Thursday, October 7, 2010

"I Like Your Christ. I Do Not Like Your Christians. So Unlike Your Christ."

To My Fundamentalist Friends:
Labeling those things you think are true as "faith" (and therefore good, just, and above reproach) and any variation of those things as "nothing" (and therefore false, meriting eternal torture) is not likely to win many converts to your cause (which you, as a Christian, have an obligation to do).
I hope one day that telling other adults they are going to hell for what they believe will be seen as offensive, odious, and primitive as advocating slavery or the stoning of adulteresses. The fact that all 3 doctrines have some support in some parts of the Bible does not mean our ethics and morality cannot evolve beyond the narrow exclusivity and tribalism of the agrarian Mediterranean society out of which these belief systems developed.
Telling someone you believe something because your conscience dictates it, your parents or community taught it to you, or you discovered it through your own personal journey of exploration and study is beyond reproach. Telling everyone else who has not come to the same conclusion as you (even if we agree about many things) they are to be punished forever and ever (and that you find that punishment just) is just plain verbal bullying and I have a habit of standing up to bullies and calling them out.
Taunting people with your goodness and their wickedness is many things, but I doubt it would jive much with the message of compassion and forgiveness taught by a certain Jewish day laborer over whose divinity, you, I, and several billion of our fellow planetary citizens disagree.
When Jesus was asked how to pray, it was a simple prayer that didn't involve hell, but did involve a request to "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us."
He never said Jews are going to hell, as you have repeatedly, which would have been some trick since he and all of his followers were Jewish.
He didn't say to taunt your enemies, but to forgive them, to treat them as you would a friend.
He didn't say to pummel your enemies with threats of hell (or stones) but not to throw stones unless you yourself are without sin. (When the alleged adulteress in question found Jesus had saved her life from the Biblically sanctioned horror she otherwise would have suffered, he didn't say anything about fire and brimstone. He told her to go and not sin again.)
Maybe I'm out of line and you are indeed without sin. For all I know, you're right, and those of us who disagree with you are as good as bacon, but if so there is nothing any of us can really do about it, since I cannot feign belief in a metaphysical reality anymore than you can feign tolerance for those who do not share your belief. So reminding us all that we are going to hell is a bit like telling chronic smokers about the horrors of emphysema that await them. It's just not very nice. Not very Christian.
I will close with a quotation from a wonderful human being whom you believe is suffering eternally right now, someone who nevertheless had far more moral courage and simple goodness than any of us. "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. So unlike your Christ."
- Gandhi

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