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On Faith and Hypocrisy
What do Barack Obama, Ben Franklin, “The Purpose Driven Life,” Jesus Christ, AIDS and the environment all have in common? I try to connect the dots here.
4 Responses to “On Faith and Hypocrisy”
There are many who profess to be Christians but are NOT followers of Jesus. They do not tuly believe in the teachings and acts of Jesus. I think a number of them would hang him back on the cross should he come back and start teaching again.
Beautiful writing by Ben Franklin, things written long ago that seem almost perfect for today seem to reflect eternal truths. I’m certainly no expert, but it seems to me the Bible talked MUCH more about helping the poor than condemning the Gays and likewise much more about helping the sick than the not yet born. While the GLBT condemnation befuddles me to no end (hell, the Bible talks more strongly about pork than it does Gays) I do see the issue with abortion. You don’t even have to be religious to oppose abortion and I DO understand that if you see that a fetus is a life with all it’s rights then you give a damn about someone’s “right to choose�. Murderers “right to choose� over others people’s lives is also repressed, and no one is complaining. I don’t share the position, and it seems that almost no one is pure, since real consistency would require the “no exceptions, even rape and incest�, but I do understand.
Still, I wonder why we can’t try to solve things we ALL agree are problems (like poverty) and save the divisive issues for when we’ve solved the other thousand or so things wrong with the world. My guess is that polarization, anger by the creation of an enemy, pays more than agreement. To motivate others the simplest thing is to give them a bogeyman, a bad guy that you heroically fight against. I’m betting plenty of evangelicals might vaguely wish more attention was paid to real issues, but if they don’t put their money where there mouth is, don’t stop giving money and time to those that make their bread on division, then it’s never going to stop.
It baffles me when political leaders are more committed to being righteous than being effective.
Obama will rise in influence in DC on the shoulders of a growing moderate voter base. Why alienate him?
I believe in promoting incremental change in government and find it difficult to grasp why some otherwise wise people believe in “all or nothing.”
Wouldn’t Jesus be considered a bleeding heart liberal and a defeatist in today’s partisan atmosphere? Would HE want us to put profits ahead of the environment or the welfare of the poor? How would he have judged the response to Katrina? The corruption of Congressmen who are in bed with powerful lobbyists? I don’t think these people who claim to be so pious are real Christians either.