Being a Liberal Christian is Confusing

Not really a story, but there was no option for "I just started writing and this is what became of it", so it is now under the story tag.

I grew up in a very traditional, very close knit Methodist church. Everyone was white, everyone was straight, and the majority of members were over the age of 50. But we loved it. As a little girl preforming in the children’s choir to a 14 year old who thought her youth leaders were the greatest people in the world, I loved my church. The adults were nice, the parents treated me like their own, and the kids were all my best friends. Everything was glossed over in a sweet, childlike wonder. However, once I grew up a little, I started to notice things I didn’t like. A youth leader was fired for being “unorganized” without asking a single kid, the only people the decision would affect. It was later in my years that I realized he also believed in a non-literal interpretation of the Bible, and he believed that going to church is a privilege, of which are slightly more liberal Christian beliefs. These little things didn’t align with our pastor or the right wing conservative seniors that attended our Church, so he had to go. We left that church after that, but not before watching some of my closest friends grow out of Christianity, because some of these “little” things maybe weren’t so little to them. I watched my gay friends distance themselves from the church and become resentful of the time they spent there. I watched people leave and become confused of their faith and what they believe, because once you gain insight and opinions on your own time, you start to realize that maybe it’s not everything your parents promoted it to be. I eventually graduated high school and moved off to college, where I gained several new friends and surrounded myself with a group of people who didn’t grow up in that small, southern, conservative, traditional church. The beliefs that my parents had no longer rubbed off on me, and I created own. I looked at those people I once knew and started to see things from their perspective. They thought the church was judgmental and uninviting, and they felt unwelcome and ostracized by their presence in the house of God. This didn’t make sense to me at first, but I later realized that it was because, to be plain and simple, I am different than them. I don’t have dark skin or a dark history. I don’t have out of default sexual preferences or a different gender than I was once born with. I’ve never had sex or an abortion, but some of my new friends do have those things. And if they feel like the church is against them, then honestly, I understand why they would walk out on it. I can’t relate, because I’m privileged enough not to have the struggles that they did. It’s not my job to pity them. Over the past few years, I’ve learned that as Christians, we need to empathize with people, rather than sympathize. We need to see things from the perspectives of others, rather than an outsiders point of view. We need to listen and respect, rather than hear their words and pity their hardships.

My liberal views are not aligned with traditional Christian views. I believe in gay rights, I believe in abortion, I believe in the freedom to express yourself in slightly untraditional ways. I was taught that God loves people, regardless of who they are. Every time I feel conflicted, I think back to Matthew 7. It’s not my job as a follower of Jesus to judge people. It’s my job to say "I can’t relate to what you're going through, but I love you anyway". If turning someone away for their love preferences or history is the right thing to do, I just cannot see how that brings them or us closer to the unconditional love of Jesus. I don’t understand why God would create someone to be gay, if all it does is turn them away from his people. I don’t understand it at all. But I am sure enough in my faith to say that there is a reason, and the only thing I can do is trust him hard and long enough to eventually show it to me.

I support the pro-choice movement. I didn’t realize until I began to voice my opinion, but this is a bold take for even a lot of liberal Christians. Jesus loves all sinners, regardless of the sin. While I don’t necessarily think being gay is a decision you make, having sex is. When it's consensual, sex is a choice, and sometimes it results in unexpected pregnancies. But some people are unapologetic. They don’t care about God or Christianity or sin. It’s our job as God’s followers to help people, but some people are simply unreachable. As a childcare worker and someone who has seen the effects of an uncaring, unwelcome household, I will firmly say that no child, under any circumstance, deserves to grow up in a world where they are not loved. And when a young, irresponsible girl gets pregnant, with no money and not a care in the world for her coming baby, I can tell you now that her child will not have a good life. That child is going to grow up being resented in a life that they didn’t ask for. If you haven’t had a mother that hates you for ruining her life, or seven brothers and sisters when your parents can’t afford even one, or a life of emotional, physical or sexual abuse as revenge for being born, then you do not understand the emotional trauma that will mold that child’s life. If there is any way to prevent a childhood that is unwanted, we need to take it, and we need to fight for it. No child deserves that. Not now, not ever. God hurts for the broken-hearted. We have a way to limit the number of hurting people in this world before the hurting even starts. Let’s use it.

I’m no longer apart of that old, traditional church. But at the same time, I miss the feeling of community and support that just isn’t provided by non-denominational churches. I’m at a weird period in my life, where I’m confident in my faith, but I’m taking in the perspectives and lifestyles of the people around me, as well. I know that I love Jesus, and I know that I always will. But I just can’t get on board with the idea that God created some of my friends with the intention of giving them a life of hardships and ostracism, only for them to leave their faith as they grow up. It’s my duty to empathize and love with a childlike wonder, just as God wants me to. Being a liberal and a Christian is confusing. But I hope that we can work together to create a world where Christians put aside their differences and political beliefs to love everyone, and bring those around us closer to Jesus Christ.