Ever wonder why fundies resemble Jesus about as much as fleas resemble a thoroughbred Appaloosa?"The reason why so many fundamentalist Christians are so notoriously "unChristian" is simple: for the majority of Christians (Quakers are among many notable exceptions) Christianity isn't about the teachings of Jesus, and never was. The early church fathers knew that Jesus' rather Buddhist message of nonviolence and voluntary poverty wouldn't fly in the Graeco-Roman world, let alone in the Middle East. The idea of a Redeemer on the other hand--someone who would voluntarily sacrifice Himself for humanity and their sins--was very popular. Instead of having to give up their worldly goods and espouse non-violence, all the Romans had to do was believe in the miraculous stories surrounding Jesus' birth and death, which was easy for them, since such stories had been told about pagan gods and heroes and were already familiar.
"Christianity as it exists among fundamentalists isn't about behaving like Jesus. It's all about faith--about believing the story. The underlying message seems to be: you can behave any way you want as long as you believe the story and say you're sorry before you die. Following the teachings of Jesus is much too demanding, whereas with the Christianity of fundamentalists all you have to do is shut your mind off."
From "The Great Fundamentalist Hoax," Philip Slater, Huffington Post
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Thnx to lovleah for the foto
I completely agree with what you said. =) Maybe not about "The Teachings Have Been Twisted!"...the teachings are plain to anyone who will read and try.
ReplyDeleteBut I agree that most people don't read, or read and do not try. Most of the time, I'm one of them. No defense =P you're dead on. I will go back to my Father and apologize and he will make things right, and I will try again.
When salvation or the Christian life is described, "Just Believe" is usually given lots of attention. "Jesus Reigns in My Life" is usually not given as much attention.
The ins and outs and ups and downs of "Faith 'versus' Works" is a topic that's really only relevant to Christians. God teaches us about how we can depend on his love even when we do bad things, but how we still have a duty to do good things and obey him. I won't say any more about it 'cuz it's not really of interest to people who don't call God their Father.
But what is of interest to you is why all these Christians talk a good game and don't really have anything to show for it. The answer is mostly because we're selfish. We want things to be easy and safe around us, without all the hard work of changing on the inside. We want to look good, not be good. Even when there is work to do, we just want to play. Many of us add pride to all that, and think that we *deserve* to have it easy instead of working hard to help other people.
So yeah, that's why we don't look like Jesus. It is exactly what you quoted -- "Following the teachings of Jesus is much too demanding".
Weird that you call it fundamentalism, though. Fundamentalism means adhering to the fundamentals of a teaching. What we do is more like mumbling and ducking our heads and not making eye contact with the teacher.