What Kind Of Christian Are You Anyway?

Just to put it out there, I believe in God. The God described in the Bible. With the burning bush and creating the world in seven days and His Son dying on the cross, and all of that. I don't know how to explain why I believe this, except that it is faith. The belief that there is something more to life than can be touched with the traditional five senses. That is the same reason I believe in tarot. I can't explain how it works; I only know that it does. I can't explain God, I only know that He, or She, or Whatever, is there.

Having said that, I do not care what other people call their God, or how they see Him. I do not wish to fight over semantics, and although I believe fiercely that Jesus is the light of the world and the way that God intends us to make our way back to Him, I do not think that a kind and loving God would have wars waged in His name, and I do not believe that it is my place to force my views upon others. The knowledge of God is written upon each of our hearts, and the relationship is between God and each individual.

Thusly, I am a very open person, and I understand that my spiritual path to walk is not anyone else's, nor theirs, mine. I would never think to try to impose my opinions on someone else, and I work very hard to be discerning about what I take into my own personal truths. I understand that wisdom comes from all places, and that there is beauty and truth to be found in places a Christian Bible has never seen.

I realize this is my own fault for hanging out in the cesspool known as MySpace, but I was chastised rather harshly by a particular person there for presenting myself as a Christian yet also being a rather dedicated student of such things as tarot, and yoga, and having a firm belief in the power of attraction, and meditation.

Let me just say this - in all of my prayer, in all of my meditation and creative visualization, in all my tarot work, I have this constant refrain in my head - "I want what You want, Lord. If it is part of Your plan, and if it would be good for me, and not armful to anyone else, please let it come to be. If it is not, then I do not want it, anyway. Thank You."

I do not believe that tarot is anti-Christian in any way. There are pieces of the Old Testament that decry fortune tellers and astrology, but there are pieces of the Old Testament that also advocate incest and murder. My understanding of Jesus was that He was sent to abolish the law, not make new ones. I do not think that using tarot to get knowledge you are not meant to have works anyway, and if it does, you are probably not so worried about what God thinks of you in any case, woe be to you. I do not believe that Christians today are held to any law at all, except, in the words of Jesus himself, to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Using tarot does not violate either of those precepts, and truthfully if even half of the people who declare themselves to be "little Christs" would follow those two admonitions even half the time, the world would be a very different, much brighter place. But we all can only affect change within ourselves, and ultimately we are all only responsible for ourselves.

So, here is the kind of Christian I am - non-judgemental, loving, compassionate, intelligent, sensitive, seeking the truth, seeking the light, always looking deeper into the depths of my own psyche for the flaws and the truths God wants me to address, and not apologizing for any of it. I am the kind of Christian that believes justice is not mine to mete out, nor do I desire to see the pain of others. I am the kind of Christian that believe more flies are caught with honey than vinegar, and the kind that believes in the fruits of the Spirit, that the way I live my life should be a larger testament to the love and grace, and endless mercy, of the God I serve, not my mouth or my righteous insistence I know which way is best.