Morality is not determined by the church you attend nor the faith you embrace. It is determined by the quality of your character and the positive impact you have on those you meet along your journey
Friday, March 16, 2012
Why is it that so many So-called Christians seem to miss this simple message?
Remember what Gandhi said, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
So many worship the signpost but never follow the path: the sign points the way to kingdom come, don't get caught up by the hypnotic beauty of the sign.
This has been spreading around Facebook, and I had a big debate with some Christians who found it offensive. They seemed focused on the word "fucking," and said Jesus would never use such language. But I'm not so sure. Jesus had a temper. He got angry enough to physically beat the moneychangers from the temple. It's kind of funny how today's Christians seem to forget that the only time Christ really lost it was when he saw people using religion to make money. I don't know if there was an Aramaic equivalent of the word "fuck," but if there was I'm thinking Jesus may have used it out of frustration.
And he's probably equally frustrated today. The Bible commands followers of Christ to "love one another." There is no fine print. There is no loophole that allows them to exempt gays or minorities or non-Christians from the love we're supposed to show our fellow man. The Christians I was debating seemed to think that if you loved someone it mean accepting their sin, or a path they thought was somehow flawed. But it does not. Christians are supposed to love others despite their way of life, just as Jesus loved the prostitute and was gentle to her when others would stone her. To them he said, "He who is without sin cast the first stone." To her he simply said, "Go and sin no more." But that was his command to give, not theirs. Jesus was very explicit in his directions. Christians are to love and follow the rules for Christians as a guide for their personal lives. If non-Christians live a different way, they love them in spite of that.
I don't know why it is that a group of people prone to simplify everything else are so eager to complicate God's word.
If Jesus were alive today, I could certainly see him asking them if they thought he was fucking stuttering.
Fortunately for Republicans, Santorum is a Catholic and not a real true Christian. Same goes for Newt -- not a RTC. Romney is a member of a cult, not a Christian either. As for Ron Paul, if he has any religion other than Randianism, it doesn't show. So Republican's don't have to worry about things like the one Ghandi said. Besides he was some sort of Hindoo or Mooslim anyway.
(sarcasm on) What are real true Christians, if you exclude Catholics ? Orthodox, maybe ? Chaldeans ? Copts ? These are the oldest Christian churchs - the ones that were there from the beginning.
Surely you can't mean Protestants, there are hundreds of different Protestant sects out there, every year or so another one is born, and none of them agree with one another ; not very organized, and at most going back 500 years... newcomers !
Folks, if tradition is that important for you, that anything not in the Bible must be scrapped, be coherent with yourself and adhere to one of the Old Christian Churches.
And learn Arameic and Hebrew, in order to read the very words of the Bible.
When you watch the Maher video from Alabama you realize how lost these people are. "I hate Obama..he's a half-breeed," "Obama is a Muslim." "I love my guns and Obama wants them." "We're real Christian down here, and the South will rise agin!!" The only impressive thing I saw was that BEAR was spelled correctly on the guy's shirt. I'm not sure what religion is popular down South (Baptists or evangelicals?) but whoever is brainwashing them is doing a great job.
For me, "love thy enemy" pretty much sets the bar for Christian behavior. But could they really love Osama? Many of them can't even love OBAMA.
A lot of FAIL going on in the world of Christendom. I just hope that if their beliefs turn out to be true, I at least get to see the looks on their faces when they're judged appropriately for their utter failure to follow Christ's teachings.
Jesus kept it simple. Just love and take care of one another.
Hard to believe Gandhi never met a Christian he liked. There are and always have been many good Christians. It's just that the bad ones get most of the attention because they act out. It was true in the past and it's the same today with the current GOP presidential contenders, meddlesome legislative prudes, and the Catholic Bishops trying to throw their weight around.
While Gandhi was growing to manhood, Father Damien was lovingly caring for lepers on Molokai, eventually contracting and dying of the disease, for which there was then no cure. He came to the island a handsome, healthy young man, and dedicated his life to suffering people who had been ostracized by society. He's just one example.
Gandhi was an imperfect man like everyone else. He would have done well to remember Jesus's advice about casting stones.
To Elmo - the word Christian refers to anyone who believes that Christ is the son of God and that he was born through the immaculate conception to Mary and Joseph. Anyone who believes he was sent here as the only son of God, to give his life for our sins.
Just because Catholics have a Pope, or believe a different version of the bible than you do, does nto mean they are not Christians, nor that you can simply remove them from your view as Christians. Any faith based on the Bible as the word of the Lord, is a Christian based faith - no one cult (ahem, organized religion) gets to own "Christianity." Nice try though.
By the way - I grew up going to a mix of Catholic and public schools. I do not now consider myself religious, nor Christian. I am Spiritual, and try to live my life according to a set of rules I believe in, which tends to be a far more "Christian" way of life than that I've seen of most actual Christians I've met. I try very hard not to hate, and instead to forgive the transgressions of those who act against me. I try to love everyone, to show compassion, and to do the right thing. Not because of some precept of religion, but because it's the right thing to do.
We have all been blessed & hurt in different ways, the miracle of God is that He knows all sees all accepts all. We who are Christians do the very best we can, with our God given abilities & circumstances. It is not always perfect.
Everyone is different, the very essence of this picture assumes that all have equal abilities to show God's love, through public display. That is not true. Some persons show God's love in the work they do, books they write, or contributions to society that are not tangible.
It is a disservice to the spirit of Christianity, to expect all to act the same way. God made us different for a reason, that we can function together in society, with our individual gifts.
Gryphen, you are gifted in writing a blog, that brings awareness to critical national issues. Some may spend time in other unique ways, that ultimately shows respect for their fellow man.
I wish Christians (especially the USA tea taliban ones) would practice what's in their bible. Though they use it more as a buffet. Picking and choosing what bits they want to consume and then become controlling busy bodies into everyone else's lives, bodies, souls and more.
Rather than becoming a religious police force into everyone else's bodies and lives, they should first police their own bodies and lives. Also deal with their own behavior: affairs, kids out of wedlock, against marriage equality yet the tea taliban people have multiple marriages and/or multiple marriages without any kids (ahem, Rush), they're serial divorcees, do and have in them or their families: incest, sexual and other abuse, domestic violence, etc.
As usual, the tea taliban want big government when it's intrusive into women's bodies and sexuality or policing everyone else's sexuality, morals, behavior, lives and more. I think that's their jobs creation: having sharia, their theocracy, and building a huge religious police force in the USA yet one that will also police the world.
The tea taliban are frigging delusional, wrongly righteous, lying, dishonest, their rules and laws don't really ever apply to them. They're the biggest hypocrites and the greatest danger to the existence of the USA.
To those responding to Elmo and arguing that Catholics, for example, ARE Christian: I don't believe Elmo is actually saying that Catholics aren't Christian; I believe s/he's quoting the argument of others in this regard. See the spelling of Hindoo and Mooslim (in other words, A BIG F*****G CLUE).
Please Gryphen, educate us all about this guy. He is really creepy and you are able to explain him better than anyone, I assume! http://www.terryforpresident.com/
So many worship the signpost but never follow the path: the sign points the way to kingdom come, don't get caught up by the hypnotic beauty of the sign.
ReplyDeleteOh I love this, thank you for posting it!
ReplyDeleteThis has been spreading around Facebook, and I had a big debate with some Christians who found it offensive. They seemed focused on the word "fucking," and said Jesus would never use such language.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm not so sure. Jesus had a temper. He got angry enough to physically beat the moneychangers from the temple. It's kind of funny how today's Christians seem to forget that the only time Christ really lost it was when he saw people using religion to make money. I don't know if there was an Aramaic equivalent of the word "fuck," but if there was I'm thinking Jesus may have used it out of frustration.
And he's probably equally frustrated today. The Bible commands followers of Christ to "love one another." There is no fine print. There is no loophole that allows them to exempt gays or minorities or non-Christians from the love we're supposed to show our fellow man. The Christians I was debating seemed to think that if you loved someone it mean accepting their sin, or a path they thought was somehow flawed. But it does not. Christians are supposed to love others despite their way of life, just as Jesus loved the prostitute and was gentle to her when others would stone her. To them he said, "He who is without sin cast the first stone." To her he simply said, "Go and sin no more." But that was his command to give, not theirs. Jesus was very explicit in his directions. Christians are to love and follow the rules for Christians as a guide for their personal lives. If non-Christians live a different way, they love them in spite of that.
I don't know why it is that a group of people prone to simplify everything else are so eager to complicate God's word.
If Jesus were alive today, I could certainly see him asking them if they thought he was fucking stuttering.
Fortunately for Republicans, Santorum is a Catholic and not a real true Christian. Same goes for Newt -- not a RTC. Romney is a member of a cult, not a Christian either. As for Ron Paul, if he has any religion other than Randianism, it doesn't show. So Republican's don't have to worry about things like the one Ghandi said. Besides he was some sort of Hindoo or Mooslim anyway.
ReplyDelete(sarcasm on) What are real true Christians, if you exclude Catholics ? Orthodox, maybe ? Chaldeans ? Copts ? These are the oldest Christian churchs - the ones that were there from the beginning.
DeleteSurely you can't mean Protestants, there are hundreds of different Protestant sects out there, every year or so another one is born, and none of them agree with one another ; not very organized, and at most going back 500 years... newcomers !
Folks, if tradition is that important for you, that anything not in the Bible must be scrapped, be coherent with yourself and adhere to one of the Old Christian Churches.
And learn Arameic and Hebrew, in order to read the very words of the Bible.
When you watch the Maher video from Alabama you realize how lost these people are. "I hate Obama..he's a half-breeed," "Obama is a Muslim." "I love my guns and Obama wants them." "We're real Christian down here, and the South will rise agin!!" The only impressive thing I saw was that BEAR was spelled correctly on the guy's shirt. I'm not sure what religion is popular down South (Baptists or evangelicals?) but whoever is brainwashing them is doing a great job.
ReplyDeleteFor me, "love thy enemy" pretty much sets the bar for Christian behavior. But could they really love Osama? Many of them can't even love OBAMA.
ReplyDeleteA lot of FAIL going on in the world of Christendom. I just hope that if their beliefs turn out to be true, I at least get to see the looks on their faces when they're judged appropriately for their utter failure to follow Christ's teachings.
Perfect! I do believe that Christ-being a human, after all-would have said something along those very lines, no matter the depth of his divinity.
ReplyDeleteAfter what people have been doing in his name of late, I would expect some very human language. (I am a follower of Jesus of Nazareth.)
DeleteSo am I!
DeleteI am also a follower of Jesus of Nazareth.
DeleteJesus kept it simple. Just love and take care of one another.
ReplyDeleteHard to believe Gandhi never met a Christian he liked. There are and always have been many good Christians. It's just that the bad ones get most of the attention because they act out. It was true in the past and it's the same today with the current GOP presidential contenders, meddlesome legislative prudes, and the Catholic Bishops trying to throw their weight around.
While Gandhi was growing to manhood, Father Damien was lovingly caring for lepers on Molokai, eventually contracting and dying of the disease, for which there was then no cure. He came to the island a handsome, healthy young man, and dedicated his life to suffering people who had been ostracized by society. He's just one example.
Gandhi was an imperfect man like everyone else. He would have done well to remember Jesus's advice about casting stones.
To Elmo - the word Christian refers to anyone who believes that Christ is the son of God and that he was born through the immaculate conception to Mary and Joseph. Anyone who believes he was sent here as the only son of God, to give his life for our sins.
ReplyDeleteJust because Catholics have a Pope, or believe a different version of the bible than you do, does nto mean they are not Christians, nor that you can simply remove them from your view as Christians. Any faith based on the Bible as the word of the Lord, is a Christian based faith - no one cult (ahem, organized religion) gets to own "Christianity." Nice try though.
By the way - I grew up going to a mix of Catholic and public schools. I do not now consider myself religious, nor Christian. I am Spiritual, and try to live my life according to a set of rules I believe in, which tends to be a far more "Christian" way of life than that I've seen of most actual Christians I've met. I try very hard not to hate, and instead to forgive the transgressions of those who act against me. I try to love everyone, to show compassion, and to do the right thing. Not because of some precept of religion, but because it's the right thing to do.
We have all been blessed & hurt in different ways, the miracle of God is that He knows all sees all accepts all. We who are Christians do the very best we can, with our God given abilities & circumstances. It is not always perfect.
ReplyDeleteEveryone is different, the very essence of this picture assumes that all have equal abilities to show God's love, through public display. That is not true. Some persons show God's love in the work they do, books they write, or contributions to society that are not tangible.
It is a disservice to the spirit of Christianity, to expect all to act the same way. God made us different for a reason, that we can function together in society, with our individual gifts.
Gryphen, you are gifted in writing a blog, that brings awareness to critical national issues. Some may spend time in other unique ways, that ultimately shows respect for their fellow man.
Nice one, made me laugh, great post.
ReplyDeleteI also love this one Gryphen. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI wish Christians (especially the USA tea taliban ones) would practice what's in their bible. Though they use it more as a buffet. Picking and choosing what bits they want to consume and then become controlling busy bodies into everyone else's lives, bodies, souls and more.
Rather than becoming a religious police force into everyone else's bodies and lives, they should first police their own bodies and lives. Also deal with their own behavior: affairs, kids out of wedlock, against marriage equality yet the tea taliban people have multiple marriages and/or multiple marriages without any kids (ahem, Rush), they're serial divorcees, do and have in them or their families: incest, sexual and other abuse, domestic violence, etc.
As usual, the tea taliban want big government when it's intrusive into women's bodies and sexuality or policing everyone else's sexuality, morals, behavior, lives and more. I think that's their jobs creation: having sharia, their theocracy, and building a huge religious police force in the USA yet one that will also police the world.
The tea taliban are frigging delusional, wrongly righteous, lying, dishonest, their rules and laws don't really ever apply to them. They're the biggest hypocrites and the greatest danger to the existence of the USA.
To those responding to Elmo and arguing that Catholics, for example, ARE Christian: I don't believe Elmo is actually saying that Catholics aren't Christian; I believe s/he's quoting the argument of others in this regard. See the spelling of Hindoo and Mooslim (in other words, A BIG F*****G CLUE).
ReplyDeletePlease Gryphen, educate us all about this guy. He is really creepy and you are able to explain him better than anyone, I assume! http://www.terryforpresident.com/
ReplyDelete