Whoa whoa whoa, and wow!

To be serious for a moment....and because I can't log onto Richmond.com to respond to a comment posted after a dry but "gets the conversation going" article, to be a Christian requires only to believe that Jesus was God in the flesh. That's it. It's everything else that can be debated. The comment left that leaves me feeling a bit miffed and ready to talk is (paraphrased) "if you don't believe the Bible is the inerrant word of God then you don't believe in Christianity". Ummm...... no. Truth be told, I did at some point in my life, think and believe this. But not any longer. In that statement I am not denying the sacredness of the Bible, I am acknowledging the bigger point. Christianity is Christ. Christianity = Jesus. Anything more than the cross and you've put yourself in a position higher than Christ. Try it. Just try. Jesus is preaching "I am the way the truth and the light", and you jump in with "and the inerrancy of the Bible. Oh, and while I'm at it, creationism, and pro-life. Yep. Without these things none of you are Christian". 

The heart of those additional defining statements is an honest desire to exhibit and live out a love and dedication to Christ. With additional rules to follow, stands to take and people who support those stands, it's easier to feel Christian. It makes things easier to divide between right and wrong, black and white. But we are each called to work out our salvation through fear and trembling. By blindly following whatever it is that a group decides is right, we each have gone astray from that calling; whatever that group may be. People can not be faulted for wanting to belong, to feel secure, to rest. It's when that people group, or a person in that group, enforces those ideas on everyone not in that group. Or attempts to. Or questions the belief and sincerity of another person, and makes a salvation judgement call. I think, and you can quote me on this, Judgement calls belong to God. I'm sticking by that. 

Here's the article. It's about Homosexuality and the Church, something that's close to my heart these days. I believe if people had the chance to work out their fears, to talk about anything and everything openly, and to appreciate people for who they are, we'd have a lot less hurt in our churches, and raise our children to believe Christianity is open to any who believe:

http://www2.richmond.com/content/2009/may/07/homosexuality-and-church-progressive-view/