"Thus you will recognize them by their fruits..."

To be open-minded is defined as being receptive to arguments or ideas.


So what does it mean to act out open-mindedness? Often we are fed the lie that to be open-minded means to have no backbone... To have no stance when placed within conflict, to have no opinion. If one is open-minded, then one must be OK with all views, must be supportive of all mindsets, theologies, worldviews. Right?

I say wrong. One must be receptive, must listen, but not roll over.

As a Christian, often I find myself within the box labeled "Closed-minded Christians." It sits on the shelf next other boxes... you know: "Right Wing Conservatives," "Homophobes," "Profiling Cops," the list goes on and on. "Closed-minded Christians" is the box I want to unpack today, although the other boxes could be written about for days.

As so called Closed-minded Christians, what is it that we do wrong in societies eyes? Excuse my over generalizations, but from my experience, this is what I have noticed.

We do not agree with same-sex marriage. We are pro-life. We believe that drinking should be kept to a responsible amount. We believe mind altering drugs, and the use of them to an extent where it changes your mindset as well as your day to day life is unacceptable. We believe that only through Jesus Christ, can one reach the Father in Heaven.

Bold statements, yes. But would you expect anything less? Being a Christian is based on the Holy Bible. A manual, so to speak, of the ways of this world, and the ways of those who aren't of this world... those who strive to be holy: set apart from. What hypocrites would we be if we did not stand up for the writings of our life-manual? Being a Christian is about more than just believing that God exists and Jesus came. Being a Christian is standing out as the black sheep in a world full of white ones. It is rising for what is right and just, rather than being blown which ever way the wind takes you.

If that makes us closed-minded, then so be it. But the next time someone decides to put me in that box, I hope they realize that as the mirror shows their reflection, how closed-minded are they when asking me to silence my views?