My Unpopular Opinion

On January 1st of this year, I posted this as my Facebook status - "A new year - 2012. Yes, I intend to lose weight, to keep my home clean, to play with and teach my boys more. But my true resolutions are to rid myself of unkind words and to become completely and truly unapologetic about my faith. No more hiding my beliefs within watered down truths. I may lose friends this year, but I will grow closer to my Saviour."

I'll be brutally honest. Most of these have been more than a little difficult to keep up with. I'm pretty sure I've gained weight. I currently have a nice sized pile of dishes on my kitchen counter. And I'm pretty sure every single inch of floorspace is in desperate need of some form of cleaning (vacuum, mop, etc). Unkind words tumble from my lips more often than I'd like to admit. But in effort to tackle what I believe was the biggest of my resolutions, I have decided to start a blog series.

Now, I never blatantly lied about my beliefs. I have never hidden the fact that I am a Christian. However, I have (almost always) had a really bad habit of speaking half of the truth, and keeping the more religious half under wraps. For example: while at a New Year's party, I mentioned to a friend that I do not ever want to get drunk again. When he incredulously asked, "Why?" my answer was that as a parent, I have to think about how my actions will effect my children. What would happen if I get wasted and then receive a call from the babysitter that one of my boys has had a major accident and is being taken to the hospital? What would happen if I show up in the ER drunk out of my mind? He kind of rolled his eyes, but accepted it. Now. Was what I said a lie? Not at all! Being a parent has changed me in many ways. But the whole truth is that drunkeness is a sin. And I don't want to knowingly do something that God has commanded I not do.

So here is where I am. I need to walk away from the fear of true honesty with my friends - even if it means that I may lose some of them. And I wouldn't really be surprised if I did lose some of them. In a world of politcal correctness, the Christian opinion tends to garner hatred. But I'm not even talking about just the non-Christians. Because a lot of my opinions differ from that of many Christian people too. I am not liberal, by any means. But I think that within the scope of those following the Man, I would probably be more on the liberal side of the Cross.

I'm sure you're wondering what my little series is going to cover. I know a few, but I don't have every single blog planned out. Some of the topics I will be hitting are: homosexuality, cohabitation, abortion, gay marriage, children born out of wedlock, and something that hits a little closer to home - the relationships between the saved and the unsaved. I know that more ideas will pop up. And if anyone has a suggestion for a topic, I'm making a promise now ... Whatever the topic is, if you request my opinion on it, I will write a blog response. I can't hide my feelings about things anymore. Because I'm not ashamed of Jesus. But the way I've been acting makes it seem like I am. And I just can't do that any more.