Whose Voice do we Heed?
The myriad of voices calling believers in the market place of religious theologies within Christendom is wide to say the least. "Come to God through us" is the cry of religions today, "join our church and be heaven bound". But by and large the the practices of the proponents of religion indicate an abandonment of their "claimed" creator. But is God the creator of such "meisum"?
The me first syndrome, the clinging to pet doctrines, the reducing of grace to a formula to recite in order to be heaven bound and get off the fast train to hell, the promoting of healing formulas to recite to get out of unpleasant circumstances we find ourselves in, in order to move to the bliss of the health, wealth and fame gospel is far removed from the Grace Gospel of the Christ of God!
The drawing card to God through religion is the setting up of God as the Santa Clause of adults who gives them their every wish.
But the Christ that is claimed as the center of who we are religiously is not known for His fighting for "Christian Causes" by supporting religious claims to correct Bible interpretation while boycotting the opposite view, such as...his stance against the homosexual lifestyle. He is not known for His pro life or His pro death penalty demonstrations, nor was He known for His pro war cause participation or his pro capitalism fight. Just because Christians fight for "Christians Causes" today and condemn people in their depravity does not mean that Christ did the same. No! He lifted them out of their depravity. The ones that did not want lifting out...He did not demonstrate against...He left them in the deprivation of their reprobate mind and continued on to help those who wanted His help.
The Christ of God is our Lord, Savior, Redeemer and ultimately the one we ought to follow rather than following religion, practiced radical inclusive love towards the sinner in his sinning. The Christ of God cared for the poor in their poorness, and chastised the rich in their richness. The Christ of God loved and spent time with the condemned by religion, the heretical Samaritans, but He condemned the practices of the religious leaders and theologians of the day. The Christ of God saved the sinner from condemnation without condemning him to hell. The Christ of God taught us how to resist oppression by not running, but also not from the taking up of arms either. The Christ of God included women in his entourage, and was born of questionable circumstances, and condemned the self-righteousness those that thought themselves the holiest. The Christ of God included in His friends list the despised, the down and outer, the working class and the unloved.
We have abandoned our conforming to the Christ of God, but no big deal, we have created another Christ, in our own nationalist, materialistic, and gnostic image and conformed Christ to our own image. And we bow down to this new Christ amidst wonderful obedience to the rules and regulations, the attendance to weekend event driven meetings to hear great manipulative powerless preaching, and partake in its endless rituals, just like the Israelites bowed to the golden calf.
But God was not pleased with the golden calf worshipers, neither is He pleased with religiously religious religions that claim they are the way to Him and is worshiped by its adherents!
The me first syndrome, the clinging to pet doctrines, the reducing of grace to a formula to recite in order to be heaven bound and get off the fast train to hell, the promoting of healing formulas to recite to get out of unpleasant circumstances we find ourselves in, in order to move to the bliss of the health, wealth and fame gospel is far removed from the Grace Gospel of the Christ of God!
The drawing card to God through religion is the setting up of God as the Santa Clause of adults who gives them their every wish.
But the Christ that is claimed as the center of who we are religiously is not known for His fighting for "Christian Causes" by supporting religious claims to correct Bible interpretation while boycotting the opposite view, such as...his stance against the homosexual lifestyle. He is not known for His pro life or His pro death penalty demonstrations, nor was He known for His pro war cause participation or his pro capitalism fight. Just because Christians fight for "Christians Causes" today and condemn people in their depravity does not mean that Christ did the same. No! He lifted them out of their depravity. The ones that did not want lifting out...He did not demonstrate against...He left them in the deprivation of their reprobate mind and continued on to help those who wanted His help.
The Christ of God is our Lord, Savior, Redeemer and ultimately the one we ought to follow rather than following religion, practiced radical inclusive love towards the sinner in his sinning. The Christ of God cared for the poor in their poorness, and chastised the rich in their richness. The Christ of God loved and spent time with the condemned by religion, the heretical Samaritans, but He condemned the practices of the religious leaders and theologians of the day. The Christ of God saved the sinner from condemnation without condemning him to hell. The Christ of God taught us how to resist oppression by not running, but also not from the taking up of arms either. The Christ of God included women in his entourage, and was born of questionable circumstances, and condemned the self-righteousness those that thought themselves the holiest. The Christ of God included in His friends list the despised, the down and outer, the working class and the unloved.
We have abandoned our conforming to the Christ of God, but no big deal, we have created another Christ, in our own nationalist, materialistic, and gnostic image and conformed Christ to our own image. And we bow down to this new Christ amidst wonderful obedience to the rules and regulations, the attendance to weekend event driven meetings to hear great manipulative powerless preaching, and partake in its endless rituals, just like the Israelites bowed to the golden calf.
But God was not pleased with the golden calf worshipers, neither is He pleased with religiously religious religions that claim they are the way to Him and is worshiped by its adherents!
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