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Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Christians Are Their Own Worst Enemy; Wrecking The Brand


Alan: Conservative Christians are unusually dedicated to transforming their religion into a spiteful parody of Christianity, a mean-spirited (and often) vicious enterprise that not only fails to attract (and hold) young people but actively repels them. 

There has always been a subtly self-seeking quality about conservative Christianity and now its peculiar twistedness manifests by ensuring that The Prince Of Peace is only suited to those who profess rigidity and retribution, a frame of mind that relegates their own children -- indeed their entire line of descent -- to the arid winds of unmitigated materialism.

Seven Woes on the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees

Matthew 23
13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. [14] 
15 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.
16 “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ 19 You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. 22 And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.
23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
29 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!
33 “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah,whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.
37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. 38 Look, your house is left to you desolate.39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’[c]”



Pope Eugenius, The Mother Of All Arrogance: "It (the Roman Church) firmly believes, professes, and proclaims that those not living within the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics cannot become participants in eternal life . . . and that no one, whatever almsgiving he has practiced, even if he has shed blood for the name of Christ, can be saved, unless he has remained in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church." (Emphasis mine.)  Council of Florence (1441), Pope Eugenius, Decree for the Jacobites, in the Bull Cantata Domino)
See the discussion of Pope Eugenius' Cantata Domino at http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=134267 

Latter-day pharisees are oddly unable to acknowledge that Eugenius was an ecclesiastical bigot who saw fit to limit divine mercy, thus arrogating to himself not only the right but the obligation to assign souls to The Unquenchable Lake Of Fire "whatever almsgiving they have practiced (and) even if they have shed blood for the name of Christ."

James' Epistle: "Judgment Without Mercy Will Be Shown To Anyone Who Has Not Shown Mercy"


This generation's neo-Pharisees have reaped the whirlwind by lacking courage to say "No!" to the subtle arrogance of hateful absolutism.

Yeshua Excoriates Fellow Pharisees: "The Woe Passages"


Odious papal pronouncement -- and the seemingly "serious" discussions that some Catholics continue to have about papal hate speech -- are so "beyond bizarre" that the parsecs separating Eugenius from Truth can only be measured by googolplex to the googolplex power. 

"Love Your Enemies. Do Good To Those Who Hate You," Luke 6: 27-42

"Why The Bible Belt Is Its Own Worst Enemy"
  1. http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/10/why-bible-belt-is-christianitys-enemy.html

Good Religion And Bad Religion

Bibliolatry... And How To Live Happily Ever After

"Christian Conservatism: "The Saved," "The Damned," "The Rich," "The Poor"
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/01/christian-reactionaries-saved-and.html


Pax On Both Houses: Compendium Of G.K. Chesterton Posts

The Chief Difference Between ISIS And The Inquisition

ISIS And The Inquisition: The Shadow Side Of Religion. Why Does Belief Do This?

Christianity's Bedrock Commitment To Torture: Remaking "The Faithful" In God's Image

Time To Expunge Catholicism Of Traditions & Texts That Represent God As A Terrorist

Bill McKibben: "The Christian paradox: How a faithful nation gets Jesus wrong."

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/06/bill-mckibben-christian-paradox-how.html
Compendium Of Best Pax Posts On Religion

"Indiana, A Great Place To Be A Bigot!" Excellent Video Spoof

Indiana's "Religious Bigotry Law": The Re-Legaliztion Of Segregation


"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction." 
Devout Christian, Blaise Pascal

"You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image 
when it turns out God hates all the same people you do."
Fr. Tom Weston S. J.

Dorothy Day: “I really only love God as much as I love the person I love the least.”

"Love and do what you will."
St. Augustine

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