Understanding and Christians

When I was ranting about my Brother and Dad's situation the other day at work, I was talking to my coworker KT about it.

She knows my Dad is gay and she knows how well we get along. I made a comment about how much I loved him and it didn't matter to me that he was gay, he's my dad. I also said, that as humans we sometimes have to see past things that we don't understand or see past things they do, which we may not agree with. Life is to short to be angry and critical of other people just because they are different from ourselves.

KT then said something that got me thinking. She said "Margie I really admire you. You love your Dad just the way he is and just because he is different doesn't matter to you. I know a lot of Christians that would never forgive someone for being gay."

This got me thinking, isn't being a true Christian supposed to be about forgiveness? Didn't Jesus die to forgive us of our sins? If the bible says that being gay is a sin, it shouldn't matter because our sins are forgiven upon our death. I know there would be a battle over this one. In my opinion, no one is free of sin. I have sinned, but I don't feel that I am a bad person. I believe in God and Jesus, and I also feel that treating people as we ourselves would want to be treated is the way we should live. I try to be nice to everyone I meet and treat them with respect, even if their beliefs aren't the same as my own.

I was listening to the radio the other night, The Savage Nation. I listen to this to get other peoples view points of certain issues and on this night, I agreed entirely with what was said. Mike Savage said that as long as a person is good and moralistic, it shouldn't matter if they are atheist, Christian or any other religion. Just because someone doesn't worship the same God, or any God for that matter, doesn't mean they can't be a good person.

When I was younger, I worked with a Jewish woman who made a significant impact on my life. She treated me like I was a daughter. She was so good hearted and loving towards me that I strive to be like her. She taught me about the Jewish beliefs and why they think what they do. Heck, they believe Jesus was a person, just not the Saviour. She taught me that being different is not bad.

I don't go to church and at work this is frowned upon, even though they don't say it. I guess it has to do with some bad experiences I had when I was younger. The church I attended had it's share of hypocrites. Some members would run around on their spouses and do all sorts of crazy things that the church would frown upon, but come Sunday, they were all the most devout Christians you would ever meet. And then there were others that used this social situation to judge others on how much money they had. My parents didn't have a ton of money, so I was looked down upon because we couldn't give that much in offering. When did being a good Christian equate to how much money we give?

A former boss of mine "found God" while I was working for him. This was about five years ago and he still treats his employees like dirt. I don't understand how someone so deeply seeded in the church can leave the sanctuary and go to the office to treat people like he does. I thought it was all about loving one another? When did this change or was it ever that way?

I guess it really comes down to how we live our lives. If we are nice and respectful of others even though we don't go to church, are we going to burn in hell? If we go to church and still treat others like they are scum, will we go to heaven? These are tough questions and I often wonder about the answers.