We have a rare born-again Christian in our neighborhood.
Most of the neighborhood is lapsed Catholics with a few who hang in with a residual albeit largely socially motivated baptism /wedding / funeral attachment.
This lady is a very nice widow who always says hi when the dog and I walk by.
I went to her church for the services when her husband died.
Born agains in Boston are a tough breed. They definitely don't have a home field advantage, but they're true to their beliefs.
People can believe what they believe in terms of God and spirituality, Rev. I've no problem with that.
I do imagine that those evangelical types are indeed a “tough breed” in certain areas of the US. As outnumbered there as the atheist is in my neck of the woods, no doubt. And like you, I’ve no problem with the atheist’s beliefs. I have taught a few, one of whom I currently work with at the school. She’s a good, moral girl and we have always had a great relationship.
I will always state my beliefs when asked or if certain things come up in a discussion but I’m not going to door knock, badger or otherwise go to annoying efforts to convert them.
But Rev, there is a very strong political element to fundamentalist / evangelical Christianity; and it's not the politics that prevail in Boston.
Listening to the minister, I had the strong feeling that I was behind enemy lines. There is no conciliation to be had on social beliefs.
I don’t know what a fellow could/would say at a funeral to make someone feel like an enemy. Funerals are the hardest things I have to do. And here is where I will delve into my beliefs: Most funerals that I do are for people with whom I have had a close personal relationship, some of them most of my life. If the person was a Christian who had lived a long life it is somewhat easier than some others because of my belief that we’ll meet again some day. The hardest are young people and suicides. Anyway, I’d like to think that no one attending a funeral I conducted has ever felt they were “behind enemy lines.” Sorry you had to go through that.
I simply listened and even sang along with some of the hymns that I recognized from old Elvis Presley records.
How Great Thou Art is a hell of song, right? It's cool how you guys do English lyrics instead of Latin.
I think that my old church may even be doing that now.
I love the singing part of worship. I led the singing last night at the gospel meeting and thought about leading
How Great Thou Art as it would have flanged right up with the other songs I had picked out. I finally decided against it and will likely lead it next week. Speaking of Elvis, we sing strictly
a capella in our worship, but at a funeral or wedding we’ll play songs that people request. I was doing a funeral for a friend and his daughter picked out three Elvis recorded gospel songs. It was great. Love listening to Elvis.
But the Gospel, whatever messages it may have, can't overcome the politics, Rev. There's no common ground on which to meet.
What do you think? I respect your thoughts.
The Gospel … what I peddle regularly, is separate from politics. In a nutshell, Jesus died, was buried and rose again the third day. With that sacrifice He made forgiveness of sins possible. It took His blood to to do that. That was His part. My part is to believe that He is the son of God, repent (start to try to live to please Him and not me), be willing to publicly proclaim Who He is (the Son of God) and be baptized for the remission of sins. Then live a life faithfully striving to conform to His will. That’s the basic message I preach. No politics there.
The only thing I might mention covering living to conform to His will that could be remotely seen as being political is that homosexuality is sin and that abortion is murder. While I might mention those two things once in a while, I spend far more time teaching that shacking up is sin, that cheating on one’s spouse is sin, that failing to help my fellow man when I have opportunity is sin, etc. The reason is that I know far more people who fall into that second class of sinner than the first, myself included. Homosexuality and abortion aren’t too common among the people whom I’m trying to herd in the right direction.
But politics and religion. Can concessions be made? Can conciliations be made on social beliefs? Probably. Likely, in fact. For instance, while I believe that homosexuality is a sinful lifestyle, religiously/biblically speaking, I don’t believe they should be mistreated or left out as citizens. I was for civil unions back when the whole gay marriage thing was being debated. There was no conceivable reason to deny them the right of inheritance, visitation in their last days, etc., IMO. Just one example.
I am less flexible when it comes to abortion. I would lessen the restrictions on adoption laws. My family is a family of adopters. My brother and his wife have raised 7 kids who were not their flesh and blood. My mom and dad, besides raising my 4 siblings and me, raised 4 others who were not “theirs” … but they really were in the end. My niece (she just turned 37) and her husband are raising 3 adopted children. In the case where true adoption took place, paperwork was filed, names were taken and the children could become legal heirs (in the case of my brother and niece), the hassle and expense was great. If I were king I’d make some improvements on that process so that the lives that are saved have a better opportunity for a good life with loving parents who are willing to provide for them.
Healthcare… while I support fully some form of government healthcare, especially for the elderly and poor, I stop short of government takeover of healthcare. I have some very close friends in Canada and when we sit down and compare notes on the two systems, we both prefer our system here in the US. It needs tweaking and it needs oversight (things like insulin and EpiPens shouldn’t be so expensive) to keep the cost affordable but we still think it is better. But even this conservative person can find common ground with someone left of center on healthcare.
There are other areas I’m sure I could find common ground with those on the left if we ever just sat down and talked with them long enough. That doesn’t seem to happen anymore. The right screams, the left screams then they go home and nothing much gets done. Makes me want to ignore The whole thing and just raise my garden, hunt and fish in my little corner down here.
We just got to Bowling Green. Been thinking and typing since Nashville. Though you and I are far apart politically I respect your thoughts as well. There is no doubting where you stand when you comment. And while we may not agree on a lot of stuff, respect can still reign. Sadly it doesn’t much in this world anymore … from either side. I get embarrassed by comments made by those on the right and especially those who claim to be Christians.
