Omar Kelly and Miko Grimes make a lot of us "upset". Given this is the religion forum and I'm the chaplain, "upset" is as far as I am willing to go, but if truth be known they aggravate the ***** out of me!!!!! I say this because they get to me for perhaps different reasons than they do many of the rest of you. A few years back, Omar made a long blog post about his born again Christian Faith and why he signs many columns GGG (Give God the Glory). Miko today in her tirade against the military suggests she has some inside knowledge on God's selection criteria for heaven! God save me from the people on my side! More than anyone, I understand how the Christian is at best both Saint and Sinner, always and at the same time. Yet at the same time, because my faith means everything to me and I want to put it in the best possible light; I voluntarily limit my freedom to say what I really think. I avoid profanity just for the sake of it (wish, frankly I did better at this). I work hard at seeing the best in people and diligently try to put myself in someone else's shoes before answering. Being a very "public" Christian, I recognize, how I act reflects back upon the faith. Why can't Omar and Miko? Being a Christian is hard enough today without others who claim to publically profess their faith make morons of themselves. If you want to be a flaming ******, that is your right, just don't drag Jesus into your idiocy! Thank you for letting me rant!
Today's connectivity/media exacerbates this. Before the days of receiving to your phone the thoughts of everyone and their grandma you mostly dealt with the people you knew personally. Sure there was TV media and radio, but that was obviously far less open to 'amateur' content and less wide-ranging. Knowing people matters. Knowing who they are, their character, how they live (and not just what they say) makes a big difference. Of course, you could still find lots of individuals who claimed to be Christians but didn't live like it, and it was still a big problem. These days though, online personas or even discussions and debates, suffer even more from being divorced from the depth of real personality. Stick a 'Christian' label on someone and then rate Christianity by whatever they say. It's massively frustrating. Still, it helps me to remember that just as with TV, radio, and tradition print media, people today choose what content they follow and take in. Someone who is fully closed to any notion of true Christianity, will be closed whether it be books or Twitter. Someone who is happy to take input from anyone who sounds official will be the same way, versus someone who has learned to consider the source and content as well as the opinion or headline. At the end of the day, I try to remind myself that I mostly need to occupy myself with 'tending my garden' and not the whole world. My own life, the circles I move in, those are places where hopefully I can make a real contribution. Everything I see through or receive via the 'porthole' of mass media is just that - a tiny, limited, obscured window of a place beyond my reach. I'm best focused in trying to maintain my own garden and house, and hopefully beautify my own neighbourhood. Still, you could always try to drop a word here or there. Send a link to this thread to Omar?
