I think a lot of conservative “Christians” think that if they pretend like they are following the way of Christ according to their bastardized version where they hate queer people, that they’ll somehow be able to declare themselves right and be able to stay the mean shits that they are. When in reality Jesus would not approve of their behaviour at all.
Edited to add: I actually practice Christianity and go to a very progressive church. I love queer people, I think conservatives are a cancer on society, and I believe in birth control and abortion rights like I invented them. I am not wild about Jesus or the Bible, and I mostly attend because I believe in a God and I think attending a community space where we want to be better humans together in a happy and life giving way is a vital part of life. I do not in any way expect people to believe what I do and I welcome most points of view, conservative trash and Nazis excluded. I have sort of a gnostic view I guess where I think intelligence and the ability to act accordingly is what saves you as a human.
But everything conservatives are doing religiously to me is utter self serving rotten trash.
I’m a “progressive” Christian as well. Quoting Bible verses to MAGA’s is a fun exercise. They often get this guilty looking expression for a minute and then just kind of shake it off and go back to whatever hypocritical BS they were up to before.
It’s fascinating to watch.
More of the right will identify as Christian’s but the left is much closer to the teachings of Jesus because the fruits of the spirit are: love, compassion, empathy, understanding, kindness, gentleness, truthfulness, brotherhood, forbearance, faith, joy, just to name a few.
When thinking of those “fruits” not many people think of the conservative Christian’s. It bothers me more than anything they hide behind their “beliefs” to push their personal agenda that goes directly against the teachings of Jesus. Gives Christianity a bad name, then again I would say each religion has it’s own group of extremist that make the whole look bad.
Edit: Spelling
This is why my church is down to like 10 members and we’re struggling to pay monthly bills.
Give up the building and start meeting in people’s homes/apartments, coffee shops and the like. The rest only holds you back anyway. Imagine good tippers who the wait staff eagerly looks forward to returning regularly - what a reversal that would be from when “Christians” show up after “cHuRcH” and abuse them!
It’s kinda funny. I’ve been reading a bunch of historical texts about the new testament. Origin of Satan, Jesus the Jew, How Jesus Became God, Passover Plot (I really recommend this one). I was saying to myself that I’m getting to know a lot about this “book” just last night, kind of amused by it. I for sure know a lot more about the texts, the authors, and the setting in which they were written than a modern christofascist.
The major point upon which I was meditating is the ongoing theme in these books that Jesus claimed to be the messiah, not god. And how I can’t discuss that with a modern USA-christian because they’d find it offensive. But anyway, wear a cross and hate on some queer people because that’s what Jesus would have wanted. /s
Just like the people who showed up on January 6 claiming to be “patriots”, there to “defend” - rather than overthrow by violent means - the Constitution, which many admit to never having read, so too many “christians” (ostensibly meaning “follower of”) do the precise opposite of their teachings. Of course you can’t have a rational discussion with people like this!?!? You cannot extract blood from a stone. They just don’t have it in them to be capable of that. And yes ofc you, having read the book, know better what is in it compared to someone who can’t read, or more precisely someone who refuses to.
Whereas people of conscience, regardless of religious - including non- or even anti-religious - affiliation, can discuss pretty much anything. There are real Christians though, just look at their actions and it’s extremely easy to tell (just like there are real patriots, desperate the presence of mimics that try to claim that they are while being the polar opposite - many are dedicated civil servants and/or members of the armed forces, both of whom lay their literal life on the line, and the latter also their possible death, though non-armed forces also contribute as well).
All that aside, there are many ways that Jesus claimed to be God. I started listing them out in my head but in looking up some scriptures to back them up (like “I and the Father are one”, John 10:29-33; plus He claimed to be able to forgive sins, which only God could do - so to the people of the time, He was being quite clear), found this article that says it a lot better than I could: https://calvarychapel.com/posts/did-jesus-claim-to-be-god/. So I hope that’s interesting.
My controversial opinion: one day there will be stupid atheists as well. There aren’t really that many right now, bc it’s popular right now in atheism to actually examine one’s beliefs and decide for one’s own self what you believe - however, the same was once true of other religions too, before they got institutionalized, and in another hundred (or thousand) years when atheism has been passed down through enough generations, it too will become corrupted as well.
For now, I find that people of good conscience of all religions - and again, including non- and anti-religious folks too - share a heck of a lot more in common with one another than with the non-thinking sheeple. After all, the book literally commands people who follow it to be skeptical: “Test everything against what you know to be true (aka prove it) and retain only what passes that inspection” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Also it says stuff like pay the workers their wages, kill the money lenders, don’t heap heavy burdens on others without lifting a finger to help (be ye not a Karen), don’t judge others, but do hold your own leaders to account (cough fondling little children cough, also that whole felony / insurrection / treason thing). So really, if that breed of “christian” could (sigh, rather “would”) read, they would (should) be very upset! 😭
My advice: don’t mind them - they only matter in aggregate - just hold yourself to the higher standard that you, as a non-hypocrite, know that you must regardless. Argumentum ad populum et al.
This sounds like something I might want to read about, any chance you could drop some links or titles to what you’ve been reading?
This one was excellent:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Passover_Plot
This one got me started down this path:
https://www.amazon.com/Origin-Satan-Christians-Demonized-Heretics/dp/0679731180
I had a neighbor come to my door wanting to read some bible verses. I was initially combative because I’m trans and have a pride flag in my window and was ready to be preached to about how I’m a sinner. I’m not religious but we actually had a really nice conversation about exactly this. I told them that I don’t believe in Jesus but do believe in the message of the bible, being a loving and caring person to everybody, and how conservatives have completely twisted the meaning to attack people like me. They read me a couple verses supporting that and how conservatives go against everything the bible says. It really gave me hope and what I was expecting to ruin my day actually made it instead.
Honestly there’s some lovely Christians out there who love queer people without question. It absolutely does not have to be the conservative way. My church has gay people and two trans ladies, and the one time I overheard one of them talking to a bunch of the guys about the local football team. Like it absolutely does not have to mean a thing.
Sorry if this comes off as rude, but without Christ, you’re not a Christian. Christianity is the state of being saved, and you can’t good-person your way into salvation. There are three problems with that approach:
- If you believe you can save yourself, that’s an issue of pride. How can your living works ever compare to God’s own son dying for you?
- If you willfully ignore Christ’s salvation (the easier option) in favor of doing good works, that shows an unwillingness to repent of your sins.
- If you try to meet God’s standards (or even just what you think they are) through your works, you’ll never catch up, and you’ll exhaust yourself.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying there’s no point in good works or being a good person. They’re the fruits, but they’re not the tree. You can put effort into showing fruits, but without the tree, it’s not going to do you any good in the long run. Or you can grow the tree, and if it’s real, the fruits will come naturally (and if they don’t, the tree is dead[1].)
It’s only by humility that you can come to salvation. You must recognize your sin and be willing to turn from it (and keep trying whenever you fail.) Otherwise, you’re ultimately not that different from the conservative politicians who pretend to be Christian while sticking to their hateful ways (only in your case, the ways in question might not be hateful.)
I say this not to condemn you, but in hope that you can be saved. Please don’t ignore it.
James 2:17, though on further consideration, the whole chapter is fairly relevant. ↩︎
Funny you mention this because I was about to bring it up but as a bad thing. They don’t care about Jesus or his teachings or any of that because they see the whole “all of your sins will be forgiven” as “I can do whatever I want and then just have to tell a priest about it before I die and then I get into heaven”. Why they think they can pull a fast one on a being they believe is omniscient is beyond me, best guess is maybe they have a really simplistic view of rules and think exploiting loopholes can be done in good faith?
The Bible actually has things to say about that mindset. Namely, if you think “I can go back to sin and just get forgiven afterwards no biggie,” and then do so, you’re not going to get forgiven (Hebrews 10.) But that doesn’t get preached much, probably because it’s easy to get it twisted and think that an inadvertent slip into sin will have the same effect.
This is a made-up version of Christianity that didn’t exist until the last few hundred years. It’s heresy and unless you repent, you’re going to hell.
Is 20 a few? The idea of salvation being through Christ alone is literally in the Bible. What are you talking about? I’ve repented of my sins, and belief in the Bible is not a sin.
Are you talking Catholicism? Even then, you still have Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace, you have been saved through faith. And this is not of yourselves, for it is a gift of God. And this is not of works, so that no one may glory.” (CPDV) and James 2 still making it clear that faith without works is dead.
