning that people are perfectly capable of changing themselves from within, on their own. This is really appealing for people to hear. It's nice to think that you can conquer the world --or at the very least your own life-- without anyone else to help you. I haven't found this to be the truth.
When I am in most desperate need of changing, I am also the most incapable of changing anything about myself. The little things -yeah, maybe those can be changed through will-power. But, the larger and more important things of life are the things that people actually need help to change, at least if that change is going to last.

Quote: a bird does not sing because it has an answer; it sings because it has a song.

A Solemn Goodbye

Dear tonsils,

I'm sorry.
I don't think that I ever fully appreciated you while I had you. At least, I never communicated that appreciation in an effective way.
You could have given me a second chance, instead of just leaving in the way you did.
It hurts more than I thought it would, now that you're actually gone. I know we've talked about you leaving before, but now that I'm facing it, the pain is almost unbearable.
I can't even talk to the other people in my life, because of the pain you have caused me.
After your removal from my life, I was left swollen and hurting in your absence.
We've been through so much together. When you experience so many difficulties with someone, you kind of expect them to be there for the rest of your life.
Apparently, you didn't see things the same way.
I'm sure you're only doing what you thought was right for you. I guess that meant leaving me. I guess now you guys can be together forever, without me getting in the way.
All the same, I miss you more than I thought I could ever miss any of my lymphatic organs.
You will always hold a special place in my heart, if not in my throat.
Goodbye.
Goodbye forever.

Love,
Keirstin

Quote of the day: when the power of Love overcomes the love of power, the world will know Peace

Sunday School Answers

The term "Christian" is too generic. It is a label that anyone can either claim, reject, or just blissfully ignore.
What is Christianity, anyway?
In our relative society, it has come to mean little more than the token pairing of Jesus with..well, with everything. Those who claim the label "Christian" have, for the most part, morphed into hippies, who are high on Jesus.
Is this true Christianity?
It can't be.
I refuse to believe that this is the most I can attain as a Christian.
Maybe this idea will anger some people. Maybe a few will agree. Some might resent me for it. But, most people will probably blissfully ignore it.
I don't mean to upset anyone. Well, actually I do. Sometimes, people need upsetting.
It's time to truly step beyond Hippie Christianity. It's time to put to death every Sunday School answer. In so many people's lives, Jesus is never more than the answer to every church question.

"What did you learn about today?...Jesus"
"Why should you do the right thing?...Jesus"
"How do you get through difficult things?...Jesus"

It's time to face reality:
Jesus is so much more than the man from the flannelgraphs.
Being a Christian is so much more than knowing John 3:16 and occasionally wearing a W.W.J.D. bracelet.
Basically, Christianity should change a person. The awesome love of Christ should shake someone to their core, and leave them changed forever. Here is the crux of true Christianity: love.
Here's where Hippie Christianity begins. Taking the truth about that love, many have developed an "all you need is love" version of Christianity, which is as far away from true Christianity as John Lennon is from London today. While it is true that you need love, it isn't all you need.
You can't be a Christian without love. You just can't. Jesus loved others unconditionally, and we are called to be like him. Christ's love knows no boundaries. No social stereotype can keep His pure, holy love out. No one is exempt from His love. If you're human, you're loved by Christ.

However, if you're human, you're also broken and in need of fixing. This is where Hippie Christianity dives off the deep end. If all we need is love, we don't have to find a way to fix this brokeness. Although our wicked selves will never be perfect in this life, Christ's love begins the repair process.
True Christianity is the combination of love and the truth of mankind's brokeness. This love is not the end, it is the way to fix ourselves.
So, Christians can't not love. After all, we have been loved so much, to deny that love to another person should make you wonder whether Christ has really changed you.
To live in love is to truly follow Christ. But, live in real love, not Beatles love.
Be more than a Jesus Hippie.
There is so much more available than Hippie Christianity.

[Where the way is hardest, there go thou. Follow your own path, and let people talk] Dante