Quote:
Originally Posted by cupl4fun  ...I know a lot of good christian people who are kind, loving people. but I hate the institution of the church. I hate the religion of christianity.
What's funny is that I am amazed by the person of Jesus. I look at the gospels and I see a kind, caring, compassionate person whom I would much like to emulate. Then I look at the religion which is supposed to be based on his teachings and I see judgment, narrow mindedness, misogyny, greed and the like. I can't help but think "What the f@ck happened?"
I look at Jesus and see a person who would love and accept me as a cussing, sex loving person who desperately wants to help make the world a better place and just love people (which is why I got into the ministry). But in "his church" I can't be me. I would first be fired and then ostracized and viewed as a deviant. I actually believe (despite the church's teachings) that I'm a good person.
The church creates a bunch of fake, unreal people who live in fear of judgment from other christians and from their angry God. It's so exhausting and I'm just sick of it.
Now I'm not sure where I fit in. I want a place where people will let my wife and I be who we are. This desire is a lot of what draws me to swinging and to this board (there's the sex thing too). Yet, when people hear that we work at a church we fear they'll close up and run away (and I don't blame them). They fear exactly what I do.
I hope this doesn't cause problems because that's not my intent. I just needed to vent. I hope that's okay. |
It's more than OK with me. I'm Christian, but I haven't been to church in nearly 2 years. No offense taken, since I share your views and feelings. Jesus was a blue-jean-wearing, beer drinking, backyard BBQ, blue-collar kind of guy. He had a sense of humour, He was a Renaissance man, He was fully awake and aware of the buzz of life around Him. The church paints him as this delicate, serene and ever-gentle figure to glowingly adorn mantles and walls alongside that cherished velvet Elvis painting. No one mentions that he was naked under his robe. No one mentions that he had bodily functions like the rest of us. And as far as the blessed institution of the traditional church is concerned, Jesus' penis is none of our business...in fact, I'm sure their stance is that he probably didn't have one.
But he did. He was human while he was here. You don't hear anything about Jesus' sexuality, which must've been present if he was human; after all it IS a big part of the human experience, no? If he chose to be abstinent, it was purely choice and I'm sure he had common-sense, practical reasons for it.
Responsible "playing" is one of the benefits of being human, and I'm sure God wasn't so uptight that he told his son that he wasn't allowed to play with the riff-raff. God delights in our joy. Intimate physical human contact is healing and nurturing. It can be such a positive thing, but the church will have none of that.
I TOTALLY agree! The church has produced nothing but stigma and negativity in its extremist doctrines. The whole world is so sick of the wretched, bitter medicine of Christian principles that have been force down its throat that the mere mention of "faith", "religion", or "Christian" evokes a knee-jerk recoiling. It's sad. Yet..."onward Christian soldiers..." They don't question it. It's not working?? It must be the wicked world's fault, so they must simply try harder. In the church's attempt to save humanity from itself, they have fully disengaged themselves from it to the point where they aren't listening to the very real arguments. Instead, they just try to shout louder, thus foolishly thinking they'll win the argument and the world will "see reason."
What the fuck happened, you ask? It's quite simple really. Jesus' church is no longer the church of his heart. Human blindness has held it back long enough to allow it to rot into a moldering pile of obsolescence and I have little time or patience for it.
I do miss some of the people at the last church I was at, though. It was wonderful, and the most alive church I've ever been to. Teaching the same skewed values and morals, but I don't judge people for their ignorance if their hearts are in the right place. And they were! Wonderful church. But I find it so difficult to get involved because after a time, questions are put to me. And I HATE that I would have to lie.
Dude, it must royally suck to have to preach on things you can't say with conviction. I extend my sincerest sympathy.