Breaking from old perceptions

thinkingthrough | November 8, 2013 | Current Events, News | No Comments

By guest author Aaron Smith

I was fascinated when I saw this headline on npr.org: ‘We Hurt A Lot Of People,’ Westboro Pastor’s Granddaughter Says.

Two people bravely leave a hateful, oppressive, allegedly Christian group, trying to right the wrongs of their past. This made me think about how I have changed my mind, in a Christian context, regarding attitudes I’ve harbored in the past towards groups and lifestyles. While I would not say that the culture of my upbringing even touches that of the Westboro Baptist Church, some sentiments I had in my younger years were distantly related.

Sometimes I wonder if I those attitudes were solely products of my environment and conservative suburban 80’s era childhood, and now my new environment has allowed me to overcome those notions. Perhaps a sillier thought I have is wondering if I am a better or worse Christian for seeing certain “moralities” through a justice-over-written-rule Kohlberg’s Sixth Stage lens.

Given the countless sects and denominations among Christians, and the varying individuals who populate those groups, this negates having only cookie cutter answers or one rigid archetype. I am just grateful to serve a loving, all-forgiving, all-inclusive God.

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