Opinion, Belief, Judgment

I cannot believe that I am doing this...I try to keep out of all of discussions on current events.  I have to get this out, though, and if I do it right, I hope at least to make my point.

Human beings cannot begin to know everything that there is to know.  To proclaim that they do is a dangerous thing.  I have heard both sides of the current arguments.  Both seem to be lacking something very important.  It's this:

Individuals should not have control over what someone beside themselves chooses as a belief or a lifestyle. Our country was built on this principle.  I so happen to be a Christian, so as closely as I am able, I try to follow what I know to be true in my life-long exposure to the Holy Bible.  Everyone is human, and everyone, across all of humanity makes mistakes.  So...I do not believe that being a Christian makes me better than anyone else. Do I think I am right in this choice?  Of course I do!  Why would I be a follower of Christ if I didn't think that it was right?  Do I ever have doubt?  You bet your apple jacks I do.  Every day.  That's why there's faith.  And Hope.  And prayer.  And study.  And eventually, I'll know. We all will, one way or another.

Do I believe that God's commandment to me was to be global adjudicator? Breaker of established laws?  Thank goodness NO.  I am, by my set of beliefs, to [paraphrased] love my neighbor as I do myself (Mark 2:31) and to 'judge not, lest I myself be scrutinized under the same judgment.(Matthew 7:1-3)

This is so simple to me.  My Bible says to give back to the governing body what belongs to it, and give to God what is God's. (Matthew 12:17)  The governors of the day were amazed at Jesus saying this.  I think that if we as Christians did just that, AGAIN, we'd amaze everyone all over again. It is not my job to judge others, and so, if the government of my country BY ITS PEOPLE sets rules to allow for its citizens to have the freedom to live their lives as they see fit, then it is so very thankfully not my job to prevent that government from doing so.  This does not mean that we cannot cast our votes by our beliefs on those laws during the process.  It does not mean that Christians need to just stand by and watch  the world change from the sidelines.

So now we know what is not my job. What IS my job is to follow Christ and his teachings, to go out into all the world and share this belief, TEACHING people about what I believe and why it is important...by my actions, NOT JUST BY my words. (Matthew 28:19).  Nowhere in my Bible does it say that I am to MAKE people believe like I do.  Nowhere does it say that if they don't, I can't love them, or grant them a marriage license, or bake them a cake, or whatever else is yet to come. Even God, by my belief, didn't want that.  This is why we're all given the freedom to choose what we believe, ever since [what I believe to be] the beginning. Yes, it is my belief that no one can come into the Kingdom of God except by the grace and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.(John 14:6)  But it is NOT my belief that I should somehow have the right to circumvent the law, or be a better judge than the government, and certainly not a better judge than who I believe to be God and Maker of Heaven and Earth.