what bothers me about a lot of conservative christian groups is that supposedly theyre followers of jesus, doing as he did. but instead they develope their own agendas, slap the label 'christian' on it, and then they can say that people who disagree with them are spiritually wrong and immoral. yeesh.
basically, jesus just told people to care for eachother. not distinguishing between gay or straight, muslim or christian or athiest or buddhist or pagan, american or whatever.
James 2 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress
Matthew 25 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
i visited the focus on the family website and didnt see anything to suggest that theyre doing anything to help families that are suffering due to the war in iraq. i'm sure many innocent kids have died over the past year because of fighting in iraq. shouldnt part of their agenda include helping those *families*?!? but theres nothing in their definition of 'family' that says that they have to care about, oh, say, other nationalities or muslims. they dont care about real families. they care about an agenda. people see this, and then think that the word 'christian' is synonomous with: arrogant, holier than thou, selfserving bigotry.
They say "family" because that sounds nicer than "anti-gay" and frames it as something dangerous to argue against: "How could you be anti-family?"
they do try to lull people with their wording. they turn their *opinions* into the sacred. 'family' sounds so friendly and warm, how can you be against them?? same as the pro-life movement.. how can you be anti-life?
One of my pet peeves about "some" Christians is that they ignore Matthew 25 and procclaim that all you have to do to be saved is repeat some formula about accepting Jesus and sign your name in the Chick tract. Jesus made real clear what we have to do.
Well, who's that man who thinks He's a prophet? Well, I wonder if He's got something up His sleeve Where's He from? Who is His daddy? There's rumors He even thinks Himself a king Of a kingdom of paupers Simpletons and rogues The whores all seem to love Him And the drunks propose a toast
And they say, "Surely God is with us. Well, surely God is with us." They say, "Surely God is with us today!" -------------------------------------------------
this is from a rich mullins song, 'Surely God is With Us,' from the jesus record. i find some of his music to be kind of cheesy, but i really do like this album. 'all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of god', so how can anyone think themselves better or more moral than anyone else? arent we all just human beings struggling to find their way?
anyway, just thought you might appreciate the sentiment in this song. peace!! :-)
Re: works to go with faith: I wonder how many more times that needs to be said before it starts sinking in for the folks who need to hear it.
Re: suffering in other places: I remember seeing an analysis (probably on a page twistedchick linked to) of how many religious-right web sites had links or information or encouragement to donate to tsunami relief efforts, versus how many religious-left ones did. (IIRC, nearly all the left-leaning ones did, but none or nearly none of the right-wing ones.)
Re: abortion-issue nomenclature: Really, both sides are indulging in a bit of spin so as to have a pro-something name, which sounds nicer and easier to get behind than an anti-something name. They're really the anti-abortionists and the anti-restrictiveness camps. I do feel that the "pro-choice" label is less of a stretch than the pro-life one, though I wonder whether that's partly because of my own bias on that issue. (After all, the pro-choice folks are in fact saying, "let it be each individual's moral decision", while the pro-life people are saying "preserve life" but mostly overlooking life-beyond-the-womb.)
"people see this, and then think that the word 'christian' is synonomous with: arrogant, holier than thou, selfserving bigotry."
BTW, that's why several years ago I started making it a point to wear a cross all the time: visibility for non-right-wing, non-pushy Christians in a group that was largely distrustful of Christians because of mostly seeing the pushy, obnoxious ones. (Or mostly noticing the pushy ones ... quiet and respectful [anything] doesn't attract as much attention as flamboyant and/or annoying, even if there are many quiet folks around.)
i'm generally just a quiet, respectful person (i mean, i *try* to be), but even so i get all kinds of crap for being christian. i dont go around trying to bother people, i just live my life, and 'friends' of mine harrass me for my spiritual decisions. i'm constantly having to defend myself and explain, 'i'm not like those other christians!!!! and i'm NOT a bush supporter!!!' (yeesh, since when did christian come to mean republican, anyway?!?! no offense intended to those who are christian and choose to be republican). thanks for the empathy!! :-)
(no subject)
basically, jesus just told people to care for eachother. not distinguishing between gay or straight, muslim or christian or athiest or buddhist or pagan, american or whatever.
i visited the focus on the family website and didnt see anything to suggest that theyre doing anything to help families that are suffering due to the war in iraq. i'm sure many innocent kids have died over the past year because of fighting in iraq. shouldnt part of their agenda include helping those *families*?!? but theres nothing in their definition of 'family' that says that they have to care about, oh, say, other nationalities or muslims. they dont care about real families. they care about an agenda. people see this, and then think that the word 'christian' is synonomous with: arrogant, holier than thou, selfserving bigotry.
they do try to lull people with their wording. they turn their *opinions* into the sacred. 'family' sounds so friendly and warm, how can you be against them?? same as the pro-life movement.. how can you be anti-life?
bah.
(no subject)
(no subject)
You mean like hanging out with homosexuals, alcoholics, gamblers and prostitutes? Treating them with the same love and respect that everyone else got?
Way too many Christians have forgotten or chosen to ignore what being Christ-like actually means. Thank you for pointing this out.
inspiring lyrics....
Well, I wonder if He's got something up His sleeve
Where's He from? Who is His daddy?
There's rumors He even thinks Himself a king
Of a kingdom of paupers
Simpletons and rogues
The whores all seem to love Him
And the drunks propose a toast
And they say, "Surely God is with us.
Well, surely God is with us."
They say, "Surely God is with us today!"
-------------------------------------------------
this is from a rich mullins song, 'Surely God is With Us,' from the jesus record. i find some of his music to be kind of cheesy, but i really do like this album. 'all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of god', so how can anyone think themselves better or more moral than anyone else? arent we all just human beings struggling to find their way?
anyway, just thought you might appreciate the sentiment in this song. peace!! :-)
Re: inspiring lyrics....
please not that this scans perfectly to "Who's the black private dick who's a sex machine".
I was expecting, for a moment after this to turn into filk.
He's a complicated man, and no one understands him but disciples..
CHRIST!
Damn right...
(no subject)
Re: suffering in other places: I remember seeing an analysis (probably on a page
Re: abortion-issue nomenclature: Really, both sides are indulging in a bit of spin so as to have a pro-something name, which sounds nicer and easier to get behind than an anti-something name. They're really the anti-abortionists and the anti-restrictiveness camps. I do feel that the "pro-choice" label is less of a stretch than the pro-life one, though I wonder whether that's partly because of my own bias on that issue. (After all, the pro-choice folks are in fact saying, "let it be each individual's moral decision", while the pro-life people are saying "preserve life" but mostly overlooking life-beyond-the-womb.)
(no subject)
BTW, that's why several years ago I started making it a point to wear a cross all the time: visibility for non-right-wing, non-pushy Christians in a group that was largely distrustful of Christians because of mostly seeing the pushy, obnoxious ones. (Or mostly noticing the pushy ones ... quiet and respectful [anything] doesn't attract as much attention as flamboyant and/or annoying, even if there are many quiet folks around.)
(no subject)