So, here it is: the post that I've been alluding to in my previous ones. And, yes, the rant is back. About 2 weeks ago, my family went to an event on the square, and I wanted to share an event that happened to me while I was there.
If you go to any public event, especially in the city, you will have churches set up and willing to share the word. I've gone to churches where they set up "trunk or treat" on Halloween and a booth will hand out a message with the candy, so this kind of thing isn't exactly new to me. You'll also have those people who go out and share the word by handing out papers with messages (I was at a Christian Rock concert where people were doing this, so like I said, the idea wasn't exactly taboo). These are the people I interacted with this particular night.
Obviously, I do not hide my faith. I have put on here and on MANY other social networking sites that I am a Christian. Sure, I'll follow people on Twitter and on YouTube who are not or who have very differing opinions from my own, but that's because I like to keep an open mind. I may not believe in the same things they do, but they don't force their ideas on me, they just express their opinions. In this same way, I do not force my faith onto someone else. Where I have been told that part of being a Christian is to spread the word, I prefer to do this in a way that is not forceful or uncomfortable towards the people I am with. If someone wants to talk or to hear my testimony (which isn't as exciting as most testimonies you will hear, but like I said, if asked, I'm willing to share it).
I'm not perfect, and I don't pretend to be. But, I am a good person. Sure, I yell at my parents when I get ticked off at them, I occasionally cuss (though not very often), I have lied, I have done many "no-no"s in the eyes of the Bible, but I am not a bad person, and I am a Christian.
You may be wondering why I put all of this in here, and this is why. That night, I was sitting on a wall talking to my younger bother (who was decked out in Skillet stuff). I was wearing a T-shirt, jeans, crocs, glasses, a bag from my university, you know, looking about as generic as anyone can. Usually, I'd have my cross necklace on , but instead I was wearing a "DFTBA" bracelet. My mom and one of my sisters were sitting a few feet away from me and this guy and is wife walked up and handed them this fake bill thing, said something nice and then moved on... to me.
The man gave me the same thing that he gave my mom. I was a fake $1,000,000 bill with a message on how to get saved on the back. I thanked him and expected him to move on, but no, he asked if he could ask me so personal questions. I figured, what the heck, he's going to ask anyway, and I didn't want to be rude.
I kid you not, he started quoting "Left Behind" almost verbatim. I was raised Christian, so of course I've seen the movie many times. (I recently acquired the entire book series, but I haven't gotten around to reading them yet, so for now, my knowledge comes from the movie.) He asked me if I thought I was a good person, and I told him yes. Then, he went through the questions. (I'd like to point out now that not a single one of these questions were "Are you a Christian" or "Have you found Jesus" because I would have been happy to answer those.) To cut this thing short, yeah, I've lied (I'm human, but I haven't lied in awhile so :P), I've stolen (when i was younger I would still food from my parents kitchen...which is probably why I am obese today...), I have (in his words) "looked upon the opposite sex with desire" (once again, I'm human, I'd wonder if there was something wrong if I'd never been attracted to someone...), but (to answer his last question in this interview) I have never hated someone. Yes, I have strongly disliked people, but I have never "hated" them.
If you've ever seen (or read) "Left Behind" you know the part that comes next. Basically he pointed out that I'm "a liar, a thief, and an adulterer" (since I told that I don't hate people, so he couldn't bring that point up.) He asked me if I thought that God would find me guilty or innocent. On those points, I would be "guilty", but I told him with all of that, that I do believe in repentance (implying that I had repented). He looked at me and said "well, don't you think that tonight would be a good night to do that?" I gave him some answer like "sure," he asked if he could pray for me, I said yes, and he walked on.
The issues I had with this:
There are ways to asks someone if they are a Christian and try to convert them if they are not, and they don't start with quoting "Left Behind." But, since he chose this route, I'll stick with my issues from that stance. In the movie, the rapture had happened and those "left behind" were trying to figure out what exactly happened and how they could fix that. The man that these questions were directed at wasn't a Christian, but he did consider himself a pretty good person. He had been married and his wife had been taken, but he hadn't. These questions made more since to be asked for him, and in general, are good questions to ask yourself in everyday life. When these questions are not good to use are towards a teenage girl who you just met, especially me. I've already cleared most of these questions because, like I said, I've repented. I've stated that I'm not perfect, but I am a good person. I am a liar, I have stolen, but I have NEVER committed adultery.
The exact definition of "adultery" varies from source to source, but basically, to commit this act, one or both of the parties involved has to be married. Like I said, the man in the movie was married, but he lusted after other women. This can be considered as adultery (according to this belief, he committed it in his head, so it's just as bad as physically committing it...). Seeing as I've never even had my first kiss, and I have never "lusted" after a person of the opposite sex (like I said, I've been attracted to guys, but I don't "lust" after them, and anyone I've been attracted to hasn't been married either), I'm not sure exactly how this man came to the conclusion that I am an adulterer.
When I first started this post, I was in a hot headed fury. By waiting to post this, I've had the past few weeks to think this trough. I still feel the same way that I did then, just calmer about it. I've talked about this to some of my other friends, and most of them have had similar situations (though none of them have had "Left Behind" quoted to them...). I think it's great that people want to share their faith. The more people who make it to heaven, the better, but I think that there are better ways to bring it up, and that includes asking if they're talking to a person of faith already. If he wanted to discuss my beliefs, I would have gladly talked with him, but I just didn't like that someone naturally assumed I needed to be saved.
To wrap this long ranty post up, I want to explain why I did ultimately decide to post this. Questioning my faith has always been a sore spot for me. As different people who I've known for years were saved after messing up, or we read stories of people who honestly believed that the only way to find true faith was to find it through the darkness, people would look down on the way that I have faith. I was raised Christian, and unlike a lot of kids who were raised this way, I didn't question my faith growing up, I didn't turn atheist when I turned 18, I didn't stay while getting older. I've always believed. I was baptized when I was 4. I didn't have a great awakening moment, and most of my life has been blissful ignorance to a lot of the evil out in the world. My reason for not doubting the existence of God is a completely different story that I may or may not post about.
If I don't question my faith, why should others question it for me?
-andrea aka fred
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