Facebook, Tolerance & Dr. Pepper

I interrupt my previously scheduled post to bring you...

tol·er·ance [tol-er-uhns] noun

1.  a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one's own; freedom from bigotry.
2. a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward opinions and practices that differ from one's own.
3. interest in and concern for ideas, opinions, practices, etc., foreign to one's own; a liberal, undogmatic viewpoint.
4. the act or capacity of enduring; endurance: My tolerance of noise is limited.

---

During the last week I have seen two separate posts on Facebook that have saddened me.  On two separate occasions, young women that I know have posted something about their faith.  The first young woman is going through some struggles and she posted something stating that she was going through a tough time but was thankful for her faith in God as it was helping her cope.  It was as simple as that and then she got blasted by a young man who I assume was her friend about there being no God and that christians were more or less stupid and judgemental.  This morning a second young friend who is more of a recent follower of Christ, posted something about how she was happy and it was coming up on one month since she had made a choice to become a follower of Christ and then she got blasted.  I find my heart breaking with both of the posts and the comments that ensued.

Since I started this blog, I feel it has gone from not so serious (a mix of my shiny life and faith) to "Holy cow, can you talk about anything but your faith?"  and in all honesty, I was trying to come up with some more "Light and Airy" posts.  However, I cannot help but cry "Foul!" Why is it acceptable for people to bash christianity? In my opinion we really shouldn't be bashing anyone, but I struggle with the individuals who badmouth christians and christianity for our lack of tolerance and yet they post things like "satan rules" and "hitler was a christian" under innocent posts that are only stating a fact about how the poster feels.  How does a person comment such hateful things all the while stating that christians are not tolerant?  I mean when a person posts something to the effect of "I am happy for the love I feel because of my faith" on their own page, how does one get to all christians are bad?  Now this is not intended to be a controversial post, in fact my hope is that all sides will be able to give a "fair, objective and permissive attitude toward opinions and practices that differ from one's own". 

If I could put my faith as simply as possible it would be that I do believe that Jesus Christ is my savior.  I believe that God has spoken through the bible using the words of human authors and because of this, I trust what the bible says in its entirety and within context and allow God to guide my life through it.  I believe that I am a sinner and that I have the opportunity to accept what Jesus Christ did on the cross, this allows me the opportunity to be forgiven of my sins and have an eternal after life with God.  This is what I believe, this is my belief. I am not asking people to believe what I believe and I do not want to force anyone to believe anymore than I would like them to force me to believe something.  In a previous post, I shared how I feel about the freedom to choose love/faith.

It seems that when someone posts something on their own wall, they should have the right to.  If I want to post "I hope the Lord blesses you all today", I hope people will take that as a kind prayer NOT some snide comment that now requires a commentary of all the evil people who have used religion as the scapegoat for all their bad behavior.  How does that phrase get twisted into hate? I have quite a few friends that do not believe what I believe and I love them.  I mean because I believe what I do so strongly, my wish is that they would feel the same, but it isn't going to stop me from being their friend.  I personally am not a big fan of standing on a street corner, in front of a movie theater or by the beach, telling people they need Jesus.  I am more of a relational type of person, I share my faith with my friends or others, if asked or if I feel some strange pull to do so.  I mean have you ever had a friend pour out their heart to you about some struggle in their life and you have experienced something similar? Have you ever felt that pull to share with them how you got through that experience? If you are my friend, whether you believe in Christ or not, I would hope that you would share with me how you made it through the difficult times because it would help, simply knowing someone understands helps a lot. If you are my friend, believer or not, I will share what got me through.

Now take this one step further, why do christians feel the need to "share" all the time? Why do they need to spew their Jesus beliefs on me? Well, I don't know about everyone else but I share because I truly believe that my faith in Jesus Christ has made all the difference in my life and for the better.  I am not perfect nor is life, but I have some amazingly hard to explain happiness that makes the rough stuff just a bit easier to swallow, it is this joy that compells me to share.  Okay let me try to explain this differently.

It is a hot summers day and it is about 100 degrees outside.  I am thirsty and so I go in and grab an ice cold cup of "Dr. Pepper" (personally my fave of all the sodas).  You are chilling out by the pool with me, so I grab you a glass.  When I give it to you, you inform me that you are not a fan of "Dr. Pepper". You don't like the taste, you are more of a "Lemonade" fan.  Should I stop liking "Dr. Pepper" because you don't? Should I no longer order a glass of "Dr. Pepper" when I am in your presence?  Should I remove "Dr. Pepper" from my "Likes" on Facebook?  Do I need to argue the virtues of "Dr. Pepper"?  Should I post comments on YOUR page about "Dr. Pepper"? I hope the answer to all of these questions are "NO".

Now let's go one step further. If you post, "I LOVE LEMONADE" on your own facebook page, should I comment that you are foolish because I don't like lemonade? Or start some rant about how "Hitler drank lemonade"? Does it matter if Hilter drank lemonade? Does it matter if Mussolini liked Dr. Pepper?

Okay, maybe that is a stupid analogy, so try this one on:

When my mom, went to elememtary school, she was an amazing student and her teachers liked her, she excelled in math.  Fast forward to when I went to the same elementary school, I was judged based off her performance, even though I was a completely different kid.  Math? I was horrible at math! I can spell "math" but that is about as far as it goes. Then when I was in junior high, I was an utter idiot! I treated my teachers with disrespect (I wish I could change this now), I mean I was a horrible, druggie kid with a bad attitude in 8th grade.  Now fast forward a few years and my little brother is now attending the same Jr. High and consequently he was judged based on me because I was a troublemaker.  Thing was, he wasn't, he was a good kid.  Nice to adults and polite. 

I know this is a bit simple but Jesus shouldn't be judged based on an idiot like Hitler and I shouldn't be judged by what other "christians" do.  I mean it is sad how people judge each other based on who they associate with, but the truth is we do.  I know I have mentioned this in another post, we should represent our beliefs so that those around don't associate us or our faith with bad things.

It sounds funny to say this but if you are not a believer but preach tolerance then I ask you to practice what you preach.  If you are a believer, I ask that you keep the faith, represent with your actions and don't argue.  I personally have not met anyone who was ever argued into the christian faith.  I mean if someone asks you what you believe and they desire to have a discussion about how you got to that belief, feel free to have a conversation, but don't argue and definitely don't do it via facebook.  So I guess what I am saying is that if you are my friend, I hope we can share what we believe in without arguing and tearing each other down.  I hope that I can pray for you and that you can wish me luck.  I know what I believe and it is because I believe it so wholeheartedly that I want to share with you, but if you are not interested, I hope I can still share how God impacts my life without any ridicule on Facebook or face to face.


p.s. If you are truly interested in finding out what I believe, feel free to message me.  I will gladly share with anyone who asks why I have this hope.