So I’m adding to the “I’m a Christian and I cuss” wagon.
However, I’ve gotten several reactions from people about that sound about like “OMG
and you’re a minister??!!??” Yes I’m a minister. Yes I went to seminary. Yes I
have a piece of paper that states I have a masters of divinity. People seem to
think that I need to rise above all mortal ills/sins/trappings and be this
flawless person. My gut reaction to this
is to tell people to go “fly a kite.” The reality of the situation is that I’m
human. I get mad, upset, pissed off, annoyed just like the rest of you. I also
get happy, joyful, funny, romantic, quiet, etc. And while I’ve put in my time
of saying the right things and trying to look like I have all of my stuff
together the honest truth of the situation is that just like you I don’t have
all of my stuff together. Let me be clear – I AM NOT PERFECT NOR DO I PRETEND
TO BE. Sorry to disappoint those who would like to think that their clergy are
perfect little Jesus’/Buddhas/Moses’/etc. We’re not and I’d be really skeptical
of anyone who pretends to be. So yes I cuss when I feel that that is how I need
to express myself. I’d rather get it out of my body so I can make efforts to
move on. I’d rather be clear about my feelings and own them as mine then to try
to cover them up and ignore them. I’d rather that you see my humanness then for
me to try to create an illusion that I’m convinced most people see right
through anyhow. Let me also say that I don’t support people who seem to have
limited their vocabulary to using a cuss word every other word. To me that’s
just plan ignorance. That’s doing it because you can, not because you’re really
expressing a feeling or yourself clearly. That is a whole separate issue. So
back to being a “Christian and I cuss” – if I haven’t already offended you just
know that I might in the future. If I’ve totally rocked your idea of a pastor
then I’m okay with that because there’s room for all of us pastors and I’m sure
that if me cussing means that I’m not your pastor that there will be plenty of
other people who are more than happy to be your pastor. But don’t put your
pastor up on a pedestal that they really shouldn’t be on. The fall is hard for
everyone.
In a conversation with a more conservative Christian then me (take in mind I call myself a bed-wetting liberal and I’m also a big time Process Theologian) the person started rambling off scripture quotes (proof texting really) to make a point. I have never claimed to be a great memorizer of anything. And even though I have read the Bible many times and own many copies of the Bible, I am still not a person who can just pull out scripture references in mid conversation. I do have several verses that I turn to and love dearly but I can’t tell you word for word what John 2:5 or Ruth 1:4 says. This got me thinking, why do Christians really feel the need to qualify their faith based on the amount of scripture that they can recite from memory? While it may be very handy to be able to quote scripture in a variety of situations, I believe that this can be dangerous. Proof texting (pulling scripture, from any religion, to support an argument without careful and learned consideration for its cont
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