"I like your Christ, but I do not like your christians..."
-Mahatma Ghandi
Such powerful words from such a wise man...but what did he mean? How can one like Christ, but not like christians/christianity?
It's simple, and it starts with todays "christians". Did you know that what most people say is their biggest deterrent from pursuing a deeper relationship with Christ is actually his followers?
"The one who eats is not to regard in contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.."
-Romans 14:3
Christianity is not about righteousness. It is not about judgment. One who believes is not better than one who does not.
Why is this so hard to comprehend for today's populations? Why do "devout" Christians believe that only listening to gospel music and wearing a lower hemline makes them any better than the raggedy college student that drags his/herself out of bed Sunday and rolls up to church looking a hot mess with barely concealed X's on their hands from the night before?
Y'all, go read the Bible. Jesus is a hot mess. He travels with a band of criminals, consorts with all manners of diseased and exiled individuals and time and time again does odd and unusual things. He is never clad in the finest robes or dressed in his "Sunday best" and not one single time in the Bible does he pass judgment on someone he meets. He offers love, acceptance, and kindness, even to the lepers and the prostitutes.
I recently read a story where a new pastor came to his new church, undercover, and appeared as a poorly groomed homeless person. His sermon that day was to get up and preach to his congregation about how heartbroken he was that every single person in that room had regarded him with judgment and contempt--of course they didn't know he was their new pastor. But who cares? Why should you welcome any person more than another just because one comes dressed in a suit and clad in holiness, while another comes dressed in rags and disheveled?
Both are there to witness God's grace. Both are there to further develop their relationship with Christ. Both are worthy of love and acceptance.
Jesus preaches love, acceptance, tolerance, and kindness to all. He makes no mention of their sins or appearances. He says only that we are all sinners and that he died so that each and every one of us that accepts him should be forgiven and welcomed into Heavens open doors when their time on Earth passes.
So I beg of you, if you are the righteous christian, open your eyes, stop judging the girl that wears the short shorts and "sleeps around", instead offer her a friend. And let the guy in the room next to you listen to his incredibly loud rap music an hour before you welcome him with open arms to bible study. You are no better than they are, and vice versa. Just because your sins look different than yours, doesn't make you any more or less worthy of Christ's love.
And if you are that person that fears closeness with Christ because of judgment you have experienced from his followers, I urge you to cast out that judgment and make your faith about what matters--your relationship with Christ. It is between you and the Holy Spirit and no one else. Whatever depth and capacity you want to know God, he will accept and know and love you unconditionally, if only you give him a chance...