We are not living in the middle ages, or stone age for goodness sake. We are living in the 21st Century, an age of diversity and progression. It’s an age that people fight for civil equality and humanitarian rights that go beyond the past, the oppressive ways of thinking regarding gender, cultural awareness, and being connected. It is a humanitarian responsibility for all people to adhere to 21st Century rights and freedoms.
A tangible example of not providing freedom of rights, is the fact that we have women’s health clinics shut down to minimize abortions, and abortion laws. This is a form of enslavement. Not giving an individual the right to choose whatever they want is not an example of Christianity. Christians do not have the right to rule over political or social arenas by forcing the “right” decisions on other people. Again, we are in the 21st Century. It is time to reach across the aisle and be a friend to the communities around us. This does not mean we have to compromise our personal values.
If Christian people can not grow with the times, and understand the needs of today then we become stagnant, false, ineffective, and subject Christianity to rules made up through the ignorance of human traditions and mistakes. To cling to outdated schools of thought that are not applicable anymore to our modern culture, is again to deny that Christianity is for all people. The doctrine of the faith does not change, but God is all things to all people. We must allow space for God’s paradoxes in our ways of living.
Not ever, has judgment in the Christian church needed to concern itself with a person’s net worth, how someone is dressed, what music you listen to, what books you like to read, who you vote for, what groups you hang out with, or what decisions are “God’s will,” or not. These are arbitrary distractions that are in organize church because it’s made up of people who are all too often busybodies. This is not God. This is fear, and lack of understanding.
Christianity is not just going to church. Christianity is living with God in a real relationship. It is a relationship that is active and alive between God and each individual. It is not another person’s position to try and dictate what spirituality be implemented into other people’s lives. There is nothing that human beings can do to get to heaven. Heaven is already here within us, if we partake.
It is each person’s freedom and right to work out their own spiritual path without having to fight through the muddy waters of the letter of the law, which are the words of the bible without understanding the spirit and context of the writing and the personal application. The abuse of power and disregard for Christian ways brings disaster and corruption to everyone. You deserved better. Everyone deserves better. Christianity, needs to get again, stay actively grounded in God’s love.
The Christian faith is a living faith because Jesus, The Holy Spirit, and God the Father are connected as one person who is alive and active today for a relationship with people. The Holy Spirit is God’s own spirit that dwells within us, and resides over the earth. When we allow the Holy Spirit to be active in our lives by acknowledgment and surrender, we automatically share in the person of God. A person has to experience God for themselves.
Being a Christian is about experiencing Jesus’s love for humanity and God’s desire for relationship with creation, being a partaker of that. Here in the 21st Century, it would be safe to say that to Christians know nothing else, but the love of God. Did Jesus not say, just seek himself and everything else will be added. Where is our child-likeness? This goes for discipleship as well. We have no right to judge our brother or sister, or intrude upon another person’s lifestyle. This is far removed from our spiritual responsibility as Christians.
It is not about what everyone thinks is right or wrong, but about accepting and loving others. Seeking to understand, to help others. It is equality. It is sharing life and love for one another. This is not done through positive thinking, or keeping to a rigid lifestyle. Instead, Christianity is a freedom to be whole, authentic, loved people. The 21st Century Christian Church needs to to let go of the past and be generous with love and acceptance for all people.