Afterthoughts

I was looking through some pictures of our survey trip to Amsterdam this summer and I came across these photos. These are just a few examples of this grafetti art, created by a presumably local artist, that could be found randomly around the city. I don't know much about the artist, but I found myself both intrgued and disturbed by his "art."
The artsy postmodernist in me wanted to agree and approve of many of the statements. I want to be tolerant and open minded. I like the idea of every belief being okay and acceptable. There is no fear of making the wrong choice, because there is no such thing as a wrong choice.
But then there is this other part that knows that that can't be. I wish it were all that easy, but it isn't. There are rights and wrongs. Yes, there are grey areas, but there are somethings that are black and white. There are absolutes. I could never claim that I have all the answers or presume to know exactly what God is, but I do know a few things.
1. There is one God. I suppose there may be confusion with the holy trinity, but ultimately God is one. And there are no other Gods.
2. God is the creator of this universe and he sent his only son to die on the cross for the remission of our sins.
3. Just because you disapprove or disagree with a behavior, belief, or worldview does not give you permission to disapprove of the person holding that behavior, belief, or worldview. God did not call us to condemn the world, our call was to share his love and the good news of his gift of mercy and grace. God is a God of love.
4. God does not expect us to have all the answers and no one does. If he did he probably would have made things a lot clearer.
5. God never said that this life would be easy. There will be trials and challenges, but a relationship that is tested and tried comes out stronger.
6. God is real. He is not an idea or a nice thought. He may not look like or be exactly like what we think or even want him to be. But he is real and he is active in our lives whether we choose to recognize his interventions or not.
I may have gotten a bit off topic, but I'm okay with that. The point is that everywhere I go it seems that people are telling me that what I believe is just my reality and it's just one "possibility" in an infinite list of possiblities. And some days it makes me question who I am and what I believe. But when it comes right down to it I always comes back to those 6 things I know. I will always question and I will never know everything I wish I knew, but at least I can know a few important things.