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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this essay are entirely by the author. Both Coin does not agree or disagree with the author's views.
Christianity is the very worst thing that ever happened to Jesus simply because It has completely bastardized all of his teachings wherein he tried to empower us and encourage us to love and take care of each other.
People fight wars in the "Name of Jesus".
The ongoing Crusades against Islam have gone on for 1000 years and would Jesus be thrilled about that? Fundamentalist Christians oppose public health care and yet Jesus spent his lifetime taking care of the sick and the poor and he encouraged us to do the same.
Christianity has made a second god out of a simple messenger and has completely abandoned his message in promotion of his unwanted and unclaimed deity. Now it points fingers and fights wars among its own varying factions as well as against God's other children. Shame upon this brood of vipers! God forgive them for they know not what they do... all in the "name of Jesus"!
The established church has systematically destroyed or banned many of the teachings originally attributed to Jesus. The Gospel of Thomas is one such work that contains many beautiful and wonderful sayings attributed to Jesus himself. It apparently predates the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and is the source from which they were probably derived. Yet, this is one of the books that Christian mainstream has chosen to leave out of the Bible since the time of Constantine and The Council of Nicea.
To this day, Christianity fears that we just might learn the truth about Jesus and his message of personal and collective empowerment and hope. It surprises me that the "church" never altered the Beatitude in which Jesus, in his sermon on the mountain, says, "Blessed are the Peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God."
Many Fundamentalists see Jesus as some kind of sword-wielding warrior and most "Christians" see him as the One And Only child of God. This one verse alone (if correct) rather puts the kibosh to both of those misguided tenets of fundamentalist Christianity.
Again, I restate my hypothesis that Christianity is the worst thing that ever happened to Jesus.
Many people have entirely blown off Jesus' MESSAGE of hope, love, and empowerment in favor of a lot of churchified hype ABOUT his alleged genealogy and deity. I wish to suggest that if we wish to really honor and love someone (the steak and not just the sizzle), we should LISTEN (if we have ears) and believe in their message as more important than any of the hype and literature merely ABOUT them... and most important of all.... OBEY.... Simply love and take care of each other.
The need to be worshiped is strictly a Human quality of weak kings with low self esteem. Think about it.
If you were the most powerful being in the Universe, why would you care if anybody worshiped you or believed in you? All that is phony sizzle. If you were the God of the Universe, you would KNOW so and those who really love you would not waste time kissing your ass or singing your praises. They would show their love and loyalty and respect by OBEYING you. By doing as you have commanded them to do.... Keep Peace... Love and take care of each other.... nothing more... Just OBEY!
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The Bible (A GRAVEN object by definition) has become an Idol worshiped by many as if it was God.
It would be better to be a compassionate agnostic or an atheist humanitarian rather than a zealous religious fanatic. God's will would be done at least!
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Compassion and humanitarianism are the work and the will of Jesus and of God. Zealous religious fanaticism does not do God, nor Jesus, nor Humanity any good at all because it hurts them and their cause!
Jesus said by our good works shall we be known. He also said, Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. In other words... better to OBEY and DO the work of God rather than to believe and worship and sing praises of God. or Jesus, or any leader for that matter. God is aware of his grandeur. He demands only our obedience and appreciation but, mostly, mostly obedience.
God is not weak and needy and of low self esteem to require or demand our kiss ass worship. God is powerful and omnipotent and demands only our obedience which happens to be to his main command and the whole purpose of Jesus. BE NICE TO EACH OTHER. Take care of the sick and poor among you. Love each other. Love thy enemy.
An agnostic or atheist who Obeys God's commands and does God's work will see the Kingdom of Heaven way before a zealous fire-and brimstone bible-thumping religious fanatic will. Jesus said so.
I still believe that through creating Peace On Earth and sharing Love and Kindness with each other, we can ALL be the Children of God just as Jesus said and that the Kingdom of Heaven is right here in our hands just as Jesus said.
To me, the best way to honor one who has given their life for a cause is not to kiss-ass worship them or turn them into another god and fight wars over it but to obey and to carry on the good work as we were asked to do!
I suppose my biggest problem with all of this besides my personal vanity, loudness, and skepticism is my many questions regarding the validity and accuracy of all of that which has been written and accepted as "gospel" truth about Jesus, his life, his work, his teachings, and his significance.
When Jesus spoke of Faith, I believe he meant Faith in God and Faith in the things he (Jesus) was trying to teach us. "With Faith as much as a mustard seed, you can cause this mountain to be lifted up and cast itself into the sea!" That I believe!
But Faith has now come to mean belief in the "only-begotten" divinity of Jesus and in the verses written about him (and approved by Constantine and the Council of Nicea) rather than just his teachings and the wisdom and empowerment he tried to give us. Things that are outside of Jesus' teachings and beyond what he actually wanted from us.
Some of these have even taken our One God to a polytheistic level in which Jesus, his relatives, and his friends, books and letters, and various combinations thereof have all become gods too!
When I seek Truth among the followers of Jesus, they usually begin to quote Constantine's approved writings chapter and verse to me. It is my contention that these are not valid or accurate in many instances - especially those that were obviously added or embellished long after the time of Jesus in order to beef up his deity and to downplay his message of empowerment for all of us.
That is why I suggest that Christianity (as is) is predicated upon books of words that were largely manipulated, altered, falsified, and outright fabricated by the early church in order to gain power and control over the people... just the OPPOSITE of what Jesus was trying to do for us.
Read Part 2 here:
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