Here's what my experience in Christianity has taught me recently:
-Women are only as important as their husband and children. If you aren't married, you just need to wait because someday your life will start and God has a plan for you and obviously that plan includes a husband and 2.5 kids. If you are married, it's time to start popping out kids, because that is your purpose, oh woman of the Lord. Women should be skinny, beautiful, hilarious but still quiet in spirit and never stir the pot in public or you will have no chance at getting a husband. Why don't you lose weight? Join a dating site? Go to a bigger church with a singles' ministry? Start your own ministry at this church? It's clearly not God's timing yet...aka God's fault...aka...now I'm blaming God...aka now I'm bitter...aka now I'm mad at the church...aka now I resent all my married friends... ((Do you see the cycle? And I'm not alone in this...))
-If you are gay, get the hell out. If you are a liar, a drunk, a porn addict, a hypocrite, a judgy-judger who gossips and judges....welcome! Here's a pulpit and a sunday school classroom, and a twitter account, and band of loyal followers who will defend you...just kept your mouth shut about your issues and pretend you are perfect and enjoy your day! Also, have fun gay bashing and causing an internet uproar every time a celebrity says something affirming or contradicting what you believe...go nuts! Throw the Bible at them! It's all in the name of Jesus! Hooray!
-Ignore the real problems in the world and focus on the insignificant issues in the church. Nepotism, favoritism, sexism, and racism run rampant in the body of Christ all while the poor go hungry, the homeless freeze to death, and sick die of preventable disease. Nations waste away and we bicker about the style of music in the freaking youth group.
I don't want to be a Christian anymore. This is not what I signed up for. This is not the life I want to live, the subculture I want to be a part of anymore.
This CANNOT be how Jesus intended us to live.
We are MISSING the point.
We have DESTROYED the name of Christ.
We have RUINED the identifier of "Christian."
"Christian" is now a lifestyle associated with hatred, judgement, hypocrisy, misuse of the Bible, offensiveness, patriarchy, and homophobia. I am so tired of the fighting, the name-calling, the abuse of power...it has to stop somewhere.
I am done with all.
This is my declaration of independence from Christianity. I can't do it anymore. I can't call myself a Christian when I am not. I am not a Christian.
I am a lover of Jesus. I am a lover of Scripture, a daughter of God, chosen by the King to be different. Different from Christians, different from Atheists, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus...I was chosen to be a follower of the Gospel, of the Truth of Jesus.
Truth that is painful, offensive, wonderful, terrible, redemptive, and magnificent all at once. Scripture offends me every time I read it. It's supposed to hurt...we are told to put off our old nature and put on our new nature. We are to be refined by fire. Purged of the evil in our hearts. None of that is pleasant or easy, and whoever isn't offended by having to surrender themselves to God clearly hasn't tried to do it. Surrender is a painful process, one that we can't fake our way through.
The Church has been missing the point. We have become a place for fakers, pretenders, and liars. And I won't be one of them anymore. I am a Lover of the Light. The Church has become a place where I feel broken and lost and alone, and I don't see Jesus in the fights of Christians or the patriarchy of Christianity.
Maybe you are offended. Maybe you can relate. Maybe you want to yell at me, you are disappointed in me, or you want to join me. I don't know where you are at in your life, but know this:
The messages you have received from the Christian Church as a whole are not always the messages that Jesus has for you. Please don't think that God hates you just because someone with a WWJD bracelet says He does. You have value and worth beyond what you can imagine and a Savior who loves you so much that He died and came back from the dead to pay the price for all the lies, judgement, hypocrisy, and crap in your life that was keeping you separated from God. That's the important part....the plumbing of the house. Everything else is just fixing the paint.
If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate.
