Recently I was at a birthday party for a family friend of mine. While I was there a lady began a discussion with me and my boyfriend telling us about her life and asking what we wanted to do with ours. I went through my regular talk about wanting to work with people on the Autism spectrum, followed by the normal response "Oh you're just a doll! That's so sweet of you!" then she asked Andrew, my boyfriend, and he stated that he wanted to do full time ministry. She got very excited for him and then the look on her face changed and she said very abruptly "Not Baptist right?" Now, anytime I hear someone say that it breaks my heart a little. It makes me wonder what happened, where someone didn't show love or hurt someone else to make them react that way. She continued to talk about a church that she had been attending for several years that spoke with hate about those of Arabic descent.
I want to speak out against that kind of hatred. I'm so sorry that a christian spoke hatred towards you or about you. Whether you are Gay, Muslim, Athiest, Liberal, an Alcoholic, or just a non-believer, no one should treat you like less than you are. There are two really important commands in the bible, "Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.' (Matthew 22:37-39) Nowhere in the bible does it say to love your neighbor only if they are Christian, or to love them just not as much as Christians. We as Christians are called to love everyone.
There's also another side of this though. I am not going to take the side of the rebel who has been hurt by a Christian nor am I going to take the side of the Christian who is hurting others. Quite honestly, both need to be shown God's love. If someone who is calling themselves a Christian is hurting other people they are in just as much trouble as the people they are talking down to. Everyone needs Christ whether they are already in a walk with Christ or are on a completely opposite end of the spectrum
So here is my apology, for those of you who have been belittled or talked down to by a Christian; I am sorry. I am sorry that I wasn't able to love on you and show you Christ's love through my actions. I'm sorry that another Christian did not accept you and treated you as though you can't receive God's amazing love and mercy. I'm sorry that you were shown a very wrong view of Christianity. Also, I'm so sorry that this may have turned you away from the Church. If given the opportunity I would love to show you my heart and my love for you.
Here is my other apology, this is for those of you who are on a walk with Christ and have not been spoken to about this. I am sorry that you do not realize that God's love is for everyone not just select people. I'm sorry that somewhere along your walk with Christ someone showed you that it's okay to not accept others. I'm sorry that I have not written this letter sooner to tell you that God loves you so much that he wants you to be overwhelmed by his love that you feel the need to show everyone else.
What Christ can do is simply amazing whether it is in a person who has been attending church for years or someone who feels disgusted at God's name. God loves everyone regardless of where they are in life and we should too. I also want to include that although we are called to love everyone like Christ first loved us that does not mean that we tolerate sin. We are clearly commanded that "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves." (Romans 12:9-10) This basically translates to love everyone with a fierce strong love but also hate sin with the same intensity. This is not one entity though, A person and their sin, so therefore we can love without boundaries but also help to rid sin from their lives.
So basically to sum it up, no matter who is reading this, I love you. We are all human, Christians included.
