RantStamp Number 1

I get so sick of this, honestly - Christians apparently taking the call for them to "become as little children" as an excuse to act, well... like children. You know what I'm talking about; "My God's better than your God!" "You're an idiot for thinking/feeling/believing things that I don't!" "They were mean to me first!"

All dramatizations, of course (Well... except for that last one. I actually had one snotty bitch - who was MY AGE, mind you - use that as an excuse for being a stuck-up brat in a discussion about evolution. I told her that she was being unnecessarily rude to us, when none of us were being rude to her, and her response was "Well, everyone else that I've had this discussion with has been rude to ME!" Uh-huh. Gee, I wonder why, now...)

Here's a hint for you lot: When Jesus said that, it WASN'T to give you carte blanche to act like spoiled, stubborn, ill-mannered beasts. It WAS a call for you to have the FAITH of a child - to believe in things unseen, unfelt, unheard, in the way that children believe in those things. It was a call for you to have the INNOCENCE of a child, uncorrupted by dark things like greed and anger and hate. It was a call for you to have the HEART of a child, full of love and joy and the boundless enthusiasm of a child who has just found the single most wonderful, special, VALUABLE thing in the WHOLE UNIVERSE.

It was a call to love all things, as children love all things; to wonder at all things, as children wonder at all things; to rejoice in all things, as children rejoice in all things.

It was a call to be an ADULT possessed of CHILDlike wonder and faith and love. You CAN be and ACT like an adult, after all, and still be "as a child" - my grandmother, God rest her soul, was a shining example of this. She was wise and mature (having raised five children, lived through the Great Depression and WWII, and taught schoolchildren for several decades, among so much else) and yet... Her faith was unmatched; her unconditional love for all people, regardless of creed, color, sex, or orientation, was unchallenged; her love of and enthusiasm for life made her a leader in both her church and the community. She was respectful, and a delight to have deep conversations with, even if I didn't always agree with her - she was never rude or condescending or contemptuous. And I, a hardened and often bitter cynic, couldn't help but listen to her, and take her words to heart. She was as all Christians SHOULD be.

...

Somehow, though, Christ's message was forgotten, twisted and corrupted. People have taken it to mean that they can act carelessly and thoughtlessly and selfishly. They act spoiled, like vicious little brats with no manners or wit. They think that this is how Christ called them to act, and all I can think is... No. Just... no. That is NOT what those words meant, and I don't think Jesus would be at all happy with the gross behavior of so many of his supposedly "devout" followers, if he could see them today.