Is Christian Hypocrisy Destroying The World & U.S.?

Before Pope Francis addresses America, I thought I
would offer this great nation a religious address of my own.

Gay marriage, or the war to stop it, is a religious one.

The war against aborted babies that may or may not be kicking on a table while clinging to life that is ironically, only being sustained for the proper harvesting of the brain from this particularly described- unwilling research donor- is a religious war as well, even if Carly Fiorina tells you its about the decency of all Americans.

Marijuana? Religious, even among  Catholics (Mexican, Irish, Italian...etc.) who drink for sport but abhor dope heads and question marijuana's medicinal value over that prescribed medicine waiting to potentially be recalled or over prescribed to a depressed PTSD soldier who is likely to die from the depression or the pill addiction but not the weed.

God knows that those hooded folks used religious justification to terrorize long before Dylann Roof thought it could kick off that religious race riot that way too many so-called religious folks promised was sitting on the edge of inevitability 20 years ago or more.

Religiously conservative Jews are now promising us all that Iran is the worlds great Satan while religious Iranians say similar things about Israel and America.  Regardless of who might be right, the mere references are a tug at the heart strings of religious folks who understand man's historical journey towards a manifest anti-Christ destiny, and the unwitting preemptive strikes from all sides that only help to prepare the necessary smokescreen for his comfortable arrival.

I could have titled this post, "Religious Hypocrisy" but that's not an accurate depiction of America's reality or my particular grievance.

Jews are already on record as describing JESUS AS A HOAX while anxiously waiting for the REAL Christ to please stand up and prove that previous Jewish rabble rouser a liar.

Love 'em or hate 'em, the Muslims are too deeply engaged in their own religious disagreement as a tenant of religion itself.  Sharia law could never come to exist without a faction of Muslims insistent on this caliphate mission. How gracious can Islamic Sharia Law pursuant's possibly be towards other religions while struggling to be tolerant towards the very people that they pray with every day and in the same way.

Although Muslims don't quibble with one another over the day, the necessity and quantity of prayer, worship and fellowship, they are at war over the importance of their religions founding prophet, Muhammad, whose family lineage and rebellious life journey pointed one direction for some Muslims, a different direction of thought and behavior from other Muslims, and that inevitable "third" group who can empathize with both sides of this war.

Islam and Judaism are Exempt from Grace

These two confused and thus confusing religions are actually free from the unequivocal call of Grace that asks but one thing from each and every Christian;

Exercise your faith in the gift of Grace by exercising your giving of Grace.

It puts Christians in the cat bird seat of religious pecking order relative to who and whom God expects to be the most gracious.

Might that be religious piety for a Christian (Me) to place a higher expectation upon the behavior of Christianity over every other religion?

I dare any Muslim or Jew (or atheist and agnostic for that matter) to battle EVERY Christian in a war to be gracious. I'll bring my crew and you bring yours, and we'll battle it out near the performance stage at Denver City Park next weekend.

As it stands, American Christian lawmakers, and the people they think they represent, aren't necessarily kicking butt in the battle to be gracious, especially towards desperate middle eastern refugees and migrants praying to God for a little American Christian Grace.

Long before Ben Carson's recent stupidity towards Muslims, Muslims questioned the full divinity of the prophet who inspires Christians to be gracious. Yet, this historically tolerant capacity of people inspired by Grace must have influenced a few of these refugees and migrants into death tempting sea voyages towards western/Christian refuge instead of more Islamic disagreement and violence.

For times like these.

At times like these, I often find myself confident that God needed black slaves in America.  Not so much for the reason that whites found valuable, but for value that would manifest itself in years and days after the scars solidified their shape on our backs.

The necessity of blacks in America and the necessity for America in the world is similarly linked, ordered and scarred to achieve tenacity and temperance when a balance is needed from both powerful forces. Insensitivity and intolerance on a macro or micro level is an entirely understandable human policy for the selfish, the weary or the scarred.

It's just not gracious.

For the Grace of God, trees made to nourish a nation have to grow up and take their place in the forest. Not only to realize the value of their purpose, but to stave off the proliferation of the selfish trees that evil uses to overtake the landscape and swallow up the rain and the sun from the rest of US.

If that analogy doesn't quite make sense to you, its likely because I'm talking to a different kind of Christian.

Does Cosby Deserve The Same Grace That Roof Got?

For the sake of argument, let's agree that being gay and monogamous, maybe even loving one person of your same sex enough to possibly commit yourself to them forever, is a sin even though the bible warns about same sex, not same sex marriage exactly.

So many of the people who invoke the Holy Bible of Christianity for the sake of rebuking abortion and homosexuality reject the rest of the same bible when it focuses on the call of Grace and forgiveness.  For a simple minded person like me, that means to think on Grace and focus on forgiveness before judgment finds me needing them for myself.

If you were one of those people who came to the rescue of America's former favorite father Bill Cosby like R&B singer Jill Scott did, you are likely to be needing Grace and forgiveness from the claimants who've called themselves Cosby's victims for a long time since they are looking more like victims than opportunists with each passing day.

I have chosen to refrain from detailed contribution on this topic because accusations are a really sad reason for adding to the destruction of a human life.  Guilty or not, Cosby deserves the same march towards conviction, settlement or absolution that every other accused universally beloved date rape drugger deserves. When you say that out loud, it sounds like the reason we don't want to touch this one. If not guilty, we are disrupting our own childhood by destroying Bill.  If found guilty of this, Cosby at least deserves what that Penn State rapist, Jerry Sandusky got- or what we wish we could give to all of those Catholic ministers who  got away with abusing young boys.

I just angered myself with the thought of these forms of hideous sins and our relative lack of unified outrage, which reflects as denial to me.  Are we really more agitated by the marriage commitment of homosexuals than we are with Bill? Based upon our opening agreement, sin is still sin for now, however, rape like Bill is accused of doing feels like a lower form of  sin when I imagine the outwardly destructive things man does towards man versus the personal sins we do to ourselves or with consenting adults. This Cosby crap is upsetting like child molestation but maybe even more sadistic when you imagine someone willing to incapacitate and then violate an unconscious person.  While also distorted,  necrophilia seems more dignified in that the corpse doesn't have to live with the pain of the violation forever.

Grace and forgiveness are screaming in my ear to relax and release.  Take a few deep breaths. Wait on a firm conviction first.

Terror at a Boston marathon, a Colorado movie theater or a South Carolina church service are horrific sins, but  are also NOT UNworthy of forgiveness. Since the Bible declares that all do sin and fall short of the glory, it indirectly suggests that we all have an equal need for His Grace. Human guilt has a way of creating a barrier between the forgiveness we desperately need because all of our guilt gets manifested when we approach that final crossing towards the Grace for an overcoming life, not just for salvation when we die.  Its at this moment when most people look down  at the tattered bridge before them and don't trust it enough to step out towards living Grace, afraid that it might give way on them before they make it across.

Crossing the bridge of judgement requires forgiving yourself.

Those who step out  eventually recognize that they are traversing across the bridge called Guilt that separates man from the sin we do and the forgiveness that fixed it all.  If you focus on the judgement beneath you and not the Grace before you, you will fall, prey to your own sins and be forced to climb your battered body back to the top complete with your new found fear and scars, just to rejoin the increasing crowd of the fearful.

These are the forgiven believers that stand fearfully frozen by guilt while screaming judgement's at those who chase onward because they are afraid to chase for Grace themselves.


Unbelief Is The Worse Of All Sins

Faith is a Grace journey that junctions at this cross bridge where fearful believers gather for forgiveness. No one whose courage carries them to the other side will ever look back on those yet to make it and find the heart to judge the rapist or the raped; the terrorist or those damaged by terror. His open arms of Grace usher us to step out in faith viewing all sin as nothing more than guilt's burden strapped to the back of the redeemed,  Standing next to Him on the good side of Grace compels us toward this same view one to another.

So fret not Bill Cosby and those who falsely judge him before time.  Judging and date rape drugging may never outrage like gay marriage does, and are also not the worst sin of them all.  Unbelief (atheism, agnosticism)is the one sin you don't want to die with.

By faith- everything else is forgiven.

Gospel of Grace? The Gospel Is Grace! (and church smells too good)

 "hmmmm"
If the Gospel of Grace is for the lost, Why does
the church house smell so good?

When I was a kid, it wasn't uncommon for us to stay in church all day long. Sometimes we'd even have multiple offerings in which we would have to give more than once, as though the first few times we were holding back something that was intended for the church, and God could tell.

My grandfather was a preacher. Done some preaching myself, so I've seen the transition from inside of the church. What I've witnessed is a shifting of the congregation. Folks who were tired of the big churches have moved to little churches, and vice versa. Except for the folks who gave up on church altogether. I am not one of those people, but I am utterly exhausted with the corporate mentality of the modern day church.

I am NOT here to claim that running the church is not a business when clearly it is. My belief is that for the vast majority of American Christian churches, the business of church has drowned out the message of Grace.

Grace is the cornerstone of the gospel, yet it has been used as a primary tool for recruitment. It's not a popular message to deliver or receive, so the truth about grace is often offered with denominational caveats so as to convince the parish that they are more qualified for salvation than new converts or confused denominations. After all, John 3:16 couldn't be all there is to this thing...could it?

Churches have been struggling for membership for all of my lifetime (I'm closer to 50 than 40).  Back in the day, they used to tell you to bring somebody in to church with you each week to "show yourself approved".  Knowledgeable visitors would share the "hands off" signal by sending greetings from whatever church they used to attend, even though their pastor had no clue that they were visiting on that day, or where they'd been recently.  Sinner's in need would come openly to church,  but had better prepare to "give in" to the alter call or risk an extended prayer warning them not to miss their opportunity at salvation.  The entire song and dance is an orchestrated fiasco that ONLY occurs on those days when strangers and unsubscribed patrons take a seat in the pew. Those raised within this tradition grew to understand that salvation was free....but it required a cleaned up visit to the alter and a holy calling out by the pastor.  And then it was free.

STINKY CHURCH

Every so often, some really drunk person would come to church and create a real scene.  I always found myself looking back and forth at the preacher and the new visitor to see if the "come to the Lord" sermon would ensue.  It never did.  Instead, deacons and ushers were trained to save the good smelling people from the bad smelling people who always used to come along every so often.  Sometimes the simplicity of youth gets lost inside of the complexity of life, but I never quite understood why the whole church didn't stink a little bit more.

Everything that the pastor preached about was openly represented in the lives of those stinky people, but no church seemed to have a taste for their presence.  I've seen the scene enough to know that most holiness churches are guilty of this (not sure what Catholics or Lutherans do with drunkards).  Anything that doesn't fit the norm stands out like a sore thumb.  Visitors and stinky people top the list.

Sometimes those stinky people would clean themselves up and return the next week, but that didn't happen a lot.  Mostly, those people were quickly removed and never heard from again.  The reason can be debated but the message was clear to my young impressionable mind.  Only come to church when you are cleaned up, washed up and smelling good.

I no longer suffer from the guilt of attending church because I realize that church has been redefined.  I am the church...and so are you.  However, the commandment that we must follow, to forsake not the fellowship, is one that can be fulfilled in a myriad of ways so long as you make no mistake about the purpose of your gathering.  In other words, prisoner's in jail can certainly fellowship through sports just as long as they do it in the name of Jesus.  Christ did not lay down his life so that Grace could increase church attendance.  He himself spent very little time inside of the synagogue.  Christ, Emmanuel, God With Us, came so that his church (which lives inside of all believer's) could be taken to the stinking masses, so that they might see Him inside of  themselves too.

The church you attend might help you make better decisions, but if your decisions are not in line with Christ, neither shall your life be regardless of your church of choice or choice not to church.    Discipline and commitment are never wasted behaviors and attending any church will help to develop both.  Hearing the voice of God as spoken through his ministerial messengers is beyond useful, it is vital.  Yet, as you dive inside of the Bible for yourself (another commandment), you quickly discover that the pastor is often confirming the very message that God already laid in your spirit.  Why is that?

Where There Is No Division, There Is No Conflict.

YOU are the church, and the message of the ONE is for the one true church, or the listening Body of believers. Every message that you can preach about God can virtually be encapsulated into the completeness of ONE.  Where there is no division, there is no conflict.  Christ attempted to model behavior and eliminate guilt for those times when our behavior deviates from the model, but he did it all by pointing the path back to ONE, or the Origin. Love is perfected in ONEness, and perfect love knows no division.  For a religion that has become virtually stagnant, especially in America, the continued growth of Christian denominations   (aka., divisions) makes a haunting statement about the future of the organized religion called Christianity.

DIVIDENDS?!

Denominations have revealed the subconscious truth that most believers are looking for a dividend.  If I join a church (or religion) because the practices are more stringent than another church, I am indirectly qualifying myself as more justified for my willingness to endure more rules.  In other words, if you left one church (or religion) believing that God is just as likely to save your old church as he is your new church, would you have ever left?  Dividends.

Or how about if you pay tithes? Would you be mad at God if a non-tither was caught in the rapture before you?  Have you ever paid tithes, but it felt like God was taking forever to "honor your giving" as the pastor promised?  Sometimes the dividend is more earthly bound like large church anonymity or being able to smoke a cigarette after a long Baptist sermon, but in the end, denominations are offering dividends by planting the seeds of religious division among lost sinners, looking for a way to confirm their choice of religiosity.

WHAT'S IN A NAME??!!

If religion is of the devil, and I believe that it is, he makes his presence felt right on the entrance to the modern church building.  What's in a name?  Everything and nothing at all.  We have to call ourselves by some recognizable description, but is it vital that we separate Christ, and thus God, into so many separate belief systems and practices?  I love God too much not to believe that His church is out there.  Denominational affiliations can hamper the spirit of truth, but truth overcomes all obstacles and always finds itself into the hearts of those who seek it earnestly.

For the sake of the fellowship command, I will always support the fellowship practice commonly called "the church". I may even find one that I can call my own someday again.  Until that day, I will visit fellowships hopeful to find ONE unafraid of the equalizing message of Grace (God Bless You Joseph Prince).  When I do, I have a feeling that it will be kinda stinky.  

Atheism Isn't A Religion Just Like All Mid-Eastern Muslim's Are Not Terrorist. (Perception Is Reality)

One day, while listening in on the voices of tomorrow I found myself in a debate with an atheist who doesn't care to be called religious.  Ironically, it was a fellow atheist who sparked the debate by saying agnosticism is far worse than atheism (which I totally agree with).  Here is a snippet of that conversation. (name removed for anonymity)

Original topic:  Agnosticism is far worse than atheism |   Rocky Mountain Collegian | (CSU_Colorado )

(RMC Contributor): Atheism is just simply the lack of a belief ...(and not a religion at all)

silkee1 | Thursday, March 6th | View on Rocky Mountain Collegian You would be correct if atheist have not begun to behave as a religion. I would not personally give so much credence to the word religion because all religion is...(of the devil) (RMC contributor) replied | Thursday, March 6th | View on Rocky Mountain Collegian You are speaking about a minority of atheists. To say atheists have begun to behave as a religion is a vast overgeneralization. Some atheists behave in a religious manner, but ... (that is a small minority)

silkee1  anoble • 2 hours ago

(RMC contributor). You should be mindful that within any religion it is always the small minority that does the recruiting of the larger majority. Atheism is the fastest growing religion in America as a result of the small minority who recruit others. The growth of a movement is a dynamic thing, but it is not strictly an organic discovery that smart people are uncovering at the same time. There is a doctrinal approach to points and counterpoints that has helped proliferate the growth of Atheism......in other words, it is an organized religion now just like the theism it protests.

 

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  (RMC contributor)  silkee1 • an hour ago

  I thought I already demonstrated that atheism isn't a religion. This is just a rehash of your last argument. Once again saying that some atheists have some sort of doctrine says nothing about atheism as a whole, just that some atheists hold other beliefs in a religious way. It was an overgeneralization then and it is an overgeneralization now. Unless you can say something about atheism itself rather than what some atheists do, you argument holds no weight, and atheism still isn't a religion (or religion like).

   

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    silkee1   • 2 minutes ago

    We are all defined by our behaviors. If Atheism abstained from the conversation of God as a result of a lack of belief in the existence, then it would make the atheist' claim more credible (why disprove something that doesn't exist?). To develop a narrative that counter's the belief of the theist changes your design and agenda. Buddhism is by definition not a theism, but is certainly a religion by design and function.

    Don't mistake my impression of the word religion. Jihadist use religion as justification to their deeds. Much death has been justified in the name of religion, but that is because ALL religion is of the devil (especially atheism). I do not assign the label to anyone as a complement and you (like many Muslims) will be painted by the behaviors of those who bear the same name.

    You can denounce your affiliation to religious atheism, but you can not denounce its existence. You believe the exact same things, even if you refrain from recruiting/convincing others to believe.(Assuming you do refrain from such religious behavior)