Thursday, October 23, 2014

The Confessions of a Modern Day Christian

Note: This has nothing to do with film (unless you consider that this subject has something to do with everything,  and thus is distantly related to the subject of film)

I'm a Christian. And Christians face trials often... the greatest in my life are those I've gone through the past few months... really the past year. 

First of all, my parents are separating. I've been oddly emotionless about the whole thing... I've been exposed so often to the idea that kids think it's their fault that I've known not even to consider it. So I didn't. The wall between them had been growing for a while, and financially it eventually took quite a toll, so they are currently in the middle of a divorce. 

Secondly, a family of five recently moved into our house, which was already housing five people. So we've now got ten people in a house with five bedrooms. It's not quite cramped, as there is a lot of room outside of the five rooms, but we've been adjusting to each other's lifestyles. It's been rather difficult, especially, for my mother, who has a rather high standard of cleanliness for the house. 

Thirdly, after this family moved in they began helping with the farming part of our property... next to our house is a large field, normally taken care of a farmhand named Bill. He recently was fired (he wasn't doing the best work). So, the new family began taking care of the farming, and did an excellent job. This doesn't sound like a spiritual trial quite yet, I realize. But then, my mother's brothers (hehe, rhymes) and sister arrived, and began interfering in everything. I'm not sure of all that happened, but I believe they wanted the new family removed from the house, they took my grandmother from the house to live with them, and it's taken a giant toll, again, on my mother.

I realize that thus far, these trials seem to be more on my mother than on me. But I've often been put in the middle of these issues, questioned on what I think of them, and the house is often filled with an atmosphere of stress.

But here's the real killer, at least for me. Recently, I've been taking college courses through Running Start. It's a good choice for a person of my age, and will help me to earn an AA when I graduate from high school. I've been earning the requirements for both graduation from high school and the earning of the AA, and most recently I've taken up Western Civilization.

As can be expected, with more and more professors as well as students being atheists these days, I've been taught evolution. I'll admit, I've been temporarily led astray from my faith on more than one occasion during this study. But during this study, I've realized that I've not only been under attack from the devil for this time, but for years. The devil's been slowly working into my life, making me question parts of the public opinion of Christian faith. It's true, much of the general idea of Christianity (that we are against 'cussing', that we shouldn't even look at nudity at all) are wrong. True, I'm against blasphemy. But there's nothing wrong with watching film with these things, and as long as you don't offend someone or speak hatefully, there's really nothing wrong with cussing, again, as long as you don't blaspheme. But I've been questioning more and more aspects of Christianity, and have gotten even to the point of scoffing at Christians on Facebook who uphold their faith, which I've come to realize, is what I should do. 

See some of the ideas I'm being taught make sense. But of course, Christianity makes more sense, and solves all the problems with evolution, all the holes. It solves where the universe came from (I slightly agree with the idea of the big bang, but disagree with the popular opinion of what came after). It really seems as if Christians are under attack in today's academic... and even general... society. Which is really rather ironic, as homosexuals claim that they're under attack from Christians, and that we should all mind our own business. Those who have been accused of discrimination are now being discriminated, in a way. 

I've been having to balance this education with sources I trust, sources that lift my spirit and uphold my faith. The thing is, logic tells me that God clearly exists. He's present all around, and there are signs of his masterwork all over. But part of my brain tells me to reject the idea, for some odd reason.

That's rebellion, and the devil I think. No offense against atheism and evolutionists, but those ideas, to me, just seem to be a worldwide rebellion. We've known for a long time that people don't like being told what to do, but it's often best for us. Being told what to do doesn't stop benefiting us after childhood, as is the general idea. It continues throughout our lives, and if we followed God's words our society would be a lot better.

Now, I've often pondered the idea that the reason I don't want to give up the idea of God is that I don't want to potentially be sent to hell. That's possible, sure, and I really don't have enough spiritual strength or experience to refute this claim right now, other than the fact that I truly believe it's the Holy Spirit holding onto me with all it's might, making sure I don't permanently leave the flock. 

Atheists may mock my words, they may try to tempt me to leave my faith. You may say I'm ignorant, and that all these 'facts' disprove the existence of my God. But I'll continue to at least try my hardest to stay strong in my faith. Hopefully, by the end of this course, through prayer, and reading the Bible (as well as The Screwtape Letters and 'Gravity: True for You but Not for Me), I'll emerge an even stronger Christian. If you're a Christian going through the same trials, I sympathize with you, and I pray for you (please pray for me also, as I'm going through what you're going through). If you're an atheist reading this, I love you, and I also pray that you find God. 

I know it may seem nonsensical to post this on my film review page, but it's my one existing blog, and I already have three (THREE!) followers on it, so maybe the word will get out faster. Also, in the intro to my blog, I believe I stated that I'd be posting film reviews, film rants and such, and 'anything going on my life'.

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