Hopefully I will be able to make this understandable. The idea I hope to convey is that the things we believe do not necessarily make us more spiritual. In fact, when we hold too tightly to our beliefs we can appear unkind, inflexible and unloving. For christians this is especially problematic in that we are to be salt and light in the world. If I flaunt my beliefs in front of those who do not have the same understanding as I do then I lose an opportunity to share the love of God. I believe this is one of the main criticisms that non-believers have of believers today. Instead of being christian bullies we should be more skillful when talking about issues. Jesus' skillful dispatch of the jewish leaders who tried to trap him concerning the paying of taxes to Caesar is noteworthy.(Matt 22:17-22) Jesus did not need to share his belief of whether or not it was right to pay taxes and yet his answer was marveled at by those present.
In addition, I think that we as christians are too easily shocked and offended by things that go on in our world. Again, Jesus' handling of the woman caught in adultery in John 8 is amazing. The penalty for this sin was clear, death. Jesus did not seem shocked or offended by this situation and I am pretty certain he believed adultery was wrong. And yet with great love and mercy he dispatched her accusers. Since when did love and mercy get replaced with defending our rights as christians. We should act as though we lived in a country where we had no rights. Then maybe our words and actions would be less abrasive toward those that Christ would have us love.
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