These are a few of my least favorite things

I hate Christians.

No, really, I do.

I hate Christians who twist Scripture to make it say what they want. I hate the double standards that it seems many Christians have about homosexuality. I hate Christians who make issues like global warming a religious issue. I hate Christians who patronize people of other countries and other religions by saying they have the corner on truth.

And, yet, I am a Christian.

Let me clarify a bit: I believe in the God-inspired veracity of Scripture, I do not believe in the ability of human minds to accurately interpret Scripture every time; I believe that homosexuality is wrong, I do not believe that it ought to be treated on a different level than other sexual sins such as adultery and pre-marital sex; I acknowledge that scientific evidence points to global warming, but I do not believe that the truth about global warming has any impact on the state of my soul; I believe that people are only saved through Christ, I do not believe that the trappings of Western culture have a single thing to do with that.

The problem is that much of the world sees only the first description. With that view, very few are interested in Christianity. And I can’t say that I blame them in the least bit. I wouldn’t touch that kind of Christianity with a ten-foot pole.

So, what is to be done?

Firstly, engage in a dialogue. I have had people tell me what they think about Christians. Rather than being offended by the harsh criticism, I have to admit that there are things that we, as Christians, have gotten really wrong. We have made huge mistakes. Crusades, anyone?

I have also had people define what they believe a Christian is. Many times, I don’t think I would want to call myself a Christian by their description either.

We, as Christians, are right about one thing, and one thing only. We are right about Jesus. And that is nothing, nothing to our credit. That is simply because He has revealed Himself to us.

We cannot, in good conscience, allow ourselves to believe that, because we have that truth, we are the authority on all truth. In all honesty, we are not. God alone is the authority.

We are just as confused and as broken as the rest of the world.

And I think, that if we let the world see that, their entire view of Christianity would change.