I feel like Christian bloggers take a lot of crap in the blog world. Which big surprise – they take crap in the real world too. I feel like it always comes from the “big bloggers” too. You know, those lifestyle bloggers who write about their life, blogging, fashion, and just about anything with that sense of humor lots of them have. They’re considered the big bloggers because lots of them have three thousand plus followers on social media and Bloglovin’ and 40+ comments on each post. This is just what I’ve witnessed – they are also typically the ones who don’t have faith at all, or they do, but they don’t show it well and want it to be on the side type of thing. They would call us religious, and that’s something I’m going to talk about in a bit.
Before I continue, I need to say some things. First of all, there are lots of Christian bloggers who are still very successful and would be considered a big blogger. Second, not all of the big bloggers do this. With or without faith, some don’t care. I just wanted to make sure you knew that.
Now, on to the religious talk. They call us religious, and a lot of Christian bloggers are. I want to show you that there is actually a difference between being religious and having faith. When someone is religious, typically that means they have a core set of beliefs they must follow and things they must do. Having faith is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ where you aspire to do more good, and you aspire to know Him better. I don’t agree with all this religious stuff. You know, you have to go to church, and you absolutely cannot do this and so on and so on. I’m sure everyone can give examples of this.
However, I’m not saying you can just do whatever the heck you want and still have a relationship with Christ. I guess you could, but that isn’t God’s best, and it’s not what Jesus would want. Anyway, having a relationship with Christ is about two things: learning to trust in Him and have faith and learning to be a better person according to what God says. The difference between God’s commands and the religious stuff is that the religious stuff is man made. What God says is exactly that, what He says! He won’t call us bad or bash us if we break a command, in fact, He’ll forgive us and completely forget about it! It’s not about never missing a church service and all those other rules people make. It’s not about being judgmental of everyone who isn’t a believer. It’s about a relationship with Him. It’s about learning to trust God and learning to be more like how God commands.
The difference between religion and a relationship with Jesus, there you go. On to the real message here.
I don’t like it when people claim that Christians are so religious, because not all of us are. We’re not these prissy people, I promise. At least, I’m not. Of course, I still obey God’s law, and I still aspire to learn and grow every day, but I’m not going to follow a whole bunch of rules that people made to be a “good Christian”. Jesus came to take that away. The only way to heaven is through Him, He said. He is the way and the truth and the light. That is what a relationship with Him should be about.
I find it kind of funny how everyone calls Christians so judgmental, but then aren’t you judging us by saying that? You’re judging us by saying we all think a certain way, are all super religious, and so on. News flash: not all of us are. I don’t want to portray religious stuff, I just want to portray the hope of Jesus and portray a girl learning more about God and what He says is good every day. I don’t want to be judged as someone super religious and judgmental just because you here I’m a Christian lifestyle blogger. Maybe that’s what upsets me the most these days: people don’t give people a chance. They claim we judge, but they’re doing the same thing, so it’s just this war of people pointing fingers back and forth. Well, it should stop.
Now, I am a Christian, so yes, I do have certain beliefs I live by, but if I break one I’m not a “bad Christian”. The media attacks Christians every time we make a mistake, and then claim we’re not acting like a Christian should. We’re all sinful, and we’re all going to screw up. That’s the thing people don’t realize about Christians: we don’t aspire to be perfect, we just aspire to grow a little more every day.
Some Christians are totally involved in all this religious crap, and I don’t really agree with it, and truthfully I don’t like it, because they are giving everyone an impression that we aren’t a good follower of Christ if we don’t do this. Or this. Or this. Some Christians are super judgmental, and it’s not right. Jesus says we have to love one another. This means to be nice to people, to not totally shun them if they don’t think exactly like you do. This doesn’t mean you need to be okay with what they’re saying and go along with it – some Christians are the complete opposite of religious, and that’s not good either. Will God forgive you? Yes. Will He still love you? Of course. But that doesn’t mean you can just do what you want, and then apologize at the end of the day. It means nothing if you never change.
My point in this point? Christian bloggers aren’t always so religious, and we’re not all judgmental. I wish we weren’t so categorized as just “that Christian blogger with all the Bible verses and the Jesus blurb in their about page”. We are still nice people. We do know how to talk about other things than God, believe it or not. We’re not going to judge and correct your lifestyle as soon as we read your blog.
This post could send off the wrong message, but I hope it doesn’t. This is just my opinion and what I’ve experienced and some notes I’ve taken about it. So what do you think? Do you agree with this?
