Our own worst enemy

[markdohle]

I find it interesting, that Jesus Christ for those who believe in him shows us the love of the Father. He speaks to the outcasts, refused to the stoning of the woman caught in adultery, showed compassion for the Samaritan women, and his parables, if pondered and prayed over, are truly remarkable and astounding. Yet, we Christians (some and perhaps many of us) only talk about how many will be saved....and it is always just a few according to some threads of our faith. In fact we tend to worship ourselves, making the Father of Jesus Christ into a god from the Roman or Greek pantheon, or worse into Moloch. In other words in our image and likeness....an idol, one that we can understand and perhaps control in some manner…..This god has a made a world wherein just about everyone is lost, and those who seek God, well, too bad, they believed that doing good was helpful, so off to hell they go. We do more harm in the name of Christ than anyone else does. The more I encounter certain types of believers, the more I understand the car tag that says: "Please Lord, protect me from you followers."

Yet we told not to judge, yet it seems to be a great pass time. Also the glee in which many love to put others in hell I find interesting....if also sadistic.

We are told not to judge because we really can't, we don't see deep enough. Nor is it possible for us to love enough, or to understand infinite love enough, to be able to actually judge in a true manner….. We create a loving god in the image of a bigger human being than us, actually often worse than we are…. who goes into rages, is surprised at our actions, get hurt and then wants revenge. In the early part of the Jewish peoples learning, yes, their understanding of God was like that, and then it slowly changed. Until we got Jesus, but it seems we (or many of us) are more comfortable with a more primitive war god, a tribal deity that is just like us, thinks like us and loves like us.

I think what Jesus said on the cross when forgiving everyone, would help to lessen that nonsense, but it has not happened in many cases....and yes I struggle with my own idols and inner demons. It is when we don't know they are idols or our own inner demons that faith in Christ gets twisted and sick actually. Yes, scriptures can be found to back up just about anything…..and when every Christian is infallible in his or her interpretation, then chaos ensues and more breakdown in the Body of Christ.

http://www.openbible.info/topics/judging_others

[Beany]

I had a conversation about this with a friend just the other day. No where in the bible are we given authorization to judge or condemn, as I understand it, that is exclusively God's role. The 10 commandments are pretty simple, i.e. Love thy neighbor. There are no ifs or buts, no exceptions and no exemptions given or implied in that commandment, And weren't the commandments given specifically to us as rules/guidelines of behavior? But there's always those people who claim to speak for God and would have God think & act exactly as they themselves would and justify that through biblical mean, as if God were made in our image instead of the other way around. Just think how wonderful the world would be if just that one simple commandment, love they neighbor, was honored. And what a challenge that would be to many people, because it requires focusing on our own behavior instead of someone else's. It was the judgmental, critical, condemning people to hell stuff that drove me away from organized Christianity.

[markdohle]

I had a conversation about this with a friend just the other day. No where in the bible are we given authorization to judge or condemn, as I understand it, that is exclusively God's role. The 10 commandments are pretty simple, i.e. Love thy neighbor. There are no ifs or buts, no exceptions and no exemptions given or implied in that commandment, And weren't the commandments given specifically to us as rules/guidelines of behavior? But there's always those people who claim to speak for God and would have God think & act exactly as they themselves would and justify that through biblical mean, as if God were made in our image instead of the other way around. Just think how wonderful the world would be if just that one simple commandment, love they neighbor, was honored. And what a challenge that would be to many people, because it requires focusing on our own behavior instead of someone else's. It was the judgmental, critical, condemning people to hell stuff that drove me away from organized Christianity.

It was the same for my mother my friend, thank you for your thoughts, as usual, well said.

peace

mark

[Beany]

The older I get the less certain I am about many things, because I understand how complex life is, and how our own perceptions and ignorance and laziness sometimes lead us into committing errors of judgment; those people who are absolutely certain scare the tweet out of me. I know personally that many times I've been absolutely certain and as it turns out, absolutely wrong, but so often that certainty really is a kind of selective blindness that leads to destructive ideas and actions, and inability to consider possible alternatives.