For those who celebrate, Happy Easter.
For everyone else, Happy Sunday.
I grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina. If I’m being honest, I actually grew up 20 minutes north of the city. But it’s close enough to Charlotte, so I say Charlotte.
A few things to know about Charlotte:
On political maps, the Charlotte metropolitan area and the surrounding 10-mile radius are blue.
When someone refers to Cookout, they are talking about a fast-food restaurant, not cooking in someone’s backyard.
Saying hello and making eye contact with strangers is the norm.
Craft beer is a way of life.
Downtown Charlotte is referred to as “Uptown.”
Most importantly, despite the heavy presence of liberals in the city, the southern roots run deep – God and religion linger at every corner.
The other day at the ENT’s office, there was a Bible in the waiting room. Why someone would just casually want to pick it up and read it before a hearing test is beyond me.
At age 8 if you were to have asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I’d have said a pastor. For Christmas that year Santa brought me a plastic piano/mixer that I would use to host sermons in our unfinished basement. I have no idea why I wanted to be a pastor, other than I felt compelled to share the gospel with others.
Growing up, my family went to a non-denominational Christian church (a church without ties to other sects of Christianity). It was nice because there was a good mix of traditional church things with new, pop culture references / activities (a coffee shop, Elf skits, and snow cones in the summer).
I never really questioned why we went. It was just something we did.
Depending on the year, we were somewhere between the weekly Sunday crew and the two-visits-a-year Holiday squad. Inconsistent you could say. Despite this, the values the church preached held strong – thanks to my parents and society.
As an adult who’s now responsible for making my own choices and deciding what I believe in, I’ve thought a lot about how the church and its beliefs have been chiseled into my brain. Much like the bass guitar in a song – steady and the driver of the rhythm – ideas from the church are still very much a part of me.
A few of the ways God and religion have snuck into my life:
1// I’m not sure what religion has to do with selling cookies, camping, and helping others, but from the age of 5 to 17, once a week I repeated:
On my honor, I will try:
To serve God and my country,
To help people at all times,
And to live by the Girl Scout Law.
2// While at a public elementary school from kindergarten through third grade, we said the Pledge of Allegiance every day.
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
I found out that it was actually changed in 1954 by President Eisenhower. The original was: "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
3// Pro-life vs pro-choice arguments for abortion.
4// In 1997, the year I blessed this Earth with my presence (lol jk), gay marriage was still illegal. In 2015 it was finally legalized in the US, but even still there are plenty of places in the world where it’s illegal. Majority of the reasons people oppose gay marriage is because they interpret the word of God to say that it’s wrong and unjust to have any other form of marriage than that between a man and woman.
“He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord.” (Proverbs 18:22)
5// Christmas and Easter don’t really need an explanation. Although, both have been commercialized so much that the “true meaning” of the holidays are probably lost on most.
6// Saying you’ll pray for someone when something bad happens. I’ve started deferring to some variation of “I’m keeping you in my thoughts” or “I’m thinking of you and your loved ones.”
7// Going to church makes you a standup human who has morals. My brother became a born-again Christian when he met his wife. It increased his brownie points with my parents 100x. I don’t know how to explain it other than now that he believes and actively goes to church, he has upstanding values and whatever he does is good in my parents’ eyes. Why can’t all humans no matter what they believe in default to being good humans?
I know there are tons more examples, but for the sake of not boring you all to death, I’ll stop.
Just because you were raised with certain ideas and viewpoints pushed down your throat doesn’t mean you have to carry them with you indefinitely. You get to choose. Choose what you want. What you believe.
– JTM