In reply: Demeaning and Denigrating One's Personal Relationship with God

In reply to Hate Mail | Right Wing News
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"So why should Christians who are called (but do often fail) to try to be like Christ, hide their faith from public view?"

They shouldn't, necessarily, but they can if they choose... Do you not agree?

Perhaps I spoke less clearly than I might've. (That, or you're choosing not to understand my point, in order to make your own.)

Yes, it is ok to express your faith in public if you choose. Requiring it of those who don't choose to, however--as in the case of Elizabeth Edwards, who did not express her faith as Donald Douglas thought she should have--is another matter.

No, you certainly don't have to hide your faith, if you choose not to, and I'm sorry I left you with the impression that that's what I was saying. Plenty of folks wish to minister to others and bring them to whatever Good News they believe in. But you don't have to express your faith friends and strangers alike, if you choose not to, either. Many believe that prayer and other expressions of one's faith should remain private, and all I'm saying is, just like those who want to broadcast their faith, those who wish to maintain a more personal relationship with God ought to have their wishes respected, and not demeaned and denigrated.

It's ok to show it, and it's just as ok to maintain a personal, private, and yes, hidden relationship between you and your God.

If folks come down on one side more than they do the other, it's only because those who maintain a more personal relationship stand less chance of irritating others, whereas those who choose to evangelize inappropriately, (and sometimes appropriately too, if the person to whom they're witnessing is particularly sensitive to folks suggesting that the beliefs they already have are not sufficient for salvation, or whatever) can piss folks off, as anyone who's received too many unwanted visits from Jehovah's Witnesses (probably the most grievous example, for most) can attest.

I hope that clears up any misconception I may've created by being in any way less than clear, the first time.