Like a growing number of Christians, I’m worried that bad actors with nefarious and personal agendas, are twisting the Christian faith into something dark and foreboding — into something fraudulent.
A non-Christian friend of mine recently commented that our faith seems to be punitive and unforgiving. He said that everything he’s been reading and hearing, seems to indicate that Christians live in fear and judgement, even in condemnation — that pious, self-appointed “good Christians,” are behaving much like the Pharisees of Christ’s day — the very people that betrayed and punished Jesus and we all know how that turned out.
The Pharisees had really become stuck in their own ego. They were enamored of themselves and their wealth and influence. They took the word of God and twisted it to instill fear and obedience in the masses, often punishing those who spoke out against their draconian tactics. The Pharisees used rules and “laws” to gain power and eventually, they actually lost all sense of true faith — it became less about God and more about themselves. They became so ingrained in rituals and rules, that they had no real or true relationship with God — in effect, they became so twisted and obstinate, that they had come to violate virtually everything God wants for mankind.
History Repeats Itself
When God sent Jesus to live among us so that He could experience what we do, He gave us the greatest gift — the Son of God, living as a man, knowing what that feels like in every way. Jesus brought the Word of God to us directly. What Jesus teaches, is the Word and Will of God — when He tells us to love and be compassionate, that is what God wants of us. When He tells us not to judge harshly or condemn, that is the Will of God. When Jesus tells us to love our enemies and our neighbors, He is doing so because that is what God expects of us. So why then, do so many Christians do the exact opposite and have the hypocrisy and audacity to proclaim themselves to be “good Christians?”
How can the very people who ignore the Word of God and who violate His Will, think that they, of all people, are righteous and good? Too many of our Christian brothers and sisters are behaving just like the Pharisees — they have become pompous and pious, blustering and boasting, judging and condemning, when in truth, they should be much more concerned with their own blatant hypocrisy. How can the worst of sinners with the darkest of secrets, preach to the world what is right from wrong?
“He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him.” – Pslam 103:10-11
Perhaps Its Just Americans
There are a lot of people around the world who find the American “brand” of Christianity to be the most jarring — they find the arrogance of the ultra conservative faction of American Christians to be alarming and they have every reason to feel this way. Let me state this clearly: God does not need our help in routing out sin or sinners. God is not looking for us to humiliate and judge others, particularly since not one of us is without sin. How can the ultra conservative Christian judge and condemn a gay person, when he himself has committed adultery, cheated on his taxes or stolen what did not belong to him? Does he honestly believe that God somehow favors him, despite is unrepentant sins, simply because he is heterosexual? Take that pious Christian who denies aid to the poor…can this “Christian” really believe he or she is favored in the eyes of God?
Americans have become pathologically obsessed with politics and there are those who have hijacked the Christian faith for their own nefarious purposes. A political leader who blasphemes by twisting the word of God to get votes, is lying to God’s children. A Christian who allows themselves to be led astray and who puts politics and hatred over their faith, is willfully ignoring the Word and Will of God.
Just this week, Christians around the world were angered by what they believed was a segment of the opening Olympic ceremonies that seemed to mock the Last Supper. As it turns out, it was about Greek mythology and not the Last Supper — that however, didn’t stop some American Christians from carrying on their “outrage” over the image. Ironic and disturbing, since these same people are clearly okay with political memes depicting Jesus draped in a U.S. flag, holding an M-16 and walking with Donald Trump. And the offensive images in which Jesus is seen to be standing with Trump and Republicans doesn’t bother them either…nor do the ones in which they depict Jesus as a U.S. Marine basically saying He is for the rightwing and not the left. Face it, if a “Christian” has no problem with those politically charged blasphemous images, they have no business commenting on the one from the Olympics. This is the type of mass hypocrisy and blasphemous anti-Christ rhetoric too many on the right encourage and celebrate, proving that in truth, they’re not Christian at all — they’re political ideologues who advance their hatred by masking it with a counterfeit and evil version of Christianity.
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” — Matthew 7:1-5
This isn’t too difficult to grasp. Christians are called upon to be kind, generous, non-judgemental, compassionate and loving. That is fact. God loves all of his children — Arab, Asian, Christian, Hindu, Gay, straight, Black, White. This too is undeniable fact. So when a Christian takes matters into his own hands and judges and condemns one of God’s children, he is in every sense of the word, telling God that they are right and God is not. Outrageous.
Am I judging? I guess in some way, I am. But what is galling is that these “fake” Christians, who live in complete opposition to the teachings of Jesus, are actually convincing people that they are the embodiment of a “good” Christian. They are in reality, Wolves in Sheep’s clothing, deceiving people and turning other Christians away from the faith. Christians who know the truth need to start speaking up and out and they need to do so now. We cannot allow fraudulent and false Christians to do more harm to the true faith, so that means speaking up and sharing the true message of our faith.
“I don’t want to see religious bigotry in any form. It would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it.” ― Billy Graham
Its time to retake our faith and show the world the miraculous beauty that is Christianity. The people who have hijacked our faith and twisted into something dark and unrecognizable, should not be given a platform to spew their politically tainted vengeful and hateful form of Christianity.
