Religious ghetto

Today was the first time that I never heard that expression. It was during church service that was taught by Matt VanCleave. The words have been ringing in my ears all afternoon long. I understand the definition as it related to the message today but I wondered if there was a definition that Google could provide.

Unfortunately one of the few articles that Google provided was from the Wall Street Journal dated November 28, 2005 titled, "We Are Not Creating a 'Religious Ghetto' . The jest of the article was that someone thought that the "caricature of the planned Town of Ave Maria as a religious ghetto, and a fanatical one at that", essentially meaning that community was all Catholic and wanted to remain Catholic. True or untrue that was the claim being made.

Today's sermon content was based on Christian religious ghettos. I walked away with the question to be asked is if you always surround yourself with Christians and do not socialize with people of other religions or even the non believing, are you really living the life of a Christian? Is your faith such you feel like being with others outside of your belief system might compromise who you are, or who you might become?

It is interesting to me to think about. My grandfather was a preacher and he studied not only Christianity, but other faiths and beliefs. His bookshelves were lined with Judaism, Catholicism, the religion of Islam ,etc. My grandfather studied so he would become stronger in his faith.

And now for me,I have friends of many faiths and beliefs. I cannot image living in a religious ghetto. Of course I cannot imagine my life is full of non sinners either.

Judge me as you may but my faith is solid and makes me who I am. If somehow along the way I am able to help someone find their faith, so be it. Otherwise for now, you will not see any mail coming from me with a zip code from a religious ghetto.