As Christians and people of Eastern Orthodox faiths observe their holiest day this Sunday, one of their number has a few questions about what they think it means to follow Christ.
Christian commentator Roland Martin speaks for many.
When did it come to the point that being a Christian meant only caring about two issues, abortion and homosexuality?
Roland Martin: “I’ve grown tired of people who pimp God”Ask the nonreligious what being a Christian today means, and based on what we see and read, it’s a good bet they will say that followers of Jesus Christ are preoccupied with those two points.
Poverty? Whatever. Homelessness? An afterthought. A widening gap between the have and have-nots? Immaterial. Divorce? The divorce rate of Christians mirrors the national average, so that’s no big deal.
The point is that being a Christian should be about more than abortion and homosexuality, and it’s high time that those not considered a part of the religious right expose the hypocrisy of our brothers and sisters in Christianity and take back the faith.
Martin puts his finger on one of the reasons I and so many others have all but turned our backs on faith, and can’t be pushed into an organized religious service with a Mack truck.
…it’s troubling to listen to “Christian radio” and hear the kind of hate spewing out of the mouths of my brothers and sisters in the faith.
In fact, I’ve grown tired of people who pimp God. That’s right; we have a litany of individuals today who are holy, holy, holy, sing hallelujah, talk about how they love the Lord, but when it’s time to walk the walk, somehow the spirit evaporates.
I mean no disrespect to the people closing their businesses to celebrate Good Friday, or those joining the throngs at church on Easter Sunday. But the joy of religion is long since past for me. And until it becomes more about quietly setting the highest example for others to follow and less about judgement and scorn, it will probably remain that way.
I have never seen so much hate as that which is inflected in the name of god. The wars, the put downs, the venom spewed by so called believers in Christ. Organized religion is nothing more than a control of the masses to do what other men want them to do. If you believe then pray to the almighty and pray that the leaders of religious organizations come to their senses and stop demoralizing and causing conflict in the world.
Jesus surely addressed the money changers in the temple with anger.
We have been made in God’s image, and the anger emotion is very complex yet a fact of life. Executing judgement can be born of anger at a wrong needing to be corrected to right. It’s my belief that Jesus made it clear that this is a world without end, and that means that man cannot destroy the earth, because God won’t allow it.
However, like the money changers in the temple, the modern systems
of tyranny, and their complexity can be something Jesus would be slightly angered by, leading to his process of judgement. Enough will be enough. Thank God.
Ephesians 5:7-16
We are all self-proclaimed, believers, non-believers or agnostics. “To believe anything as truth that can not be proven is evil”! (faith). It doesn’t matter what we believe, WHAT IS, is what matters. That is why Iam agnostic.
A lack of conscience is the root of all evil. Those without empathy towards all their fellow man are evil. Everything we do and think is either moral or immoral, godly or satanic, good or evil, positive or negative…. get it. I suggest everyone make their souls as positive as possible (If souls exist) so when death comes, you will go to heaven and not hell. It is all shades of white and black.
It is hard to grow a conscience in a sick and abusive society. Chimps raise chimps. You can’t teach what you don’t know. I suggest meditation and good weed.
Happy Risen Savior Day! The Way has been made. The Lamb has paid the ransom. The Lion of the Tribe of Judah shall return. All those who hear His voice will answer His Call. The field is ripe unto Harvest. The Faithful shall be gathered into the Holy City of God. Repent! Be sorry for lying, stealing, fornicating, coveting, murdering the fruit of the womb which is the gift of children, the abomination of man laying with man and woman with woman. For the poor and hungry there will be feasting and homes. For the sad and weary there will be comfort and strength. Those who mourn will be reunited with believing loved ones. Faithful pets also, for Eden will be restored tenfold. Rejoice!
Just a little note for our “true believers” out there. The new testament was altered many times – edited, if you will – to serve the changing politidal and doctrinal needs of the early church.
Biblical research has irrefutably proven this, but, oddly enuf, the folks in the pews are so much smarter, and know the scholars are full of it.
Who killed Jesus? “The Jews”, you say? He was the rightful King of the Jews, by both his mother’s lineage, and his father’s. The people loved him. why else would they follow him out to hillsides, etc., for Happy Meals? They LOVED him, because he so radiated love to them. The Romans perhaps had an interest in shutting him up, and police brutality being what it is… But, who really wanted him dead? Who couldn’t stand the message of empowerment, of hope, of God as Father of all of us (not just the lame-ass religious fanatics, but ALL OF US!!!)??? Well, the wealthy felt at risk, yes, but who else? WHO KILLED JESUS? The clergy, boys and girls.
Read The Book! And — Happy Ether!
Those curious to know how blatantly false the whole issue is, check out the brand new essay “The Easter Issue” at:
http://www.mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/BookDetails.asp?BookID=46875. For centuries they make us believe that 2 x 2 = 5. And we do… =(
To Robert who said: “I’ve never known anyone who actually practices the teachings of Jesus of is really a Christian an any substantial sense.”
Keep looking Robert, there ARE Christians on earth. They would be doing two things that Jesus said would be an identifying “mark” for true christians.
1) John 13:35 “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (King Jame Version); Christians would not go to war or get involved with political issues with their “brother christians” in other nations. In the world wars catholics killed catholics and protestants killed protestants.
2) Matthew 28:19,20 “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.(King Jame Version);
There is only one group who has gone to prison rather than take up arms against their brothers, and only one group who is fulfilling Jesus “command” to make desciples worldwide, in 236 countries. They probably come to your door several times a year if not more frequently. They ask for no money for what they do and practice what they preach. They are not perfect but they truely have the love for each other and mankind, that Jesus said would be an identifying “mark”. Go see for yourself. Don’t be so closed minded and send them away the next time they knock on your door.
Religion..like everything else in America…is simply…BANKRUPT AND AWAITING FORECLOSURE!!
Christianity has nothing to do with Easter, but with the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Homosexuality, and abortion are sinful…but so is swindling money in the form of tithes (etc etc) from gullible followers. So is a man lusting over a woman, so are a plethora of sins that the so-called church ignores.
Further, although gay marriages are an abomination, so are adulterous relationships.
Christians should never support sin of any type; and yet, a Christian must realize that this world (not the earth, but the world system) is ruled by its master, Satan.
When Hagee or some other preacher speaks about homosexuality, and yet sends your children off to war, its time to start questioning what Christianity is really about.
Is Jesus son of god or son of man? Make up your mind. No, the truth is he is a Prophet, a messenger of God , a Messiah who is sent by God to us humankind to guide us to Him.
Can you just think about it??? God is the father and Mary the human created by God is God’s consort/wife??? This is nonsense!!!
The Christianity of today is not what Jesus taught. It is what the product of whom you call St.Paul who claimed to be visited by a light from the sky and heard the voice of God… This is a brazen lie. After St.Paul hijacked the message of Jesus and tarnished it with his of proclamations, we have the concept of Trinity the triune God which Jesus never taught! These facts are things already known by honest scholars of religion who could see beyond the lies. The thing is this is also already known by any good Muslim!
Our mass media is hostile to Christianity, and that is why people have a one dimensional, negative view. But if you did go to Church, you’d get the same Zionist brainwashing that comes out of the TV – worship the Jews, worship Israel. The problem is the thinkers of the West have been lured into the sterile multicult and the unthinking herd is left in the church, under the thumb of the highly organized Zionists. The Zionists are even this minute converting The Last Supper into a celebration of the Jewish nation. The thinkers need to return! The Christian Church is a traditional power structure that you have chosen to abandon to wander in the woods and play children’s games.
I agree with Roland Martin. I would like to add “what about the bombing of innocent people? i.e. Iraq and other countries. How can Bush tell us he is Christian when he is ordering the horrible deaths of thousands, hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children?
I no longer consider myself a Christian, I have not attended church in years, and have no plans to in the future.
If being a Christian is supporting killing people, and making up new rules such as; homosexuality is a sin. Then I do not care to have anything to do with this crowd.
And we all know this isn’t about religion or loving God or Jesus, its about $$, PERIOD!
I truley believe these groups are actually the devil in disguise. I call them the “Christian Devil Worhipers”.
Greetings Folks,
Jesus is very reminisant of the first Hippy. If you want to live like Jesus, the lifestyle and philosophy of hippies will appeal most to you. Much is done to malign the hippies because frankly, corporate/political elites do not want another nation of Hippies. Face it, it was the hippies who played a major roll in the end of the Viet Nam war.
Over the internet there are many message boards that address and appeal to the hippy culture. It has been heavily infiltrated by agent provacataurs from the CIA, DoD, ect. and ad nauseum, but they’re not difficult to pick out.
Peace, Love and Respect
Religions are creations of man, subject to all of the foibles of the human condition.
Ignore these false prophets and find the god inside you and you will find true peace
Hate-filled beliefs, coupled with self-worship (in the form of a belief in a divinely ordained American Exceptionalism), and love of bloodshed could only be considered mainstream Christianity in the U.S.
Anywhere else, these “Christians” would be considered dangerous extremists.
The Messiah came to push this species in a new direction. WE called him. It was done. The true meaning of “free will” is something that we can discover by following the word of Jesus (and his brothers (“brothers”, here, is to be taken in a very concrete, but also very Christian way)). We are not completely free because we apprehend facts of a moral sort. We disagree about their nature, but I suspect that they are quite broad. They vary, depending upon our situation, depending even upon the constraints which bind our neighbors. They make sense inherently, I think. Homosexuality as a moral issue is chimera. As long as we are Honest about ourselves, with one another, it need not present a problem. Abortion is a nasty business, but it’s tragedy pales in comparison to the societies (all of them) that make it a reasonable thing to do. If we want an end to abortion, say, then we are called upon to make a world in which such an act would be…unecessary. A better world. No judgement, no money, no heaven, no hell…a world now unknown. Something we are lead to. Something new…
If I’ve asked this once I’ve asked it 100 times and as of yet not got a straight answer. Most Christians (Churches) seem to back Bush. As I see it if they back Bush they back the war and if they back the war they back the Murder of innocent people. Didn’t Jesus teach Love thy Neighbor, Turn the other cheek, Do unto others, and lets not forget the 10 Commandments Tho shall not kill/murder so how can they call themselves Christens and support Bush? Anyone have a answer for me? I’ve run this by many including preachers. All they can bring up there are many wars in the bible. That God wiped out Sodom & Gamora, etc. Well does that mean the bible contradicts itself?
Hey Laurie…you go girl!
Good job.
True christianity is a personal relationship between you and Christ only. Not what a man who stands behind a pulpit and teaches you man made doctrine that is taught to him from a seminary who wants him to teach his congregation what they feel is doctrine and the only true way of life. Ask yourself why is the church so divided today? You have Methodist, Assembly of God different Catholic denominations etc. Christ warned us about the churches and how they were wrong. They don’t teach true christianity
Hi Jim, you ask good questions. One of the greatest lies ever perpetrated is that the entire bible is inerrant, i.e., all 66 books are God inspired. Once that bit of propaganda is instilled in people, nullifying Jesus’teachings is easy.
Additionally, most American religious organizations are nonprofit corporations created by the government. The technical designation 501C-3 comes from the IRS tax code. Woe to the hireling who bites the hand that feeds him. He has to play ball with the government who provides his tax-free status.
Please don’t let the deceivers and the deceived of this world prevent you from seeking the real Jesus. You can seek Him by reading and following His words in the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Peace to you.
Going to church does not make you a Christian anymore than going to a garage makes you a mechanic.It is that personal relationship with Him that transforms the individual.
maybe jesus was gay – he hung around with a dozen men, never married, and never recommended marriage while he was alive – so figure it out – love your neighbor as yourself and love your God with all your heart – those are the two commandments he spoke of – neither of which is practiced in any church in Amerika… let me know if you know of one.
I know we are all entitled to our opinions but to villifiy Christian believers and Christian ministers is wrong. We are told to compare ourselves with Christ and not one another as we all fall and fail. Even ministers and priests are human beings with faults and sins, as all humans are, but there are genuine people who try to live the Christian life, they are not perfect either,nor claim to be. The only one who was perfect was Jesus himself. You can argue about what day Easter should be on, what does it matter that is splitting hairs, the fact remains that Jesus did rise from the dead, if you believe the scriptures, and if you genuinely want to change your life
and find the inner peace that he promised through the gift of the Holy Spirit then, through faith,
repentence and acceptence of the free gift of eternal life, you too can ‘know’ what true Christianity really means.The difference between a sinner and a saint[ a believer] is, that the saint knows he is a sinner and needs forgiveness but the unbeliever believes in his own ‘self’ righteousness and thinks he can get into heaven by his own efforts. It is not by doing but by believing, [faith], that justifies us. Doing [good works]is the fruit of our faith and should follow true Christianity.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nuce_Ju9P2s
I am a practicing Catholic, but I was very disturbed whem my church support Bush’s just because he is against abortion. I do not believein abortion, eithr, however their support of anunjust war, killing of thousands of americans and Iraqi’s is incosistent. How can one be pro life and be in favor of senseless slaugher of innocents. The curches should have been outraged at this prospect. Instead the religious right acted as a rallying call for the war. My daugaher married a moslem, perhaps I have had to view things with a broader perspective. I refer to the “Pro-life” war mongerers and Murdering Pro Lifers.
I live in Colorado Springs, what is now considered the “Epicenter” of these globalist (Read; Zionist/CIA/Vatican)covert religious organizatios, NORAD and massive military bases. It doesn’t take long to see a very twisted and dark connection to these huge wealthy churches and the business of war here. You don’t critize Bush in this town or Pax Americana. I consider these religious Zionist/Jesuit fronts as the “New Fourth Reich” or world government religious arm. I’ve worked for many years in film and TV broadcasting and I can tell you that anyone who has been in the business for awhile knows that the TBN channel is a blatant CIA/Mossad front and they are all 5O1C3 government (IRS) controlled mouth pieces. Richard Perl,(2004) in a press conference at the Pentagon (Pentagram) made it very clear that they control the religious right and the corporate media as well as Hollywood. The mind control of these “Sheeple” is a staged event that perpetuates the “False left-right paradigm machination to divide and control. The great news is that now alot of these people are starting to see the lies and are waking-up.
As usual a simple text is purposefully used to rain hate down upon the masses. Forget the “inaccuracies” forget the “behaviors” of the sinners that don’t follow the bible properly. Forget the drama you like to cause in the name of the bible. Remember the one thing that the bible was supposed to be about:Love. If you’re too hardheaded, hardhearted, “smart”, or cynical then you’ve already missed the point…
Forgiven.
Can I pray for my enemy?
Can I love other sinners despite their sin nature (which I also possess)?
He who knoweth not love knoweth not
God, for God IS LOVE.
Hmm, God is LOVE.
I can buy that with my heart
and soul.
I pray to live that way
each day.
I would like to wish you all
an enlightened Easter this year.
Who should the followers of Jesus of Nazareth follow?
Jesus plainly teaches that He is to be his followers only Teacher and Leader, Master and Lord. Listen to Him:
“But do not be called Teacher (Rabbi); for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Messiah. But the greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.” Matthew 23:8-12
One Teacher. One Leader. All brothers. Be a servant. Is this what is represented in the christian or messianic organization? No. But the deceit comes in the form of, “Oh, but God told us through Paul that there are leaders in between Jesus and his followers”. For those not blinded by their religious dogma, that would obviously make those who believe that statement followers of Paul, since Paul directly contradicts Jesus on this most important matter.
Another favorite comment is, “Oh but my pastor is a great servant of all”. Really? First of all, who is he serving if he disobeys the Real Jesus of Nazareth? When Jesus says his followers will have “One Shepherd/Pastor” that does NOT mean two.
“I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become ONE flock with ONE shepherd”. John 10:16
How many shepherds will the followers of Jesus have? Jesus says ONE. Paul, and the religion founded on his writings, christianity, say “millions”. Who are you going to follow?
If you follow Jesus, how could you attend an organization which openly has teachers, leaders and shepherds/pastors? How could you, in good conscience, listen to the Words of your Master be disobeyed under the guise of actually representing him? How could you participate in the deceiving of others? “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments”. John 14:15 says the Master.
Jesus means what He says. Watching His commands be nullified by those who claim to represent Him, is to be deceived.
The Real Jesus of Nazareth never said it would be easy or pleasant to follow Him. The only Way we will have His joy and peace in our heart, is to have Him, His Words and His voice ONLY as our sole spiritual authority. To disobey Him or watch others do the same is not compatible with Jesus’ plain commands and teachings.
This one major contradiciton would lead the sincere follower of Jesus to not participatre in the christian church.