How do you handle double standards?

[CraftyTurtle]

As someone who has suffered mental illness my whole life, and has struggled just to behave how society expects, to be considered normal and to fit in, I find it beyond frustrating when other people take pride in their blatant sinful behaviour. They want to change society to fit in with their desires and urges, rather than take the more difficult road of doing what is right.

Whether it's gay marriage or removing God from various oaths, or premarital sex, or vandalism, or whatever, I am made to feel like I am an uber-conservative relic from the past.
I'm not! I'm a Christian who tries hard to follow God's laws in this era of promiscuity and social permissiveness, and a bipolar who struggles with roller-coaster emotions on a daily basis. Life is hard enough without tiptoeing round people who have very strong opinions about what I know to be wrong. I accept that others have different opinions, so why do they not accept that I have my own opinion/beliefs? I do not treat people differently just because they are gay or divorced or atheist or whatever, but it seems a lot of people are so gung-ho about their own cause, they don't take time to recognise or respect anyone else's (like, oh, maybe the stigma of mental illness)

So this puts me in an awkward position - How can I get out of say, signing a petition for some cause of theirs without hurting anyone? The bipolar side of me can't handle rejection/bullying/name-calling, etc. The Christian side of me says persecute me if you wish, but I know God is on my side. Turning the other cheek is so hard when you can instantly snap into depression.

Yes, I have said "Sorry, as a Christian, I can't in good conscience support this cause." to which I'm told I'm deluded, mean, selfish, blind, brainwashed, etc, etc. And here I was thinking they were self-absorbed, hedonistic and self-gratifying. The difference is that I would never say so to them, cos that would be rude. Blurting out your true feelings is something I have fought not to do. Politeness is so nice, so why are people not polite and respectful to me?

So what does a person do? These things are sent to try us, and try us they do! It is literally depressing!

Keeping my mouth shut is a tactic that works most of the time. In fact many of my close friends do not even know I am a Christian. How to not be a hypocrite? I don't know. I prefer to keep the peace.

Oh, I'm ranting, I know. The bipolar blows things all out of proportion.

Please just tell me some anecdotes/stories about situations where you have succeeded or even failed in dealing with people who expect your support in their lifestyle choices, and they don't respect yours.
Your stories are cameraderie. At least I know there are some Good people in the world.

 

[Daughter of His]

You're right it's persecution, verbal persecution. I hear the double standard with in my family and it causes me to feel like I'm walking on thin ice. Often don't let my stand on a subject be know as you put it to keep peace. Things have erupted in the past when I stuck my two cents in. Soo, my consolation, in keeping quiet at these times is that the way I live my life is my witness and I need to be modeling the Christian walk in front of them and love them as I do anyway. It does indeed make me sad. Not everyone is called to correct in my opinion.

Fortunately we KNOW that God's way is pleasing to Him, it is He that will be our (and yes their) judge someday.

 

[RedWingInCo]

There will always be a double-standard because as Christians we are obligated by love to represent Christ well. Arguing has never been an effective evangelism tool. The word of God declares that it is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. Unbelievers have no such constraint. Remember, you never get angry with a blind man who steps on your foot!

My quick story - I work for a well-known Christian ministry and answer phone calls all day. I took a call from a man who says that groups like ours were responsible for his son committing suicide. The son struggled with homosexual attraction. The father believed very strongly that Christians were the reason he did so. How do you win if you try to defend yourself in a situation like that? We are a "hate group" because we believe the Bible even though we constantly reach out in compassion and love to people caught up in all kinds of sin. They say you have no right to live your convictions but they shove their rights down your throat with anger and very little tolerance.

This is not new! Believers from the very beginning of time have had to pay a price to follow Christ. If you found yourself in another country today you could very well lose your life for believing. So, the moral of the story is the words of Jesus - "Blessed are you when men persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you because of me." Blessed are you!

 

[Loven God]

It all boils down to that some people are just mean and heartless .