Listing To The Right

The two lists that follow were created in response to the post of another blogger in which he shares his observations about the state of religion.  As a Christian I wish I could disagree with his assessment, but my observations are, in fact, the same as his.  I thought his example of just how insensitive and self-absorbed we Christians can be was very apt.  He said, “Mind you, many beliefs are innocuous. I mean to say, if someone wants to believe that God provides them a parking spot in their town while he lets children starve somewhere else, I guess it doesn't exactly hurt anyone. It may be inane to the nth degree, but it's most likely harmless.”   I personally fail to see how anyone who has been around Christians could disagree.  I, for one, have certainly been around other Christians who respond to the most ridiculous things with “Thank-you Jesus!”  It is almost as if they see God as their personal servant, just waiting to bless them with whatever small thing they might want.  I agree with this other blogger; I think we should be far more concerned with those who need the basics to survive. 

My Understanding Of What We						What We And Our Christian
Christians Should Be						"Leaders" Have Been On Far
(Or At Least Try To Be)						Too Regular A Basis
C	Compassionate, caring, constructive,					C	Close-minded, condescending,
	considerate, cooperative, consistent						critical, callous, contemptible,
H	Helpful, honest						cold, cruel
R	Reliable, reasonable, rational,					H	Hateful, harmful, harsh, hardened,
	reliable, reasonable, rational						hawkish, haughty
I	Insightful, intuitive, interested in					R	Rude, rejecting, ruthless, repulsive
	others and their welfare, impartial,					I	Inflexible, insufferable,
	independent						inconsiderate, impatient, idolatrous
S	Selfless, self-sacrificing, straightforward						of: the U.S. Constitution,
T	Teachable, tender, trustworthy						America's founding fathers,
I	Inviting of conversation, interested						country and wealth
	in facts and reality, inclined toward					S	Stingy, stubborn, severe,
	forgiving						spiteful, slanted toward bias and
A	Attentive, approachable, anti-war,						prejudice
	altruistic, affirming, appealing, aware					T	Theocracy-minded, two-faced,
	of our own  shortcomings, aware						tactless, thoughtless, territorial
	of the universality of humanity					I	Insistent on having things our way,
N	Noble, negotiators of peace						inattentive, inhospitable, incon-
S	Sincere, sensitive, sympathetic						sistent, ineffectual, irrational
						A	Angry, arrogant, accusatory,
							abrasive, averse to conversation,
							adversarial, all or nothing
							thinking
						N	Nasty, negative, narrow-minded
						S	Stand-offish, self-centered, self-
							indulgent, self-gratifying, self-
							righteous, smugly moralistic

When creating these lists, I found the one on the right came to mind so much more readily.  I had only to think about what I’ve increasingly observed over the last number of years here in America.  Since Christians are supposed to be “fishers of men”, let’s assume for a minute that these two lists represent the two sides of a boat.  If we have too many more Christians flocking to the right side of this boat, not only will there be no “catch”, but the boat will capsize.  A lot more of us Christians need to get on the opposite side.  And from my perspective, we have to do it by thinking for ourselves.  I don’t seem to hear about too many of our Christian “leaders” encouraging us to do so.