21st Century Christianity
Aug. 6th, 2012 12:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fanciful_museI grew up Christian, and I was Christian into my 30s.
What I was taught is not what is apparently being taught these days. I was taught that to be a Christian, one should be forgiving, generous, and help those who need help.
Then I hear about Chick-Fil-A and the controversy surrounding what the owner said about his company being run on "Christian Values" when asked about gays.
Um....
There is a brief statement in the Old Testament that says a man should not lay with another man. That is the entire foundation of the beliefs certain individuals and Churches possess and use against those who are gay, bisexual, transgender, or other-gender. Further research into the time that quote applied to reveals that the Jews were commanded to "go forth and multiply". Well, that can't happen in a gay relationship, can it? There is absolutely NOTHING in the New Testament that condemns other-than-heterosexual people to the fires of Hell. NOTHING. If you're going to take things literally, then take it literally where Jesus tells you that he brought a new Covenant to his people. The Old Testament is nothing more than reference.
We live in the United States of America, whose Founding Fathers laid down the rules that keep religion out of government, and yet, under Bush I and II, the separation of Church and State was eroded. As a result, we have scores of groups claiming to be Christian who are doing their best to influence how our government is run - all the way from the local to the federal. They have succeeded in twisting laws about abortion. They have succeeded in keeping gays and women second-class citizens. They have promulgated hatred against non-Aryan races, under the radar - and, oddly enough - have gotten members of some of those races to go along with them. It's a twisted and sick picture that I see, and one that makes me very glad to have walked away from Christianity, if that's what it means to be Christian these days.
This is the 21st Century and our culture is forever evolving. The way I see it, people like I'm talking about seek to keep things "the way they were" because they're afraid of anything they don't understand.
My "god" wouldn't allow non-hetero people if they weren't meant to be here. Perhaps it is our species' way of cutting down population. Perhaps we're evolving, as a species, into something that isn't so neatly divided as "male" and "female". It sure looks that way, if you turn off the TV, and the radio, and put down the newspaper and just think about it, in your head, by yourself, without other "voices" trying to influence your opinion.
I am of a dying breed; true Free Thinkers are rare these days. I was brought up to question, to research, never to take anything at face value. I have come to the unfortunate conclusion that "Christianity" as put forth by "popular culture" is not something I would ever want to be identified with. It teaches that women should be pregnant, barefoot, and chained to the stove, rather than fulfilling their human potential as they see it. It teaches that a woman's reproductive organs are domionion of men, and subject to men's regulation. It teaches that if I am anything but one gender and a heteroseuxal one at that, there's something wrong with me, and I'm going to Hell for it. It does not give any wriggle room for anything outside of Black and White.
It's totally unrealistic, and I refuse to have anything to do with it.
What I was taught is not what is apparently being taught these days. I was taught that to be a Christian, one should be forgiving, generous, and help those who need help.
Then I hear about Chick-Fil-A and the controversy surrounding what the owner said about his company being run on "Christian Values" when asked about gays.
Um....
There is a brief statement in the Old Testament that says a man should not lay with another man. That is the entire foundation of the beliefs certain individuals and Churches possess and use against those who are gay, bisexual, transgender, or other-gender. Further research into the time that quote applied to reveals that the Jews were commanded to "go forth and multiply". Well, that can't happen in a gay relationship, can it? There is absolutely NOTHING in the New Testament that condemns other-than-heterosexual people to the fires of Hell. NOTHING. If you're going to take things literally, then take it literally where Jesus tells you that he brought a new Covenant to his people. The Old Testament is nothing more than reference.
We live in the United States of America, whose Founding Fathers laid down the rules that keep religion out of government, and yet, under Bush I and II, the separation of Church and State was eroded. As a result, we have scores of groups claiming to be Christian who are doing their best to influence how our government is run - all the way from the local to the federal. They have succeeded in twisting laws about abortion. They have succeeded in keeping gays and women second-class citizens. They have promulgated hatred against non-Aryan races, under the radar - and, oddly enough - have gotten members of some of those races to go along with them. It's a twisted and sick picture that I see, and one that makes me very glad to have walked away from Christianity, if that's what it means to be Christian these days.
This is the 21st Century and our culture is forever evolving. The way I see it, people like I'm talking about seek to keep things "the way they were" because they're afraid of anything they don't understand.
My "god" wouldn't allow non-hetero people if they weren't meant to be here. Perhaps it is our species' way of cutting down population. Perhaps we're evolving, as a species, into something that isn't so neatly divided as "male" and "female". It sure looks that way, if you turn off the TV, and the radio, and put down the newspaper and just think about it, in your head, by yourself, without other "voices" trying to influence your opinion.
I am of a dying breed; true Free Thinkers are rare these days. I was brought up to question, to research, never to take anything at face value. I have come to the unfortunate conclusion that "Christianity" as put forth by "popular culture" is not something I would ever want to be identified with. It teaches that women should be pregnant, barefoot, and chained to the stove, rather than fulfilling their human potential as they see it. It teaches that a woman's reproductive organs are domionion of men, and subject to men's regulation. It teaches that if I am anything but one gender and a heteroseuxal one at that, there's something wrong with me, and I'm going to Hell for it. It does not give any wriggle room for anything outside of Black and White.
It's totally unrealistic, and I refuse to have anything to do with it.
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no subject
Date: 8/6/12 01:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 8/6/12 02:47 pm (UTC)I grew up Agnostic, and have never read the Bible, and I would be considered a better Christian than any of the people in line at Chick-fil-A. You're supposed to love your fellow human and be non-judgmental and none of those people are.
no subject
Date: 8/6/12 05:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 8/9/12 08:08 am (UTC)I'm pretty sure Jesus would not recognise much that is done in his name among the right wing and I want to point out there is a left wing of Christianity that is friendly to the other-than-heterosexual people.
They are even trying to get rid of left wing Christians like me now by saying being a liberal means you hate God and attacking the mainstream and left of center church. I don't want to do a lot of research, but these guys have come up with a prosperity gospel that says if God loves you you will be rich and conversely if you are poor, its your own fault and screw you.
But, yeah, I believe in the sort of church idea you were raised in and its harder and harder to find because its vanishing. The actual thoughts of JC aren't 'fashionable' anymore.