How Christians Will be Judged

The Bible passage below seems to be ignored by many conservative Christians and Republicans as evidenced by their support of the sequester that shreds many services for the hungry, poor, homeless and ill.  If the United States were truly a Christian nation, the government would embody those that ministered to Jesus in Matthew 25:41-45.

On the day of judgment, Jesus will ask "Why did you not care for me when I was  hungry, poor, homeless, disabled, and sick?  Conservative Christians will answer, "We did not see you suffering like that in our neighborhoods."  Then Jesus will answer, "I am everywhere in the world with the least of my people.  In your nation, you elected representatives to cut all the programs funded by the federal government that would feed the hungry, aid the poor, help the handicapped, and provide medical care for the sick."  Conservatives will answer, "The help would have come from the government, not us personally.  We would help those next door."  Jesus will answer,  "Do you think I only want you to care for the person next door?  Do I care if you help with your own hands or through the hands of others?  I care for the least of these my brothers and sisters.  When these least were hungry, struggled in despair with no money, wandered the streets of your great cities, and died alone in your parks; I starved, had no money to care for myself, slept under the bridges in your cities, and died alone in a homeless camp. 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' "

Matthew 25:31-45

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

The Judgment

³¹ “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; ³³ and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.
³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; ³⁶  naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? ³⁸ And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? ³⁹ When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ ⁴⁰  The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’
⁴¹ “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘ Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; ⁴² for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; ⁴³ I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ ⁴⁴ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not ^[a]take care of You?’ ⁴⁵ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’

A Christian Response to the Conservative Mantra, No Help Through Government

The Bible passage below seems to be ignored by many conservative Christians, and Republicans in the House as evidenced by their vote for the Ryan budget that shreds services for the hungry, poor, homeless and ill.  I fear this is the budget that Romney will inflict on this nation if elected.  I would offer my own updated version of  Matthew 25:41-45.

On the day of judgment, Jesus will ask "Why did you not care for me when I was  hungry, poor, homeless, disabled, and sick?  Conservative Christians will answer, "We did not see you suffering like that in our neighborhoods."  Then Jesus will answer, "I am everywhere in the world with the least of my people.  In your nation, you elected representatives to cut all the programs funded by the federal government that would feed the hungry, aid the poor, help the handicapped, and provide medical care for the sick.  Conservatives will answer, "The help would have come from the government, not us personally.  We would help those next door."  Jesus will answer,  "Do you think I only want you to care for the person next door?  Do I care if you help with your own hands or through the hands of others?  I care for the least of these my brothers and sisters.  When these least were hungry, struggled in despair with no money, wandered the streets of your great cities, and died alone in your parks, I starved, had no money to care for myself or my family, slept under the bridges in your cities, and died alone in a homeless camp. 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' "

photo by kkirugi

Matthew 25:31-45

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

The Judgment

³¹ “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; ³³ and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.
³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; ³⁶  naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? ³⁸ And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? ³⁹ When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ ⁴⁰  The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’
⁴¹ “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘ Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; ⁴² for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; ⁴³ I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ ⁴⁴ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not ^[a]take care of You?’ ⁴⁵ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’

 

Leaving Home

I have been a Baptist since I was eleven when I was dunked.  I walked away from church when I was a teenager unable to reconcile my thirst for knowledge, especially science, and my church's admonition that questions were a sign of lack of faith.

I went on the receive a Ph.D. in chemistry at twenty-five.  I spent the next four years working and learning about other great religions.  Of all I studied, I had the most affinity for a form of Hinduism that was prevalent in northern India.  Still, none made me wish to practice their faith.

I was an insatiable science fiction reader at the time.  I still love the genre.  I had read the Narnia Chronicles as a child, but had ignored the religious implications.  Now, I found the science fiction trilogy by C. S. Lewis and read all three books.  I found another one of his books, The Screwtape Letters, in with the science fiction at a used book store.  I bought it and read it.  For whatever reason, the book turned me back to Christianity.

I was not that sure I wanted to be a Christian, but I decided to give it another try.  This time I chose the most liberal Baptist Church in my city led by a brilliant preacher.  I joined a study group of people my age led by a philosophy major.  Our discussions were wide open.  Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis was one of the books we studied that year.

By the end of that year, I was sure I wanted to follow Christ.  I have never regretted that decision although I have come to regret remaining a Baptist.

I helped start a new Baptist church that was to be a "grace" church emphasizing God's love and mercy and essentially non-denominational.  Over the years as it became a mega church, my church has become less open and more conventionally Baptist.  Four years ago,  members who I mistakenly thought were friends, considered my bout with clinical depression a failure of my faith, not an illness.  I learned that the one thing Baptists are most afraid of being asked is for money to help one of their own who is having problems with mental illness.  As my pastor (he had retired because of health reasons) often said, "Baptist shoot their wounded."  These friends thought by not helping me they were making me to stand on my own two feet.  Were it not for an ex-Mormon friend and a Catholic therapist, I would be dead.

I have made many mistakes in my life, but the biggest was trying to stay in that church.  I went home most Sundays and cried.  Finally, my car got totaled when I was rear-ended,  I could not afford another car, so I stopped going to church.  My church was a long way from my home and the city bus services did not run out that far.  I know, this looks suspiciously like divine intervention to keep me home.  No one called or inquired why I stopped coming to church.  The church I helped found thirty years before did not know that I existed anymore.

After a few months, I was removed from my Sunday School class' email list.  I had not asked to be removed and had stayed in touch through that email.  If I had not been seeing a therapist, I would have killed myself that day.  He forced me to face the reality that I did not fit in that class and shared few beliefs with them.  He urged anger instead of grief.

A year has gone by without me attending church except for the few occasions when I have taken my aunt to an activity or service at her very traditional Baptist church.  The people there are quite wonderful and have taken her in, accepted her autistic son, and helped her financially.  They are less affluent than most in my church, but more generous.  However, women are second-class members and the sermons leave me cold.

Photo by jeffk

After some searching and  a great deal of prayer, I realized there was not a Baptist church in this city that I wanted to attend.  I began looking for a better fit for me.  I think God has guided me to such a place in a Christian (Disciples of Christ) church.  I have been attending a downtown church with a small congregation and  a woman pastor.  If all goes as planned, I will join on New Year's Day.  I will no longer be a Baptist.  I will have left home.

Barack Obama: Closeted Non-Believer?

The title of this entry comes from a Huffington Post blog by Ali R. Rizvi.  To read it click on the title. I do not agree with the author. I believe President Obama is a man of faith and I do believe that matters.  I take President Barack Obama at his word; he is a Christian.

His 2004 interview about his faith is being used by fundamentalists and evangelicals to discredit his beliefs.  President Obama did not use code words such as "born-again" and "the Bible is the Word of God."  His failure to use the code and familiar references means that fundamentalists and evangelicals do not believe he is one of them, a Christian.

The problem, of course, is that President Obama is neither a fundamentalist nor an evangelical Christian.  Just as I am not one, even though  I was baptized in a Southern Baptist Church and am an ordained deacon in a church affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.  Neither of us approaches faith from the believe it or leave it approach. Neither are we non-believers.

In President Obama's 2004 interview, I recognize an intellectual approach to Christianity that is scorned by fundamentalist Christians.  I grew up in a traditional Southern Baptist Church and was baptized at the age of 11.  I believe that I committed as much as I could at that time to Jesus Christ.  At 13, I left, pushed out by the refusal of adults to answer questions and my mother's insanity.  When Mom had her first psychotic break, the church blamed her and did not reach out to help.  Former church friends disappeared.  The minister did not visit.  The church made her insanity my mother's fault.  I would come to learn that Mom was schizophrenic, not exactly something she could prevent.  I returned to the church at the age of 28.  In those years between, I studied many faiths and through the writings of C.S. Lewis, Dorothy Sayers, and others found the intellectual basis for my faith and in the church the community of Christians I needed.

I found that Christianity is as much an intellectual challenge as one of faith.  Fundamentalists make all the issues depend on the Bible.  Yet, fundamentalists tell you that your personal relationship with Christ is all important.  That personal relationship is key for me.  Because I am over-educated, I approached my search for faith from an intellectual viewpoint.  I wanted questions answered, not brushed off.  I found that my questions were often answered with another question, but they were never brushed off.  Great minds have struggled with the meaning of Christianity for two thousand years. That does not mean I believe that an intellectual approach is the only way to true faith.  I believe there are many approaches to faith, all valid.

Baptist believe in the priesthood of the believer which means we can each have a direct relationship with God.  We do not need a minister or priest to intercede with or to bring us to God.  I fully embrace that philosophy.  I may not have all the answers, just as President Obama does not supply pat answers about his faith, but I know that God is real.  That his truest representation is in Jesus Christ. That I can have a personal relationship with God.   I know the God I worship is Love in its purest sense.  Love that does not care what you call her.

The Mosque near Ground Zero in New York City

Photo by Shazron

People continue to demonstrate against the community center with a mosque inside being built.  The polls say that the majority oppose this community center because it is too close to where the twin towers once stood.  Of course, the new building will not be visible from where the twin towers block.  Politicians have come out for and against.

Why is this happening?  People are frustrated with what is going on in their lives.  Many fear the changes in this country as a more urban, less white group of leaders begin to take over.  Many have felt the monetary effects of the recession.  Savings have been lost.  Retirement set back or put off indefinitely.  There is real fear that a middle class way of life is being taken away from the majority of Americans.  People who are afraid need to feel they still have power.  One way to feel power is to focus on another group to denigrate and feel superior to.  Muslims are the group that has received that focus.

Leaders in some Christian venues have fanned the fear into hatred of Muslims.  All Muslims have been made a threat to Christianity.  Regularly, emails circulate through churches containing diatribes against Muslims and creating the vision of Muslims as being two-faced, polite to us on one hand and plotting our demise on the other. The message is that it is either or.  Christianity must defeat Islam or fall.

Republicans have also played a part in this, fanning the flames of hatred and coming out against the mosque and the man trying to build the community center.  They have even toyed with the issue of our President's faith.  In the hysteria of the moment some Americans believe the President is Muslim not Christian.  An interview he did in 2004 is circulating through the faith community trying to fan that belief.  How?   In the interview, then State Senator Obama does not use the code words of faith that evangelicals would use.  His answers reflect a more intellectual approach to faith, but a very strong faith.  Those lack of code words will convince some that he is not a Christian.  How sad.

My question:  Why does it matter what faith he is as long as he upholds his oath of office?

If it does matter, then we are not a tolerant nation.  A Muslim is as much a person of faith as a Christian.  Christian, Muslim, Jew all worship the God of Abraham.  Even this may be too much.  Shouldn't an atheist be able to be President?  I would say yes as long as we have a very clear knowledge of his value system.  Will an atheist ever be President?  I doubt it.  To be elected a person will have to have at least nominal faith.

Christians need to reflect on our heritage.  Jesus said to "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those that mistreat you."  He summed it up:  "Do to others as you would have them do to you."  Denying someone their place to worship is not fulfilling the Golden Rule.

The United States was not designed to allow majority rule.  The United States was designed to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority.  We need to act under that premise.  The community center with the mosque must be built.

                                                 

Resources in Pursuit of Christian Apologetics

In an article entitled the War over Religion, the author, Ian Boyne, notes that the atheists and secularists seem sometimes to have the better arguments, but that is due to lack of knowledge and rigor on the part of Chrisitian apologists. Mr. Boyne, a Jamaican journalist, goes on to give a list of intellectual rigorous works that can help Christians refute the arguments of anti-religion scientists, atheists, and secularlists as well as works by seculalists and atheists.

One statement by author Karen Armstrong reflected what I had noticed about the argument of some atheists. These atheists such as Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins are not arguing against Christianity as a whole but instead against Christian fundamentalism. Their choice of target inherently makes their arguments weaker.

After reading this article, I know I now have a new reading list. I plan to read works on both sides and broaden my knowledge. For me, increased knowledge has led to increased faith.

Photo by Bryan Cummings

Report On 'Nones': In U.S., Ranks Of Those Who Don't Identify With A Religion Are Growing -- Courant.com

The Hartford Courant reports on a study by Trinity College on the people that don't consider themselves part of an established religion. The conclusion of the study is that this segment of the population will continue to grow. I agree, but not as much as the study believes.

The study finds the most "Nones," defined as "the irreligious, the unreligious, the anti-religious and the anti-clerical," in the 18-29 year old range and conclude this will lead to equally big increases in the future because this age bracket will indoctrinate their children with their lack of belief. I know from experience this conclusion is flawed.

When I was between the ages of 18-29, I was a Deist. I did not attend any church and was skeptical of any faith. I did read books that explained different world religions but never from a believers standpoint. Yet in my thirties, I became a Christian.

I think many of today's Nones will eventually find a faith, though not necessarily any of the great world religions. I believe we are hard-wired for faith and so eventually become part of one. I would include atheism as faith - a faith that God does not exist.

The media today portrays faiths, especially Christianity and Islam, only at the extremes. The Muslim is too often seen as a hate crazed jihadist, while the Christian is too often seen as the anti-intellectual, narrow-minded, bigoted zealot. These portraits of the faithful is bound to turn off the unbeliever from even investigating a religion.

We have a need to belong that sports now fills for many in America. Perhaps the biggest worship services take place in the fall in football stations nationwide. Many sports fans are true worshipers, falling in adoration at the feet of their favorite sports star.

Those that believe in God need to rebel against the media and sports. We need to insist that a balanced view of the faithful be on the news and pundit shows. We must provide a place to belong, not in competition with sports, but in addition to. Belonging must provide benefits and obligations, rewards and challenges. America has been dumbing down religion for too long. Now, we must use mind and body to bring the gift of faith to Americans. Moderates of all faiths have been silent too long. Speak up!

Photo by Joe Shlabotnik

Joe Wilson, Barack Obama and the South

I am a sixth generation Texan. Born into a family that was steeped in the Southern tradition of bigotry and faith, a very strange combination. Love God, but not your fellow man.

I was saved from that narrow minded racial hatred by a mother who threw off the beliefs of her childhood and a Yankee grandmother who saw everyone as a friend. I have come home as a child to play with a Navajo boy whose mother my mother befriended. I have come home to a houseful of Buddhists cooking on our stove because theirs had quit and my grandmother opened our kitchen to them. (The ashram was across the street.) I have come home to find the welfare mother next door being taught to cook by my grandmother. I have come home to be invited to the birth of our next door neighbor's child in their front bedroom.

From my mother and my grandmother, I learned that everyone is a neighbor and to follow Christ's command to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. I am so grateful for that lesson. That does not mean I like everyone. No race has a corner on good or evil. I know I can encounter saints or devils in any color.

Wednesday evening, I watched President Obama's address to a joint session of Congress. When he was interrupted by a rude outburst, I caught the Southern accent. I knew that Southern bigotry had struck again.

Later, the press announced the name of the Southerner, Joe Wilson. I do not know much about this man except that he is a Congressman and comes from South Carolina. I doubt that he is an overt racist. I doubt that he believes he has any problem with race. Yet, he chose to interrupt a speech of the first black President of the United States. I believe that he is heir to the deep racial bigotry that still eats at the heart of the South. Hidden now, but perhaps more virulent.

Racism still lingers just below the surface of every day interactions between Southerners. This racism is not conscious, but ingrained, characterized by racial jokes and casual slurs. The subtle assumption from the past that blacks are not capable of intellectual activity still lingers. A black quarterback at the University of Texas led to whispers and suggestions that he had a lot of white in him. This racism rises from the great need of human beings to have someone to look down on, someone to feel superior to, someone to make their condition seem less barren.

In the South, poor whites were duped into hating blacks by a white ruling class that played the need for superiority for all it was worth. This racism had the desired result. Poor whites voted with rich whites instead of with poor blacks. In many cases, poor whites voted against their own interests rather than share a common cause with blacks.

The Republicans use this racial tactic today. Health care is a perfect example. Here illegal immigrants become the target of hatred and fear. Many whites would rather have health care reform defeated than chance that some illegal immigrant would game the system and receive medical care. They would continue a system that limits access to health insurance (preexisting condition means denial of insurance), limits payments (maximum amount of payments capped), and denies medical treatment on technicalities.

What would Jesus say to us about the sick child of an illegal immigrant? Let them die? Or heal them? Who is our neighbor?

There is an amazing mentality even among well educated Southerners. I have had graduate degreed friends tell me that slavery was not that bad, that as a whole the system was good for blacks. They will concede to individual cases of extreme cruelty and excess, but tell you on the whole slaves were well taken care of and had little worries because food and shelter were provided. Of course, when I ask if they would like to be a slave, the answer is no. I wonder what Joe Wilson thinks about slavery?

Many Southerners are ready to refight the Civil War. Not militarily, but politically. Republicans cling to the issues that divided the country, race and wealth. Then race concerned the civil rights of blacks and wealth the riches derived from black labor. Now, race deals with denying access to upward mobility for minorities so that wealth can be accumulated from the fruits of their low wage work. Again, illegal immigrants show the hypocrisy. Deny illegals benefits, but live in the houses they build for less than minimum wage or eat at a restaurant whose prices are low because the kitchen staff consists of illegal immigrants paid a pittance.

When southern Republicans are afraid of losing an election, they play the race card. Not overtly, but with great skill. Just as in the days after Reconstruction, they scare poor whites with the image of their black or brown neighbors as the other, as different, as someone who wishes to take from them, as someone who has suspect values and a desire for a different America. The image of President Obama as a foreigner is an example of this gambit.

Southern Republicans will make outrageous statements to rally those that fear the federal government. Governor Perry stated that Texas should secede from the United States because the federal government was taking over everything. People believe such outrageous statements because for years they have been fed the idea that centralized help is evil. Only a state is fit to look after its citizens.

Too many Southerners live in world created not by fact, but by their desires, desires articulated by right wing commentators, politicians and ministers. They live in a world that does not exist, but is real to them. In their world, President Obama is part of a Muslim plot to destroy the United States. His health plan is just another step in Muslim plan to control everyone in the United States. Their world makes them very afraid. Their fear makes them vulnerable to the demagogues of the right. Their fear may truly threaten this nation.

We must remember the angels message at the coming of Christ: "Fear not."