C Minus Christian?

Ok, my first real blog. Chalk full of bad grammar and punctuation.

Johnny Cash once said that he considered himself to be a “C minus Christian”. This got me thinking about what kind of Christian I am, and what kind I would like to be. What kind of grade would I give myself when it all came down to it?

I guess when it really comes down to it, none of us is really the person he/she makes themselves out to be. I know I’m not perfect, but my faith doesn’t rely on my ability to be so. The same free will that was given to Adam was given to me, and, just like Adam, I have decided numerous times that the plan of action that I wanted to take was better than the plan of action God wants me to take. I believe this is where the whole “Not judging others” thing that people love so much to quote really comes into play. I mean, the entire concept of Sin is that we wanted things our way, and consequences be damned. Everyone at one point or another has made the same decision. So what right would we have to judge other people’s sins? I’ll tell you. None. Even though we might have the knowledge that what someone else is doing is wrong, we were just as wrong at one point or another.

Far too often I see, and hear of, these people out on the streets with there Bibles in hand telling people that God hates them for one reason or another. No sign of hope, no option of repentance, just that God hates them and they’re going straight to Hell. All doom and gloom. And, unfortunately, this is the way that most of us Christians are portrayed in the media. Well, I’m here to tell ya folks, God doesn’t hate you, otherwise there wouldn’t be any hope for any of us, and every single person in the history of the world was flawed. Not one single televangelist, Pastor, Priest, Saint or even Billy Graham himself has lived a perfect life. NO ONE!

On top of these doom and glooms, we have the crazy Stephen King Christians that are all Holier than Thou and think that if you don’t follow the same list of rules that they do, you can’t be a Christian. This too, is a ridiculous concept. Not everything is black and white. Granted, a lot of things are, but there’s still plenty of grey area. These people are so focused on the “rules” that they’ve all but lost sight of their relationship with God, which is the single most important aspect of Christianity. Not only do they focus so hard on the “rules”, but they make every attempt to tell you how evil you are for not following their “rules.” You hardly ever hear these people admitting to their personal flaws and often will hear them exploiting other peoples for their own. It Reminds me a lot of the Pharisees praying out loud to and thanking God for not being lowly as the poor around them praying, in order to make themselves look holy.


I have a pretty impressive list of flaws myself. No, I never did drugs and at no point have I ever been unfaithful to my wife, but I do have a mouth like a sailor at times, I did sleep with my wife before we were married, I have drank way too much several times, and the list goes on. For the sake of time and to spare my friends who may have children reading over their shoulders, I’ll stop there. I’m telling these things not so I can be put on a pedestal, but so that I can say I was honest about myself and better make my point. Which is this: I know I’m not a perfect person, but those imperfections are covered through Christ’s blood. Am I ashamed of some of the things I’ve done? Yes, because I have the Holy Spirit to convict me and hold me accountable. But I know I can take those things before God and make my peace with Him, and thus, have no right to try to judge someone else’s actions.
So at the end of the day, I would rather be a C minus Christian that was honest about myself and the mistakes I’ve made, than an A plus liar. Because, chances are, if you gave yourself that grade, you’re probably not being honest with yourself, or anybody else.

Yours,
Me.