If I didn't firmly follow and believe in Christ,
I WOULD IMMEDIATELY REJECT CHRISTIANITY based solely and wholly on those who claim his name and weaponize The Book to wound.
I also want you to read and share my father’s 1967 book, ‘Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?’, published four years after ‘I Have a Dream’.
Many are trying to create their own #MLK narratives.
We’re going to get it right and use his teachings for #justice.
Why do some Christians only take the Bible literally when they think it supports excluding people, and not when it comes to the forgiveness of debt?
This is a rhetorical question.
You can’t “love your neighbor” when you want the law to dehumanize your neighbor
You can’t “love your neighbor” when you empower leaders who oppress your neighbor
You can’t “love your neighbor” when you support rulings that marginalize your neighbor
Now, who’s your neighbor?
The first thing Jesus would do at a Pride parade—is eat with everyone there.
The first thing Jesus would do on a refugee caravan—is feed everyone there.
The first thing Jesus would do at a religious meeting, is leave to go back to the parade and the caravan.
Follow him.
It’s easy to miss Jesus today for the same reason it was easy to miss him 2,000 years ago.
We want a mighty messiah, ready to trounce our enemies & win.
Not the donkey riding, foot washing, questionable friends Jesus.
A Christianity that acts as though it needs a political party, a president, a Supreme Court, and a government to secure, maintain, and impose the will of its god on our culture is a Christianity that doesn’t really believe its god is powerful enough to stand on its own at all.
Imagine claiming that a few Bible verses on human sexuality are literal divine commands from God for all of society, all while claiming the +3,000 verses calling for the care of immigrants, the marginalized, the oppressed, and the poor should just be a personal choice.
Christ’s greatest commandment wasn’t “convert your neighbor.”
It was “love your neighbor.”
If love becomes conditional. If love is reduced to an evangelistic tool. If love becomes just another way of making people be just like us.
We’ve deeply misunderstood the love of Jesus.
“Resurrection is a guarantee that no matter how dark the days are on Friday, how sad those days are on Saturday, there’s a promise that Sunday is always coming.”
– Easter Sunday Sermon by @Justinjpearson of the Tennessee Three
People think our Christianity is becoming more progressive because we’re trying to “please culture”.
No, we’re trying to actually love like Jesus, fight against bad faith, keep human dignity protected, and make the world a better place. For me, that’s the gospel.
Responding with “thoughts and prayers” in the face of perpetual gun violence while we do nothing to prevent it only reveals that we are not actually thinking or praying.
Authentic thinking and praying never leads to apathy in the face of injustice.
It is spiritualizing apathy.