Answering Some Tough Questions

September 1, 2009, 9:01 am by dc-agape.

BJ you will have to forgive me for turning this response into a post! His first question is this:

1) How can I share with you what I a follower of Jesus Christ would do, would like to do, believe, experience conviction about, and so on if you continue to lump me with all who call themselves Christian (including those that deny the basic tenets of the faith and/or act contrary to these teachings)?

As I have explained before, those that call themselves Christians and those that are Christians are very difficult to distinguish between by the non-believer.  A number of things are common between the two: rationalization of verses to make them not apply to particular groups, lumping all humans into the requirements of living a “Christian” life, and attacking non-believers with the use of words such as “propaganda and agendas”. 

Further about rationalization: The Word of God was intended for the believer.  It is supposed to help the non-believer learn about YHWH.  When a believer claims that one verse or another does not apply to themselves, it makes the non-believer questions the veracity of the believer’s intentions.  Either all the Word of God is designed for the believer or it is a piece of fiction written by men. 

More about the lumping all humans into being required to live the Christians lifestyle.  The non-believer (Atheist, Jew – NT, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, New Agers, etc) does not believe the Bible is the only Word of God.  By suggesting that I can only understand the Word of God by believing the Word of God (being open-minded) eliminates my skepticism, eliminates the possibility that another religion/philosophy is correct, and to be blunt is extremely arrogant. 

At this point I need to ask you some questions (you can reply in a comment, send them to my direct e-mail – if you don’t want them published, or on your own blog).  I have to ask these questions and get a response or I cannot determine if you are just one of the crowds.  Do you believe that homosexuals do or do not deserve the same rights as the average American (the right to civil marriage to the person they love)? How did you respond when California Prop #8 was voted down?  Do you believe that the government of the US had the right/was required to attempt to intervene with the Terry Schivo case (the right to a dignified death – euthanasia)?  Do you believe that Doc Death (Dr Jack Kevorkian) was evil or was he helping relieve suffering?  How did you respond to the outcome of both court cases?  Do you believe that Creationism should be taught in the science classrooms?  How did you respond to the recent Penn court case (Kilzmiller vs. Dover Area School District)?  Do you believe that all abortions should be illegal?  Even in the case of rape, incest, and the risk to the mother’s life?  Do you believe that the only form of sex education is abstinence?  How did you respond to former Pres Bush’s comments that “Atheists should not be considered citizens”?  How did you respond to the Catholic Church pedophilia case and cover-up?

The use of words like propaganda and agenda has been turned into “catch phrases” by the Religious Conservative Right.  There is the “Gay Agenda” and the “Atheist Agenda”.  Even though, in both cases, these groups want (their agenda) equal rights in the US and to be recognized as legitimate parts of society.  Television shows were “gays” are portray as OK is considered “propaganda”.  The recent “Atheist bus ads” have been called “propaganda”.  The fact that you have used these words in attacking my replies (usually not my posts) makes me wonder if you are not “just one of the crowd”.

2) Are you asking me then to accept those things that I agree with you and to not respond to those areas I think you are in error?

I have not required you to hold back on your disagreement.  On the contrary, I have allowed every comment that you have made to stay as you wrote them.  My filters do take time to (and require me to approve) comments with numerous links.

3) Who gets to define “broken church?”

You will agree that false teachers exist in the Christians religion (or at least those calling themselves Christians)?  You will agree that those same false teachers give your religion a bad name?  I have described how these false teachers have made it difficult for non-believers to separate Real Christians from the false teachers.  Unless you are claiming that the false teachers do not belong to the Church, then the 45,000 denomination that exist (some of which are mutually exclusive) would indicate that the Church is broken.  If as you claim (and the Word of God agrees) there is only one YHWH, one Jesus, one Spirit, and one Body…does this not indicate that the Body is broken?  To be more specific, which “Churches” are broken and which one is “Real”?  And does that make any sense if there is only one “Body”?

4) If the Holy Spirit shows me some point that you may have gone astray on am I allowed to post it?

If the Holy Spirit exists and it guides you, would it use words that attack (propaganda and agenda) or would these corrections be guiding me to more correct links and passages in the Word?  I am not a believer; would the Spirit treat me as a false teacher or as a seeker?  Many times you have not distinguished between the two.

5) Does hypocrisy negate the truth of the message?

Hypocrisy makes it very difficult for the non-believer to trust that any supernatural force is guiding the hypocrite.  If human motives are overwhelming the message, which parts of the message are to be trusted?  Why is it that both Jesus and Paul warn about the Traditions of Men so much in the NT?  Is it not because the Traditions of Men nullify the Word of God (Mark 7:13)?  And is not hypocrisy how the Traditions of Men start?

6) Is it possible for a group to have those that are hypocritical and those who are not? If so wouldn’t make since to make a distinction?

All groups are diverse.  In a human society not everyone will agree.  But the Church (Body) is not human in nature.  Remember this passage:

1^st Tim 1:3-4 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies.

In the passage Paul urges Timothy to command the hypocrites to stop!  Why are the Real Christians not doing the same thing?  And what about this passage (Col 2:18-23), does this not remind you of the Catholic Church?  Yet it has not followed this verse:

Col 2:22 These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings.

But they have not perished, worse they have thrived and become the largest sect of Christendom!  By allowing the weakest (in faith) to control the actions of the disciples of Jesus, Traditions of Men have become common place in all the Churches.  Your religion has become a very large house of mirrors with many false paths (and the mirrors are all perfectly polished).  Where is the Holy Spirit’s guidance through the maze of false teachings and Traditions of Men?  How do you distinguish between a vague Spirit’s guidance and your own personal desire?  As Susan B Anthony once said:

I distrust those who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice that it always coincides with their own desires.

As I said before, to fully understand the implication of this experiment I must address the topics of Love, Discipleship, and the Holy Spirit.  All three topics are complex and will require a number of posts.  Until I have separated out the Traditions of Men from the Biblical meaning of these three topics, the full process of this experiment is still in the earliest stage of development.  Once I have finished these three topics, many more questions will arise, that is the way of experiments.  To this I must include all the writings of the Abrahamic Faiths: Islam, Judaism, Gnostic, Catholic, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.  If I focus on only one belief system, I would be denying the possibility that these other teachings from YHWH are the true form of Yahwism. 

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