Inflammatory title, I know. Guess I'd better watch out, before everyone starts picturing targets on churches. I don't mean anything hate-filled by that title, nor do I intent to rant angrily (though I know it can be a specialty of mine). What I'm looking at is terms.
I consider myself a Christian, though I don't usually phrase it as such. I'm more of an Episcopalian (that word makes me so dyslexic). And I'm more of a "generally try to love everyone" person. When it comes down to it, though, I do have a theology.
Part of the reason I don't share it is because I know what happens in my brain when someone else says they are a Christian. The censors come on, the guard goes up, and I'm just waiting for them to find out I'm with a girl--or any other piece of not-proper living. Basically, it turns any interaction or relationship from "we get along, this is great!" to "guess I'll stick around till you kick me out." I'm not saying none of that reaction is my fault; I've had enough people prove it wrong to know that my brain isn't always truthful.
But I also know lots of open-minded people, some LGBT some not, who have reactions very similar to mine. And I don't ever want them to have the same triggers with me as I do when some people say they're Christians. Let me be loving first, then religious.
I have issues with what to call myself too. I don't call myself a Christian because I don't believe that any religion on earth really has it "right". However, since I was raised in the church, my theological practices are more like Christianity than any other religion (that I know of). So how do I put a label on the thoughts "I believe in God and that he loves me" mixed with "As soon as man touches faith, it gets screwed up" mixed with "Most of the injustice in the world is caused by people"? Obviously there are more thoughts that that, but I could post my own blog for all that. All of this comment is to say, here's another side of the same multi-sided-gon.
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