There was another post here earlier.
It was removed for awhile and then I decided to stay true to myself and I put it back. What can I say? I am a blond and flaky.
I am sorry to have offended people with my blatant Christianity.
The petulant part of my soul almost deleted the original offending post. God forbid I offend people and turn them off to the Christian faith. Honestly that is why most people leave organized religion anyway, someone or something offends them.
I know it is why I have left most of the churches I have attended.
I am not naive.
My life has been unbelievable hard, I am not a sheltered little Christian girl. So if anyone has the right to question God and to decide that God is mean, it would be me. Calling me naive is unjust and ignorant of the facts of who I am or where I have been. Calling my beliefs naive hurts me.
Besides that, it isn't like I am standing in a little room by myself making this stuff up as I go. Christianity is a really big religion, with lots of other people who think the same way. Therefore that would make the whole lot of us offensive. I am not author. I am not even the reviewer. I am just a person who believes.
Why do I let things bother me so much? Why do I give other people power over me?
Human beings have a need to fit in and I want to fit in, every time I am reminded that I don't it bugs me.
Finally, I have this tattoo I'd like to tell you about. LOL
Think on that awhile.
(That one is for Paula.)
I think we all have the right to express our thoughts, beliefs, hopes and dreams in our blogs. This medium, here on the internet provides us with a unique opportunity, the ability to learn, to expand our views, our minds and our hearts. It also sadly lets those that are unwilling, for what ever reason, to give others the freedom to expound on a thought or idea a forum to attack or ridicule.
ReplyDeleteI applaud you.
Hmm, not sure I understand what just happened. I will read back. Just wanted to say Christina there's nothing wrong in being a Christian, especially, in your given small corner of the world here. Sounds like a heckler. Much better things to do with your time. I'm going to lay here under the Giraffe awhile and figure life out!
ReplyDeleteSmooooochhhhes!
Us!
religion and politics are the two things polite people never discuss......
ReplyDeleteI failed.
Dear Christina,
ReplyDeleteI saw your original entry, “Faith” when you first posted it, before any comments had yet been left. I did not comment, as I often don’t on any of the blogs I read. Often do, but much more often don’t. The general guideline I’ve developed during BlogBreak is whether or not a.) I want/need to say it AND b.) whether or not the blogger wants/needs to hear it. Sometimes people do need to hear something they don’t want to hear (in which case a private email rather than a public flogging is often more appropriate). But if it’s NOT something they need to hear, nor will want to hear, there is no real need to say anything.
I suspect that the person who most raised your hackles was the “single man.” The comment, as I read through all the comments, jumped out at me, surprised me. It raised my own hackles, frankly. He later defended the comment by saying, “you said to tell you what we think, so I did.” Now, in the entry itself, you did not say this. You asked, “Do you know the answer?” Paul’s post did not address that question. HOWEVER, the link to your comments does say “Please tell me what YOU think.” If you choose to revise anything, revise that, for it does quite clearly invite people to do just that, say what they think, which is what Paul did, however tersely or insensitively.
Paul has said in his own blog entry “Life as a Skeptic” that “I have learned this about myself: the more fervently others hold a belief, the more suspicious I become of that belief. It doesn't bother me when a person holds or expresses ideas contrary to my own, but if the expression of these ideas becomes too strident, I immediately become the contrarian. My one concession as I age and mature is that I've learned to express my doubt or disapproval without objectionable language or disagreeable tone.” It is possible that he needs to continue to think about his tone, but certainly all of us do. He (nor you nor I) is not the first to hit “send” on a comment without thinking the comment, or its tone or its implications, all the way through.
You are right that we live in America and have the right to say what we want. People die every day in defense of that right. Some people forget, though, that with rights come responsibility. One should not say something meant to be intentionally malicious, ever. That is why, though we have freedom of speech, we also have laws against hate speech.
You absolutely did not say anything intended as malicious. In fact, I thought you were incredibly generous. You said, for example, that in heaven “all religions will be checked at the door.” I took that to mean that whatever the core of the beliefs you struggle with, you know and trust instinctively that people of all faiths will be there. I cannot think of anything more generous than that.
Unless something is said in a blog entry that is intentionally malicious, or it is discovered later that it could unintentionally cause someone direct or indirect harm, I don’t think a blog post should ever be deleted. It was entered into the public forum, it is by its nature and intention up for public debate, and writers are setting their ideas up for whatever comments are made. That is why we must think very, very carefully about what we offer for public consumption. We must think carefully about every entry we post.
And every comment we leave.
Peace.
Paula
http://paulalambertauthor.blogspot.com/
I'm in total agreement with what Red said. We all have the right to express our innermost views in our own blogs. The internet does provide the oppritunity to expand our horizons through the unique experiences of others. Christina, you mentioned that "polite" people do not discuss politics and religion. Well, these same "polite" people do not discuss mental illness in public, either. They just sweep it under the rug. I discuss it openly and if someone cannot take it, then Godspeed to them and happy blogging. All my comments are welcome, even the bad ones. I never delete comments, but I do not allow anonymous ones to protect myself from verbal abuse. You have expressed your Christian views with candor and total honesty, and that proves that your are a success, not a failure.
ReplyDeleteYa know...
ReplyDeleteChristina please dont ever apologize...and I dont think Paul was placing a criticism on you. I'd be very surprised.
It opened a dialogue...One we can all use and learn from. One person is not right nor are they all wrong.
You write what comes from your heart. I find that beautiful.
And we are friends...and I write from a totally different angle. Tell me if I am wrong on this, but I have the feeling within my heart, you dont read me or communicate with me, based on your "belief" that I am a wayward soul that needs guidance. we are, because we are, I find remarkable qualities in you that I can draw from...
Carry on!
...........Human beings have a need to fit in and I want to fit in, every time I am reminded that I don't it bugs me...........
ReplyDeleteChristina, don`t let one comment upset you so. The scales are heavily weighted the other way; read the comments!
Hugs,
V