To Error is Human

I've been thinking a lot the past few days. I know, that can be dangerous, but sometimes I just can't help myself. Like a lot of people's, my Facebook feed looks like a billion bags of Skittles exploded all over the internet. I don't mean that derogatory at all, in fact it's quite happy and cheerful. The colors that is. All of the posts, not so much. It seems everyone has an opinion and wants to share it. 

I'm a naturally curious person. And I've always liked to watch people and ponder human nature. I find the diversity of humanity fascinating. So I've been reading a lot. Posts and opinions and blogs. Some of them have made me chuckle. Some of them have made me think, and rethink. And some of them have made me angry.

I consider myself a "woman of faith", I call myself a Christian. I may not wave the Christian flag in front of everyone, but my faith is very important to me. Important and deeply personal. Most of what I learned about faith came from my Dad. And of course, the church I was raised in. But first and foremost, it was my Dad who taught me about God and Jesus and unconditional love.

One of the first things my Dad taught me was the Golden Rule. You know the one, "Do unto other as you would have them do unto you." Way before he ever brought up the 10 Commandments or any other biblical teachings. You see, he believed that a three year old could understand the simplicity of the Golden Rule, but would have no clue about adultery or coveting or most of the other stuff. But treating others the way you wish they would treat you? With kindness and respect and dignity, even when you don't agree? Even a preschooler could understand that. And he expected us to not only understand it, but live it.

My dad, who went to seminary, who owned more Bibles and books about the Bible than all other kinds of books in our house combined. (Including children's books. And we had a lot of children's books. Reading was a highly loved skill in our household.) This man who loved The Lord, who loved to delve into the scriptures, he knew that the Bible teaches many, many different things. And that these many teachings can, and are, interpreted differently by different people. This is why we have many different denominations, all based on the same ancient book.

God created us with free will. And one of the ways we use that free will is to interpret the teachings in the Bible. Do we make mistakes? We most assuredly do. I'm sure I do, I'm pretty sure you do to. But you know what? God forgives us when we make those mistakes. He sees our hearts, knows that we are trying to do the right thing. Even if its not what he intended. And He loves us anyway. In spite of our short comings or because of them, I'm not really sure. But I know He loves me.

For my Dad, the most important lesson in the entire Bible was to love one another. And to view all other scriptures through this lens of love. I can't tell you how often I heard from my Dad: "All we have to do is love one another. That's it. Just love each other, the rest is up to God." It was his way of telling us that it is not our place to judge. That our place is to be kind, respectful, love each other. All the others. No exceptions. Period.  I agree with my Dad.

So I'm going to love my fellow humans. All fellow humans, whether they are straight, LGBTQ, disabled, Muslim, atheist, or are different in any other manner. I will love them. And I will break bread with them. And I will celebrate with them. Right where they are. 

Am I right? Is my interpretation of the Bible the correct one? I can't say. But what I can say is that in the end, when I'm standing before my Creator I can tell Him that I did what I really thought was the right thing, what I thought His Book was teaching me. If I'm wrong, I believe He will forgive me and welcome me through the pearly gates. And I will know that even though I was wrong, at least my error didn't harm anyone else. Because if I'm going to error, I want to error on the side of not causing anyone else harm. 

"All we have to do is love one another. That's it. Just love each other, the rest is up to God."