Hey Jesus! Whatever happened to those pesky poor?
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Have you ever spent a lot of time in a modern Christian church? Well, I haven’t either, given that I’m a proud Atheist, but I was persuaded to visit one a few years ago.
I was struck by the enormity of God’s humble house. In addition to its size there were the massive video screens hanging from every wall, and the sophisticated camera equipment, complete with cameramen, strategically located throughout. If that weren’t enough there was the “band” that was more like an orchestra.
My “companion” was proud of her church and especially proud of the fact that it was buying up all the land around it, to the tune of millions and millions of dollars. When I asked whatever happened to giving to the poor and all of those traditional Christian values I was told that they needed to spend money to give money. I imagine the look on my face spoke volumes. I didn’t go to church again, regardless of the “rewards.”
A friend sent me this picture, which is what inspired this rant. Remember that old saying: A picture is worth a thousand words:
Tip o’ the hat to Ron John for the picture…..
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Poor Jesus, too. His philosophies and moral teachings starting getting corrupted shortly after he died, starting most notably with Paul the “Apostle”. (Not one of the original twelve). If Jesus came back today, church leaders would not recognize him. He’d be considered a socialist and revolutionary and would be tortured, imprisoned, probably killed all over again by many of the “good folks” who profess to follow christian religion.
I could not agree more. They may not kill him, but they would preach that someone should.
Absolutely true, how sad.
I have made this point so many times I can’t count. If Christians would follow the teachings of Jesus this would be a great world. But they don’t so it isn’t. The same is true of the Muslims.
Every word…agreed!
I see Christians as mostly no different from anyone else. They decide what their opinions are and then scrounge around for supporting evidence, just like the rest of us. Most of them are virtually indifferent to the main tenets of their faith and live the same life they would live if they were atheists. Therefore, I consider them no better or worse, unless you hold a slight amount of hypocrisy against them, which I don’t, as we all put our face on in the morning.
However, church leaders, I condemn. Most churches con members of all financial levels out of as much of their living as they can. They tell them to give to God and then stick their tin cup in your face. It is a true con job and should be actionable.
Just wanted to speak out in support of my Christians brothers. To each his own, as I always say (and they rarely do). That annoys me too, but just slightly.
Did you ever notice how un-Christ-like most of his followers are? 90% of the time when I see someone driving like an asshole, cutting people off, they have a fish on the back of the car. Very Christian.
In the movie “Last Temptation of Christ” (being a heathen and atheist, I own it), there is a scene where Jesus is listening to Paul preach about Jesus and the miracles and all the other dogma. Jesus confronts him and says, basically that it’s all BS. Paul looks at him and say, “You tell them your version and I’ll tell mine and we’ll see who they believe, they want the miracles.” And Jesus wanders off disallusioned with the whole mess. You have to watch the movie to find out what happened, but the point made is valid. The whole message was hijacked and poiticized for the agenda of the leaders at the time.
Put Jesus in the context of his time, HE was trying to preach a religion, his FOLLOWERS were trying to play politics and get rid of the Romans. Once he was gone, the message got muddled and modified to suit the purposes of whichever faction grabbed the leadership.
So to shorten this, maybe we need to rename some things. The political factions we should call Christians and the real Christ-like folks Believers. I doesn’t matter to me, but if I were a Believer, I don’t think I’d want to be associated with these Christians.
Some of the worst people I know are Christians. They are hypocrites, liars, and etc. Note that I said “some.” In my experience the mainstream Christians are good and decent people, but the nutters, those on the fringe, are a different story.
“Last Temptation” is one of the best (and most plausible) movies about Jesus I have ever seen. LOVED it.
Last Temptation was very good. I have an essay long time in the making that argues that Paul created Christianity and Jesus would have never have been a part of what it soon became.
I am combining that notion with the idea that Christianity will now slowly die, as Christians are trying to use logic, science and history to prove it, taking the battlefield from the one of faith, created by Paul, to the one where the thinkers live. As Paul understood, they cannot survive there.
I’ve long noticed that church donations seem to be directed toward investments in the church itself. It’s unfortunate, as given all of the bureaucracy of government, and all of the popularity of churches, one would think that the church would be the ideal conduit for redistributing wealth from the generous “haves” to those who are down-and-out.
It doesn’t make sense to me, but maybe some day I’ll be “street-smart” enough to no longer be surprised by hypocrisy.
Nah, I’d rather hang onto my idealism.
If only churches did the same.
They campaign mightily from the pulpits, begging for money and endorsing political candidates and social campaigns. A vast majority violate the tax exempt laws on a regular basis.