Be what you are

Not so long ago, to be a hardworking, law abiding, God fearing individual was enough. People did not need to be extremely well educated in order to deserve respect from those around them, and the majority of people did not need to be theologians or philosophers in order to be considered active, growing Christians. Even as recently as 30 years ago, to be an exceptionally well educated, well spoken, argumentative, philosophical, theologically minded individual was the exception, and not the rule. But with the advent of Facebook, it has become more difficult to escape the pressures to become what we are not.

There is nothing wrong with being an intelligent, well educated individual. The problem arises when we interact with a myriad of other people who are so obviously better educated, or have interests in things that are better, more, deeper. It is impossible to keep up with these people when we are not ourselves so minded. But let me make it quite clear: THAT'S NOT A BAD THING. I know, such a surprise right? If we are not well read, well spoken, well written, or constantly aspiring to a higher education, then we are obviously not meant to be one of those that will change society as we know it, and therefore less than. In the words of a friend of mine "if it's not well written, it's not worth reading."

I would like to challenge that assumption. So what if someone can't craft the most elegant sentence? Is their message, whatever that may be, automatically negated as a result? Sure, it's more enjoyable to read the work of someone who knows how to reach people's hearts. No one wants to read something that's boring, and really no one wants to listen to someone who's not well spoken, but since when does that negate the fact that the speaker is still a person, and still has something to say? When did respect become based on your ability to give your message, rather than the message itself? When did the focus shift from the message to the delivery?  When did it become necessary to do all of this in order to be respected as individuals?

I would like to call your attention to our society in the late 1800's. Most people were still farmers, and most people had an 8th grade education (while it can be argued that the children who received this education were farther along than some people today with a Bachelor's degree, that's not the point). These poor, honest farmers spent their lives doing what they could to live their lives in service to God, and in service to their families. Today, you can't look at a Facebook feed without largely being presented with post after post by people who apparently spend all of their time doing useful (meaning philosophical, theological, or civilly minded) internet research, and then posting it for everyone else's benefit. This, too, is not a bad thing, but when it results in the perpetuation of the idea that people who don't do this are not respected, then it has gone too far.

Not everyone is an intellectual. When a person feels that being an intellectual is the only way to be a successful human being, then there is a problem with the intellectual community. Perhaps the reason so many people argue again intellectual Christians, and call us hypocrites, is because we are. Perhaps the biggest problem in the Christian community right now is not that there are too many people claiming the title, and not living their lives in what is generally believed to be a Christian lifestyle. Perhaps the problem is too many people claiming the title, who then show anything but love and kindness towards others, regardless of what their lifestyle looks like. Perhaps the problem is that there are too many people being pressured to be what they are not. Perhaps we have put too much importance on being an intellectual, and changing society by taking on people such as Richard Dawkins, and not enough on reaching those who are more common.

Perhaps, if there was less of a push towards intellectualism, and people felt free to be who they were made to be; mothers, painters, interpreters, animal trainers, policemen, firemen; just perhaps, there would not be such a push to get away from Christianity. My intellectual friends will probably disagree with me; after all, it is "logic" and "reason" that generally lead thinkers away from the church, since there is no quantifiable evidence that God does indeed exist (and yes, I know this isn't exactly true, again, not the point). However, what if the church decided to cater more to the person in need, and helping people to be the best God created them to be, instead of trying to make them the best society says they should be? Perhaps then, people would find more satisfaction in God, instead of in their logic and reason.

Who needs logic anyway? ;)