Airing out grievances…

I am one of those people who don’t believe Facebook is necessarily the place to air out grievances, of any kind. I think people use it as a personal platform to air political, spiritual or moral claims that tend to be a little more controversial than I think is necessary on a social website. But that’s just me.

That being said, I have a grievance to air, that I wish some of my peeps on Facebook could read, but I also know the backlash it would bring, so I am choosing to air it here, on my own personal blog. If one person reads this, or if fifty people read this, I have made my point. If for not one else’s sake than mine.

I have some friends that have recently decided to try a far more alternate lifestyle than what we have been raised with. This has wrought many tears, concerns, conversations, prayers, etc….but through it all, my friends have stuck to their guns, and have said in no uncertain terms “this is my life, you have no right to criticize” if anyone has tried to warn them about the path they are choosing and where it might wind up.  My friends were raised in a Christian home/environment, and suffice it to say – they know better. So a few of us that love them and feel close to them have begged them to reconsider, myself included. We have tried to reach out and get them to think about what they are choosing, and the consequences they will face, and how it will affect their families, as well as their eternal destination.   The sentiment returned by them is “you’re judging me” and “you’re being critical” and “you’re being self-righteous” and “you’re selfish to deny me my happiness”.  One friend told me he would not get into a doctrinal sort of conversation, that he didn’t tell others how to believe, and he didn’t want others telling him how to believe, which is strange because I thought we believed the same thing?  Those of us who have tried to talk to our friends and tried to persuade them to reconsider their lifestyle choices have received much scorn and repercussion from this. Somehow we are the guilty parties in the matter, for how dare we be so judgmental as to try to convince our friends that what they are doing is against the Word of God….how dare we be so self-righteous as to try to warn them to flee from the wrath that is to come. My own personal vendetta is that I have been there – I have been on the outside looking in – I have strayed and it was ONLY by God’s grace and mercy that He brought me out!  But I believe we have to do something ourselves too…we have to be responsive to His call, we have to be willing to forfeit our nature, to be willing to take on His. This is not self-righteousness, this is knowing what it’s like to be lost and undone, and not wanting to see those I love drown in that same pool of sin and despair. 

That being said, I’m tired of hearing about how intolerant we Christians are, for calling sin sin.  How self-righteous we are if we dare point out to our friends that God has a better way and a better plan, and what they are involved in and doing is not in the Will of God, nor is it pleasing, and it will cost them far more than they want to pay.Why are you doing a missionary service when you reach out and embrace a prostitute or drug addict and wrap your arms around them and tell them of the love of God, but to wrap your arms around a backslider and try to convince them to turn around, to tell them of God’s forgiveness and love, you are being self-righteous and critical of their choices?

If you see a friend running toward a building that is in flames, and you see them heading right into it, knowing it’s about to collapse, you would do everything in your power to stop them from going towards the fire. You would scream out, run to them, pull them away, beg them not to go into the burning building. You would be considered a hero.  But if you run to a friend and try to pull them from a burning hell, to try to make them understand what path they are choosing, and to desperately try to convince them to run from the danger and spiritual death that could occur from their continuance, you are considered a heretic, and an intolerant, arrogant being, who uses love as a cover for your own self-righteous crusade.  

Does this make sense???