Hello Everyone,
I know some people are going to read this title and immediately think of Jesus telling us that if we are ashamed of Him, we are not worthy of His recognition before the Father.
However, I'm talking about a different kind of shame.
Do you ever encounter situations in which Christians handle a situation that leave you unsure of how to profess your faith?
Two particular examples I've seen recently:
1. I was participating in a chat on another site when a young man of about 20 was trying to ask people about their experiences with the homeless. After allowing everyone else to have their say, he said that he wanted to share his experiences with working at homeless shelters.
But he never got a chance. A fellow Christian woman in her mid-40's wrote, "Keep your stories to yourself, so you can receive heavenly glory instead of the praises of men." She then said, "I rarely voice my own thoughts, as my thoughts don't count, but rather, I speak the words of the Lord." Now why she didn't confront everyone else as well, I have no idea, but she shut this guy off cold and didn't even allow him to speak.
Now we all know what she's talking about--Jesus told us that when we do a good deed, don't let one hand know what the other is doing. But I personally felt this was taken WAY out of context and that this poor guy was just trying to share and get some feedback (after all, she didn't confront anyone else who shared, just him.) But her reprimand dominated the entire room and I didn't have a chance to try to tell him, "Hey, some of us really ARE interested in what you have to share."
2. I was told of the story of a young, married, Christian woman who chose to abort a pregnancy because she was diagnosed with a terminal illness. The doctors told her it was either her life or the baby's, and she made the choice to fight for her own life.
It's been so easy for other Christians to tell her what she should have done. But they were not in her shoes. AND, consider the fact that she and her husband already had a young child, so she was faced with a decision of A. trying to carry the pregnancy to full term and leaving her husband with TWO children to raise by himself with no mother or B. trying to stay alive to raise the one child who would survive.
I'm not judging her choice. What I'm saying is, it hurts a lot to hear other Christians immediately judge her choice (and very harshly at that), especially when most have never had to face that decision themselves.
Situations like this, for better or worse, make me ashamed to be a Christian. And it makes it hard to know what to say in when I might be able to "share my faith." To be honest, things like this make me want to leave the church--I sometimes take breaks, but I always wind up coming back.
How about the rest of you? Do you ever face things that make you unsure of how to tell someone you're a Christian... and the reason is because of other Christians? How do you handle it?
I know some people are going to read this title and immediately think of Jesus telling us that if we are ashamed of Him, we are not worthy of His recognition before the Father.
However, I'm talking about a different kind of shame.
Do you ever encounter situations in which Christians handle a situation that leave you unsure of how to profess your faith?
Two particular examples I've seen recently:
1. I was participating in a chat on another site when a young man of about 20 was trying to ask people about their experiences with the homeless. After allowing everyone else to have their say, he said that he wanted to share his experiences with working at homeless shelters.
But he never got a chance. A fellow Christian woman in her mid-40's wrote, "Keep your stories to yourself, so you can receive heavenly glory instead of the praises of men." She then said, "I rarely voice my own thoughts, as my thoughts don't count, but rather, I speak the words of the Lord." Now why she didn't confront everyone else as well, I have no idea, but she shut this guy off cold and didn't even allow him to speak.
Now we all know what she's talking about--Jesus told us that when we do a good deed, don't let one hand know what the other is doing. But I personally felt this was taken WAY out of context and that this poor guy was just trying to share and get some feedback (after all, she didn't confront anyone else who shared, just him.) But her reprimand dominated the entire room and I didn't have a chance to try to tell him, "Hey, some of us really ARE interested in what you have to share."
2. I was told of the story of a young, married, Christian woman who chose to abort a pregnancy because she was diagnosed with a terminal illness. The doctors told her it was either her life or the baby's, and she made the choice to fight for her own life.
It's been so easy for other Christians to tell her what she should have done. But they were not in her shoes. AND, consider the fact that she and her husband already had a young child, so she was faced with a decision of A. trying to carry the pregnancy to full term and leaving her husband with TWO children to raise by himself with no mother or B. trying to stay alive to raise the one child who would survive.
I'm not judging her choice. What I'm saying is, it hurts a lot to hear other Christians immediately judge her choice (and very harshly at that), especially when most have never had to face that decision themselves.
Situations like this, for better or worse, make me ashamed to be a Christian. And it makes it hard to know what to say in when I might be able to "share my faith." To be honest, things like this make me want to leave the church--I sometimes take breaks, but I always wind up coming back.
How about the rest of you? Do you ever face things that make you unsure of how to tell someone you're a Christian... and the reason is because of other Christians? How do you handle it?
