I was raised Catholic and went to a Catholic grade school. I remained a member of the Catholic Church until after my mother died. It would have upset her too much if I had left the Church. I am now considering joining a very liberal Episcopal Church here in Winston Salem. I choose to believe in Christ and his teachings. I am appalled by people who call themselves Christians yet trash all of his teachings in the pursuit of political and financial gain.
Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “ ‘you shall love the lord your god with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ “This is the great and foremost commandment. “The second is like it, ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
Notice something missing? There are no qualifiers. Christ didn’t say, “Providing your neighbor is upper class, rich, heterosexual, male, Anglo-Saxon, Evangelical Protestant, Republican, ultra-conservative, business owner, etc." Love your neighbor was all he said. I hate to break it to you but Christ was not white. He wasn’t even a Christian. He was a Middle Eastern Jew. He was not rich. His views were considered radical for those times.
Then the Pharisees went and plotted together how they might trap Him in what He said. And they sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any. “Tell us then, what do You think? Is it lawful to give a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus perceived their malice, and said, “Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites? “Show Me the coin used for the poll-tax.” And they brought Him a denarius. And He said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” Then He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.”
Christ was not against government. He did not preach that government had no place in our lives. He did not preach that big business should decide how we live. He knew that government was necessary for the well being of the people. He knew that government needed to exist to help the less fortunate.
"Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
Sorry rich people but Christ was one of us. He was part of the poor. He would never have approved of the rich not paying their share of the taxes. He would never approve of programs for the poor being gutted so that the rich could become richer.
He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”
How dare these hypocrites preach at us? Anyone not like them is a sinner. Oh really? Preaching hate is a sin. Take the mote out of your own eye before you start chastising others. In fact don’t even go there.
But Jesus said, “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
The operative word here is children not a zygote (a cell formed by the union of two gametes; broadly: the developing individual produced from such a cell). Until a child is born it is a fetus. It cannot live outside the womb. It is solely dependent on the mother for life. This hysterical concern for a fetus and no concern for the mother or children living in poverty is contrary to Christ’s teachings. They ignore the children. Nearly 15 million children in the United States – 21% of all children – live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level. What about them? Christ was concerned about the live children. These people who are screaming that birth control is against religion are idiots. It has nothing to do with religion. If these men were pregnant and had to go through the discomfort of pregnancy and the pain of childbirth you can be sure they wouldn’t be against birth control. If they were raped and became pregnant you can be sure they wouldn’t be making absurd laws regarding abortion. If it were their bodies being invaded by intrusive procedures they wouldn’t be making life hell for women. In fact I think we need a new law that for every invasive technique that is forced on a woman that the man has to under go an invasive prostrate exam at the same time. Let’s see how they like having their bodies invaded.
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they shall possess the earth.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for justice,
for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure of heart,
for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice sake,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
It is time for those of us who believe in Christ’s teachings to rise up and confront those who claim to be Christian but whose words and actions are contrary to the teachings of Christ. It is time to vocally call the hypocrites out.
UPDATE: Since so many people are freaking out by the term parasite I took it out.