Hey, guys, n gals let me just speak from the heart right quick if that's alright. I got to get myself on a lawnmower and cut a few acres right quick. And again, I am speaking from my heart. There were 2 reasons that caused me to create this thread. One was the movie which I spoke of earlier and the second was a situation recently at a ministry I work in that caused me to see what others thought, I am in no way hurt or angry or offended, none at all. In fact, the reason was that it made me sad. Sad for others that are new in Christ that experience such awful judgments and cause them hurt and pain. Growing up I got into fights, yes I am a woman, BUT, here is my weakness and here are my reasons. Elderly, mentally challenged, slow learners, weaker timid people, animals, handicapped (all these types and more) or just people that are wounded, these are people that since I can remember I stood up for, those that were bullied in school or anywhere else. I watched strong healthy boys not even help out in situations such as this and so I always stepped in and stood up for the ones that couldn't stand up for themselves. I don't tolerate bullying or downsizing a person, nothing angers me more than this and I will take a blow any day for them, it takes a lot to knock me down. Let me give you 2 recent examples as to "why" this struck me.
I work with homeless people and drug addicts etc., her name is Nikki, she is in her 20's, it took ALOT for her to come to church with me, because she felt that others would judge her, I found her sleeping in a shed behind a restaurant living with a man that was a drunkard, he allowed her to sleep on his dirt floor and it was a disgusting place. One day at a women's meeting where I would go and minister to them and help counsel them, one of the girls pulled me aside and said "SP" she has bugs really bad we want her away from us, I noticed she was covered in sores and after checking her hair, she was so eaten up with lice I can't even begin to explain how bad it was, treatment after treatment, they would not die and kept eating at her hair and skin until she had manifested great sores and blisters. I eventually had to shave her head and she sat there and cried the whole time, kept saying SP I can't go to church with you looking like this, they will judge me. I reassured her that she will be fine and that nobody is gonna judge her. Boy was I wrong, as she sat in the pew with me a lady well known in the church and even knowing that Nikki was coming from such an environment had the nerve to tell her that God looked down upon her for shaving her head like that and that if she had read the Bible she would know what a woman was supposed to look like and do. Can you imagine how she felt? She never came back and the anger I felt I cannot describe. She cried the whole way back to the shelter and so did I inside for her.
Her name is Christine, she is in her 50's and has had a horrible life, survived a deadly car accident and has severe scarring not to mention the guilt she feels because she felt she let her family down. Much more to her story but she couldn't walk well due to her injuries. One day we were having a family day at church, it's where everyone comes together and has a meal. She was in a lot of pain this day and when I went to check on her, she said she couldn't fix her plate because she was hurting, could I please take her back to the shelter. So I went to the kitchen asked for a to-go plate and as I started out the door towards the food I was quickly reprimanded by a claiming chrisitan again, that if she wants to eat she can come fix it herself or else she can just starve. Christine heard this conversation and no she did not get a plate that day. Can you imagine?
I could go into much greater detail here but won't, and these 2 examples are just a small handful of examples I could share and NO its not from the same people or same church or denomination. My point is this, who are you to judge and criticize someone that you do not know? You have no idea what is going on in their life and many times these people that are pointing a finger are causing people that ARE WOUNDED to run back to the same evil they came from because we didn't welcome them and comfort them as Christ did for us, we don't know the shoes they are wearing and where those shoes have been. These 2 ladies had so much hurt already, why in the name of God would "christians" be so judgmental, throwing their rocks? Taking scripture out of context and applying it to a religious mindset, judging things based on what they "think" is happening. I'm sorry there is just no room for being so judgemental and causing others to stumble feeling like they are "less" than accepted into Christ's arms. It's sad that we don't see what Christ see's, it's sad that we think we have to do the Holy Spirits job of convicting sin, it's just sad that we think we have all the answers. I'm not hurt, I am sad, I am sad for many people who just can't see for the log in their own eye, looking into a mirror and forgetting what they look like.