"Open-minded"..."Accepting"...???

This post will probably open a can of worms...it will offend many people...but then pretty much all posts involving God or His Word do.

That's ok.

Lately...there has been much talk by others I know about needing to be more "open-minded" and accepting "diversity".

Many things come to mind when I hear these words.

Many times, we as Christians are accused of being "narrow-minded", "unaccepting", or even "close-minded".

We are not "inclusive" or we do not appreciate and celebrate "diversity".

I have some thoughts on this.

Jesus did not call us to be "open-minded".

He called us to follow Him.

He called us to obey His Word.

He called us to LOVE our neighbor.

He called us to reach out to our neighbor.

We as Christians are to LOVE EVERYONE.

However, I do NOT have to be "open-minded" and "accepting" of their lifestyle choices when they go against the Word of God.

I have people in my life who serve false gods.
I have people in my life who serve no god.

These are VERY good people whom I love very much and care for deeply.

I respect them.

However, Christ does not expect me to be "open-minded" to their religion or lack of.

I am serving the one true God.

There is much confusion in this area!

We as Christ-followers are NOT CALLED to be open-minded!

We are not called to open our minds to other people's false religions, sinful lifestyles, etc.

We are called to follow Christ, His Word and LOVE our neighbor!

The Bible teaches against homosexuality, pre-marital sex, drunkenness, and much more!

Am I to be "open-minded" to that?

No.

Do I love my friends, family, and neighbors who do these things?

YES.

I love them, care for them, and set a good example for them to the best of my ability.

Moving on to diversity.

This falls in with the "open-minded" thing too.

Being diverse doesn't mean I need to accept sin.

I don't need to surround myself with sin to be diverse.

I believe when speaking of diversity and inclusion...

We need to clarify it to mean we are not shutting ourselves off from others who are different!

Cultures, skin color, disabilities, interests, etc.

I know I will probably get a FLOOD of negative comments on this post.

But it's something that has weighed heavily on my heart for a while now.

It's ok if you disagree.

We are all different.

Feel free to comment...in a positive light...even if you disagree.

Hateful comments however, will not be posted.