The Bible Belt

³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.-John 13:35


I was reading comments under a FaceBook post this morning.  The original post was about politics, but it didn't take long for the comments to turn religious.  One commenter said that he was new to the "Bible belt" and is amazed at the bigotry and hate that come from an area known for its Christian beliefs.


Being know as the "Bible Belt" leaves a really big responsibility on the Christians that live in that area.  People watch... and judge.  Because it is the Bible belt, more than just our churches are being judged... it's our politics, our social programs, our schools, our crime level... everything.  And Christianity is judged on the basis of how our community runs under a predominately Christian faith.


Unfortunately, as a whole, Christians are failing to make our faith attractive.  The term "Bible Belt" has become almost synonymous with "bigotry," and "intolerance" when it ought to be synonymous with "love," "forgiveness," "grace," and "mercy."


Most of the Christians I hang with are not part of this problem.  It's just that those who are the problem are the loudest.  So now the problem becomes:  what can we do about it?  How can we make the label "Bible Belt" bring positive images instead of negative ones? How can we make the rest of the country see that a society living under Christian ideals is a good thing?


It is time for the mainstream Christian to speak up.  It is time to let the world know Jesus' true message of "love one another."  It is time to change people's perspective of who Christians of the Bible Belt are. We need to live our faith a little more loudly by loving without apology.  We should not have to defend loving others unconditionally by arguing theology... our theology IS unconditional love!


Maybe one day we will have people flocking to live in the Bible Belt, not because we have great weather or a lower cost of living... but because "those Christians just know how to live!"


Father,
Help us to be people who draw others to you rather than repel them.  I pray for all your children who find ways to use your word to defend their own hate.  Amen.


Joys:  Finding something I lost and getting the house clean in the process :); hike day!; Awesome response for Project Matthew this year