Similar

Last night the kids and I attended our RCIA class for the last time. In short, we simply do not believe enough like Catholics to join their denomination. While we realized there were going to be things we didn't agree with or had to consider beyond our present beliefs, we did not expect the hostility toward Protestants that we experienced there. While it would  be easy for us to point our fingers and say, "Catholics are hateful, rude, judgmental, and elitist," the truth is my friend who is Catholic experienced the exact same attitude and hostility in a Protestant church. I know he did because I witnessed it. Unsurprisingly, he left that church, just like we left the RCIA class. Seems Catholics and Protestants are so different in some ways.

Actually, I found a lot of ways that we are similar.

We all believe it is important to go to church and learn about God.
We all believe in prayer.
We all believe in reading the Bible to learn.
Most of us (some Protestants don't) believe in the Holy Spirit as counselor, one who leads us, one who convicts us, one who works in us to transform us into the image of Christ in how we live.
Most of us believe calling ourselves a Christian isn't about taking a name but rather about living like Christ to the best of our ability.
Most of us who take our faith seriously believe in helping others, even others who aren't just like us.
The Catholics and most Protestants I know believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as a trinity, meaning three parts of the Godhead, not one.
They all believe in Christ as the Messiah and without faith in Him, there is no salvation.
The ones who truly commit to Christ as Lord and Savior try to show it in their lives, and I think we all agree if you aren't trying to live Him, then it's most likely you don't have Him.
We all believe in baptism, being buried to our sins and raised to life in Christ.

Yep, we are pretty similar.

Let me tell you how else we are similar. We are all people who:
...love our families....hurt sometimes and need healing.
...get it wrong and need grace.
...want to be loved.
...appreciate kindness.
...need a kind word at times.
...need a shoulder at times.
...need the presence of someone who won't slam us for what we believe or what we've done.
...need another chance.
...care about others.

When I started that class, I asked God why I was there, and clear as a bell, I heard, "You are going to learn to love these people." Truthfully, I didn't know how bigoted I was until then. I didn't realize that I saw a denominational name, not people. Over the last two months, I have quit seeing Catholics. I see a woman whose drive to work has gotten increasingly longer and I feel great compassion for her because the traffic will be horrible. I see a woman who is planning a wedding and has a beautiful romance story. I see a woman who has the coolest life story and three boys she loves even when they are "boys". I see a woman with a beautiful heart, who has healed and gives God great glory for getting her through a hard, hard time. I see people who are really pretty similar to me, and I do love them.

In the Korean war, many men reported crawling into the tunnels and in the darkness, coming upon an enemy soldier eating a meal, smoking a cigarette, taking a break from the war, and the two would stare at each other and either go turn around or squeeze past each other. Instead of killing an enemy, they let a man go by. When asked why, they said, "He was just like me."

Denominational wars demanded that we see enemies in anyone not like us, but that isn't the way of Christ. The way of Christ is to see people "like me." And the only way to do that is to stop finding ways we are difference and start focusing on how we are similar.