January 19, 2013

  • The Why

    Sometimes I am amazed or amused by my fellowman. Sometimes, I am also saddened. I see how people respond to folks who don't agree with them. I see how quick some are to take offense. Why is it that we can feel so threatened by anyone with a different opinion?

    I happen to believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God. I believe it is true -- no fairy tales! I believe it is alive, and anyone reading it can come closer to God. Kindness, honesty, humility, practicing forgiveness, being thankful, loving and serving others -- these are all things the Bible stresses. These are behaviors I wish to see more of in this world.

    We know everybody is not going to agree with us. Yet, when we face opposition, we tend to hiss and scratch like an alley cat! We support freedom of speech, and that everyone has the right to their own opinion, but if someone's opinion does not agree with ours, we go into "attack mode." We tend to want to discredit the person. We can be so defensive!

    When I was a kid, I was always asking WHY. It amazes me when I think of it now that I got very few satisfactory answers to that question. My Dad had a lot of rules, and we were expected to "toe the line."  I really wanted to know the WHY behind all those rules, but his usual answer was "Because I said so." Now, while that may satisfy a toddler, a point was reached when it no longer satisfied me. I loved my Dad, but I had a lot of questions, and he didn't seem to have too many answers. I think he was just living how he had been taught without thinking much about the whys.

    When I had children of my own, I really tried to answer their questions honestly. I wanted them to have the right information. I knew they were going to have to make their own choices, and I wanted them to know WHY I believed what I believed.

    I have met a lot of Christians who believe abortion is wrong, but they cannot make a case against it using scripture, or facts. Christians are against pre-marital sex, cursing, and many other behaviors of this kind, but if you ask them WHY, they sputter and spit. It seems many people spend most of their time quoting somebody-or-other and forming opinions based on what someone else has interpreted as true. Why bother to think, when you can just quote other people, right?

    So, what is my purpose for this post, anyway? Do I have one?

    I guess I am asking that we try harder to be fair and to live like the Bible says to live. To not just accept something as true because someone we like said it, or we saw it on FB  , but to THINK and read and research and learn. To be careful we don't turn off our brains and become lazy Christians. To remember we don't know it all. And, above all things, to LOVE!

Comments (10)

  • Amen! I grew up hearing "Christians don't dance and Christians don't go to the movies." The WHY was never explained to me -- in fact, I was often answered with "If you have to ask then there's something spiritually wrong." How frustrating! (especially because those "commandments" aren't in the Bible) I'm so thankful that God is there to satisfy our questions -- even if He doesn't tell us exactly what we want, I believe that He will give us the grace to accept His answer. He has nothing to hide and He knows WHY He does what He does. :) Thanks SO much for this post!

  •      Some of the things you mentioned are in the Bible; we always tell our kids (and our youth when we were in that ministry) that they should never just accept what anyone says (even us).  They should know where it's at in the Bible and why they believe what they do so I difinitely agree with you there.  There are many 'rules' we are taught that are not Biblical at all.   Sad, but true. We should all know what we believe and why.

  • I agree with your words here BECAUSE they do agree with scripture.  Thanks.

  • @stephensmustang - I know many of those things are in the Bible, but many Christians do not know where! I have read statistics about how few Christians actually READ the Bible! It makes me sad.

  • Hi Mae,

    Why? I did not ask many why questions in my life. I guess part of your post is the implication that we should be asking why, but seek Biblical answers.
    frank

  • @DanishDoll - exactly.  Makes me sad too.

  • Many of those points are answered in the book of Proverbs.

  • We were brought up not to question "why". We just did what was expected of us.

  • makin' us think again, Mae ~

  • we've been talking about this very thing in our youth group.~ the why behind life! so important.. and it's the very basis for our purpose. but as you said, so many christians just flit through life not even knowing why they believe what they do.

    as fwren said, "makin us think again, mae." ;) )
    good stuff.

    love you friend.

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