Nowadays, a few cause the whole to be prejudiced against and to receive so much hate. The true Christians get a bad reputation from the extremists. There are African Americans who are being met with hate just because a few of them were in the wrong. People of all different races are being despised and ridiculed by people that believe the actions of a few resemble the actions of everyone. Islam is being blamed for terrorism even though the religion is entirely AGAINST killing! Men and women are even becoming more divided as the feminist extremists ruin the true meaning of feminism: equality.
The purpose of this article is to address how stereotypes are inaccurate when applied to the real Christians who read the Bible as they should and follow God’s instruction. What some people do not understand is that there are extremists, moderates, and those who claim to be Christians and aren’t. Extremists are those of the Christian faith who take the Bible way too far. They think that everyone who isn’t them is wrong and they tend to read the Bible too fast. What I mean by that is they don’t read the Bible as closely as God intended us to. Those who claim they are Christians also don’t read the Bible as they should and have most likely never even picked one up.
One common stereotype is that Christians are hypocrites. True, some of them are, but those who fall into that category are the extremists. When I said they don’t read the Bible closely, I meant it. Matthew 7:5 says “Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thy own eye; and then thou shalt see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye” (KJV). In this, God is telling us to not be so concerned with the sins of others since we have our own sins to worry about. Also, the Lord says in Matthew 7:1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you” (ESV). This means that no one of this earth knows which sin weighs more in God’s eyes. It is ONLY God’s right to pass judgement upon another person’s sin. For example, Tim is cheating on his wife (adultery) and Jonathan is in a relationship with another man (homosexuality). Tim looks down on Jonathan and makes fun of him for being homosexual. Tim has no right to place blame on anyone’s sin since that is God’s domain and, for all Tim knows, God sees adultery as a worse sin than homosexuality. Also, Tim has no right to chastise Jonathan for his sin when Tim has his own sin to worry about. Tim is not an example of a real Christian. Christians are instructed to love everyone and to respect the Golden Rule (“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”).
Another stereotype is that Christians are one-sided and are unwilling to compromise and/or change. Extreme Christians don’t allow room for a compromise. They are one-sided and believe that their side is the right side and that nothing can change that. Real Christians are open to compromise. We believe in seeing everyone’s opinion so long as they are open to seeing ours. We are all supposed to work together, not tear each other down. Also, we realize that not everything is going to go our way and that change is good. God doesn’t tell us everything and he is the only one that knows what lies in the next day, hour, minute, and second. God does tell us that we are ALL sinners and that we are all the same. The only thing that makes a Christian different from anyone else is that we have accepted that Jesus died for our sins and that he is the son of God. That doesn’t make Christians any better than anyone else because we still sin. Accepting Jesus doesn’t get rid of the sin, it just makes us not want to sin and it means that we can, one day, be in Heaven with God.
“Instead of spreading love we're spreading animosity. Lack of understanding, leading lives away from unity” -The Black Eyed Peas (Where is the Love)
