Deus ex Machina: Christianity in the Information Age

So internet we've known each other for about a month now so I figure I should come clean about something. I'm not sure if you're going to like it but if I don't say something now it's just going to be tougher for both of us in the long run. I'm a Christian.

I knew you were going to be an ass hole about this Internet

Now the last time I openly talked to a friend about this his response was "WHY?! HOW CAN YOU BE SO STUPID?" I have no idea how he talked in all capitals but he was clearly agitated about me being religious and many people I have met seem to be fully on board with a lot of things I say until I drop the J bomb on them. For some reason you lot have lots of preconceptions about us and I have no idea why.

Oh wait... now I get it.

So this week's blog post isn't about boobs, robots, cats or sweet space lasers. It's about serious stuff; beliefs and feelings and being nice to people. If this disappoints you feel free to tune in next week when I'll probably be going on about something much less boring. If you want to actually read something meaningful however, stick around.

Now I don't pretend to be a mouthpiece for God nor do I think that my opinions are any more important than anyone else's but I'm hoping to set the record straight a bit tonight. I've been hearing a lot of things about the Church and its inhabitants recently that don't really add up so I've decided to step up on my virtual soap box and have my say. I'm fully aware that this makes me seem like some kind of evangelical ass hole on a street corner but hear me out.

I Don't Hate or Fear Homosexuals

Us Christos and gay people have had a bad track record for some time and it is true that quite a few of us have issues with them on some level. I think this comes down to a lack of understanding on our part and an inability to process this ignorance. Homophobia is an ugly and stupid thing and I personally want no part in it,  I have met many wonderful gay men and lesbians, some of which I count as my closest friends.

No homo

I don't really understand how men can find men attractive and the bible says some pretty specific things about homosexuality but that doesn't mean that I have any right to comment on what the gay community get up to. The bible actually contains more warnings about greed, theft, lies, bad council, drunkenness and foolish talk than homosexuality so by all accounts I'm just as bad as anyone who has touched another man's balls in a romantic setting. Any homophobia you find amongst God's people is a purely human failing, not a divine one.

I Don't Think I'm Better than Anyone Else Because I'm Christian

'Holier than thou' is a phrase I hear banded about in reference to us God Botherers a lot and it's an unfortunate truth that many Christians can come across very arrogant and aloof when attempting to describe their faith. The word Holy itself is loaded with cultural and religious connotations but if we strip it back to its Hebrew origins we see a different picture. Holy or Qadosh in ancient hebrew actually means "separate". Not better, not more righteous or pious, just different. I would describe myself as holy in this sense and I doubt anyone would have an issue with it.

I was also holy as a child

I have talked about how much I dislike mainstream culture before and I don't hate it because I'm a Christian and it's full of sinners, I hate it because its shitty. I'm just as much of a sinner as many non-Christians. Sin is the great unifier, the darkness in us all holy or not so for me passing judgement on others is out of the question.

I'm not a Christian out of Ignorance or Indoctrination

Religious schooling has never made sense to me and appears to make better atheists than theists most of the time. While I was brought up a Christian by my parents my choices when it comes to faith and how I live my life have always been my own and I know they are proud of me for it. I have definitely done some things that don't make sense to them but I know they respect me enough to let me work things out on my own. 

I also have a reasonably deep understanding of nature and evolution (I studied microbiology at university) and have heard all the popular intelligent arguments for and against religion so what many people think are subjects of vigorous theological debate tend to leave me cold. I guess the major reason I'm still a Christian is that it's the road less travelled and narrow paths have always seemed more interesting to me, they tend to lead to the most interesting places.

So what am I trying to say? 

I guess the main point I'm trying to put across is this: us Christians are similar in a lot of ways to everyone else so we all have similar failings to everyone else. We are doing our best to be better people and we want  to be nice guys like Jesus was but its hard and it makes us feel a bit conflicted at times. This makes us say stupid things and act like reactionary idiots sometimes - in fact some of us are so misguided and full of hate we're causing more harm than good (we're looking at you Westboro Baptist Church) - but at our core we want to be good. If you give us a chance you might actually like us.

Stay Crunchy Internet