Spiritually Speaking

Fire and brimstone. Pitchforks and eternity.?

“Philistines! Heathens! Sinners! God Hates Fags!”

“Excuse me sir, but the bible doesn’t say any of that. And I am pretty sure God loves the people that you hate.”?

I am no theologian, but I can pretty much deduce that biblical interpretations held by most, don’t hold water unless you are a sheep and your flock believes in such cruelty.?

I digress.?

My intent is not to chastise, call into question bible belief, or the pride of anyone’s Sunday service attendance.?

Especially when the only religious thing about most people is their WWJD sticker on the back windshield of their SUV.?

“What would Jesus do?”?

He wouldn’t use scripture as a weapon that’s for sure.?

Including the New Testament where all Jesus seems to talk about is peace, love, and forgiveness. Come join the party. We are going to be with the father in no time flat.?

A lot of this thumping usually comes after the tale end of Pride month. Celebratory inclusion among people of different sexual orientations.?

As if the man upstairs wants you to pound the pavement extra in July as opposed to the rest of the year.?

Let’s stick it to the gays. Figuratively. Not literally. The last Decan of the church got that part wrong. It was a euphemism. Why didn’t Brother Carl know that??

Enough with the banter. Let me get to the meat of what I am trying to say.?

Spiritually, something is rotten in the pews of our belief. And yes, I am calling into question a few beliefs along the way.?

I lied earlier. What did you expect? I am a sinner of the highest order.?

Hymnals aside, I find it funny that even now in the 21st century, we all need a good healthy dose of spirituality. The church, or all churches, still get it so wrong.?

I can’t help but think of James Baldwin.?

A quick bio of Baldwin is that he was a black gay civil rights writer in the 60s. Some of his prolific titles include; “I am not your negro” and “Down at the Cross.”??

One quote in particular that resonates with me the most is when he spoke in an interview.?

“I don’t know if white Christians hate Negroes or not, but I know we have a Christian Church which is white and a Christian Church which is Black. I know, as Malcolm X once put it, the most segregated hour in American life is high noon on Sunday. That says a great deal for me about a Christian nation. It means I can’t afford to trust most white Christians and I certainly cannot trust the Christian Church.”?

I feel that quote speaks volumes today just as it did over 60 years ago. So much so when our leaders quote scripture like a punch line to garner votes.?

In my limited understanding of the way God thinks, and how the church operates, I have a hard time swallowing, thanks to Brother Carl, a belief system that has done little in the way of connecting more people to faith.

Let alone to each other.?

This all comes on the heels of having a conversation with someone over the weekend where I stated ever so bluntly that most if not all belief systems, religious or not, are hypocritical.

I don’t think God intended a dress code or a cover charge to enter his place of worship, and I don’t think what he had in mind “that all people coming together” meant that we would have different denominations homogenized with only one set of people.

And it’s just not religion as I so eloquently put it. It’s everything.?

It bleeds into all our lives. Our beliefs in ourselves and our spirituality have become so warped.?

I am just focusing on religion because it’s such an easy target. After all, it prides itself on inclusion through the gospel but drops the ball time and time again.?

Hell, I think it popped the ball and went home while the rest of us kept fighting over whose religion was the purest.??

On Saturday I visited the Farmers market so I could buy some strawberries.?

There was a guy and his wife. He was dressed in cotton and polyester with rubber sandals and a leather smartphone case. His wife was more plainly dressed.

She looked like a Ludditte while he looked like he was hours away from teeing up the back 9.?

Both of them carried signs up and down the street calling everyone at the market Philistines and that we were all going to suffer at the hands of the devil.?

Which got me thinking. Did this man so readily believe that his salvation hinged on condemning so many people whose faith he had no way of recognizing??

Did he believe he could see in the hearts of man??

One of the people in the crowd is a pastor at one of the local non-denominational churches in the neighborhood.?

I don’t know him personally, but I have seen him multiple times handing out food to the homeless, giving rides to the Urgent Care clinic, and picking up trash around the building he rents on Sunday for his sermon.?

And in all those times I have seen this pastor, I have never once witnessed him chastise his flock, let alone strangers on the street.?

If anything, he was been welcoming and humble.?

Here was this other guy, the complete opposite of the pastor screaming into the faces of people walking by. Weaponizing a belief.?

I couldn’t wrap my head around it.?

Did this guy at once think to himself that it wasn’t his place to judge let alone condemn??

If memory serves me correctly, Jesus said for us to be fishermen of man. Not the judge, jury, and executioner.?

How can two men of faith behave so differently??

I kept my head down and bought my strawberries.?

Later that afternoon, I had a conversation. The one I had mentioned earlier.?

It started with politics.?

This leads me to say that sure, each side of the aisle wants to believe they have good intentions, but when it’s time to put their money where their mouth is, everyone tends to lose the courage of their convictions.?

Especially religion.

If it costs money, time, or votes, helping people get ahead becomes a distant third because everybody has an excuse as to why we segregate ourselves on Sunday when we all believe the same thing.?

We can hate the gay, but feel satisfied that Brother Carl is getting the much-needed help in counseling required. His wife just asks for more thoughts and prayers.?

When our belief system has us vilifying our experiences because we are different just the way God intended, then it’s ok to start hanging folks up on the cross.?

And no one seems to see the problem with any of that. God loves the folks that you don’t like.?

We can damn abortion, but make it harder and harder for children to survive. We can excuse some sins while challenging others.?

Religion is like a radio sometimes. If you don’t like the song, change the channel. You are still listening to God but with a different tempo.?

And that makes it all the more acceptable.?

Our belief systems have divided us into believing that there is something wrong with us. With each other.?

And that can’t be farthest from the truth.?

We are just the way God intended us to be. There isn’t a better alternative. Separating each other by class, creed, orientation, or wealth is not the answer to any of what keeps us divided.?

To quote Stephen King; “Born in sin, come on in.”

That should be on the door of every church around the planet, because if you believe that we are sinful by nature, then that is what our common denominator is.?

Not our interpretation.?

And it’s sure as hell you not wearing God on your sleeve like you are part of some exclusive club.?

With any luck, Brother Carl will stop contemplating suicide because he was caught with his pants down.?

And if we are a Christian nation, then this idea of Black Churches, Latin Churches, White Churches, and Asian Churches will be buried with the hope of never resurrecting again.?

Because you know what, I know exactly what would Jesus do.?

He wouldn’t do any of this.