Tag: bible

The Abortion of Man

Life didn’t begin

Until God breathed into man

Not into a fetus

“…then He Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”

Genesis 2:7

The Bible is such a mysterious and confusing book. One group of Christians says that abortion is clearly defined in the Bible. Another says that abortion is nowhere to be found. What’s a Christian to do? Abe Lincoln had the same problem with Christians during the Civil War. One side favored slavery, and the other didn’t – both claiming that the Bible told them so. Can both sides be right? Depends on who you ask!

Masks of Hypocrisy

Reading the Bible

And not loving your neighbor

Christians wearing masks

“The difference between a saint and a hypocrite is that one lies for his religion, the other by it.”

Minna Antrim

I sometimes think that loving your neighbor is more difficult than following the Ten Commandments. And Jesus says that we must love our enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:43-48). How difficult is that? In a time when our country (the USA) is so divided, I would think that most of us are wearing masks. I know I am! But then again, I am not a Christian. It took me years to get me into this state of confusion.

SCOTUS: Okay to Kneel and Pray White Man

SCOTUS says okay

To now kneel and pray on field

White man wins again

“People are dying in vain because this country isn’t holding their end of the bargain up as far as, you know, giving freedom and justice and liberty to everybody.“

Colin Kaepernick

The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled in favor of a white coach for kneeling and praying on a football field after the game citing a Constitutional Right. But, what would Colin Kaepernick and Jesus think?

“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Matthew 6:5-6

Southern Hospitality

Southern Baptists list

Men disguised in ornate robes

Cower behind God

“Protestants can be very arrogant when pointing to Catholics… I think we are worse.“

Boz Tchividjian, a Liberty University law professor and grandson to Billy Graham

The Southern Baptist Convention hid a list of pastors who were credibly accused of sexual abuse for 15 years or more. The Executive Committee finally released a list recently which caused an uproar. How are we to measure the standard for morality when our church leaders are sexually abusing the audience who idolize them? How long will our churches keep hiding the abusers? How many other Christian organizations are cowering behind God?

SCOTUS Decides: It’s A Man’s World

Women losing rights

Court mandated pregnancy

Religion creeps in

“We’ve allowed shame to be associated with a safe health procedure and it’s misogynistic and it’s racist. We have to dispel the myths and the stigma.”

Rep. Jackie Speire

June 24, 2022, is a historic date when the Supreme Court of the United States overturned Roe v. Wade. For some odd reason that song by James Brown, It’s a Man’s World, popped into my head. Just when we were making a little bit of progress in human rights in the United States, we take a huge, Trump step back. Clarence Thomas wants to re-visit birth control and same-sex marriage now. He’d better be careful because someone just might remind him that mixed marriages used to be against the law. What’s up Clarence!

Evidence Based Belief

How much evidence

Do you demand to believe?

Thomas touched his wounds!

“A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence.”

David Hume

We all have free will to believe or not to believe. According to the Bible, if you believe then your rewards are in heaven. The Apostle Thomas was one of the Twelve who hung out with Jesus and witnessed the miracles that Jesus performed. However, when it came time to believe that Jesus was resurrected, Thomas had serious doubts. He demanded that he touch Jesus’s wounds before he could believe. It happened and he became a believer. How much evidence would it take a skeptic, like me, to believe? At least as much as Thomas received!

Abomination

Abomination

Means that God detests gay men,

Liars, and bacon!

“Which passages of scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is OK and that eating shellfish is an abomination? Or we could go with Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith?”

Barack Obama

Abomination is a word used by people of the Bible to describe something that God does not like. All abominations are not the same, though. Some, like a man lying with another man, require the death penalty while others, like eating unclean food (pork, squirrel, crab, lobster, shrimp) only require like 80 lashes or something like that. Christians seem to believe that being gay is so bad but they won’t follow the rule of God to kill them. Maybe it’s because they’re not sure that if they kill the gay man if they would be put to death by God for breaking one of his commands. It’s all so confusing. I’ll have a ham sandwich with my beer and think about it some more.

Don’t Botch Your Baptism

Don’t baptize babies

Only adults say Baptists!

Not programmed enough

“To deny in a child after baptism sin remains is to treat with contempt Paul and Christ.”

Pope Leo X

Baptism is either one of two of the sacraments or one of seven of the sacraments depending on what Christian denomination you subscribe to. Were you baptized as a baby or a young child or an adult? How and when you’re baptized depends again on what Chrisitan denomination you subscribe to. I can’t tell you which way is correct because the Bible covers it all. There’s a lot of debate on how you’re baptized: sprinkling, immersion, or pouring. Paul even re-baptized (Acts 19:1-6) others when he discovered that they weren’t baptized according to his methods. Should we baptize babies? There were entire households that were baptized and I would guess that there were probably babies and young children present.

Image by Leonardo Espina from Pixabay

Keeping Jesus’ Countless Red Commands

Those tough commandments

Did Jesus mean what he said?

Red-lettered Bible

“So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.”

John 13:14 NRSV

Here are some examples of Jesus’ commands: Love your enemies Matthew 5:43-45; Pray privately Matthew 6:5-7; Wash others’ feet John 13:14. Do not judge Matthew 7:1-2. Again, if you Google how many commands Jesus spoke, it will vary between Christian denominations from 3 to 1050. I’m still uncertain as to whether to follow all of these commands or just a few. It’s unclear and there’s no formula for entering that narrow gate Matthew 7:13-14. I guess the Apostle Paul didn’t have a list so he concluded that we just needed to “believe.”

List of Jesus’ 49 commands.

List of Jesus’ 300 commands.

List of Jesus’ 1050 commands.

Image by Steward Masweneng from Pixabay

Beware of Man-Made Doctrines

Men dream up doctrines

The Trinity invented…

By guys in togas

“Jesus did not spend a great deal of time discoursing about the trinity or original sin or the incarnation, which have preoccupied later Christians. He went around doing good and being compassionate.”

Karen Armstrong

How many Christian doctrines are there? It depends on the sect of Christianity that you subscribe to and who you ask. Some say there are three, five, or ten maybe. Some break it down to the “main” doctrines of Christianity. Emperor Constantine in the 4th Century had a lot to do with creating doctrines. He formed various Councils to decide which doctrines were right and which were wrong. If you were on the wrong side, your were immediately excommunicated. Can you imagine going to a church council meeting and being excommunicated because you didn’t vote in the majority? Let’s ask the Pope! Wait. Was the position of Pope made up?

Image by travelspot from Pixabay