Wouldn’t it be nice if more Christians actually did what Jesus said? In case you’re not convinced, I’ll let him do most of the talking.
Let’s start with oaths. Jesus said:
But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.(Matt 5:34-37 ESV)
So why should anybody have to take an oath with the words, “so help me God”? It seems that atheists are the only ones who object to this, but every good Christian should too.
How about prayer?
But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matt 6:6 ESV)
The National Day of Prayer should be the greatest day of the year when Christians everywhere go into hiding, instead so many like to flaunt their “piety” in public. Every prayer rally (like Rick Perry’s), every person trying to get prayers in schools, every prayer at a sporting event, and every prayer at a city counsel or legislative body is not an act of good Christian piety, it’s an act of rebellion and disrespect for their own lord and savior.
What about judgmental bigots?
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? (Matt 7:1-3 ESV)
That speck you see is people wanting love and intimacy, the log you don’t see is your own callous and hatred. So lay off the gays.
Then there’s the Golden Rule:
In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets. (Matt 7:12 NASB)
If you want to be free to build churches then let Muslims build their mosques. If you want to be free to marry the person you love, then let gays and lesbians do the same. If you don’t want people to push their beliefs on your children at school, then don’t try to get your beliefs pushed on the children of others. Heck, if you don’t want others pushing their beliefs on you, then keep your goddamn mouth shut.
If Christians really want to be followers of Christ, then they should probably start with the Sermon on the Mount. This time try and take it seriously.
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I always liked to quote matt. 6:6 when there was discussion of the story of daniel and the lions den. How could daniel be a good example when his actions are contrary to christs words?
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Sorry it took me so long to respond, however I have been busy this weekend and there was a lot there.
Most of your points have been addressed over the last 14 months I have been blogging here, but I would not expect anyone to sift through almost 500 articles to find those points. So I will be responding on Thursday in depth. It very well may be my longest blog post or I may break it up over several days or even weeks so as to not overwhelm my readers.
As an administrative note, I appreciate you expressing this in public, however, as a general rule I expect comments to be shorter than the post they are in response to. Yes, you did address that one post, but you also addressed my writing style and the overall theme and scope of this blog. Direct contact, such as email (readily available at several convient places on my blog), would have been more appropriate for a message of this length.
Again, watch here on Thursday for a more direct response.
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True. If our religion or philosophy ceases to change our lives and make us more loving human beings than what is the point? "if I had prophecy, knowledge, faith, etc. But don't have love I am nothing." (loose translation).
There is no harder pill to swallow than those who represent a God of love and yet are so hateful.