63 degrees today.
Opened a few windows.
And the cats quickly claimed the windows.
And the flowers are pushing their way up out of the ground.
TAKE THAT winter!!
On March 10, 2010, In Religion, By Bruce
I am angry.
A long time internet acquaintance of mine is dying. He has cancer. Doctors have given him six months to live.
I know God isn’t going to heal him because God never heals anyone with terminal cancer.
I know God is not going to make his medical bills go away because God never pays medical bills.
In times like these God is AWOL.
Oh we want to think God is there.
We want to think God cares.
But he is not there and neither does he care.
This man gave his life for the cause.
He worked, preached, and taught for poverty wages.
He did without so others would not have to.
Because of his unorthodox views he was often criticized by the keepers of orthodoxy.
He asked too many questions.
He talked out loud on his blog and it made people uncomfortable.
He was a shit-stirrer and he was damn good at it.
But that’s all over now.
He is dying.
He is 53.
He has a wife and two grown children.
If there is a God I am angry with God.
He could have done something about this.
He could have brought healing.
He could have done any of a number of things, but he didn’t.
God sits on the sidelines indifferent to suffering.
It is better for me to say “no God.”
Without God I better understand that life isn’t fair.
People die.
Genetics, environment, lifestyle and luck of the draw determine how we will die.
Bad things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people too.
Life is what it is.
I can understand that….without God.
Suffering and death………were the hinges on which the door of my defection from Christianity swung.
I want nothing to do with a God who is indifferent towards our suffering and death.
I want nothing to do with a God that afflicts me and kills me for my good and his glory.
No, with that God I am angry.
Better for me if there is no God.
On March 9, 2010, In Religion, By Bruce
Sin.
According to the Bible sin is transgression of the law.
Let the debate begin
Which law?
Old Testament?
New Testament?
Both?
Christianity teaches that sin separates us from God.
Sin is what sent Jesus to the cross.
We are all sinners,.
Born that way.
We sin because we are sinners.
Sin will ultimately land us in hell unless we trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins.
Sin is the problem and Jesus is the solution.
Our hearts are black but Jesus can make them white through his blood that he shed on the cross.
Without sin I wonder if Christianity would exist?
For those of us who are not Christians sin takes on a different meaning.
Since there is no God to offend, and no God to give an account to, sin does not carry the force that it does with the Christian.
The list of sins, according to the Bible, according to the pastor, according to each Christian, is quite long.
Every person has their own sin list.
No sin list is the same.
As an unbeliever my sin list is quite short.
And it gets shorter every day.
Since I reject the Bible as an objective standard of right and wrong how do I determine my morals and ethics?
Do I need a god, Church, or pastor to tell me what my morals and ethics should be?
Do I need a Bible to tell me what my morals and ethics should be?
According to the Bible all the law can be summed up in two commands:
- Love God
- Love your fellow human beings
My morals and ethics are based on the premise that I should love my neighbor as myself.
I should treat people like I would want to be treated.
I should not do things that would harm other people.
I should value my relationships with my family and my fellow human beings to such a degree that I live in such a way that my actions cause them no harm.
God does not enter the picture. My only concern is the relationships I have with others. When I live in a selfish, unloving, unkind, unjust manner then I am “sinning” against my fellow human beings.
My sin does not bring the judgment of God. It does hurt the relationships I have with others. My sin causes personal loss and pain.
If what I do does not hurt others, if it does not damage my relationships with others then it is not “sin.” (I don’t even like using the word sin)
This makes life much simpler for me.
I am still a “sinner” but I am much less a “sinner” since I abandoned the Christian faith.
Losing God, the Bible, and the complex, never ending, sin list has allowed to realize, for the first time in many many years that it is OK to be human.
After living a lifetime of denying who I am I can now be free to be Bruce. I am still finding out who I really am.
So much of my life was labeled as sin.
I suspect I will always have a Christian sin hangover. A lifetime of being beat over the head with an angry God, a dying Savior, and a rule book called the Bible, has left a lot of deep wounds.
On March 9, 2010, In Religion, By Bruce
The Answer.
The solution to the problems of life.
The way, truth , and life.
The one who makes life worth living.
Redeemer.
Deliverer.
Savior.
If Jesus is the giver of new life.
If Jesus cleanses a person from sin.
If Jesus gives his followers new desires.
If Jesus gives his followers a new song.
If Jesus fills that empty void in a person’s heart.
If Jesus gives his followers everything they need pertaining to life and godliness.
If Jesus heals.
If Jesus sets the drunk and the junkie free.
If Jesus cleanses the sinner from all unrighteousness.
If Jesus really is who and what Christians say he is….
Why are their lives no different than mine? No different than most agnostics or atheists I know?
It seems the only difference between me and thee is what we do on Sunday.
I am as moral and ethical, if not more so, as most Christians.
I live honestly and justly.
Yet, without Jesus.
If Jesus really is who and what Christians say he is….
Why are there so many Christian books written to deal with the messy, dysfunctional lives of the followers of Jesus?
I m trying real hard to understand what benefit there is to following Jesus. (judging only from what I see)
If I can live morally and ethically without Jesus then why join a social group that demands 10% of my income to be a member in good standing?
If Jesus is what you need I say good for you.
I hope you will say the same for people like me who have no need for Jesus. (or at least no need of the American, Western, Evangelical concept of Jesus)
Jesus may be the answer to your questions but he is not the answer to mine.
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me. Isaiah 49:16
Or so says Fundamentalist, right-wing, tea bagging, Fox News host, Glenn Beck.
From the Jesus Needs New PR blog:
GLENN SAYS… I’m begging you, your right to religion and freedom to exercise religion and read all of the passages of the Bible as you want to read them and as your church wants to preach them . . . are going to come under the ropes in the next year. If it lasts that long it will be the next year. I beg you, look for the words ’social justice’ or ‘economic justice’ on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!
GLENN CONTINUES… Communists are on the left, and the Nazis are on the right. That’s what people say. But they both subscribe to one philosophy, and they flew one banner. . . . But on each banner, read the words, here in America: ’social justice.’ They talked about economic justice, rights of the workers, redistribution of wealth, and surprisingly, democracy..
I’ll give Beck credit for one thing…he speaks out loud what many right-wing Christians and politicians think privately.
I am for virtually everything the Glenn Beck is against.
And that’s a good thing.
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