John Shore stirs it up

Huffingtonpost.com/religion is a crazy place! There are a million blog posts about a million subjects and I was to choose one to read and think about. Well, I read about eight articles/blog posts and picked one I found, well, amusing. Win Friends and Influence People by Condemning Others and Speaking for God. His title alone makes it clear that the author, John Shore, has attitude, but is, unfortunately, how some extreme Christians feel (condemn others and speak for God). But how can you condemn kind, wise, religious people if you believe in God? Shore has written a handful of books, articles and blog posts that I looked over and seems to be somewhat of a comedian. He is a Christian himself -- a liberal, tolerant, world-loving Christian (and I think that's kind of like me!). I decided that this would be the article to write about today because John Shore and I have something in common: everyone gets to choose what they believe and not a single soul should be made to feel bad about it.

The blog post, you should read it, is extremely sarcastic. The entire five paragraph post is pure sarcasm. The whole thing! I felt like he might have been prompted to write it by Pastor Jones' idea to burn copies of the Quran. He sarcastically claims that the best thing to do for a "non-Christian" friend, is tell them they're wrong and will burn eternally if they don't get to know "the real God". Of course that's not Shore's true meaning. He says that the best way to make someone really happy is to point out all their faults. Yeah right! (Although I do think constructive criticism is a good thing -- it's all about the right time and the right place!)

I'm sure his true meaning, behind the sarcasm, is just exactly the opposite of the words he uses. If you truly love someone, you will share what you believe, sure! But you won't be belittling or mean or abrasive or prideful. God means a lot of things to a lot of people. I personally believe in Jesus Christ and that He was the literal Son of God, our Heavenly Father. But if my best friend is a Muslim and doesn't believe that same thing, then I would love nothing more than to sit down with her and talk about what she does believe and together realize how many things we have in common.

I like John Shore, I think. Maybe I'll go check out one of his books...