We're all going to hell!

Or at least I am which is news to me to say the very least.

I was most raised Christian. I say mostly as it took an accident for my mother to find HER faith (or refind would be more accurate) and as a result of that we were also then taken to church. Most of the time I didn't mind. I was saved and baptist in the church. I went almost every Sunday and was often there on Wednesday nights. I participated in youth functions and even took part in a Bible Bowl.

As I got older I got slightly disillusioned in the church. Not God, church. I found out things weren't really so picture perfect. There were cliques (adult ones at that) and politics involved in leadership positions. There were pretty senseless arguments and hurt feelings. There were people leaving due to infighting and small differences. None of which was important to you know...God, the reason we were all there.

I have always believed in Jesus, God, the bible, ect. ect. I just do not regularly attend church. If asked I will state I am a Christian. I do not go above and beyond to state that fact. I just try to be the best person I can be and hope that maybe some people will attest that to me being a Christian.

But I do have my days...a lot of days where I am not Merry Sunshine. I am in no way perfect. And I recognize that some things that I personally believe don't really go hand in hand with SOME Christian beliefs.

However, I did not think based on ONE belief that someone would inform me I was banned from heaven. What is this belief you wonder?




Homosexuality.

Yes I recognize that some (most) Christian based churches have a problem with homosexuals. Some touch on it in minor ways while others decide that holding up posters that say "BURN IN HELL FAGS" is a great way to bring others to Christ. I understand there might be verses in the bible that speak against homosexuality. I choose to see those verses in a different light but I understand how an uniformed Christian who is just blindly reading the Bible would misunderstand things.

All of this I get. Not everyone is going to see this issue in the same way I can. Hopefully as the older generation (who is set in their ways)....err...dies out and the new generation starts getting more involved in church this will all change. But as it stands...most churches tend to not smile upon the LGBT community.

So why exactly am I going to hell?!

As stated above, I am a Christian who has accepted Jesus Christ as my lord and savior. I am also a married straight woman who has NEVER had a relationship with
another woman (or another man GO ME!). So why is my heaven pass getting revoked?

I am still not quite sure several hours after the event, but it still upsets me greatly and pities the poor soul who actually had to nerve to say this to me. That is a very nice way of saying he is lucky I didn’t chop his head off and feed it to the dogs. Gay dogs of course.

The day started off well. Work was getting done, people weren’t screaming about pizza, and for once we had all of our product. Clearly things were going TOO WELL.

My co-worker asked me to pick him up lunch. Yes, you are reading this right. This entire conversation started with him asking me to do HIM a favor. So said co-worker was implying that he was hungry and wish he had something to eat. I was pretty amused by his subtle way of asking me so I am sure I had a shit eating grin on my face. He asked what I was smiling about. Being sarcastic (but it is still true) I said I was smiling because I have Jesus in my heart.

"No you don’t."

I had been walking away when he said that. I stopped and looked at him. Surly he was kidding right? We are playing some silly little game that ends with him getting Burger King and me conning him into getting me a Hersey pie. After all there is a smile on his face. Laughing I say oh how funny of you Mr. Joker.

"No I’m serious. You don’t have Jesus in your heart."

Okay, now it is not so funny. He still had a smile on his face but you could tell he was serious. I look at my mother/manager. Nope, apparently she isn’t going to stand up for me. In fact, she decided to do the exact opposite by telling me to keep it down when I questioned my co-worker why he would say such a thing. I glared at my mother as I waited for my co-worker to go to the back so I could corne…I mean gently ask him what the heck he was talking about.

Despite saying something so cruel he was happily working away and had no idea why I was so upset. I had to question him 5 times on WHAT he meant. His answer was various forms of “your morals make you not a Christian”. Yes I understand that you question my morals but WHAT morals? After this repeating cycle and him probably sensing that I was 10 seconds from drop kicking him he finally gave me his answer.

“It’s your stance on homosexuals and that they can get married. Gays can’t be Christians, they are going to hell.”

……Now…not to give him ammo…but I can think of better and sounder reasons to argue I am not a Christian. I really can. So I just stopped and stared at this pathetic excuse for a human being. Did he really just say that?

He did and he didn’t get a chance to say much more. Between me stating that he will never lead anyone to Christ with that attitude and that he apparently doesn’t know what Jesus expects out of us as Christians he didn’t have room to say anything. I am sure I said hurtful things and called him a Non Christian too (funny capitalization time!) but I was just so angry I couldn’t think.

I realize that I shouldn’t be so upset. Especially when I sit down and think about what kind of person my co-worker is. In the long run he will have a much harder life out there in the big bad scary world than I will. Someone with this train of thought does upset me…but also makes me feel sorry for them.

But in the meantime I am going to feel sorry for me. Because I was insulted. I was told I wasn’t something because of their personal belief of what a Christian is. I was told this “fact” as if it was undeniably true. That there were real facts to back up his personal opinion.

His personal opinion is wrong though. Any true Christian would know that. To be saved you must accept Jesus Christ as your personal lord and savior. That is a Christian.

There are many different branches of Christianity. Due to human nature we tend to see things differently and seek out answers that make sense to us. If one church doesn’t preach things the way you like it there are about 10 more around the corner. And if none of them are a perfect match well then…start your own church. So yes, there are going to be different opinions and schools of thought on what being a GOOD Christian is. Some churches are against any kind of dancing, media fun, and drinking. Other churches are more involved with the outside world and don’t have harsh restrictions on wardrobe, diets, and child rearing.

But when you get down to it, all these different churches still follow under Christianity. If you preach that the most important part of your church message is Jesus Christ is our personal lord and savior you are a Christian church. In theory we all should have the same mission: to lead people to Christ and strength their own relationship with God.

So Mr. Co-worker….not only were your comments hurtful, uncalled for, and rude you were also wrong. I am a Christian. Not that my spiritual status would change based on the opinion of a confused coddled child nor do I have to keep on stating that fact. But I am in fact a Christian. Perhaps if my co-worker opened their bible more often and read the verses about love and acceptance more than the ones that focus on hatred he would know that. I just find the situation sad as this is the most basic tenant of Christianity and he chose to argue this point with a fellow Christian.

As mad and upset that I was insulted I am more upset for all the LGBT people out there. Because my co-worker painted them all the same and has damned them all to hell. None of which he has the right to do nor should he if he really is the Christian he proclaims to be. Even if IF homosexuality is a sin, you can repent of your sins. Sinners go to heaven. God sees all sin as equal. So I am not sure how an adulterer can still get into heaven but a person in a loving, stable relationship cannot.

It’s very insulting. It’s cruel. And it is stupid. No one knows another person’s heart and can speak whether or not that person is a Christian. You can’t state someone is unqualified to be a Christian based on who they keep in their bed. It is simply too stupid to try to wrap my mind around.

At the end of the day I am still upset at my co-worker and I doubt I will be able to forgive him. Not a very Christian like thing to say but I take offense when I am insulted at such a level. I am upset for all the LGBT individuals out there, including my own sister, who were told that they are not allowed into the kingdom of heaven or so says a young man whose life experience is minimal at best. I don’t like being told that I don’t know Jesus Christ and I am not even the one sinning(if it truly was a sin)!

In conclusion...I was told I am not Christian based on the fact that I think OTHER PEOPLE can be Christians. I myself am not "sinning" but yet I have been cast into hell. Please find me that bible verse that damns me for having a different point of view on the homosexuality stand point. And please explain to me how you plan on bringing people to Christ with this award winning attitude. And yes this ALL happened at work. It is very inappropriate indeed but more so that it happened while I was working and had no way to escape nor did I have access to my weapons of choice.

As a side note, I want to kiss the individual who left us “Jesus is Lord” bookmarks on our counter. Why do I want to kiss them? Because they were printed on rainbow paper. If that is not a sign from God I don’t know what is!