Being Judgmental
I try not to judge people. Yes, I can be hard on other people, especially members of my family, but in general, I try to abide by this philosophy: If you are a good person and you aren't doing anything to hurt someone else, then I will let you live your life the way you want to. Really, who am I to judge?
Anyway, I was checking up on people yesterday. I had enough time to check on some blogs and see what various people I know/used to know were up to. One of these persons is very much the same as me, but very different. We both value education, hold post graduate degrees, understand the benefits of homeschooling, and consider ourselves Christian. The differences between us lie in how those characteristics manifest themselves in our everyday life. For the sake of clarity and anonymity, I will refer to this person as Claire.
Claire chooses to home school and bring her children up by the Bible. I choose to supplement our schooling at home (while entertaining the idea of home schooling) and bring my children up knowing God, but not necessarily by the Bible. She believes that God is all-knowing and righteous, but quick to anger. Claire's children are to obey her without question. I believe that God is all-knowing and righteous, but I don't believe that he is quick to anger. In fact, God is benevolent and kind, and pretty patient with all of us sinners, if you ask me. Furthermore, while I do believe that the kids should listen to us, sometimes I don't mind if they question me. I can be wrong.
You might wonder why I like to check up on this lady, considering these differences. Well, she has a lot to say that I do like on her blog, and I get a good update on their soon to be 8 kids. I also like to know how her husband is doing as he is the reason I even know about them; I used to play volleyball with him in grad school. But considering all of our differences, every once in a while, I find Claire's posts to be difficult to digest.
The latest gastronomically challenging post was put up a while ago. It had a link to a pastor that ranted for 14 minutes on how awful books such as Twilight and its sequels are for kids these days. He started off okay. He has a thirteen year old daughter, and he would never let her read any of the books by Stephenie Meyer, he said. Well, I agree with him here. Even though the books might be housed in the teen fiction area of your local library, I don't think they are for the younger teen crowd. Our girls have expressed interest in reading them, but I am still holding out, and probably will until they are in high school. I don't think the girls would be afraid of the vampire or the werewolves or the fighting. They just don't need to pick up on any romantic innuendos at their age, you know?
The unsavory part of the pastor's diatribe came next, though. He started to tell his audience how wrong Stephenie Meyer is for writing them. Instead of placing the blame on the parents for letting their young 12 year old read a book meant for perhaps an older teen, he decides to blame the author for writing it. What? Are you serious? Meyer is a writer, for goodness sakes! Creative writing has been around for ages, or didn't he know this? In fact, the Bible itself is purportedly inspired by God, but I am willing to bet that some creative writing might have gone on back when that big book was first put together. How can you possibly place the blame on the author? Talk about passing the buck. Isn't preaching to people one Sunday on taking responsibility for your own actions, and then blaming an author for something you don't want your child to read the next Sunday a bit hypocritical? Am I the only one to think this?
Well, that was just the tip of the iceberg. He went on to say that his problem with the Twilight series and others like it was that they concern everlasting life that did not come in the form of redemption by Jesus Christ. The books speak about the concept of eternal life, but there is no connection to Jesus. Well, I hate to tell him this, but not all people even believe in Jesus! If I told him that, what do you think he would say? He might try to refute me, or tell me that if these people don't believe, then they will never attain everlasting life. You should have seen me shaking in my shoes. I was so mad, I wanted to pound my fist into the computer monitor.
I sat back, letting my blood pressure lower, and I went back to Claire's post to see what she had written. She had not put much except for the YouTube link. But at the top was something to the effect of, "Please tell me you don't read this!" And that is when I lost it.
Because I just don't think that you can even comment on something if you have never read it. From the comments she had below the link, it was obvious that neither Claire nor her cronies had read the books. They were taking, on blind faith, that what this pastor said was right. It didn't matter that he probably had not read the books either. It didn't matter that perhaps he was looking more into a story than he should. It didn't matter that he effectively told his congregation to stay away from a whole slew of books because he heard something about them or looked at the cover art and deemed them unworthy of reading.
It does matter that his attitude scares me. It matters that he passes judgment before looking inside. It matters that he preaches this to flocks that then spread that word even further.
Haven't they learned not to judge a book by its cover?
And perhaps I just judged them. I didn't always say I was successful in abiding by my philosophy.
Anyway, I was checking up on people yesterday. I had enough time to check on some blogs and see what various people I know/used to know were up to. One of these persons is very much the same as me, but very different. We both value education, hold post graduate degrees, understand the benefits of homeschooling, and consider ourselves Christian. The differences between us lie in how those characteristics manifest themselves in our everyday life. For the sake of clarity and anonymity, I will refer to this person as Claire.
Claire chooses to home school and bring her children up by the Bible. I choose to supplement our schooling at home (while entertaining the idea of home schooling) and bring my children up knowing God, but not necessarily by the Bible. She believes that God is all-knowing and righteous, but quick to anger. Claire's children are to obey her without question. I believe that God is all-knowing and righteous, but I don't believe that he is quick to anger. In fact, God is benevolent and kind, and pretty patient with all of us sinners, if you ask me. Furthermore, while I do believe that the kids should listen to us, sometimes I don't mind if they question me. I can be wrong.
You might wonder why I like to check up on this lady, considering these differences. Well, she has a lot to say that I do like on her blog, and I get a good update on their soon to be 8 kids. I also like to know how her husband is doing as he is the reason I even know about them; I used to play volleyball with him in grad school. But considering all of our differences, every once in a while, I find Claire's posts to be difficult to digest.
The latest gastronomically challenging post was put up a while ago. It had a link to a pastor that ranted for 14 minutes on how awful books such as Twilight and its sequels are for kids these days. He started off okay. He has a thirteen year old daughter, and he would never let her read any of the books by Stephenie Meyer, he said. Well, I agree with him here. Even though the books might be housed in the teen fiction area of your local library, I don't think they are for the younger teen crowd. Our girls have expressed interest in reading them, but I am still holding out, and probably will until they are in high school. I don't think the girls would be afraid of the vampire or the werewolves or the fighting. They just don't need to pick up on any romantic innuendos at their age, you know?
The unsavory part of the pastor's diatribe came next, though. He started to tell his audience how wrong Stephenie Meyer is for writing them. Instead of placing the blame on the parents for letting their young 12 year old read a book meant for perhaps an older teen, he decides to blame the author for writing it. What? Are you serious? Meyer is a writer, for goodness sakes! Creative writing has been around for ages, or didn't he know this? In fact, the Bible itself is purportedly inspired by God, but I am willing to bet that some creative writing might have gone on back when that big book was first put together. How can you possibly place the blame on the author? Talk about passing the buck. Isn't preaching to people one Sunday on taking responsibility for your own actions, and then blaming an author for something you don't want your child to read the next Sunday a bit hypocritical? Am I the only one to think this?
Well, that was just the tip of the iceberg. He went on to say that his problem with the Twilight series and others like it was that they concern everlasting life that did not come in the form of redemption by Jesus Christ. The books speak about the concept of eternal life, but there is no connection to Jesus. Well, I hate to tell him this, but not all people even believe in Jesus! If I told him that, what do you think he would say? He might try to refute me, or tell me that if these people don't believe, then they will never attain everlasting life. You should have seen me shaking in my shoes. I was so mad, I wanted to pound my fist into the computer monitor.
I sat back, letting my blood pressure lower, and I went back to Claire's post to see what she had written. She had not put much except for the YouTube link. But at the top was something to the effect of, "Please tell me you don't read this!" And that is when I lost it.
Because I just don't think that you can even comment on something if you have never read it. From the comments she had below the link, it was obvious that neither Claire nor her cronies had read the books. They were taking, on blind faith, that what this pastor said was right. It didn't matter that he probably had not read the books either. It didn't matter that perhaps he was looking more into a story than he should. It didn't matter that he effectively told his congregation to stay away from a whole slew of books because he heard something about them or looked at the cover art and deemed them unworthy of reading.
It does matter that his attitude scares me. It matters that he passes judgment before looking inside. It matters that he preaches this to flocks that then spread that word even further.
Haven't they learned not to judge a book by its cover?
And perhaps I just judged them. I didn't always say I was successful in abiding by my philosophy.
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