The problem with Christianity

From the Book of Matthew, Chapter 5 (also known as the Sermon on the Mount)

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1 When he saw the crowds, 2 he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him.
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He began to teach them, saying:
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3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, 4 for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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5 Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.
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6 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
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Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, 7 for they will be satisfied.
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Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
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8 Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
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Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
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Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, 9 for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you (falsely) because of me.
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10 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
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11 12 "You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
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You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.
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Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house.
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Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.
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13 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
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Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.
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Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 14
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I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
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15 16 "You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, 'You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.'
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17 But I say to you, whoever is angry 18 with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, 'Raqa,' will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, 'You fool,' will be liable to fiery Gehenna.
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Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you,
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leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
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Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him. Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison.
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Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.
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19 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.'
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But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
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20 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna.
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And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna.
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21 "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife must give her a bill of divorce.'
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But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
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22 "Again you have heard that it was said to your ancestors, 'Do not take a false oath, but make good to the Lord all that you vow.'
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But I say to you, do not swear at all; 23 not by heaven, for it is God's throne;
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nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
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Do not swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black.
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24 Let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes,' and your 'No' mean 'No.' Anything more is from the evil one.
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25 "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'
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But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on (your) right cheek, turn the other one to him as well.
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If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well.
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Should anyone press you into service for one mile, 26 go with him for two miles.
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Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.
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27 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
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But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you,
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that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
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For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors 28 do the same?
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And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? 29
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So be perfect, 30 just as your heavenly Father is perfect.

It's a true shame what has become of religion nowadays, especially Christianity. The teachings of love, peace towards your fellow man, and tolerance have taken a backside to pastors like a Jerry Falwell or a Pat Robertson who only care about scaring the followers into blindly following the Republican Party and their twisted version of the teachings of Christ (not to mention, to take their money). I have been searching the archives of religion at Blogs for Bush.com, and the posts and the bloggers over at that madhouse have convinced me the very spirit and the principles of of my faith is dying, and the followers of the Religious Right are merely contributing to it.

Take, for example the post on the same-sex marriage debate that brings out the flat intolerance in Christian followers.

First off, It is not, Gay, It is - SODOMITE.

Secondly, Aarontime, You say, and I quote -

"There are indeed lots of societal threats to marriage these days. Gays getting married isn't one of them."

Wrong, wrong, wrong..........Wrong!!

What you don't understand about the dangers of Sodomites being granted the same rights as all the other normal people of society, is the fact, that...Sodomites will continue their harmful influence upon the minds of the younger people in society...thus, Creating a poisoned society.

The objective of the Christian segment in society, Including myself, as many others here will agree, is to sever the onslaught of Sodomite influence upon society.

We want to keep the minds of our youth pure, and teach them to be God fearing, respectable, law-abiding citizens.

Jeremiah

Posted by: Jeremiah [TypeKey Profile Page] at June 18, 2007 11:17 PM

Comment: Correct me if i'm wrong, but didn't Christ preach to his Followers to love one another, and never hate? Add to that, don't we, as Americans, have freedom from being forced to worship anything you don't want to?

Another example is the fusion of political ideology and Christ's teachings.

Libertarian,

Well, being a libertarian is wrong - as is being a liberal or a leftist. The reason I'm a Catholic and a conservative is because I think that Catholicism and conservatism are correct.

And being a classic liberal just means you haven't trudged down that inevitible liberal road to statism. God - the most important thing, and the only foundation of any political rationality.
Posted by: Mark Noonan [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 14, 2007 09:16 PM

Comment: I thought Christ told his followers: "Judge not, less ye be judged"?

Once you've grasped that, you'll really be on the path to understanding conservative Christianity. The whole purpose of conservatism is not individual liberty, per se, but the ability of groups and interests to pursue their own affairs with minimal interference from the State. Christians are both individuals and part of a group (we call it the Body of Christ) - but we are not, and cannot be, either individualists or totalitarians. Individuals are vitally important, but also important is how we deal with our fellows - strive, indeed, for a better life...but don't forget your brother who has less, even if the reason he has less is because of his own foolishness.

In service of this, we conservatives are always looking after what Burke (the original conservative) called the "little platoons" of society....the family, the Church, social clubs, the business, the trade organization...it is these groups which are the defense of the individual against society and the State...the individual, armed with all the rights of a Constitution, has no rights at all if there isn't a group to spring to his defense when he comes under oppression. The problem with liberalism is that it seeks to undermine all groups and leave the individual naked in the public square to government scrutiny...the problem with libertarianism is that it does it from the opposite position of demanding that no group have a say in what an individual does (libertarianism is saved from utter worthlessness by the fact that it is, at least, also determined to free a person from any domination by the State...what libertarianism fails to understand is that without being subordinated to a group, there is no way for the individual to maintain his liberty). Its a balancing act, as you can see.
Posted by: Mark Noonan [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 15, 2007 02:15 AM

Comment: "Render unto Caesar, that which is into Caesar, and render unto God, that which is into God." (I think that this is what Jesus preached, right?)

Lastly, not one single Christian could justify more killing as an end to justify the means, as Mark does here.

Kill them all and let God sort them out.

These are harsh words but, an effective military strategy. Our enemy must be defeated. The leaders of Islamic lands understand that their people must be brought to their knees and forced to capitulate hence, the despot. We're dealing with people that are wiling to strap bombs on their bodies to kill a few noncombatants to grab a headline.

They hide behind their children in the schools, behind God in their houses of worship, and behind their women in the civilian population to creep out and strike whom, those who cannot strike back in the vast majority of cases.

Moreover, the moderates are surprisingly quiet in condemnation of the radicals’ tactics. (Comment: maybe it's because they'll end up dead if the moderates condemn the radicals?) In fact, in the company of their own, most sing praises to them. Hate is taught is their schools and there is little or no effort by the moderates to change this. The blatant surreal hatred of the Jew is held not only by the radical but by the moderate also and passed on generation after generation to what end?

So, who is the guilty party or parties? Is the man or men whom could have stopped it but, who instead stand by and watches one atrocity after another committed against the helpless innocent? No, he or they are responsible and should be held to accounts.

Total war is the only answer and is coming sooner or later. The body count will be lower the sooner it comes so, isn't that the human course of action? Yes, if we wait our enemy will grow stronger. What of the fate of our own? Limited war expose our fighting forces to acts of terroristic actions they would not subjected to in a total war effort and extends their exposure to the enemy. Are we not collectively responsible for them as well? Absolutely, and this is where our allegiance must lie. Why should we put the welfare of the enemies’ families before our own son and daughter fighting in the armed services? We shouldn't!

Comment: True, Jesus did advocate turning the other cheek, but He would never advocate your disgusting comments. Neither would God. And word to Mark and the rest of the fanatical ideologues that follow him: Jesus was not a pot-smoking liberal. Neither was he card-carrying member of the GOP. He was merely a man who taught his followers to love instead of hate, preach tolerance and love, not hatred and exclusiveness, not to mention, to give to the least of our society that we still ignore today.

I fear that if we continue to let a minority of intolerant, bigoted and hateful bunch of religious fanatics speak for the majority of Christians in America, that we will lose Christ's message forever. We as the majority of moderate Christians, must drown out the voices of condemnation and separation heard from the Religious Right and do a better job of making our voices heard (this goes for all religions as well).