People of faith find that every day they must look into their heart, their mind and their religious texts and approach the world in the way they feel their faith asks of them. In the last ten years, though, something truly sinister has begun to happen in America, to one of the major faiths that dominates our landscape.
Christianity has come under serious attack. Those who followed the teaching of Christ have found that their churches have become corrupted, the preachings at pulpits tainted, and the heart of their faith has been disturbingly altered.
There is a war against Christianity my friends.
I rarely speak in homily, but today, I want to talk about this takeover of Christianity by those who would destroy it's meanings. I want to start with THE commandment of the new testament, from John 13:34
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
Groups like Fred Phelps and his followers are too easy targets, their hate extends beyond all religion and is disavowed by so many religious. The comforting message that so many say as they listen to the religious leadership in this country is that they are not like Fred, they understand that God doesn't hate.
Comforted by this understanding, it is easy to embrace that instead, they fight over the issues that God cares about. An Eye for an Eye, that was in the bible right? (Old Testament, but that doesn't matter).
But the messages of our churches today and those who pretend to represent the religious are being overrun with messages that undercut the teachings of the master, the founder of the faith in Jesus Christ.
The politicians who claim to represent the faith, and who are those who hold up the good of the Christian community.
"My father had a ranch; we used to have 50-60 wetbacks to pick tomatoes," Young said. "It takes two people to pick the same tomatoes now. It's all done by machine." (Alaska Representative Don Young)
“It looks like to me if shooting these immigrating feral hogs works maybe we have found a [solution] to our illegal immigration problem.” Kansas State Rep Virgil Peck
In comparison to the message of Christ:
Matthew 25:31-46
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
When you see a stranger in need, says the master, you should clothe them and help them. In comparison to the counter message: when you see someone in need or a stranger, maybe you should shoot them like feral pigs.
Our policies of the religious, though, must match the idea of supporting one self, helping each other. It is the a big part of Jesus words to us, isn't it?
“I think it is a bad thing is they let those cuts expire, we’re in the middle of a deep, deep recession … Now is not the time to increase taxes to the dwindling producers in our country when we have a president who is trying to give more money away to the moochers and welfare. We need people working, not sitting back receiving food stamps and unemployment. It’s laughable.” - Tea Party Shill Ted Phillips on Fox News, 9/12/2012
"I have a right to health care, you provide it to me. I have a right to a place to live, you provide it to me. I have a right to food, you provide it to me," Boortz says to describe the moocher class.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/...
But how does Christ view this?
Prov. 19:17 When you help the poor you are lending to the Lord--and he pays wonderful interest on your loan!
And fittingly, while John 3:16 gets mentioned a lot, I thought I would bring up John 3:17-3:18
1 John 3:17 But if someone who is supposed to be a Christian has money enough to live well, and sees a brother in need, and won't help him--how can God's love be within him ? 1 John 3:18 Little children, let us stop just saying we love people; let us really love them, and show it by our actions. 1 John 3:19 Then we will know for sure, by our actions, that we are on God's side, and our consciences will be clear, even when we stand before the Lord.
And maybe not everyone is Fred Phelps. So many Christians have avoided the outright hatred and preaching that labels people as evil. Unfortunately, it's not all.
http://www.speakupmovement.org/...
Bachmann may come to regret her superfandom for Dean. One news outlet has already suggested that Dean might be her Jeremiah Wright. It's easy to make such a comparison. Dean has amassed quite a video log on YouTube of ultra right-wing conspiracy theories about New World Orders and made bigoted remarks directed at the LGBT community, Muslims and President Barack Obama. In Dean's world Hitler was gay and Obama is, of course, equal to Osama bin Laden.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Hate, fear, and damnation are all in order at the lips of these ministers of so many faiths, on so many issues.
I would point them back to the words I quoted originally:
John 13:34
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
If you are Christians, followers of Christ, you are here to love one another. You are commanded by your lord and savior:
Matthew 7:1 "“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
The mistake so many make is to say: you are being told you cannot judge anything. But what is being said is that the standard by which you judge others, the way in which you treat others, respect others and honor others - that is the standard by which you will be treated.
And yet, it is this concept that is so scary to so many that has led us to change our message, and to embrace a God that hates; a Christianity that sweeps aside the New Testament in favor of old testament judgements, including "an eye for an eye".
There is a war against Christianity, my friends. Even as a non-believer I can see it. The words of one of the most significant philosophers and leaders of all humanity - and for those that believe in him, a deity - are being put on the wayside in favor of a message that asks us to hate, to judge others, to hold our pocketbooks shut, to scream "mine mine mine", and to address others as less than we are.
This weekend after Easter, many will go into church and embrace the message of the New Testament, which Easter Signifies, the message that tells us that there is one commandment over all: Love one another. But the message that so many of them will receive at Church today will be about the evils that others do in the world, how we should judge them, and why it is our job to do so. Political leaders will start meetings with a prayer, and talk about the old days and cast judgement and disparage others.
We will address the stranger to the table in derogatory terms and maybe joke about shooting them onsite, because "how you treat the least of my brothers" apparently means shooting them is OK.
There is a war on Christianity in America. And the message of a God who loved his people, embraced them, and asked them to love one another.. that is the message that so many must look to spread to their fellow man.