my Christian Manifesto (Pt 1 of 3)

Maybe…I’m a mess.  Absolutely true that I am a mess.  I say without self pity that there are seriously flawed–seriously unappealing components of my character and behavior.   That is to say, I’m like most people–a bundle of incongruities, hypocrisies, virtue and flaw.

The primary reason then, that I don’t spend more time announcing and trying to Bible thump has been the above.  I don’t mind associating myself with Christ, but I don’t want people to see my flaws and consider them attributes of the church; I don’t wanna be the jackass with the Jesus fish that cuts you off on the freeway to make their exit, or the dude carrying signs at an Abortion clinic.  I don’t want to be lazy at work, and then have people consider that the "way all Christians are."

I consider myself an aspiring follower of Christ, and I want to be an authentic follower of Christ–without picking the palatable parts of the Bible and ignoring the parts that inconvenience me.  AT Xenos Christian Fellowship today, Rick had a message on Galatians 4-1-11; by grace, not by virtue are we saved.  Grace is the difference between Christianity and the other world religions–more on that in part II.   This is just the framework for expressing how I’ve worked out my Faith.

Dealing with Christians means "I’m gonna get Screwed."

Having put nearly 7 years in the Real Estate Industry–and 5 prior waiting tables off and on–I’ve noticed one thing:  people that often, loudly, and piously profess their faith are more likely to screw you financially than any other category.  There is a ruthless righteousness-and a lack of accountability– that is an attribute of Christians.  Not worrying about things of the world means that to a point–damn near everything can be renegotiated, despite prior agreements.

Christian behavior in restaurants has no regard for the people that are serving them, and probably does as much damage to the cause of Christ as any perversion of society.  If Christians were a cut above–why are they universally hated in restaurants?  Their behavior is beneath the standard that contemporary society calls for.

I don’t want to perpetuate this trend that sullies Christ’s name (and probably, I wanted the lack of accountability that comes with not being part of a group, but that’s a story for another day).    Still–despite the fact that Jesus mentions and scoffs at the love of money more than anything else in the Bible (including the famous scene tipping the money changers carts at the Temple), Christians are more concerned with sexual sins than anything else.   May it never be!

Grace, Babe

I have had a lifelong problem with the ‘holier than thou’ attitude.  The gist though, of the Bible, is that we recieve our salvation by grace–not by something that sets us apart.  While it is important to be good to one another, the Bible teaches grace.  We as humans can’t do anything to reconcile ourselves with God.  It is God–and God Alone–that causes any differentiation that Christians experience in the afterlife.  The rest–is noise.