I feel like I could get into trouble for this post...

All the more reason to say it right?! (haha).

For a lot of my life I have really struggled with how we, as Christians, know we are right. By "right," I mean that we know that how we do things and are living is the right way. I was talking to a friend of mine tonight who grew up in a Methodist church. I was picking her brain on how she "does things" at her church, and we were discussing our hatred for denominations. The only real difference between how she grew up and how I grew up was music in church (although we didn't get into the nitty gritty details). And what about people who are Islamic? I also have a Catholic friend. What about the way she does things? I have been to a church that only celebrates communion once and a while. What about that? How am I supposed to know that the church that I grew up in has "got it right?" Or any church I might visit?

"But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind." James 1:6
I do not doubt Jesus. I do not doubt God. I do not doubt the Holy Spirit.
What I doubt is humanity. I doubt people's intentions.
For instance, I could put this sentence out there:

This shoe is green.

To some, that sentence affects them in no way at all.
But the first thing I thought of was that "green" reminds me of kids throw up. Gross.
Some might say, oh, cool, I like shoes and green ones even more!
Some might think of green eggs and ham.
And some might think that they hate green because their ex boyfriend's ex girlfriend loved green.

Whatever you might think, it doesn't take away from the fact that the shoe is green. The validity of the sentence is not changed. Regardless, the shoe is green. You see? Humanity is biased; therefore, we all interpret things differently. So, how can I criticize you based on your interpretation? I wrote a post yesterday or some time about contextualization. I think this comes in extremely handy when discussing the "rightness" of things.

This shoe is green.
It's green because my three year old cousin dropped a bucket of paint on it.

Would you agree that that changes things just a little? If anything, it gives more detail as to why the shoe is what it is. Its character. The reason behind it.

I realize there's no clear answer. The bible isn't always clear cut for us. But I just can't help but to think about how radical Jesus seemed to others in his time and many people did not consider him "right." Especially those who were "religious."

Sigh... just ranting again.