“It is not their love for men but the impotence of their love for men which hinders the Christians of today from burning us” (Friedrich Nietzsche).
Of all Abraham’s children I find the born-again Christians more dangerous and inimical to progress. Some born-again-Christians, that is! There is something about them that galls me: their superciliousness, their duplicity and hypocrisy. These Christians will tell you that they are better human beings with a direct line to God and an assurance of a spot in heaven. And because they know what God is thinking, the rest of us are doomed with a one-way ticket to hell. What effrontery! The fact is that no one really knows whether there is a deity of any sort or not.
From the onset, all mankind have been doing is to hope, to guess, to hedge their bets that there is a supreme being. Along with the notion of an omnipresent and omnipotent deity is the concept of sins and forgiveness; of a trinity; and of heaven and hell and all associated believes. And woe betide he who as much as question these Abrahamic suppositions. But really, these are all just hocus-pocus. They are because nobody truly knows if there is a God or not. From the beginning of time man has found it necessary to invent a God out of necessity. And even the brightest within their fold has yet to figure this out — how sad, and how unfortunate.
A biological mixing of sperm and egg created man. And woman. We all know that. And in the end, we all must die and give room for other humans and organism to take our spot. We come and we go. But what was the origin of the sperm and the eggs; and in the end, where are we headed? Could this earth be the end of man’s journey? We don’t know. No one knows. All we can do is to guess, hence the need to invent a deity. But then, I too could be wrong.
In other word, I don’t know if there is a deity or not. I simply don’t know. And I have yet to meet a man who knows and who can prove that he knows what he claims he know and knows it to be true and irrefutable. And so I am who I am: an agnostic.
This idea of agnosticism or even of atheism does not sit well with some of my fellow human beings, the so-called born-again Christians. “How could anyone not believe in God?” “You must believe in something.” “Now, who created you?” “Don’t you believe in heaven and hell?” “Don’t you believe the Bible…in Jesus?” “Are you into Juju and Voodoo and things like that?” “Ole boy, I feel sorry for you ooo” These are just some of the responses I get. And the more I disappoint them with my answers, the nastier and angrier they get. You should see the incredulity on the face, tone, and body language of these religionists.
Unfortunately, some have defined me by my non-faith. And a whole lot of people have opened or closed their hands and their hearts (to me) based on this inconsequential fact. What does it matter that I do not share in the popular religious believes. What does it matter that I don’t care about Churches and other places of worship. What does it matter that I don’t pray or call on a supposed-higher power. Heck, why does it matter to anyone if I don’t care about heaven and hell?
Is it not enough that I am not a thief and a vagabond and a rapist? Is it not enough that I am a good citizen, work hard and pay my taxes? Is it not enough that I give of my time and other resources to the betterment of mankind? Is it not enough that I obey the law of the land and also obey the rules and regulation of my vocation? Why is it not enough that I am of a reasonable high moral and ethical standard? Damn, why is it not enough that I am a fine human being?
I guess my so-called Christian brothers and sisters would have accepted me if, in one breath, I stole millions of naira and then in another breath “confessed my sins and accept Christ as my personal savior.” I would have had legions of friends and admirers if, in one moment, I enticed our young and underage girls into having illicit sex and engage in prostitution, and then in another moment, fall on my knees in supplication and then claim to be a born-again Christian. May be it is time I have a sign blazoned across my forehead and behind reading “born-again.” Or I could simply intersperse my every statement with “…I am born-again.” “God Bless You…!” Fortunately for me, this pomposity and two-facedness is not my way.
Especially since the heart wrenching and horrendous events of September 11, 2001, the world has mostly condemned the fundamentalists, the fanatics and fanaticism of the other Abrahamic faith. But don’t be fooled, don’t be gullible, Christianity is also home to some of the most duplicitous and virulent Jihadists, i.e. Jimmy Swaggart, Benny Hinn, Jerry Falwell and Jim Baker; and then there is the grand patron of them all, Pat Robertson!
And if you are in Nigeria or knows anything about Nigeria, then you must have witnessed the multitude of pastors and bishops and reverends and overseers and dream-merchants and hope-peddlers that parade Aso Rock and all the state capitals. The president, and all public officials, I am told, all have their marabouts and prayer merchants. When these officials take a recess from mismanaging the country and the treasury, they show up in their respective places of worship to proclaim their belief in the almighty. Ha, what nonsense!
Contrary to what most may believe, there are no significant differences between the Islamic Jihadists and their Christians brethrens. You see, while the Muslim extremists would admit to their injurious ways, not so the Christian Jihadists most of whom are vengeful, hateful, and intolerant of opposing view points and faiths.
The same people who are intolerant of atheists and agnostics preach love and oneness; the same people who speak of the beauty of the salad bowl are at once intolerant of the rainbow. These so-called children of God, these so-called children of Abraham have gone awry; and they will not bat an eye when crushing the weak and the downtrodden. They smile at every opportunity to cast aspersions and dent a man’s reputation if the man as much as question the existence of their deity. Of all the major religions of the world, Christianity is the most astringent of all. And most of its practitioners are devoid of love, charity, openness, clarity, and service to humanity. They would as soon devour a secularist and an agnostic like me.
7 comments
Dear Doug,
Even though I like your response, I think you took up too much space.
Open Letter of Apology to The World
Please bear with me, this is long overdue and there's lots of ground to cover. I want to make sure that I get it all out. Not just for me, but because I think you need to hear it. Maybe there are other Christians out there as well that need to make apologies and will find courage here. I appreciate your time, I know it's valuable.
Dear Members of the World,
I'm just a guy, nobody really. Son of a preacher and missionary. Years and years of Vacation Bible Schools, summer camps, youth ski trips, puppet shows, revivals, choir trips – you name it. Even went to a Christian college and got a degree in religion. I ended up in the business world, but I spent two decades tithing, sitting on committees, teaching Sunday School, going to seminars and conferences, etc. I even met my wife in the single's class at church. I'm not a bad guy, I've been mostly behaving myself and everybody seems to like me. I do some good stuff here and there.
But lately I've been trying to understand Jesus more and stuff I never noticed before has really started to bug me. I've been taking a look around and I'm having a hard time making sense of what it is we've built here. So, it just seemed like, whether anybody else says it or not, I need to take responsibility for the part I played and say what I have to say.
Here we go …
I know you think that Christians are a big bunch of hypocrites. We say we're more "religious" and we're going to heaven and you're not, and then we drive our big shiny cars with little fishies on the trunk and cut you off in traffic as we race by the homeless guy on the corner. We average just 2% of our money to church and charity, despite that we say the Bible is the word of God and it says we're supposed to give everything. On average, we buy just as many big screen TVs and bass boats and fur coats and makeup and baseball cards and online porn as anybody else. Maybe more. You've seen leader after leader end up in jail or court or a sex scandal of one sort or another.
Well … you're right. We're guilty of all of it. We've done it all. And, I'm really sorry.
You see our cheesy TV shows and slick guys begging for money and you get that there's something seriously sneaky and wrong here. A high-pressure call for money so they can stay on the air? Were we supposed to use Jesus as just another form of entertainment? Who do we think we're kidding? Where's Jesus in all this? Aren't we supposed to rely on him? Isn't He going to meet our needs if we're inside His will?
What happened to sacrifice and suffering and helping the poor? I'm just sick about this. I mean, the church leaders, they're not all bad guys, there are lots and lots of really hard-working well-meaning folks who love and care and are meeting real needs in the community. Some of them understand and love Jesus – but I'm just real sure those pastors don't drive Bentley's, have multi-million dollar homes and their own lear jets! I mean, what "god" are we worshipping? Money? Ego? Power?
You see our massive shiny new buildings all over the place. Heck, maybe we even kicked you out of your house so we could expand our parking lots. You can't figure out why we need four different Christian churches on four corners of the same intersection. We've got playgrounds and bowling alleys and basketball leagues. We've got Starbucks coffee in the sanctuary. We've got orchestras and giant chandeliers and fountains out front. We've got bookstores full of "jesus junk" with every imaginable style and flavor of religious knick-knack. But where's Jesus? Is this what HE wanted?
Oh, sure, there are good folks all over and not every church is such a mess, but Christians are the ones that say we're supposed to be "One Body." So even the good ones are guilty of not putting a stop to it sooner. We were supposed to keep each other in line and not tolerate factions and dissensions and greed and idolatry and all this other bad stuff. Man, we really blew it! We've got 33,000 denominations and most of them won't talk to the other ones. We lose over 5 million a day to fraud from "trusted" people inside the church! We spend 95% of all our money on our own comforts and programs and happy family fun time shows and we let 250 MILLION Christians in other countries live on the very edge of starvation. Not to mention the billion or so that have never even once heard of Jesus – or the homeless guy downtown we almost ran over when we cut you off.
We're as guilty as we can be. All of us. Nobody is exempt. We should have put a stop to it a lot sooner. But I can't apologize on behalf of anyone else. This is about me.
I know that you might have gone to church as a kid and stopped going as soon as you could. I know that you might even have been abused by somebody in the church! Maybe we got you all fired up and then just let you drift off like we didn't really care. Maybe you just don't fit our "profile." You might have piercings and purple hair or tattoos or been in jail — and somewhere inside you just know that even if you wanted to go to church one Sunday, it would not go well. I'm sorry for that. Jesus loves you. He always hung out with the most unexpected people. He had the biggest heart for the folks everybody else tried to ignore. What have we done? We've told you to put on a sweater and some loafers or you can't go to heaven. I just want to throw up.
Look, I know you're mad. And you have a right to be. We've done you wrong for a LONG time now. There's some things about Jesus that people need to hear, but we've buried a beautiful masterpiece under hundreds of layers of soft pink latex paint. If you have a Bible handy, look up Matthew 23. (If you don't, you can look it up here – http://www.BibleGateway.com .) Find it? Read it carefully, the Pharisees were the "religious" people of the day, the leaders of the faith. In this chapter Jesus SEVEN times says how pitiful and wretched and cursed they are for what they're doing to the people they're supposed to be leading. He even calls them "white washed tombs of dead mens bones" and a "brood of vipers"! I don't have time here, but read it and see if we're not doing EVERY single one of those things. Jesus can't possibly be happy about what we've done to you.
Sure, we like to kid ourselves and pretend everything is OK – but it's not. We're hated. Now, please understand, Jesus was hated, too. But that was because he said hard things and sometimes people don't like hearing the Truth. And he promised we would be hated if we were like him. But that's not why we're hated at the moment. We're hated right now because we're a giant pack of lying hypocrites that say one thing and do something else altogether. If we were hated because we were like Jesus, that would be one thing, but that's not it at all. You see right through our happy music and fluffy services and you can tell there's something desperately wrong here. We're no different than anybody else – except that we say we're better than you.
It was never supposed to be like this. Jesus asked us to care for the widows and orphans, to feed the hungry, care for the sick, visit those in prison, reach the lost. He wanted us to love our enemies and pray for them. He cared about human justice and suffering, the lost and lonely. But I don't think He would have marched on a picket line – He had His mind on much bigger problems. He wanted us to focus on the eternal things, not the everyday. He never once said to go into all the world and build big buildings and divide up into factions and buy Bentleys. Just the opposite! I get that you're mad at us and I think you have a right to be, but please understand, you're mad at what we've made under our own power, you're mad at "Churchianity." That's different than Christ and what he wanted. Don't be mad at Jesus! This mess wasn't His idea!
Look, I'm really sorry. I accept responsibility for my part in having hurt you. But I'm committing to you all, dear Members of the World, that I'm not going to do it any more. Not a single penny more. I'm not going to put my faith in "Churchianity" or any leader or program or TV show — but in Christ Jesus and His salvation. That's when I was set free and began to see that God wants and expects more of us than this. And I'm not helping anybody that's not fully committed to the same thing.
It took centuries to build this monster, so it's not like it's going to just turn around overnight. But the times are changing and we're way overdue for something new. Big bad things are happening – like the tsunami in Asia – and I think more are coming. I don't want any more time to go by without having said this. I'm sorry for all the time and money I've wasted. But Jesus saves. Really. The church itself isn't even the point. Jesus is the real deal. He lived and He died for my sins and He rose again. He is who He said He was and He cares about me – and you. He's our only hope. We need places you can go that will only teach Jesus and will not be swayed or tempted or distracted by anything else. God willing, that's coming.
Please don't think all Christians are just posers. Some of them really mean it when they say they belong to Christ. The problem is mostly in the West where we're all comfy and complacent and seem to like it that way. The Christians in China and other places are deadly serious. There's no room for anything but Jesus when you're on the run from the government. They are dying every day for their faith and doing crazy hard things because they're absolutely committed to Christ. These are martyrs. People willing to crucify little pieces of themselves every day to be more like Christ. People willing to set aside everything they want to do what Christ wants. People willing to rot in prison or take a beating or die if that's what it's going to take. People that act in pure love and never back down. I'm not worthy to tie their shoes. And there are some like that here, too, and I hope we can get a lot more people to start living that way. It's way overdue.
If you're talking to someone and they tell you they're a Christian, ask them if they're the kind of Christian that really means it all the time or the kind that just means it on Sunday. The Bible says we'll know them by their "fruits" – by the faith and purity and love in their deeds and words. When you find one that proves Christ is in them by how much they love you, ask them to tell you all about Jesus. If you know one of those fearless martyrs that speaks nothing but pure, clean, hard Truth – ask lots of questions. Truth is a lot more rare than you would think. But don't settle for soft, fluffy and comfortable anymore – that's not in the Bible.
If you are reading this and you are already in the church — DON'T LEAVE! Pray hard. Listen to God's leading. Try to stay and fix it. Seek accountability from your leaders. Make sure earthly treasure is being converted into heavenly treasure as efficiently as possible. Speak nothing but Truth in love. Demand meat, not milk. Seek His face. Stop conforming to the world. Read Judges 6. We have to fix the altar in our own backyard before we can take on the larger armies rallied against us! He wants to restore His people. He wants the Bride spotless. Find others willing to help and start a little tornado of revival inside your church.
As for me and my house, we're really sorry. From now on, we're going to serve the Lord, not "Churchianity." We're going to try to call together as many of those martyrs as we can and start doing what Christ wanted. If I run into you someday, please give me a chance to shake your hand and apologize in person. I'm going to try harder from now on, I promise. I think there are lots of others feeling the same way, so don't be surprised if you start hearing stuff like this more often.
Thanks for your time. I hope it helps.
Doug Perry – Kansas City, Missouri, USA
http://www.FellowshipOfTheMartyrs.com
fotm@FellowshipOfTheMartyrs.com
Sabella…Bros I hail you for sharing your concerns on the hipocrisy of Christians,and I don't have the capacity nor the authority to criticize or judge your secularist/humanistic tilt or belief in this case.Where do I begin…? All I can say is I had issues with believing God in my late teens and early 20s having been brought up a strict catholic and an altar boy who served at the mass with devout Reverend Fathers.I despised the Bible and religious things until I began a genuine search which I did with an open heart and mindset…what were my discoveries? That the existence of God is not a facade.That Jesus Christ was a truly historic figure that secular historians like Josephus Flavius and others recorded their stories unbiased.That the Biblical stories and manuscripts have been truly validated by veritable and proven archeological findings.That the concept of eternity is as much a reality as the concept of time.That as much as we don't see the wind but feel and experience its effect in the form of the gentle breeze,storms and dynamoes,so it is with God.That God can only be truly experienced and known not by the rationality of reason but via the reliability of revelation which guides reason in the search for spirituality. And finally, that I have truly had such a divine experience and revelation of God in my personal life which assuaged my yearnings and answered the questions that bugged me for years, and in an "endless quest" to experience more the reality of God and His Presence which Jesus Christ brought on earth. Friedrich Nietzsche who announced the "obituary of God" may have done that because the christians of his day( and ours inclusive) lived a life devoid of true Christian Love but that does not detract from the reality of the christian experience.Men like Voltaire ( a French man) who spent his life deparaging the idea of God and the reality of the salvation experience through Jesus Christ died regretting…and his press after his death became a platform for publishing and spreading the gospel message brought by Christ, and it's much more than going to a church or being a christian.Jesus Christ came to bring meaning and hope to a confused,and vulnerable world…and mine too!
I just got this forwarded mail and hope it makes some sense.Thanks and have a wonderful day and keep on writing bros!
is written in the Bible (Galatians 6:7): " Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, That shall he also reap. Here are some men and women who mocked God:
JOHN LENNON: Some years before during his interview with an American Magazine, he Said: "Christianity will end, it will disappear. I do not have to argue About that. I am certain. Jesus was ok, but his subjects were too Simple, Today we are more famous than Him" (1966). Lennon, after saying that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ, was shot six times.
TANCREDO NEVES (President of Brazil): During the Presidential campaign, he said if he got 500 votes from His party, not even God would remove him from Presidency. Sure he Got the votes, but he got sick a day before being made President, Then he died.
CAZUZA (Bi-sexual Brazilian composer, singer and poet): During a show in Canecão ( Rio de Janeiro ), whilst smoking his Cigarette, he puffed out some smoke into the air and said: "God, that's for you." He died at the age of 32 of AIDS in a horrible manner.
THE MAN WHO BUILT TITANIC: After the construction of Titanic, a reporter asked him how safe the Titanic would be. With an ironic tone he said:
"Not even God can Sink it" The result: I think you all know what happened to the Titanic.
MARILYN MONROE: She was visited by Billy Graham during a presentation of a show. He Is a preacher and Evangelist and the Spirit of God had sent
him to Preach to her. After hearing what the Preacher had to say, she said: "I don't need your Jesus" A week later, she was found dead in her apartment.
BON SCOTT: The ex-vocalist of the AC/DC. On one of his 1979 songs he sang: "Don't stop me, I'm going down all the way, wow the highway to Hell".
On the 19th of February 1980, Bon Scott was found dead, he had been Choked by his vomit.
CAMPINAS/SP IN 2005 In Campinas, Brazil a group of friends, drunk, went to pick up a Friend. The mother accompanied her to the car and was so worried About the drunkenness of her friends and she said to the daughter – Holding her hand, who was already seated in the car: "MY DAUGHTER, GO WITH GOD AND MAY HE PROTECT YOU", She responded: ONLY IF HE (GOD) TRAVELS IN THE BOOT, COZ INSIDE HERE IT'S ALREADY FULL" Hours later, news came by that they had been involved in a fatal Accident, everyone had died, the car could not be recognized what Type of car it had been, but surprisingly, the boot was intact. The police said there was no way the boot could have remained Intact. To their surprise, inside the boot was a crate of eggs, none Was broken.
Many more important people have forgotten that there is no other Name that was given so much authority as the name of Jesus. Many Have died, but only
Jesus died and rose again, and he is still Alive. JESUS!!!
P.S: If it was a joke, you could have sent it to everyone. So are You going to have courage to send this?. I have done my part, Jesus Said "If you get embarrassed about me, I will also get embarrassed About you before my father." What benefit does it have, if a man gains the whole world but loses His soul? What can man give in exchange of his soul?
(Mathew 16:26).
Sabella I have to agree with you on some issues and for me its the hypocricy of many Christians. Many so-called professed Christians openly discriminate others who are different, they also tend to spend all their time judging others and have something to say about everyone else except themselves. As for me there is certainly a God but Christianity is to be seen in action and not only to be "shouted" in words. It is a personal experience. Christianity is not fake.
Sabella…I would stay neutral on this one.
I totally agree with you on this topic and I am glad that someone like you has the guts to speak about this. I personally feel that christians are every fanatical especially those in Nigeria. They are always very quick to condem, critize and pass judgements on others that don't think the way they do.
Those fanatics in Nigeria should understand that the same people that introduced this religion to them are the very same people who hoarded their ancestors in slave ships 400 years ago to the Americas and treated them worst than animals.
The same people that brought this religion to us were the very same people that exploited we Africans for many years through colonialism for the economic gain of european countries.
The same people that introduced christianity to you and told you that "God is Love" were the very same people who engaged in racism, introduced segregation laws and lynchings of fellow human beings just because they are a different color.
I personally believe that religion is "Man Made" and a lot of atrocities have been committed in the name of "Religion". Religion is like joining a club – a sorority or a fraternity in a University. It's either you belong to one or the other. In order for one to feel as if they belong, they join one of these clubs so that they can fit in and that's the way I feel about religion.
In a country like Nigeria where most people see themselves as "God Fearing" but still there is so much corruption and violence especially among our elected leaders.
This leads me to the conclusion that it's "Do as I say and not do as I do"
Very good article
On this issue of Christianity as a faith, the level of understanding of the author as displayed in his article leaves a lot to be desired. And judging by how he has confused "disagreement" with "intolerance" by characterizing "born-again Christians as being intolerant of his atheism, little wonder he opened his article by quoting Friedrich Nietzsche with approval!