When I was in high school I became a christian joining a southern baptist church, read the bible through twice and the four gospels many times. The more I studied the gospels and tried to understand what Jesus meant for a christian to be, I began to question things.
How come the people around me only cared that they were saved, it was all that mattered to them and they would gladly proclaim it to any who would listen. Not with actions but with words. Why love your neighbor seemed to mean only their actual neighbors as long as they were Christians. Then there was the youth pastor cheating on his wife with one of the teen girls in the youth group, to avoid embarrassment it was kept silent despite it being statutory rape.
The last straw for me though was the racism both blatant and ingrained. I am not a big fan on quoting Paul as I have met too many people who can quote him but would be hard pressed to quote Jesus correctly. This passage however really speaks to a specific issue of ingrained racism seen throughout the south, the confederate flag.
Romans 14:13-23 13 Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. 14 I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. 15 For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. 16 So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19 So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
20 Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. 21 It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.[a] 22 The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. 23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.[b]
I could not reconcile that the people around me who are supposed to be part of the body of Christ, the Church, the kingdom of God; thought that meant only white people like them. That these peopledid not care that they cause others to stumble, instead was just about them. So I left and cast aside my beliefs because I had no voice to stand up and tell them they were wrong and no desire to be like them That is why I have tried to speak out lately, to find my voice against what is wrong.