Options

Some days, when I think about my faith, I feel hopeless and lost. Being a Christian, a GOOD Christian was my sole identity for 25 years. Saving the lost was my true purpose--THE reason why I existed in the world. But now that pieces of my understanding of Christianity are falling away, I'm not sure what I'm going to be left with.

I'm sad and resigned because it often feels like all or nothing. Like I have to make this HUGE choice--either believe everything I have ever been taught or held to be true over a lifetime of 'evangelical zeal', or walk away entirely. Sometimes I really believe that those are my only two options.

But sometimes, in a teeny corner of my heart--I see a pinprick of light. I read Kathleen Norris, and I hear something--barely audible-- a whisper: 'hold on...' and I suspect that maybe my options aren't so limited after all.

Thank You Tony Campolo

I remember reading something that Tony Campolo wrote years ago about homosexuality. He said that he and his wife didn't share the same views as to whether being gay was a sin or not. (Maybe it was the book 'Adventures in Missing the Point?).

This shook me up--I was FLOORED by the nonchalant way he mentioned their difference of opinion. I thought (at the time) that the most important part of being a Christian was having the 'right' beliefs. I remember thinking, how on earth are they still married if they don't agree on something as fundamental as THAT?! What if that ever happens to Dan and I? Won't we be 'unequally yoked?'

Lately, as I have been seriously reevaluating my faith, I have pictured Tony and his wife--calmly, and with much love and deep respect--allowing the other to have a different view.

And that gives me peace.