So, this whole blogging thing is new to me, so please be kind. The initial thought of starting and writing a blog was actually introduced to me by my granny and momma. (Thanks y’all) I didn’t think much into it, other than their constant compliments of my “flow” when i write posts on Facebook, until today. Today was different.
So Jason, Addie, Granny and I walk into church, grab a cup of joe and chat for a few minutes before taking Addie into her Sunday school class. After her plead of wanting to sit in our “class” so she can listen to the music, we obliged, got settled and I opened my sermon folder. The church is pretty nifty I might add, always so organized in providing us with the materials needed to get the most out of our sermon. Anyway, as I am looking at the tri-fold paper, with the outline of the sermon, my eyes stayed glued to the title of the sermon; Seeing Life Through God’s Eyes. Now a little history on my religious background here for a few. I was raised Roman Catholic, baptized at the age of 5, taking communion, repenting sins in the confessional, going to Sunday school- you know, the whole she-bang. Come forth, after years of a falling out with my biological father (another blog for another day) I lost my touch within my faith, and stopped going. When I was in 7th grade, my journey in the non-denominational spectrum started and I found myself at peace and at home with my new community in the Bible Church. Back to topic, I remembered this series last year, and the year prior, and hesitation rattled in my britches as I sat there and forewarned Jason about this 6 week series of sermons. They are personal. They arise issues within, and I like to call them the Politics of Religion, if I can even combine the two. They seem to irk me at times, and rattle my heart a little as I feel more related to these than most sermons. Moving on, I knew this sermon was coming, and was debating if I wanted to jet and get out of there, or to stay and see if I can walk away with a different take on it this year. Low and behold, we stayed, thanks to Addie, who wanted to listen to the music in our “class”. The topic: Abortion, and the take on it strictly from the bible, through God’s eyes. I prepared myself, I even prayed before the service started, in hopes that I can at least get SOMETHING out of this, other than frustration. You see, I love the bible church. I feel, personally, it doesn’t sway the word of the Lord. There is no worshiping saints, or blabber about praising the Saints, or hearing just what the gospels had to say (coming from my Catholic raising). Listening to Ted preach about this, and proving point after point, disproving any objections and narrowing down the number of objections one could come up with, I realized, it’s true, abortion is wrong and a sin. Ted solely spoke of what the bible said, and found backing with other verses and words from pieces and parts of the bible. He found an answer to ANY objection from all over the bible. That right there left me in awe. He narrowed every objection down the three underlying points, and I won’t go into it deeply. But I will say this, although I myself am not affected by abortion, I know others who are. And although I am a full believing and faithful Christian, I just still feel as though one shouldn’t pass judgement. My struggle with my faith currently is that although yes this is a sin, in God’s eyes, all sins are equal. So why do we belittle those who might have been involved in such event. Perhaps belittle isn’t right, criticize maybe, why do we criticize and point fingers and people who are our equal. Everyone is involved in some type of sin. Whether it be a curse word, looking at someone other than your spouse, homosexuality, using the Lord’s name in vain, whatever it is, WHY do people treat some sins greater than others? Why does MY church, who is full of imperfect people make an entire Sunday sermon about this, when what we need is healing? If you are a Christian, whether you go to church or not, its a “common sense” i guess you could call it, knowing what is sin and what isn’t. So why did Ted feel the need to preach about this today? For 45 minutes at that?!? The three points all the objections of justifying an abortion came down to these: 1) its my body, I can do what I want with it. 2) an unwanted baby shouldn’t be brought into the world 3) a baby with disabilities shouldn’t be brought into this world, just to live a miserable, half-filled life. So I know we will all have our own opinions to this, as we are all entitled to. But Ted proved them all wrong. With verses and words from the bible. Like I said, I’m not going into a preach mode, but it all comes down to prosperity and comfort. All three of those objections come down to prosperity and comfort, to us, to you as an individual. Regardless, the sermon, was true. And it made sense. At least to me and even Jason, per our conversation in the truck on the way home.
All being said, I still feel like the church, a place of praise and worship, peace and comfort, shouldn’t pass judgement. Although my church doesn’t in a sense, sometimes those who relate could possibly feel as if they are. I feel that way on some of the next few subjects, which I’m not necessarily excited about, but definitely braving up, to hopefully if anything get another blog out of =].
So coming out of church, actually, it was halfway through Ted’s sermon, I was like BING! I’M GOING TO START MY BLOG!! THIS WOULD BE A GREAT WRITE. I know, it should be the last thing from my mind while listening to the Word, but I just wanted to stand up and object. I wanted to say something, and stand up for those who might not be willing. But obviously that’s not how church goes, so the idea of this came to instead. Once again, thanks momma and granny. As much as I would love to sit back and have a one on one with Ted about this so called “Religious Politics” because man, it would be great. I feel (I know I say that quite a bit), but I feel like this is part of discovering my strength and foundation in my faith and Christianity, which I am sure Ted would tell me the same. Although I have my personal beliefs, as does he, but what he said today, as Jason helped me realize, was this is THE WORD, this is what the Bible says, and I am a firm believer in it. I guess just trying to diversify my personal opinion and belief with what the bible says is the hard part. Although God loves ALL of his children, it is Ted’s job to teach the lessons and word of the Lord, as the Lord has said it. Does Ted feel and think differently? No, I don’t think so, because he has grown with his faith and faced his own tribulations with his questions and curiosities, but for me, learning to not pass judgement, yet hold the same standards and parallels to the bible and the word. Will I be perfect? No. Will I try my hardest? Yes, you bet your boots I will.
ALLIE LONG 