Christians are full of crap

[Jamie_B]

This came from my sisters blog, I don't know who wrote it but it defiantly could have been me. (I didn't for the record).


[quote]For almost five years, I didn’t go to church. It was only me and Reverend Bedpost most Sundays. I’d get inspired or guilty once in a while and church shop for a few weeks, but soon I’d be back to hitting the snooze button. I was attending seminary at the time, so I convinced myself that I was getting enough religion during the week. I thought my friends were enough of a “faith community” and I didn’t need to practice some banal
weekend ritual. But I had another reason for playing hooky from Church that I never told anyone: I couldn’t stomach being around other Christians. I thought Christians were completely full of crap.

I’m serious. Imagine us through the eyes of a nonbeliever who didn’t grow up in a religious tradition. We do a bunch of weird, ridiculous and sometimes stupid things. That’s on a good day. On a bad day, we’re downright mean.

Let’s begin with the weird part. For starters, we have our own language. We use words like “fellowship,” “sanctify” and “discern” in about a hundred different ways. When we pray, we’re over-fond of the word “just” and doubling-up on God’s name (“Lord God, Lord Jesus, Jesus Lord,” etc.). And this is only what garden-variety evangelicals do. Some Christians get downright bizarre, especially when they worship. It’s a wonder that we haven’t scared away all sensible nonbelievers.

Then there’s the ridiculous. First, we have a preoccupation with hokey costumes. Whether it’s big hair on TBN, big hats at the Vatican or the mandatory cropped facial hair for male leaders in the Emergent Church, Christians feel compelled to don uniforms that distinguish us from the rest of the world. It’s silly and pointless. It’s almost as ridiculous as how we behave while singing praise songs. Ever notice that people don’t stick their hands in the air because of the words? It happens at the chorus or the bridge of a song, when the music switches to big major chords. I bet you could put the words to the Alphabet song along with the big crescendo in a worship song, and you see just as many palms in the air.

The stupid and mean things flow together on a continuum. On the stupid side, Christians get their tails in a knot about the most irrelevant things. Harry Potter? Please. The whole continent of Africa is getting flushed down the toilet, and the Pope and a bunch of high-profile preachers are worried about a bespectacled British kid on a broom. But stupidity just passes the time for idle Christians. If you cross us on a serious issue, we get mean in ways that would make Michael Corleone blush.
If someone offends our moral sensibility or tries to change a law that’s close to our hearts, we set an entire cultural machine in motion. We have money, politicians, lobbyists and corporate giants at our disposal. Christians on the ground picket with angry slogans, while Christians in the high-rises of power write checks for lobbyists and politicians. We have no problem thumping pagan skulls when the culture moves in a
direction we don’t like. As a result, much of the world not only hates us, they’re afraid of us.

So why on earth would I want to hang out with these people? I love Jesus with all my heart, but I find His flock annoying. During my self-exile from church, I was picky about the Christians with whom I did “fellowship,” and often preferred the company of nonchristians. Why would I want to go to church with a bunch of people so full of crap?

Because I’m even more full of crap. When God revealed that to me, I started going to church again. God had to go out of His way to remind me of this through some humbling experiences, but the proof was there all along. I just got snobby and didn’t bother to look.

If Christians use weird language, I need look no further than my job to realize that I do the same. I’m a psychologist. That means I use convoluted, condescending and confusing ways to describe what’s common sense and simple. Worse than that, I’m prone to using profanity when I’m out of earshot of anyone who might get offended (and sometimes when I’m not). I’ll go out on a limb and say that puts me in no position to judge folks who insert “just” into every other word of a prayer.

I’m also guilty of the ridiculous. I always shop at the same two stores, though I could probably get clothes of the same quality cheaper somewhere else. I get obsessed with video games, even though I’m a 36-year-old man with a wife and four kids. I’m also one of these dorks who’ll look for movie spoilers on the Internet months before a film comes out. But I’m perhaps no more ridiculous than when at a rock concert, especially U2.

Remember how I slammed other Christians for raising their hands in worship because of a change in the music rather than the words? I do the same thing. I’ll stick my hands in the air like a Pentecostal during a rousing point in a U2 song, though I have no idea what the heck Bono is singing about.

I’ve got stupid and mean down, as well. The stupid part is a sort of reverse-dogmatism. I’m real big on not judging someone, unless I think someone else is judgmental. I’d be willing to extend grace to violent criminal on death row, while passing harsh judgment on a good person whose beliefs I consider too rigid or dogmatic. But that’s just when I’m being stupid. I can get mean, too. I’m not talking about “having a bad day” orneriness—I mean vicious. If someone is rude to me on the freeway or in the supermarket, I have no problem retaliating with vigor, sometimes using the aforementioned profanity. I’m good at it, too. I can get nasty and
aggressive in ways that few Christians could imagine and none could justify. Though I want to throttle Christians who use terrible names for people when they don’t like their lifestyle, somebody needs to throttle me when I give a look that could curdle milk to a stranger who took “my” parking place.

Once God revealed my hypocrisy, it made going to church easier. Church is a good place for people who are full of crap. Being a Christian means that you realize that you’re full of crap and that you need help. In fact, we should change the passing of the peace from “Peace be with you” to “You’re full of crap and so am I.”

Mike Yaconelli once said that church should be a place where we look at each other and say, “What are you doing here?” None of us is good enough to be there. Not one of us is righteous. Progressive types like me give more conservative Christians a hard time for being too “exclusive,” but we’re just as bad. We get just as easily annoyed and turn our backs on other children of God who don’t share our views. It’s so much easier to be snide than vulnerable. It’s much safer to be sarcastic than expose my
heart to someone I don’t like. But once I stopped thinking of myself as too cool and took the time to get to know those I’d been judging, I made a shocking discovery. I like other Christians They might act nutty during worship, they’re beliefs might be too stinking rigid, and thy might even dress goofy, but I love those folks. They made me laugh, brought me joy and showed me love. That last one humbled me big time.

Yes, Christians are irritating. We can all be weird, ridiculous, stupid and mean. I’m a good example. That’s why we have to rely on God to clear our vision, change our hearts, and stop us from being ridiculous, stupid, and mean (I don’t think God cares so much about the weird part). If we let God fill us with His love rather than trusting our own assumptions, we will begin to love those who annoy us. We can go from being full of crap to full of grace and love. We get over ourselves and the little things that divide us, learning to see each other as God does. And God loves that person who irritates me just as much as He loves me. If I can remember that, maybe I won’t be so full of crap.[/quote]

[Lawman]

[quote]If Christians use weird language, I need look no further than my job to realize that I do the same. I’m a psychologist. That means I use convoluted, condescending and confusing ways to describe what’s common sense and simple. Worse than that, [i]I’m prone to using profanity when I’m out of earshot of anyone who might get offended (and sometimes when I’m not[/i]). I’ll go out on a limb and say that puts me in no position to judge folks who insert “just” into every other word of a prayer.[/quote]
[color="blue"][i]Sounds like this person has Turrets to me [/i][/color]

Jesus predicted that this would happen -- especially in the last days. "I bless you, Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do." (Mt.11:25-26).

Paul underscored Christ's prediction of academic blindness in his letter to the Corinthians, defining the wisdom of this world as foolishness to God, and the wisdom of God a mystery to the masters of this age.

Both Testaments of the Bible have given such witness: "The wisdom of its sages shall decay, the intelligence of its intelligent men shall be shrouded." (Is.29:14).

God Himself separated the camps of scholarship and faith and personally directed that they should oppose each other until the End. As a result, the frontal assault on faith that currently emanates from the intellectual community follows a plan fore-ordained by heaven.

[Jamie_B]

Which is why I'm glad he gives us grace, because Id be lying if I said I didn't slip my tounge on occasion in anger. I'm sure your probably guilty of it as well. We all fall short the glory (Rom 3:23) and thats why grace is the most beautiful gift God has given us.

[Guest BengalBacker]

[Lawman]

[quote name='BengalBacker' date='Aug 28 2005, 08:05 PM']


[right][post="136869"][/post][/right][/quote]

[img]http://forum.go-bengals.com/public/style_emoticons//24.gif[/img] [img]http://forum.go-bengals.com/public/style_emoticons//24.gif[/img] [img]http://forum.go-bengals.com/public/style_emoticons//24.gif[/img]

[Jamie_B]

I missed the joke, ah well.

[Homer_Rice]

[quote name='Lawman' date='Aug 28 2005, 06:40 PM']God Himself separated the camps of scholarship and faith and personally directed that they should oppose each other until the End. As a result, the frontal assault on faith that currently emanates from the intellectual community follows a plan fore-ordained by heaven.
[right][post="136855"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]

What a load of crap. Get out your Cusa.

[Lawman]

[quote name='Homer_Rice' date='Aug 28 2005, 09:10 PM']What a load of crap. Get out your Cusa.
[right][post="136935"][/post][/right][/quote]
What's a Cusa

[Guest BengalBacker]

[quote name='Jamie_B' date='Aug 28 2005, 07:54 PM']I missed the joke, ah well.
[right][post="136915"][/post][/right][/quote]


I guess you weren't here last night. Lawman and I went back and forth quite a bit about religion. Of course it all got deleted when GO FUCKED UP !!!

[STRAYCAT]

Funny I noticed something here locally. At the intersection of madison road and ridge there is a church that took over the site which used to be a dodge dealership.
This place is building on like crazy..2 stories!. What the hell could they be doing where they need all that building and floor space? Go to church..say your shit and get out from I can understand...you can tell I don't go..sleep is better for me. I did have to go when I was 5-7 range for a while but the folks figured out sunday was better for relaxing and getting ready for another exciting week at work.

[Homer_Rice]

[quote name='Lawman' date='Aug 28 2005, 08:38 PM']What's a Cusa
[right][post="136969"][/post][/right][/quote]

...or your Augustine, or your Aquinas, or your Anselm, or your Erasmus, etc...

[Jamie_B]

[quote name='BengalBacker' date='Aug 28 2005, 09:43 PM']I guess you weren't here last night. Lawman and I went back and forth quite a bit about religion. Of course it all got deleted when GO FUCKED UP !!!     

[right][post="136975"][/post][/right][/quote]


ah

[Lawman]

[quote name='Homer_Rice' date='Aug 28 2005, 09:49 PM']...or your Augustine, or your Aquinas, or your Anselm, or your Erasmus, etc...
[right][post="136986"][/post][/right][/quote]

thanks, I thought you were handing me some hip-hop shit you picked up from badassbengal, like in foshizzle my n*****

[Lawman]

[quote name='Homer_Rice' date='Aug 28 2005, 09:49 PM']...or your Augustine, or your Aquinas, or your Anselm, or your Erasmus, etc...
[right][post="136986"][/post][/right][/quote]
those things are useless to me, I'm not catholic and I do not believe in Catholiscm practices.

[Guest BadassBengal]

[quote name='STRAYCAT' date='Aug 28 2005, 08:45 PM']Funny I noticed something here locally. At the intersection of madison road and ridge there is a church that took over the site which used to be a dodge dealership.
This place is building on like crazy..2 stories!. What the hell could they be doing where they need all that building and floor space? Go to church..say your shit and get out from I can understand...you can tell I don't go..sleep is better for me. I did have to go when I was 5-7 range for a while but the folks figured out sunday was better for relaxing and getting ready for another exciting week at work.
[right][post="136981"][/post][/right][/quote]

The church I went to in Memphis was called Bellevue Baptist. It was fuggin HUGE. Like 4-5 stories, and taking up massive amounts of land. Over to the right of it like a quater mile away just overlooking the highway were these 3 HUGE crosses. My God, that place was unbelievable.

Here's a pic of the crosses:

[img]http://www.bellevue.org/clientImages/1360/wallpaper/crosspop_640.jpg[/img]

Here's a pic of the inside of the church. the main meeting room place thingy:

[img]http://www.boothseating.com/TAC/tacimages/BellevueSanc1-sm.jpg[/img]

A few pics of the outside of the church. Believe me, the church is larger than it appears in these pics. This is just one END of the church.:

[img]http://www.bellevue.org/clientImages/1360/wallpaper/sunset_640.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.bellevue.org/clientImages/1360/wallpaper/bbcfront_640.jpg[/img]


yea. big.

[Guest BengalBacker]

The more expensive the church, the better the chance of getting into heaven. [img]http://forum.go-bengals.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/angel.gif[/img]

[Jason]

Well, then the person who origionally posted that dissertation, and anyone who agrees with it better become a hermit. Not in the exact specifics, but in general terms, EVERY group of people joined on social, political, ideological, racial, and even professional and athletics basis can have 95%+ of the same things said about it. It's human nature. And Christians are humans, just like everyone else. Some are trying to be better, and some, sadly, are just tyring to look better. But they are human, and have quirks, just like you and me.

Think about it, we as Bengals fans have our own dialects about certain things. Sometimes we are fickle, rude, or downright mean to other people over petty things, whether it's because they are Browns fans, or Bengals fans who like a patricular player that others don't.

Even in your jobs, I am sure there are words many of you use differently than the general population.

And if you think about it hard enough, I am sure you can come up with your own examples with different groups of people you choose to affiliate with.

But Christians are the one group of people it is ok, and PC to insult or make fun of.

[Guest BengalBacker]

It's ok to insult and make fun of us bald, fat, old white people too.

[Jamie_B]

Am I missing something or did he not say he was full of crap too? I think some have missed the intent of the author.

[|Bunghole|]

I really liked that article. I always hated the "de-humanization" of Catholicism. I understand the basic principles that dictate a need for fellowship, love, prosperity, kindness and worship that being Christian entails, I just hated ALWAYS focusing on spirituality. I think more emphasis on the human experience, especially that of the modern man, would be better served as a basis for a bridge between the common man and the clergy. I also think the Gospels can be applied to modern interpretations of problems, death, stress and love, if translated by the right teacher.
I liked that article because it put a human face on religion, hypocrisy and shame.
Good stuff.

[Homer_Rice]

[quote name='Lawman' date='Aug 28 2005, 09:04 PM']those things are useless to me, I'm not catholic and I do not believe in Catholiscm practices.
[right][post="137007"][/post][/right][/quote]

My point isn't related to a specific doctrine, it's what you previously said:

[quote]God Himself separated the camps of scholarship and faith and personally directed that they should oppose each other until the End. As a result, the frontal assault on faith that currently emanates from the intellectual community follows a plan fore-ordained by heaven.[/quote]

If you actually think this is true, then what you espouse is not Christianity, it's paganism. It's a mystical belief in a fundamentally irrational God overseeing a arbitrary domain. But, the universe is rational and lawful; those laws are not arbitrary; and the Creator--that which is the cause of itself, is not some anthropomorphic entity that intervenes in the world at whim. God is not some "King of the Hill" to be propitiated by us lowly sinners.

Human beings, endowed with reason, although in a finite sense, are co-participants in ongoing Creation, by virtue of sharing precisely that quality of Reason with the Creator, although I emphasize once again, on a finite scale.

That's the new dispensation.

[Guest BengalBacker]

[quote name='Homer_Rice' date='Aug 28 2005, 10:47 PM']My point isn't related to a specific doctrine, it's what you previously said:
If you actually think this is true, then what you espouse is not Christianity, it's paganism. It's a mystical belief in a fundamentally irrational God overseeing a arbitrary domain. But, the universe is rational and lawful; those laws are not arbitrary; and the Creator--that which is the cause of itself, is not some anthropomorphic entity that intervenes in the world at whim. God is not some "King of the Hill" to be propitiated by us lowly sinners.

Human beings, endowed with reason, although in a finite sense, are co-participants in ongoing Creation, by virtue of sharing precisely that quality of Reason with the Creator, although I emphasize once again, on a finite scale.

That's the new dispensation.
[right][post="137058"][/post][/right][/quote]


I was just going to say, NUH UHH... but your way works too.

[Guest #22]

Augustine and Aquinas both basically agreed that the Bible was written by people who were just trying to understand God in the framework of their time period. They both said that the Bible should not be used to prove matters of science, because it is unreliable for such matters.

Joshua 10 (or 12? I can't recall...) has the sun stopping in its place, giving power to the notion of a Ptolemaic Terracentric model, which was clearly refuted by the likes of Brahe, Copernicus, etc. and even before that.

[-Dan_Bengals_FL-]

A thread titled Christians are full of crap and BJ hasn't chimed in yet ..... what is this world coming to?

[Beaker]

New Orleans...the den of iniquity...is about to be flooded, and BJ isnt here yet. 2 signs the apocalypse is surely upon us.