As in the song "Lawyers In Love" we have a land, a nation with too many in high places willing to do anything for money neglecting people, honor and principle but a change is coming. No more falling for the lie of living only individualistic and independent lives leaving us divided and conquerable by powerful special interests but a people, a nation collaborating for the greater common good in various groups all across the nation. A land of people working together to help one another with a vision moreover as Jesus would have us be. Love, Mercy, Forgiveness, Kindness....something about another Land. The change is coming

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Drop The Religious Right And Follow Jesus Christ

The religious right, so agitated that their prized president George W. Bush was a failure, have doubled down in anger on about every hot button issue they cling to. They no longer offer an alternative health care ideal, their ideal now is better characterized by "let'em die" . They no longer just oppose environmental concerns, now it's "screw the earth" and they no longer oppose big government now it's "starve the beast". Were it only for the politics their fading would be fine but any loss of the faithful on account of it is not.

There are some mingled among the religious right that do espouse a spiritually solid and sincere foundation on the imperative of evangelizing and salvation but unfortunately do not see that their entanglement with rightwing politics is repulsing many would be converts and especially young people. Today's youth, well informed by the internet, believe more than previous generations that working together in cooperation is the hallmark of a successful society and a better world and this runs counter to the widely perceived mean-spirited anti-government mentality of the religious right but the truth on this occasion is in fact with the youth that seek the goodwill of civil cooperation and it is not the first time a younger generation has been ahead of the curve.

The Religious Right Error and True Character of Christianity

The problem is that the extreme politics of the religious right have poisoned the well of good will that should be the hallmark of Christianity. First and worst of all they tragically see income level as indicative of spiritual level, unfortunately for them, indicating their own spiritual condition that has been compromised by money and the prosperity doctrine. Far too many poor and low-income people avoid the "modern" church because they are essentially looked down upon and for many it is; why even go there?  Well over 100 million people are foolishly looked down upon in full face of the fact it was the poor and common people that were drawn to Jesus.
Religious right Christians look at you with disdain any time you might disagree with their politics as if their politics were written in the concrete word of God leaving you as a blasphemer or heretic. Around them if you say you are a Christian but disagree with their politics they surely believe you must have some spiritual problem at the base of your differing point of view. It is because they have made an idolatry of their politics equating it with the infallible word of God where there can be no questioning of it and of course if you do question it there must be something wrong with you. Such a violent natured political view that they now hold can only maintain itself if it has this infallible conveyence because otherwise it would crumble under scrutiny from the real word of God, the evidences of the disciples and the teachings of Jesus which embarrassingly for the religious right lopsidedly disdain the rich and support the poor.

Religious right ideology is born out of fear and the selling out to mammon as the "real" supplier of things, that is, God in word but mammon in deed or reality. Being compromised so fully to money and material things they know deep down that the protection they should expect from God has been compromised so they live in fear of this vulnerable condition they very well know may exist for them as they support political policies they know will elicit protection for them from the secular authority. Perhaps it is practical for the fearful of the world but not for the faithful of Jesus Christ.

Indicative of this is the religious right's support for the proliferation of hand guns so that they can carry one to protect themselves.
Support of torture to get information from suspects that might be a possible harm to them.
Support for the death penalty, the ultimate vengeance.
Support for pre-emptive war, never mind war in general, to stop any harm from coming to themselves.
And that is the short and clean list.

But what would anyone coming to the point of following Jesus want with all this self-centered visceral political junk anyway?
The religious right no longer see themselves as the righteous resistance or buffer to such draconian measures that so characterize a world living in fear, but now support such measures as part of the creed they have made for themselves found no where in the new testament but expounded by them as if this creed is the infallible word of God. They live under fear just as the world lives under fear because they know their lives are compromised and therefore as vulnerable to evil as the world itself. Their actions demonstrate that their stock is in the world and in the nation instead of in the kingdom of God.

If a worldly nation will protect it's citizens from harm how much more will God who is our Father protect those belonging to His kingdom. When you repent to God of your sins and turn to Jesus Christ and follow His ways you are under the protection of God. Jesus has empowered us to demonstrate to the rest of the world His love and mercy and forgiveness also reaping the fruits of this in our lives. He gives us the courage and strength to do this if we are truly following Him. This is the qualitative substance and true character of Christianity, to not fear persecution or the slap on the face or the loss of our coat or even our life for His sake. Truly the notion of killing others in order to save ourselves should be seen as the cowardly way of surrender for the faith. 
Christianity has not prevailed in the world because of handguns torture and war, it has prevailed because of love, mercy and forgiveness. Make no mistake, it is the latter that changed the most brutal and decadent empire the world had ever seen.
When the going gets tough for the teachings of Jesus, the tough get going. True Christians seeing the value and eternal promise of God's words, especially from the Sermon on the Mount, call on the courage and strength that comes from their confidence in God based on their living for Him. No compromise.
Do not be like the world or misled by sold down the river substandard religion. Be what God would have you be. Follow Jesus Christ.

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