Labels

We live in world full of labels...with one to five words, people will presume to tell you everything there is to know about any subject or person.

Most labels are harmful and divisive and do not come from a place of love...especially when they are a knee jerk responses or are used to explain something as complex as a person or a denomination...I mean, after all, you know the:
Church of Christ will tell you...
Evangelicals feel that...
Catholics are...
United Methodists simply will not...
Baptists believe that...

Another way of thinking of it, how many people are there in your world that you will absolutely believe their opinion without question? Without thought? What they tell you, you take it as gospel just because they say so? Believe it as gospel. And yet, we listen to sound bites from news programs, from talk show hosts, from radio programs and claim it as truth. Without question, without research...really? Do you know these people? Do you know their motivations? Do you completely understand their belief system? Does come anywhere close to aligning with yours?

Even better, are your thoughts and opinions so absolute that you will share with someone and expect them to step right in line with you? Is there no room for error in your thinking? Are there no past experiences that color what you believe? I know my thoughts are not. My Youth will tell you that I often preface a teaching with..."This is what I believe. I expect you to take the time, at some point in your life, to decide what YOU believe."

Shouldn't we try to open our hearts and minds and be willing just to listen? Will you take what you're told and hold it to the prism of what you KNOW to be truth? And even if you feel it's flawed, will you discuss it with others? Study it for it's validity or what it can teach you?

God did not create us using cookie cutters, else wise we would all be just alike and would all agree on every topic. Even the people He created from the dirt, with His own breath were not told exactly how to think or behave. They were complex beings, capable of a range of emotions. And He gave them only one command...don't eat of this tree. And when they did, even then He didn't stop loving them. He certainly changed their environment but He still continued to love. He allowed them and every other person who has come after to learn, grow, stumble, fall, make mistakes, feel remorse, turn back, plead for forgiveness, receive His grace, learn some more.

How can we be so shallow as to think that anything God has had a hand in creating can be described in just a few words?