She took a final drag on the Chesterfield and asked with all sincerity, ”So why so much hatred and rage in the name of Christ?”
I thought a moment and jumped off the precipice. "I've often wondered the same thing. The question could be stated like this: "If the Christian God- specifically Jesus- is who Christians profess him to be then why do they act in such horrific and ungodly ways?"
"There is a history of people and the institutional church having done bad things, awful things, in the name of Jesus. The inquisition, the Crusades, Hitler’s mixing of Christianity with his twisted plans, Jim Jones, the murdering of abortion doctors and the bombing of abortion clinics... the list can get quite extensive. In the news right now is a 'Baptist' church (I hate even calling it a church) who are getting tons of press for protesting at soldiers funerals, saying that God is killing soldiers because the military allows homosexuals to serve and so they protest with signs that read "God hates fags" and so on. All of these things being done in the name of religion, or Christianity, or sadly Jesus. I think I can say that these people and their acts do not reflect the True God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as revealed in the Bible. There have always been a faction of the 'religious' who perpetrate evil, are hypocrites, who are intolerant, and basically down right mean; the exact opposite of how we think religious people should act. Since the rise of Christianity these people have existed and unfortunately won't be going anywhere until Jesus returns again. The simple answer to your question is this: the problem isn't with Jesus, the problem is the sinful hearts of people."
"Now there are plenty of people who profess to be Christians (you may know some) yet they live like hell, don't practice what they preach, and act like self-righteous jerks. On top of this, the public face of the Evangelical church in the West hasn't been helped much by the high-profile religious 'right', the fundamentalists, and some politically driven organizations. Now, please know that these movements and organizations have and continue to do quite a bit of good, but they are also part of how Christianity has been shaped into something that it isn't completely about. Does Jesus care if you have a good marriage and good kids? Yes I believe he does. But, Jesus is more interested in you believing who he says he is (the Son of God) and pursuing him with all that you are and have! Anyway, I digress…"
I thought a moment and jumped off the precipice. "I've often wondered the same thing. The question could be stated like this: "If the Christian God- specifically Jesus- is who Christians profess him to be then why do they act in such horrific and ungodly ways?"
"There is a history of people and the institutional church having done bad things, awful things, in the name of Jesus. The inquisition, the Crusades, Hitler’s mixing of Christianity with his twisted plans, Jim Jones, the murdering of abortion doctors and the bombing of abortion clinics... the list can get quite extensive. In the news right now is a 'Baptist' church (I hate even calling it a church) who are getting tons of press for protesting at soldiers funerals, saying that God is killing soldiers because the military allows homosexuals to serve and so they protest with signs that read "God hates fags" and so on. All of these things being done in the name of religion, or Christianity, or sadly Jesus. I think I can say that these people and their acts do not reflect the True God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as revealed in the Bible. There have always been a faction of the 'religious' who perpetrate evil, are hypocrites, who are intolerant, and basically down right mean; the exact opposite of how we think religious people should act. Since the rise of Christianity these people have existed and unfortunately won't be going anywhere until Jesus returns again. The simple answer to your question is this: the problem isn't with Jesus, the problem is the sinful hearts of people."
"Now there are plenty of people who profess to be Christians (you may know some) yet they live like hell, don't practice what they preach, and act like self-righteous jerks. On top of this, the public face of the Evangelical church in the West hasn't been helped much by the high-profile religious 'right', the fundamentalists, and some politically driven organizations. Now, please know that these movements and organizations have and continue to do quite a bit of good, but they are also part of how Christianity has been shaped into something that it isn't completely about. Does Jesus care if you have a good marriage and good kids? Yes I believe he does. But, Jesus is more interested in you believing who he says he is (the Son of God) and pursuing him with all that you are and have! Anyway, I digress…"
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