{"id":100,"date":"2014-10-07T01:25:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-07T00:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thehonestrational.com\/wp\/2014\/10\/07\/i-didnt-come-to-jesus-to-become-an-american\/"},"modified":"2020-07-25T16:34:51","modified_gmt":"2020-07-25T15:34:51","slug":"i-didnt-come-to-jesus-to-become-an-american","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thehonestrational.com\/wp\/2014\/10\/07\/i-didnt-come-to-jesus-to-become-an-american\/","title":{"rendered":"I didn&#8217;t come to Jesus to become an American"},"content":{"rendered":"<div dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">When I first learned of you<br \/>I feared I would lose myself<br \/>My culture<br \/>My desires<br \/>My world would crumble<br \/>If were to become Christian<br \/>A little christ<br \/>I would become a Westerner<br \/>Have a checklist<br \/>To work till I die,<br \/>Think whiter<br \/>The better<br \/>Call Europe cultured<br \/>While India is just &#8220;exotic.&#8221;<br \/>I would become a bigot<br \/>Losing the streams<br \/>That quenched my thirst<br \/>From the beginning.<br \/>I pushed your arms away,<br \/>Thinking you are<br \/>But a hollywood movie: Unbelievable.<br \/>Rising from the dead? No way. Unbelievable.<br \/>Until my world crumbled<br \/>Piece by piece:<br \/>Pierce by pierce, betrayal<br \/>Tore through my heart<br \/>Leaving me gasping for air<br \/>As they chose their Barabas-<br \/>A thief who stole my work<br \/>And shamelessly lied.<br \/>Blow by blow I delivered<br \/>Evidence to show the truth<br \/>For did it not matter? To be truthful?<br \/>Step by step I climbed their ladders<br \/>Seeking justice amongst the people<br \/>Afraid to stand out and stand up for the truth.<br \/>Tear by tear I lost my faith<br \/>In humanity, in society, in science.<br \/>As I left behind everything I held as my future<br \/>I walked, I shook and trembled<br \/>And crumbled, as I heard my friend say,<br \/>&#8220;Unbelievable. Your story is like a movie!!&#8221;<br \/>Drop by drop, your voice drifts into my head,<br \/>&#8220;NOW YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL.&#8221;<br \/>Silence. Who was that?<br \/>Jesus? My imaginary friend? Had I gone mad?<br \/>Your words echoed in the caves of my heart<br \/>I had no doubt- this was the real deal.<br \/>&#8220;What about my parents? What would they say?&#8221;<br \/>&#8220;I MADE THEM.&#8221;<br \/>Fear swiftly left, as calm settled<br \/>My hesitations from before lifted, with unparalleled clarity.<br \/>Peace by peace, you enter my soul<br \/>And I decide to follow you, Jesus.<br \/>Not because I like going to church,<br \/>But because I now know who the Truth is.<br \/>Not because I like to help others,<br \/>But because I now know who Love is.<br \/>Not because of humanity<br \/>But despite humanity<br \/>Not because of fear<br \/>But despite fear<br \/>I come running to your arms.<\/div>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n<p id=\"pvc_stats_100\" class=\"pvc_stats all  \" data-element-id=\"100\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon small\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"far\" data-icon=\"chart-bar\" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 512 512\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-chart-bar fa-w-16 fa-2x\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M396.8 352h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V108.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v230.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm-192 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V140.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v198.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm96 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V204.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v134.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zM496 400H48V80c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16H16C7.16 64 0 71.16 0 80v336c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h464c8.84 0 16-7.16 16-16v-16c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16zm-387.2-48h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8v-70.4c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v70.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8z\" class=\"\"><\/path><\/svg><\/i> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Loading\" src=\"https:\/\/thehonestrational.com\/wp\/wp-content\/plugins\/page-views-count\/ajax-loader-2x.gif\" border=0 \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When I first learned of youI feared I would lose myselfMy cultureMy desiresMy world would crumbleIf were to become ChristianA little christI would become a WesternerHave a checklistTo work till I die,Think whiterThe betterCall Europe culturedWhile India is just &#8220;exotic.&#8221;I would become a bigotLosing the streamsThat quenched my thirstFrom the beginning.I pushed your arms away,Thinking &#8230;.&nbsp;&nbsp;<a class=\" default\" href=\"https:\/\/thehonestrational.com\/wp\/2014\/10\/07\/i-didnt-come-to-jesus-to-become-an-american\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[3],"class_list":["post-100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-songs","tag-uncategorized"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":true,"total_views":920,"today_views":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehonestrational.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehonestrational.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehonestrational.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehonestrational.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehonestrational.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thehonestrational.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":750,"href":"https:\/\/thehonestrational.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100\/revisions\/750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehonestrational.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehonestrational.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehonestrational.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}