Christianity Tag Archive
As you may know I spent a week at the National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Since it’s in the middle of nowhere I never went off campus during my six days there. Let’s face it the nightlife in Shepherdstown left something to be desired. So my car sat there collecting dust and pollen. When I finally checked out on Friday morning I found a little brochure “Have you heard of the FOUR SPIRITUAL LAWS?” on my windshield. I thought for a moment maybe it was left by the same lady who wanted me to emigrate. But then I realized it couldn’t be her, because this brochure was inviting me to the Calvary Road Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia. And that’s in the United States.
So this time it wasn’t the anti-Bush bumper sticker that got someone’s attention, it was my Unitarian Universalist bumper sticker instead. And this zealot must have been wise enough to grasp the obvious: I was (gasp) unsaved!
This was an accurate assumption. Where this proselytizer went wrong is that, like most of them, he or she assumed I was a moron. Apparently he or she assumed I had gone through 47 years of living and had not heard the “good news” about Jesus Christ. I must have been living in a cave somewhere all this time practicing Zorasterism or something. I flipped through their publication against my better judgment. Imagine my surprise when I learned that Jesus apparently was the one and only way I was ever going to get to heaven. Without the big J guy I was apparently hell bound.
As someone who was born and raised Catholic this was not news to me. In fact you would have to be either a very recent immigrant from some very remote country or have suffered a recent bout of amnesia to not possibly know that Christians believe Jesus is the only way to get into heaven. And yet this very obvious bit of knowledge doesn’t seem to penetrate the minds of these people. They assume those of us unsaved are unwashed and ignorant heathen.
But they must have been clever enough to know that I might be a skeptic and might need proof in their assertion that Jesus is the only way to get into heaven. Thankfully by page 7 of the brochure there it was: John 14:6. “Jesus saith unto him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me.’”
Case closed! Hey, it’s in the Bible! There is of course the wee little problem that first you have to believe in the Bible before you will accept it as the word of God. And that’s the problem with this little brochure. If it is trying to convince me it is doing a damned poor job. So I would like to say to this member of the Calvary Road Baptist Church: If I knocked on your door and showed you a passage from the Koran that only through obedience to Allah’s will can you gain eternal life would this convince you to abandon Christianity?
Somehow I think not. Then why on earth would you think this sort of logic would convince me?
And before you leave brochures everywhere, how about learning a little about comparative religions first? Would it hurt to learn more about Unitarian Universalism other than “they’re not really Christians”? If you took a few minutes to explore the UUA web site you’d realize we’re not spiritual morons. We’re complex creatures comfortable with ambiguity. We celebrate religious pluralism and your right to practice your version of Christianity. In fact in my own way I have already been proselytizing. Yes, I took a class of Unitarian Universalists children to a few Christian churches as part of our yearlong religious education class. We also took our students to a Jewish temple, discussed paganism, went through the beliefs of Muslims and even practiced praying to Mecca six times a day. In short we encourage our youth to explore all aspects of religion and spirituality. We don’t claim Unitarian Universalism is the right religion for anyone. One of our few principles is never to proselytize. So don’t worry, we won’t be leaving brochures on your windshield telling you your only way to true happiness is by coming to a UU service and drinking too much coffee after the service at our long winded social hours. We respect you too much as a human being to shove our beliefs in your face.
Yes, I know you have to do it. Your faith informs you that you have to bring the good news of salvation to us heathens. Well news flash: your tactics suck. I don’t know how many people you actually get to come to Jesus from all these silly brochures. But I have to think that any that you do get must be morons, and if so I guess you and Jesus are welcome to them.
As for the rest of us, we’ve been around the block. We know about Jesus. We know about The Buddha. We know about Allah. We know about atheists, wiccans and the 50% of Americans who are “religious” or “spiritual” but can’t be bothered to go to church on Sundays. If you expect to win our respect you got to do it the old fashioned way. You have to earn it. You have to treat us like adults and respect our opinions. You have to behave in a way that is consistent with the deity you claim to emulate. And here’s another news flash: most Christians are about as Christ-like as Attila the Hun. Instead of praying in their closets they act like the moneychangers at the temple. Instead of turning the other cheek they cheer on President Bush when he unilaterally wages war on sovereign countries. If you want to earn my respect, don’t proselytize and act a lot more like Jimmy Carter. Let me see your faith manifest in good works. Let me feel I am your peer, not some unenlightened and ignorant fool. Then perhaps we can have a meaningful conversation and I can learn where you are truly coming from. And perhaps your mind would open just a crack to appreciate my perspective too.
Maybe we would both grow a little as a result. I think Jesus would approve. Meanwhile insulting brochures like yours only make me gag. Rest assured I won’t go anywhere near the Calvary Road Baptist Church. If you treat me like a moron you earn only my contempt.
September 1st, 2004 at 09:37pm
Posted by
Mark |
Sociology |
one comment
Everyone should have their heroes. I may be 47, but I’m not too old to have my hero. Jimmy Carter is my hero.
I hate to admit I admire Jimmy Carter as much as I do. For one thing he is a passionate Christian and I am not. I am not sure exactly what I am, but I am not a Christian. While I like individuals who happen to be Christian, as a class I am not fond of Christians. But then there’s Jimmy. And after analyzing my feelings about the man I realize I like him because he is a Christian.
A contradiction? Not at all. I admire Christians who can actually act Christ-like. When I think my disenfranchisement with Christianity, aside from all the silly mysticism of much of it, my number one gripe is that most Christians seem to be more spiritually aligned with Satan than with Jesus. But then there’s Jimmy Carter. Here’s a man who epitomizes what Christianity should be but so rarely is. Certainly he is not alone. Perhaps I note so few of them because they so quietly do their work. But from my perspective true Christians are a rare breed. And I believe that Jimmy Carter is near or at the top of the list of people who epitomize the Jesus I found from reading the Bible.
I often wonder how many of those people who purport to be Christians have actually bothered to read Jesus’s words. Here in Virginia you can’t walk two feet without bumping into purported Christians. Unfortunately we’re talking about the Jerry Falwell type of Christian. These folks have no qualms about amassing large sums of money even though Jesus disdained wealth. These Christians seems to be obsessed over the evils of gays and sodomy even though Jesus hung out with Samaritans and prostitutes and stayed away from the rabbis at the temple. These Christians are people who every day feel free to condemn me and people like me for my lifestyle but seem to have wholly missed Jesus’s words saying only those without sin should cast the first stone.
Then there is Jimmy Carter. Humble. Decent. Not the proselytizing type. Not the sort of man to give you a lecture for your behavior. He is a man much more concerned about living the example of Jesus through deeds than through words. Here is a man who if he followed the Ronald Reagan model for ex-presidents might have grabbed speaking fees for tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars at a pop. Instead he went home after a bitter defeat, licked his wounds, built the required presidential library and went to work. Most of us know that he started Habitat for Humanity, which creates affordable housing across the nation. Many of us also know he has worked tirelessly to bring democratic government to nations that never knew it. If you look around the world today and wonder why there are more democratic nations than there were in 1980, don’t think Reagan or Bush had much to do with it. Thank instead Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter who monitored countless elections. Thank also Jimmy and Rosalyn for all their work vital work in world sustainable development.
People often say that Jimmy Carter was a terrible president. The truth is that Carter was too good to be our president. We say we want a man of peace and high character as our president. But in fact we prefer the macho cowboy as president, not the 98-pound weakling. We even prefer adulterers like Bill Clinton to weenie men like Jimmy Carter who confess lust in their hearts but don’t do anything about it. We saw Jimmy Carter as almost effeminate: a wimp. Here was a guy who agonized for weeks before sending American forces into combat in an unsuccessful attempt to free our hostages from Iran’s custody. We all know W would not be such a wimp. He’d send in the Marines! Send out the strike fighters! He’d show those wacky Persians who’s the boss! Yes, we require a real man (or perhaps someday a real woman) as our president. We don’t want someone who realizes what a hollow thing our sexual stereotypes are and instead is content to be an honest and fallible human being.
The truth was that Carter was a president during times that would have tripped up anyone. The same fate would have befell Gerald Ford had he won in 1976. There is not much any president can do to reduce high inflation, high interest rates and oil shocks in four short years. But Carter did what he could. Although the deficits of the 1970s look puny by modern standards he did manage to reduce the annual federal budget deficit, unlike his immediate predecessors. And he made unpopular but correct choices in a number of areas. Does anyone remember the hubbub of “giving away” the Panama Canal? Does anyone care now that it is under the control of the Panamanian people? It was the right thing to do and Carter had the leadership to make sure it happened.
And what other president prior to Carter did as much for world peace? Certainly many presidents sent men to war to create a peace. But Jimmy Carter actively worked to solve the thorniest foreign policy issues. The Camp David Accords were an amazing achievement that created a peace that has endured for over 25 years between two implacable foes: Israel and Egypt. It is no wonder that for this and his many other achievements in peacemaking Jimmy Carter belatedly won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
Last night I watched Carter, nearly 81, speak at the Democratic National Convention. His voice was unsteady at times but he is otherwise in remarkably good health. He gave of one the most concise but on target speeches against George W. Bush and his strategy of preemptive war that has ever been made. Who else could say this with such conviction and authority?
Today, our dominant international challenge is to restore the greatness of America - based on telling the truth, a commitment to peace, and respect for civil liberties at home and basic human rights around the world. Truth is the foundation of our global leadership, but our credibility has been shattered and we are left increasingly isolated and vulnerable in a hostile world. Without truth - without trust - America cannot flourish. Trust is at the very heart of our democracy, the sacred covenant between the president and the people.
Jimmy Carter is modeling the behavior we should all emulate. If we had courage we would be following behind him. Instead of squandering our lives playing with game cubes or watching “reality” television, our lives could take on genuine meaning and richness. Carter is showing us a path we can all choose to take. How many of us have the courage to rise above our selfishness and live the meaningful life?
If I could pick just one person among all the brilliant people, statesmen and theologians in this world to spend an hour with I would pick Jimmy Carter. Just to have the opportunity to shake his hand would be the highlight of my life. Jimmy, if you are in Northern Virginia, take this as a standing invitation. And as a wishy washy Unitarian Universalist to a true Christian I say: God bless.
July 27th, 2004 at 09:44pm
Posted by
Mark |
Best of Occam's Razor, Sociology |
3 comments
Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion of the Christ is playing to record box office levels. It has grossed $125M so far, and $41M of it was made during the middle of a workweek. I am not surprised by the box office take. Of course Christians are going to want to see a convincing movie about Jesus, providing it sticks close to the gospels (as this movie reputedly does). Goodness, there are about 1.7 billion Christians worldwide. That’s a huge market. The theaters will be packed for a very long time.
I wonder what Jesus would think of Mel Gibson’s movie. I have no idea how accurate is his depiction of Jesus’ death and suffering. Certainly as an evangelical work it is likelier to bring in new converts then turn them away. It is also likely to make those who are already Christians that much firmer in their convictions.
Still, I have to wonder whether Jesus would cast a jaundiced eye at Mel for this movie. The movie will undoubtedly make Gibson obscenely wealthy. I wonder what Jesus would think of all the merchandising tie-ins to the movie. What’s that you say? Mel would not be so base as act like one of those moneychangers at the temple at whom Jesus swore? Think again. You too can share the passion of the Christ. A 24-inch leather pendant with a two-inch pewter nail can be had for only $16.99, plus shipping and handling, along with many other fine movie memorabilia officially authorized by Mel. Yes, Jesus apparently now has his own personal designer, a man named Bob Siemon. Please Mel, share the Passion of the Christ. Maybe some of your millions in profits will go to missionary works. But doubtless you could use a few dozen new Mercedes in your driveway. A second home in Malibu would be nice too. The Lord works in mysterious ways.
I do not watch violent movies as a rule so I know I will give this movie a pass. I cannot rate the movie except I know that in my case it would be high up there on my vomit score. I’d have to bring an airsick bag. Spending two hours watching anyone being slowly and methodically tortured then allowed to die of blood loss and asphyxiation doesn’t inspire any passion in me. The fact that the man might have been divine wouldn’t change the situation. Graphic violence makes me feel sick, not holy.
I do strongly suspect though that whatever the truth of Jesus is, it can’t be found in this movie. In fact what we really know about the historical Jesus of Nazareth is really very scanty. There is little evidence outside of the Christian world that Jesus even existed. Nonetheless I do think Jesus existed - it’s a logical application of the Occam’s Razor principle. I just doubt he was divine, at least in the same way that Christians think he is divine.
No I don’t think Jesus was divine. And I’m afraid I don’t believe in the miracle of the loaves and fishes. I don’t think he cured the blind. I don’t think he walked on the Sea of Galilee. I do think that Jesus was something of a radical for his time. I think it is likely that when he developed a following of a sufficient size he was tried and put to death because his thoughts were considered dangerous to the social order. I don’t believe he was resurrected.
But do I think that Jesus, if he existed, was not extraordinary? Not at all. If I have a nit to pick with Christians it is that I believe they have lost the message of Jesus somewhere among all the mythology and millenniums since his life. The essence of Jesus is not that he died and was resurrected from the dead. It is not that he died for our sins. For me the amazing thing about the historic Jesus is that he was the first person to popularize the meme that all men are brothers.
This is a lesson that we are still trying to absorb. Jesus was not the first to teach universal brotherhood. But his messy death might well have been the catalyst to make the dream catch fire. I also think that mankind was at a point in its evolution where, with the right kind of match, the dream could catch fire. Jesus was the match. If his horrific death was self directed it might have been a gamble to begin the ascent of man not toward God, but to become the species it has always had the potential to be.
Yahweh was literally the god of the Jews, one among many. Back then each tribe or nation had their own god, gods or goddesses, which blessed and protected them from their enemies. It is clear from reading the Old Testament that Jews believed that Yahweh blessed and protected them. The Old Testament is the story of the Jewish people. In the New Testament, Yahweh is reborn as a universal God that loved all and accepted all. Jesus told the same stories again and again: that all men are brothers. Love is universal. We are more than our material selves. No transgression is beyond redemption. No man is more special than any other man. All are equally worthy and equally loved. Peace is found from within, not from the outside.
I find it strange that much of this message is lost or discounted by modern Christians. Much of their interpretation of Jesus would I think leave him scratching his head in puzzlement. I think he would be very surprised to be told he was a divine creature. As best I can tell Jesus never says that he was God. In the gospels he is often asked if he is the Son of God. He replies instead that he is the Son of Man. What this means is open to interpretation but it hardly suggests he thought he was divine. To me it says that Jesus was suggesting that he was mankind as it could be in some future generation. He was mankind devoid of the hate, the pettiness and the narrow mindedness that makes up so much of our lives.
To me Jesus’ message was this: mankind could pick itself up by its bootstraps. It could improve itself. Life didn’t have to be about famine, war and misery. By working together and through coming to love and understand one another we could lift all boats. We could be the species we were meant to be. We could all become the Son of Man.
He warned us that to do it we didn’t need to consult the holy books. We need to stay away from the hypocrites at the temples and the pious. We need to draw inward. We need to pray in our closets … in other words we need to meditate. We need to look at our world and each other with a new set of psychic glasses. We need to have the courage to rise above our bestial nature. We need to look to the future with hope, with love, with vision, with compassion and with resolve. Then all men will evolve. We will all become Sons of Man. We will crawl out of our swamp and ascend into a higher plain of our evolution.
To me these ideas are breath taking. I don’t need Jesus to die and be resurrected to affirm my beliefs in the correctness of these ideas. They are right. I feel it in my heart. But what does this make me? I don’t think it makes me a Christian in any sense of the word. I don’t believe Jesus was divine. I think Jesus was a brilliant philosopher and teacher, a rabbi in the best sense of the word. I don’t think he was sent by God to save us. If Jesus was sent by anyone, we sent him. Our collective angst and desire may have spawned a moment of unique energy, which was Jesus. He became our evolutionary agent. He was the consciousness of mankind that woke us from our despair, our bitterness and our lethargy. He made us stand up, look at the world and realize “Hey, it’s all up to us. We will be what we choose to be.”
So perhaps I am a follower of Jesus. I am not a Christian. But I am a believer in some much larger cosmic plan he was a catalyst to move us forward toward a brighter future.
If I were to direct a movie about the meaning of Jesus then this would be its message. But I’m not sure it is what we want to hear.
March 1st, 2004 at 09:04pm
Posted by
Mark |
Best of Occam's Razor, Philosophy |
4 comments
Merry Christmas to you! Are you saved? If you are saved then praise be to Jesus Christ, Amen! If you aren’t saved and haven’t accepted Jesus Christ as your Personal Lord and Savior ™ — well then it’s time to get on the stick and get saved as soon as you can. Armageddon is almost here.
How do we know this? Why because of all the “Swept Away” books cluttering bookshelves and supermarket aisles, you doofus! The day of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is bound to happen any day now. You, the unsaved, may be under the impression that God and Jesus are all about unconditional love. If so you are wrong. God only lets into the afterlife those who worship him utterly. So if you don’t worship the One and Only True Christian God ™ and don’t find God through his personal emissary Jesus Christ ™, sorry, but you’re damned. That goes for all you Muslims too, and yes, of course you misguided “chosen people”, not to mention you vile Hindus, Buddhists, Taoists, pagans, Wiccans and most contemptible of all, you Unitarian Universalists. Yes, on that Final Judgment Day ™ you along with all the other damned get to begin an eternity of torment. So says your just and loving One True Christian God.
But you won’t be going straight to Hell, no! Before you are sent down the chute to Satan’s minions, first you must be shown the error of your ways. We, The Saved ™ will be watching you from the peanut gallery in St. Peter’s Heavenly Coliseum. God will be the matador, you will be the bull and in this game God always wins. In will go the knife of justice into your flawed and perturbed soul. You will realize what a stupid and contemptible piece of filth you were for all that whoring or practicing dangerous secular humanism. You should have been attending Bible study class instead, brother! A tiny tear of sadness may escape from us elect watching you bemoan your fate. You will despair that you had so many chances to come to Jesus Christ ™ but didn’t. We will be sad that you chose eternity in torment. But we will also glad that the likes of you aren’t fouling up the serene peace of the Heaven. It’s an exclusive neighborhood you see, and the covenants are real strict. Out forthwith, you heathens, to your perpetual ghetto! We, the saved, will be so rapturous being in heaven and all, and hanging around God, JC and the Holy Spirit ™ will be such a high that we will soon forget about you. Because we were saved! Saved! Yippee! And there’s nothing that gives us more pleasure than to spend eternity telling the God Trio ™ what great guys they are. The afterlife will be all Bible Study and harp playing all the time and it will never get dull, brother! Alleluia!
Okay, I know I said in this entry that I didn’t really care what your religion is. And really I don’t. That doesn’t mean I don’t find religions that say you either accept my religion or you’ll end up in Hell very contemptible. By inference then perhaps I feel that all the adherents who believe in this to be contemptible too. That’s not true. But if there is a Hell, then perhaps God will reserve some small part of it for these sanctimonious authors raking in millions in royalties for these novels. Elmer Gantry and the Landover Baptist Church would be proud.
As a Unitarian Universalist I am clearly on the damned path. We have a history of engaging in dangerous secular humanism. In fact we have the audacity to call the place we congregate a “Church” even though there is no requirement of anyone to accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior or even be a Christian! If you can imagine, we don’t care what anyone believes or doesn’t believe. Our mission is simply to help each other discover what it is they believe. Along the way we get involved in vile social action projects like feeding and sheltering the homeless, standing up for the rights of the poor and disenfranchised, encouraging democracy and protecting civil rights. We even welcome (Warning: sit down now!) gays, lesbians and the transgender community. And we don’t even try to convert them! Yup, on judgment day we UUs will doubtless be the first ones dispatched into Hell, post haste. Imagine the confusion of people when we, the heathen and unsaved, try to make the world a better place instead of telling others about God and Jesus. What a waste of our time and money!
I am, it appears, unsaved and perhaps irredeemable at this point. Because I’m afraid the missionaries could be lined up at my door stretching to the moon and not one of them will get me to buy into this saved stuff. My mind appears to be shut to them. While I am not sure what I truly believe about spirituality, what I tend to believe changes over time as I learn and experience more of life. This Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior stuff just makes me shake my head. Pity me, those of you among The Saved ™. I actually believe the Universalist notion. It states that if Jesus really did come down to earth to save us from our sins, he did so for everyone, for all time, with no strings attached. Because, you see, this to me is the highest expression of love. I can’t imagine any entity claiming to come from God, the source of unconditional love saying in effect “I’ve saved you all, but first you have to sign and adhere to this contract.”
So while I am skeptical about the afterlife in general I don’t give it too much concern because I figure I’m already saved. If I have a philosophy of life, I like the one expressed by J.R.R. Tolkien though his character Gandalf in “The Lord of the Rings”: “All you have to do is decide what to do with the time given to you.” For that I will let my heart and my conscience be my guide.
For those of you convinced that the only way to salvation is through Jesus, peace to you. But know this: I know in my heart that if God exists, he is not a jealous god, or a god that sets preconditions. Many Christians see Jesus the way fat people see diet doctors. Whether it’s Atkins or Pritikin, when you diet the goal is weight loss, not the means. If the afterlife or spiritual growth is the goal then the messenger doesn’t matter. If reading your Bible and attending services is your way to spirituality I think that’s great. Jesus is your means of getting there. But try to open your heart and your head to the notion that there are many ways to God. The ways of the Buddhist or the Muslim way may be just as valid as your way. Don’t confuse the medium (Jesus, the Bible) with the result (becoming a more spiritual person). Every human is unique. If there is a God it is clear that God designed us this way — we need only examine our own DNA for proof. I believe there is no one size fits all suit to spirituality. There are infinite suits to try on, and infinite paths. We are all spiritual creatures on our own unique spiritual journeys. Jesus hinted as much, by suggesting praying in your closet might work out better than in a house of worship. Try it for a year or so and let me know how it goes. And try this one for size: we the Unsaved deserve the dignity and respect for making our own choices on this matter, not your pity because we don’t share your particular brand of spirituality. You can start by not buying any more of those contemptible “Swept Away” books.
December 27th, 2003 at 11:23am
Posted by
Mark |
Best of Occam's Razor, Philosophy |
6 comments
