Child Soldiers and Christians

It's been a while since I last wrote, so forgive me for the hiatus.

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As of yet, many people portray the Christian faith in a light that corresponds to peace, love, harmony, all the good things that make good people go round and that make life worth living.

That is, until you meet the ugly, radical side of things.

Like Islam (but in far smaller numbers, and equally far less strength) certain Christian factions out there have seem to begun what appears to be a cultural war against today's post-modern America (and the Western world). From groups such as the church in the movie Jesus Camp, to the Westboro Baptist Church, it appears that Christians today are seemingly arming up against society, to 'take it back' for Christ.

As much as I admire their fire, it's totally wrong.
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
(and in some cases, morally disturbing)

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. - 1 Corinthians 13:13

Faith? Yes - we can all see that they strongly "believe" God.
(I placed quotations, which will be explained at the bottom)
Hope? Yes - they have a hope and a vision, to reform and fight back against the post-modernistic American society.

But, where is the love?

Is it love to tell children that God hates us all and that they must be the fighters to "reclaim" America for the Lord?
Is it love to tell the international community that God hates them and that He enjoys killing serving members of our nations' armed forces?

These so-called Christian groups have forgotten about the 'love' aspect of being a Christian.
It's not all about ourselves, and it's not about trying to ram stuff down other people's theological throats and forcing them to accept.
God gave us free will, and He also gave us a heart, to take care of each other and to love each other.

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these." - Mark 12:30-31

So, that doesn't meant teaching our kids some politics and about how the Left is destroying liberty as we know it (which is partially true, but common-sense people know when to keep their faith and their political view separated), and it doesn't meant stomping on a national flag and chanting 'God Hates Fags' or some other hate that furthers the Devil's propaganda.

It means reaching out into the community, and being the Lord's hands.
Work at a soup kitchen.
Volunteer at a soccer game or something.
Provide food to the poor.
Preach the Gospel, and rescue the people who want it and need it.

Maybe the world of organized religious doctrines has stopped listening to the love part of the Christian faith, and has acted on their own accord.
Only the Lord knows, and only He knows what will come of this...

-Aimann L. Balatayo

(8) "I ask why, but in my mind I find, I can't rely on myself..." (8)

Yesterday, I saw this skit at school talking about homosexuality.
Homophobia, to be more exact.

As a Christian, I totally disagree with the aspect of homosexuality.
However, I am not against the person - only the notion.
But that certain topic, I will cover on a later posting.

BUT, anyways...

The actual skit (it was a presentation by a senior drama class) was, in all honesty, very good.
It had the emotional appeal that was necessary to reinforce the point that homophobia (a misnomer, in my opinion) is wrong, and that people should all be people.
Then the actors all asked for the audience's opinion.

Oh my, the next few minutes were absolutely disgraceful.
If anything stands against the drive for equal rights for the LGBT community, it would have to be how these students conducted themselves.

They looked like they 'encouraged' open discussion and opinion.
WRONG.
When someone made an anti-homosexual comment (and not even offensive, to give it a bit of leverage), they all jumped.
Mob-style tactics, using a number of faces against an individual or group of individuals.
It was plain wrong.

The main character of the play (who was, in real life, an open homosexual) was all very quiet through this (or, at least, from my viewpoint).
That will go with him, on my part.

Personally, I don't mind the guy.
I could consider him my friend, I would go out with him for coffee on any occasion.
However, the people who were supporting him (and mind this, they were all straight), were overly fanatical in protecting their homosexual friend, that they resorted to ganging up and attempting to 'gag' anyone whose viewpoint differed from what they wanted.

What really bothered me more, was that the play held a strong anti-Christian stigma.
It maybe just be my feelings, but the way that the Bible and other aspects of Christianity were covered (or deformed and twisted to fit either party) and the way the actors berated people of the Christian faith, really bothered me, and it still does, up to the moment of this writing.
And I know a few of the actors are Christian - they should have conducted themselves better than that of their non-Christian friends.

What looked like helping to encourage active free rights for all, ended up becoming more of a propaganda campaign, actively attempting to suppress any deviant point of view that would threaten their point of view.
And the fact that teachers and administration stood there, not doing anything to attempt to control the discussion (except for the one drama teacher who controlled her students), really worries me.
This might be the opening for an actively anti-Christian, if not outright anti-religious, attitude, and eventual behavior, in the community.

However, to end on a lighter note, I believe these 2 verses should stand for both parties of the discussion.

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these." - Mark 12:30-31

"Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!" - James 2:12-13

-Aimann L. Balatayo

p.s.: The subject line is from the song "By Myself" by Linkin Park.