I am one of “those people”….

I don’t often hear this because I do not seek to condemn people, but today I heard the phrase “oh, you’re one of ‘those’ people.”

I grow weary of this division that people seem to create in and of their own bias. I grow weary of people who desire to judge me, presuming that I judge others.

I am a fundamental conservative. I believe in God the Father and that his Son came to earth to die for me, even though there was nothing in me worth His life. I do not think that people have a right to destroy a life for the sake of convenience and I know that I was created and did not evolve from a slug. None of those beliefs mean that I do not value people who don’t agree or don’t share my beliefs.

I do not care what your lifestyle is and I will treat you as a equal or better than I; simply because I believe that God created all men as equal. Judgment is not in my purview.

Please don’t presume that I sense any level of superiority because of my beliefs. Yes, there are many people who share my beliefs and use them as a blunt tool, but there are extremist and misguided individuals in all areas of life.

We, as a people, desire too often for reasons, to look down on another. There is something called The Doctrine of Relative Filth, it’s a principal that ‘I look better so long as there is someone worse out there’. It’s dangerous because we’re all looking for someone worse (in our judgment) to gossip about, to exclude, or to ensure that we’re at least a step above.

I hope that one day when people speak of me and my time is done, they will grant me that I was a good husband who loved his wife; that his daughters felt blessed to have me as their father and that I was willing to help anyone that I could. I aspire to be better at the end of the day, than I was at the beginning, to educate anyone who desires to learn and to learn from anyone willing to share.

Who doesn’t aspire to these ideals? I would image that most would. I don’t demand that you agree with me….I desire that you understand who I am. I do not feel that my beliefs weaken me, I do not feel that I am intellectually inferior to those to rely on science and I certainly don’t feel that I am not capable of independent thoughts. I do feel that it makes me a stronger better man and that I find encouragement from things that are more than me.

I feel that many do feel condemned because of people who are not like them, I think that those living a life of despair are anguished by those who are happy. I was there. I hated myself and everyone around me; and now I have purpose, strength that is not my own and after 8 years of this foundation I know it’s not a passing fad or just some “feeling” that is going to leave me. I hope that you also know this fulfillment.

~Matthew Rathbun 2/4/2008