Time for a New Christianity... A REAL Christianity!

I want to encourage this. I want to help propel it... But I do not want to dominate the discussion, nor dictate the forms of our new reality. But I will suggest forms, and thoughts, and interpretations. And I will be firm in this accusation: There is no form of Christianity being practiced in the world today.

Many will disagree. Some will argue that we have many Christian churches, and, yes, there are many groups who claim to be Christian. But even when you compare these modern groups to the structures and groups we have in Acts, and the Letters of Paul, in the Bible, the modern groups do not match up.

What are these modern churches? They are not groups following the teachings of Jesus, though the gospel is read in these groups every week. They often study passages from the Old testament, rejected by Jesus, and, certainly, Paul, as true Christianity was born. The embracing of the Old Testament view of God, not least of all by evangelicals and fundamentlists, is especially telling. And is, especially, in contradiction to the teaching of Jesus.

But these groups thrive on contradiction. They teach the opposite of everything Jesus does, but then claim to be true followers, true teachers, even. This is only true blasphemy.

Jesus says don't make public displays of your faith. These groups preach out in public, make a show of their belief. Some attempt to have their faith enshrined in public places, ie. the 10 commandments in the courthouse. These actions are directly repudiated by the words of Jesus in their Bibles, do they not see? Jesus said love your enemies, don't bomb them. Yet many so-called christian groups support the current war in the general vicinity of the Garden of Eden... Iraq.

The hatred emanating from some of these groups is deeply disturbing, as well.

I would encourage you to read retired Bishop John Shelby Spong's work.

A Few Words About Empathy

I am an empath. Let me tell you, it sucks! Why? A few reasons: You always know how the other side feels. Also, people can project false emotions... you may NOT know how the other side feels, even though you THINK you do. People lie. And, also, you are subjected to the undercurrent of emotion prevalent in the culture around you... akin to a background "hum". That was a real buzz when we were all enjoying the minute by minute coverage of our march to Baghdad. But now it feels more like collective guilt over a one night stand. We had this really wild party, but we're having a bitch of a time cleaning up afterwards...