Reposting, but only because he said it better than I could

Earlier today, a friend of mine posted his thoughts on Christianity. They mirror a lot of what I've been thinking about as the holidays approach and people start to step up their talk of Christ. He said it far better than I could, and so I am reposting it here, with his permission. Courtesy of Livejournal user kashma, I give you:

All the different ways to do it wrong

Had a nice chat with my rector yesterday, showing him how to edit the new website I got up for my church. It, along with a few other things recently, have gotten me thinking about Christianity, of course, but specifically how it's lived, and how hard it is to do it "right".

And I do have strong opinions about what doing it right means. The usual caveats apply - these are my own opinions, justifiable as they may be, and of course, others will have others. I don't claim any authority - just one guy's thoughts.

I should also warn some recent new followers to my journal - yep. I'm Christian. I think about this stuff a lot, and post about it now and again. I'm not, however, one of those Christians who is out to convert you, tell you you're damned, have opinions about what you do in the bedroom, tell you your hobby is "of the devil", or otherwise try to "save" you or shove my views down your throat. And I don't mind having reasonable, well thought out discussions on this stuff - I encourage you to comment, because if you're reading this, it's pretty much guaranteed that I value your opinions.

At it's core, Christianity, or really, being a Christian, is pretty simple, at least on the surface. Calling yourself a Christian indicates, etymologically speaking, that you're a "follower of Christ". What does that mean? Well, traditionally, and without getting too much into the mess of theological perspectives on that, it means trying to emulate Christ, to be a "little Christ" as the Romans at least at times called the early Christians.

Seems simple enough. Study the life of Jesus, try to understand what he was getting at, and do it. Yeah, looks simple. Maybe it is.

"Love the lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself" is what we're told is the Great Commandment. That's originally found in Deuteronomy, in the Hebrew Scriptures, so Jesus is quoting there. Along with that, you get the "New" commandment - "Love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

So, clearly, this is about love. Not about hellfire and damnation. Yes, there's hellfire and damnation in spades in Scripture, but it's seems to me that it's a warning, not a guarantee, and nearly if not always about what you can expect if you don't love other people.

Figure out how to love other people - even people you don't like, and people who are trying to hurt you, and people who hate you. Simple. Actually living that is a life's work, of course. But that's core.

Secondly, Jesus talks a great deal about justice, but the specific lack of justice that has to do with powerful people attacking or neglecting the poor, the disenfranchised, and the vulnerable. Over and over again, he's going on about how this is NOT what you should be doing - in fact, doing the opposite, taking the side of the widow, the orphan, the poor, and the foreigner is exactly what you should be doing. This seems to me to come quiet naturally out of the first bit. Jesus also has a great deal to say about money - mainly that hoarding it is not on, that being attached to it is stupid and wrong, and that you should be using what you have to help others.

Thirdly, Jesus has a great deal to say about how we view things - namely that the world isn't evil (although people can act that way), that things change and there's nothing you can do to stop that (so don't get hung up on it), and that really, what you have to work with is just today, because tomorrow, who knows?

So, to sum up - love everyone. Side with those who have less. Don't let the stuff of the "world" (social structures, money, class, politics, history, tradition, whatever you're attached to) confuse you about the first two things. And do it now - don't wait for tomorrow, and don't let the past get in the way either.

And finally, if we are really trying to be "little Christs" we should be willing to take that, and go the distance, all the way to the cross. Full commitment, even to our deaths. At some level, since we all die, we hardly have any choice in that matter.

Simple, but not at all easy. This seems to be a common theme in all religious traditions - I haven't found a single one that I would consider authentic, at least to its founder's words, that doesn't have that aspect.

So, now it's probably pretty obvious why I get so pissed off at what passes for Christianity these days. The fundamentalists, the gay-bashers, the "just say you love Jesus and you're saved" folks, the people wrapping themselves up in a flag, picking up a cross and saying they know what god wants (fascism, apparently). The holier than thou bullshit. The people who say they're helping the poor, but only with conditions, like them converting. And all the while 20,000+ people die each day across the world because we can't get off our collective asses to save them, by getting them food, water, and medicine. While I see dozens of homeless on the streets of my "clean, modern city" every day in the 1.5 miles I traverse to get to work. When people are dying because they don't have enough money to get healthcare. When people are losing homes and jobs and can't get enough to feed their kids.

And even within the mainline, liberal church circles I inhabit - the fact that for many parishes, the care of the endowment trumps caring for the poor. That the baby-boomers are all pissed off that the new folks coming in don't want to do it exactly the same way they did it, and claim we aren't "stepping up", when in fact, we are, just in new ways. The weight of tradition. The fact that every institution, no matter how lofty the goals they started with, eventually has only one concern - the continuation of the institution.

And finally, this applies personally, of course. It's far too easy for me to go around pointing the finger, when my own life is not exactly a paragon of virtue. I can assuage my feelings a bit by knowing that I'm trying, at least. I suspect that many others are trying at least as hard as I am. But I am in no way letting myself off the hook here.

So many pitfalls, so many traps. So many ways to get it wrong.

Simple, but not easy.

His words, but I'll back them 99% (and the parts I don't back are the parts that are obviously specific to him: I have not recently talked to my rector, I don't walk 1.5 miles to get to work every day, etc). Additionally, I will re-quote an important point:

I encourage you to comment, because if you're reading this, it's pretty much guaranteed that I value your opinions.

Comments, thoughts and opinions are welcomed.

Reposting, but only because he said it better than I could

Earlier today, a friend of mine posted his thoughts on Christianity. They mirror a lot of what I've been thinking about as the holidays approach and people start to step up their talk of Christ. He said it far better than I could, and so I am reposting it here, with his permission. Courtesy of Livejournal user kashma, I give you:

All the different ways to do it wrong

Had a nice chat with my rector yesterday, showing him how to edit the new website I got up for my church. It, along with a few other things recently, have gotten me thinking about Christianity, of course, but specifically how it's lived, and how hard it is to do it "right".

And I do have strong opinions about what doing it right means. The usual caveats apply - these are my own opinions, justifiable as they may be, and of course, others will have others. I don't claim any authority - just one guy's thoughts.

I should also warn some recent new followers to my journal - yep. I'm Christian. I think about this stuff a lot, and post about it now and again. I'm not, however, one of those Christians who is out to convert you, tell you you're damned, have opinions about what you do in the bedroom, tell you your hobby is "of the devil", or otherwise try to "save" you or shove my views down your throat. And I don't mind having reasonable, well thought out discussions on this stuff - I encourage you to comment, because if you're reading this, it's pretty much guaranteed that I value your opinions.

At it's core, Christianity, or really, being a Christian, is pretty simple, at least on the surface. Calling yourself a Christian indicates, etymologically speaking, that you're a "follower of Christ". What does that mean? Well, traditionally, and without getting too much into the mess of theological perspectives on that, it means trying to emulate Christ, to be a "little Christ" as the Romans at least at times called the early Christians.

Seems simple enough. Study the life of Jesus, try to understand what he was getting at, and do it. Yeah, looks simple. Maybe it is.

"Love the lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself" is what we're told is the Great Commandment. That's originally found in Deuteronomy, in the Hebrew Scriptures, so Jesus is quoting there. Along with that, you get the "New" commandment - "Love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

So, clearly, this is about love. Not about hellfire and damnation. Yes, there's hellfire and damnation in spades in Scripture, but it's seems to me that it's a warning, not a guarantee, and nearly if not always about what you can expect if you don't love other people.

Figure out how to love other people - even people you don't like, and people who are trying to hurt you, and people who hate you. Simple. Actually living that is a life's work, of course. But that's core.

Secondly, Jesus talks a great deal about justice, but the specific lack of justice that has to do with powerful people attacking or neglecting the poor, the disenfranchised, and the vulnerable. Over and over again, he's going on about how this is NOT what you should be doing - in fact, doing the opposite, taking the side of the widow, the orphan, the poor, and the foreigner is exactly what you should be doing. This seems to me to come quiet naturally out of the first bit. Jesus also has a great deal to say about money - mainly that hoarding it is not on, that being attached to it is stupid and wrong, and that you should be using what you have to help others.

Thirdly, Jesus has a great deal to say about how we view things - namely that the world isn't evil (although people can act that way), that things change and there's nothing you can do to stop that (so don't get hung up on it), and that really, what you have to work with is just today, because tomorrow, who knows?

So, to sum up - love everyone. Side with those who have less. Don't let the stuff of the "world" (social structures, money, class, politics, history, tradition, whatever you're attached to) confuse you about the first two things. And do it now - don't wait for tomorrow, and don't let the past get in the way either.

And finally, if we are really trying to be "little Christs" we should be willing to take that, and go the distance, all the way to the cross. Full commitment, even to our deaths. At some level, since we all die, we hardly have any choice in that matter.

Simple, but not at all easy. This seems to be a common theme in all religious traditions - I haven't found a single one that I would consider authentic, at least to its founder's words, that doesn't have that aspect.

So, now it's probably pretty obvious why I get so pissed off at what passes for Christianity these days. The fundamentalists, the gay-bashers, the "just say you love Jesus and you're saved" folks, the people wrapping themselves up in a flag, picking up a cross and saying they know what god wants (fascism, apparently). The holier than thou bullshit. The people who say they're helping the poor, but only with conditions, like them converting. And all the while 20,000+ people die each day across the world because we can't get off our collective asses to save them, by getting them food, water, and medicine. While I see dozens of homeless on the streets of my "clean, modern city" every day in the 1.5 miles I traverse to get to work. When people are dying because they don't have enough money to get healthcare. When people are losing homes and jobs and can't get enough to feed their kids.

And even within the mainline, liberal church circles I inhabit - the fact that for many parishes, the care of the endowment trumps caring for the poor. That the baby-boomers are all pissed off that the new folks coming in don't want to do it exactly the same way they did it, and claim we aren't "stepping up", when in fact, we are, just in new ways. The weight of tradition. The fact that every institution, no matter how lofty the goals they started with, eventually has only one concern - the continuation of the institution.

And finally, this applies personally, of course. It's far too easy for me to go around pointing the finger, when my own life is not exactly a paragon of virtue. I can assuage my feelings a bit by knowing that I'm trying, at least. I suspect that many others are trying at least as hard as I am. But I am in no way letting myself off the hook here.

So many pitfalls, so many traps. So many ways to get it wrong.

Simple, but not easy.

His words, but I'll back them 99% (and the parts I don't back are the parts that are obviously specific to him: I have not recently talked to my rector, I don't walk 1.5 miles to get to work every day, etc). Additionally, I will re-quote an important point:

I encourage you to comment, because if you're reading this, it's pretty much guaranteed that I value your opinions.

Comments, thoughts and opinions are welcomed.