The Hurtful Chuch of Jesus-less Christians

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

An intersting analysis from John Pavlovitz-Generous with damnation, stingy with grace and perpetually terrified. Oh so true.

The Hurtful Church of Jesus-less Christians

Every day I see people claiming to be Christians.

They are everywhere I turn: on Twitter and on TV and at the gas station and across the street and at family gatherings.

They fill up my newsfeed, usually showing up unannounced to call me a libtard or a baby killer or soy boy—or simply to fly a virtual middle finger and remind me that I’m surely going to hell. Their bios read “CHRISTIAN” and “GOD-LOVER” and “DISCIPLE OF JESUS”—but the words appearing just inches below are made of anger and bitterness and fear.

I read their snarling, resentful social media posts about “illegals” who are destroying their country—and remember when I served alongside them on mission trips to the very places these supposed immoral threats come from.

I overhear them in restaurants, disparaging with racial slurs the black server who just departed their table, and watch them actively ogle women who walk by—and I wonder how they connect the lines of their lives to the Jesus of the Bible.

I see them at arena Presidential propaganda rallies, chanting “send her back”—about a Muslim woman they’ve never met and know nothing about: one whose name they probably don’t know or can’t spell.

The emptiness is epidemic.

https://johnpavlovitz.com/2019/08/03/the-hurtful-church-of-jesus-less-christians/

[Thekaspervote]

1. I've taken to calling them EVILGELICALS

[kurtcagle]

2. Religion as moral framework

Religion is a framework, a way for people to simplify the complexity of a world full of decisions. For some, religion acts like a lens, forcing them to examine their own beliefs to understand what it would take to become a better people. For others, religion is a license, giving them justification to turn their own anger, disappointment and fear into a justification for their actions. Sadly, there are far more of the latter than the former.

In most cases, the latter people are quite simply incapable of reflection. They find it hard to admit when they are wrong, even to themselves and project their fears on others because it is easier to do that than to take hard moral choices.

I don't think this is solely the fault of religion. I am an agnostic, not because I think there is no validity in any given religion but because I believe that the moral path you take through life will be different for you than anyone else. Seeking wisdom from religious holy books is reasonable because such books reflect the thinking of people who were generally reflective, but such should only be seen as informative, not prescriptive.