Christlike

It's Bible time again, kids. Pull up a chair and learn about Jesus - the actual Jesus from the Bible, not the Jesus portrayed by Christian media as some sort of hatemonger.

I had been planning to make a post about this subject earlier, and then I find a blog saying something similar to my own idea, so let's build on that: http://tinyurl.com/cogts7t

The Gospel of Matthew, and Matthew 22:36-40 in particular, establish the new Covenant, and the two Commandments which supersede all others, regardless of whether prior Commandments were from man or God. To paraphrase, since you can just click the aforementioned link and read the quote in its entirety - or grab a Bible and get the same info - Jesus tells us that the two most important things, the two Commandments that stand above EVERY other decree ever made, are to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself. In another verse, Jesus acknowledged all mankind, strangers and friends alike, to be his brothers and sisters, so in this case "your neighbor" means all of humankind, regardless of their leanings.

For example, we all want the right to love those we love, right? The right to take that person, loved above any other human, into our family? There is no excuse to spread hatred and to disenfranchise our fellow humans for being gay, any more than there is excuse to hate a person for being black or Jewish or even for being Pastafarian (look that up; it's awesome).

Jesus invited everyone to sit at his table and share in the food he had prepared, much to the surprise of his disciples. Thieves, liars, tax collectors, the rich and the poor and the diseased and the mad, none were turned away. That is the entire reason Christianity began, and how it became so massive: at the beginning, Christians led by example, following Jesus' lead and meeting everything with love and acceptance. This made people want to be a part of this wonderful group that spread love. Nowadays, sadly, Christianity is about exclusion and superiority, about who to hate and how to say "we're better than you."

This is the reason why I utterly despise the cult that is "born-again" Christianity. There is no greater arrogance than to say that because you fucked up and were forgiven you're somehow better than those who have never fallen. For all his militance, especially after Jesus' death, Paul never once placed himself above the other disciples because he had been a bad man before enlightenment. Jesus never once said that bad people who repent are somehow cosmically better than good people who have never committed grievous sins.

In addition, the perception of what is the greatest sin seems greatly skewed in modern understanding, despite the fact that it's pretty obvious how Jesus felt: look through the Bible for the only time Jesus raised a hand in genuine anger, the only time he attacked another human being. Did Jesus strike down murderers or liars? No, the sin to which he took the most offense was greed, physically hurling the money changers out of the house of God. Murder can be justified to oneself as being for a good reason, and a lie can sometimes save lives. But pure greed, taking the livelihood of fellow human beings for no other purpose than to make yourself wealthier, leaving others destitute and with no way to support themselves and their families, is pure evil. It cannot be justified.

How do modern Christians defend groups that work to take money from our weakest when that was the one offense that sparked rage in their Savior?