Day 6: To Go Your Way

*WARNING: I am not an expert in what I will be talking about. Do not take this as gospel (unintentional pun).

Coming to Australia has made me realise that Christianity can be seen as a dying religion.
Back in Malaysia, the spread of the gospel is becoming stronger, which is always a good thing to see.
But over here, in Western countries, most people are starting to remove religious aspects from their lives.
As a result, what I imagine would be a shift in the Christian demography, away from the West and more towards the East.
Although it is disheartening to see people lose their faiths and all, I feel that sometimes stereotypes and other social misunderstandings and misinterpretations tend to blow things completely out of proportion.

Take same-sex marriage as an example.
The whole incident caused a massive uproar in the States, and to Christians worldwide.
But let's look at things on a more local level, some Christians take things way too extremely (coughWestborocough).  And as result, Christians all over get a bad rep.
Now, people stereotype and put all Christians in the same box.
When people attempt to preach the gospel on the streets, they might receive verbal abuse for all their good intentions (I haven't seen one yet but I'm sure it's very possible).
The very people who preached non-discrimination are now the discriminators.
So now we have Christian extremists going cray cray over same-sex marriage, and we have the converse as well.
Both these things act to polarise society from Christianity, vice versa. Positive feedback loop, anyone?
We have people voicing their disapproval over marriage equality; and people voicing their disapproval over religious dictations.

Now, this is just what I think, my opinion. For all I know, things could be wrong and I'm just spouting an impossible story. But this is what I've concluded from making my own observations.
I have 'identified' a problem, but not a solution. Simply because I don't know what the solution is.
There isn't a special cheat code I can give to fix things, but I think it's important to look at the situation from both sides.
This is only one of many challenges Christians face in reaching out in a modern world.
To fellow Christians out there, remember what's most important: Love the Lord and love your neighbour.

Figure 1. Something interesting and cute I found at Go-Fest. It was at a corner of the foyer where they sold clothes and faith-related books. It looks like a frame with polaroid pictures hanging from yarn strings. I assume this frame was not for sale. But if it was, I would totally buy it! Aesthetically-pleasing and I love how they shined a light at it from behind. Very classy indeed.

Listening to Brighter Days - Taylor Henderson

Sechs,

TK