Should I be more public about my faith?
March 9th, 2009 by boon
update: This isn’t a post about proselytizing/evangelism/converting people. It’s about people understanding who I am.
One of the things I do very rarely on this blog is talk about my faith. And I admit it’s because of the expectation I think people have of me (which isn’t always as expectation I place on myself), and I feel this is justified to a degree.
Most of my friends and family don’t share the same kind of beliefs I do, even though we may carry long friendly conversations and relate to one another very affectionately. And I guess it has helped me navigate in social circles of different kinds, despite disagreeing on principle.
And I guess I could be more open about my beliefs, but I do fear the problems of being socially ostracized, rejected, or misunderstood (as I often am when I discuss my beliefs). Things tend to be nicer and friendlier when I keep quiet about those things.
However, I allow my life to be “read” like a book without words. And maybe this why I am quite open about other things, such as my life on facebook or on a blog. I don’t think I have anything particularly sensitive about me that I have problems exposing apart from some odd toilet habit which I shall never tell anyone about.
But this does mean people don’t know how my faith affects my life, which makes the whole thing all pointless – because for it to work, people who ‘read’ me have to go through a whole process of understanding what I believe, and they will almost never ever do that.
This is all fine for the whole world, but it’s not fine for me.
So I am thankful for this ‘club’ that I go to where people who share the same beliefs I do happen to be. It also helps that my wife is part of this ‘club’, so I don’t eat myself alive or commit suicide on a perfectly sunny day.
Sometimes, I wish so many people weren’t so anti-’this club’. But I can understand why they’re so against it. It just never made sense to them. And I consider myself one of the lucky ones to have not seen it from the ‘wrong’ light.
But I just wonder, if there is a ‘wrong’ light – why don’t we put more effort into helping people understand the ‘right’ light?
That’s where things got complicated for me, and I haven’t really done anything about it. But maybe I should.
I’m a fan of the french way (surprinsing, I know): for us faith is a private matter and should stay that way.
Doesn’t mean you have to hide it, but it does recommend not to try to evangelise others.
I tend to think religions are more dividing than uniting among mankind. That’s the issue of “club”: you feel friendlier with all the other in the club, but more different to all the others.
Those who care can still look it up your facebook profile (or mine!)
Anyway, just my own two cents (since you asked!).
PS. Your blog forced me to retype this comment because I did not indicate an email
In your previous blog entries, you did mention that you are a Christian so I don’t understand why you need to hide the fact in this blog by referring to it as “club”. I also do not understand what you meant by “wrong” light and “right” light. I am not a Christian but I am not one of those who anti “your club” as you put it. I just do not like people telling me that I am going to hell just because I am not a Christian or that I am worshiping idols or that I should become a Christian myself in order to see the truth and etc, etc. To me, it is good and very well if being a Christian has turned your life around but please do not try to proselytize everyone you meet.
Hi Shuo,
Your comments reflect the majority of people, and that’s my point – I find it just easier to adapt my vocabulary to fit into society. But maybe there’s a better approach I should be taking, so that’s what I meant by the article… should I be more public? But indirectly, how?
The ‘right’ light vs. ‘wrong’ light relates to what Christianity means. It’s not about who’s right or wrong (obviously a lot of people get defensive or offended over sensitive things like that).
So if people don’t understand what I mean, should I even bother? Or if I should try to explain, how?
This is why I used quotations around ‘club’ for church, because everyone has their own definitions of church that it doesn’t mean anything anymore. Which makes my post kinda pointless and just a reference for my own use.
Thanks for your reply. As this is your personal blog, you have all the right to express yourself freely on it so I think it should be alright for you to talk about your faith here – how your faith has affect your live and etc – since you are just expressing yourself and not trying to convert anyone else.