Posts tagged jesus

“A certain sense of cruelty towards oneself and others is Christian; hatred of those who think differently; the will to persecute. Hatred of mind, of pride, courage, freedom, libertinage of mind, is Christian; hatred of the sense, of the joy of the senses, of joy in general is Christian.” ~Friedrich Nietzsche

I grew up in a Christian home and went to a traditional Black Baptist church, which shaped most of my early religious learning.

As I got older, I started to read the Bible for myself and in so doing, experienced a Jesus Christ that was different. This Christ was different because the people in church preached and sang about how much they loved Him, and wanted to be like Him, and love like Him…but lived completely differently. After a while, I started to think that Sunday morning was just another show, replete with music and drama.

Christians will fail us and can be cruel, and for this reason it is of the utmost importance to keep our focus on Jesus Christ. As Colossians 3:2 reminds us, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”

My personal choice has been to treat Christians and non-Christians the same. I also tend to limit my experience in “Christian” activities/community, as there is a tendency to overplay the community facets of the church, without giving serious attention the harmful aspects of imperfect people “doing life together” and the spiritual damage that that might cause another.

So the moral of the story: Our purpose in life is to be faithful to God through Christ Jesus — not to Christians, not to the Church or political parties who say they’re for a particular church. Our purpose is to be faithful to God through Christ Jesus. 

I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. ~Philippians 3:14