Jesus Socialism Meme

B-b-but if you feed everyone, Jesus, that would be <gasp> Socialism.

Thoughts? Do you agree or  disagree? Or do you simply think it's a meme and should not be taken too seriously?

Why I Hate Religion

Why I Hate Religion but Love Jesus



“Church is not a museum for good people but a hospital for the broken” from the spoken word poem titled “why I hate religion, but love jesus”

Not sure what this young man's name is name but his YouTube username is bbal1989

Some of my artwork on grace.

What are your thoughts on the church, church or religion?  Do you agree with this video? Disagree with parts? Why?

God is Good

As Christians (humans), we tend to be happy when we experience good things or when bad things pass us by.  For example, there was a tornado that just went by my brother and sister-in-law’s neighborhood and it missed their house. The tornado also missed their truck but destroyed everything that was across the street. They were extremely thankful and I do believe that this is a good thing.

This video and a couple others were posted on their Facebook page. Again, nothing wrong with that.

It is good to be positive, but it is not ok to avoid the reality that terrible things just happened to our neighbors.  Our thankfulness should not blind us to the reality that even though God is good, not everything in life is good.  Just because it was good for us does not mean it was good (or even ok).

The part that always makes me think is when you see or hear comments like “God is good! I am so glad y’all are ok,” and “thanking God you are both ok.” Again I agree with these statements.  I am thankful that my family members are safe and that their house wasn’t destroyed. But the reality is that people just a couple blocks away did loose their houses and there are people that are not ok.

Why are Christians often really only concerned with their friends and family? I didn’t comment on the video (posted on FB) because all I could think about is what is being done for those families who did loose their house.  How do we show/tell those people that God is good.

I guess there needs to be a balance between thanking God for out blessings and privileges and realizing that others are not always blessed and don’t always have the same privileges, while keeping in mind that we did not earn these blessings. 

One way that I think we can address this problem is by helping those who are not as fortunate as we are and understanding that negative situations and blessings are not any indication of how good of people we are.  The people whose house had a tree fall on it did not deserve that or earn it in any way.  We need to remember that we are not better than others.  We also need to avoid the mentality that "gee, I am glad I am not in their situation."

Any other thoughts out there?  How can we avoid thinking that we deserved to be blessed?  How can we be thankful and humble at the same time? 

I am also curious to know how this relates to the Problem of Evil (not the Problem of Pain as posed by C.S. Lewis)...I think this might become a future post!!!

Jesus vs. Christianity

Oh boy, I have a ton of journals about religion and such things that would fit in this blog. This one is from almost a year ago. It was why I decided to create my "Grace is a Bit Queer" poster series…

The other day I saw a bunch of posters on social issues that a Graphic Design class created. It was interesting how many of them talked about religion. One poster was of a church and above it said “straights only.” Another poster addressed how religious people are “blinded by faith” and avoid scientific facts.  A third stated that the religious "prey on the week" and had a gun.  The overwhelming consensus was clearly that Christians are bullies as well as a hypocritical and ignorant community. It made me think about Christianity and Christ.

Jesus seems like he would have rather had breakfast with a gay man than go to church.  He laid his hands on the week an healed them.  It is sad that our churches are seen as the opposite of the New Testament Jesus.  We are seen as the problem.  I guess the point of this is that I want people to see the Jesus that I see; the young rabbi with infinite amounts of wisdom, grace, and love.

…My respose to this experience was a series of about ten, maybe more, posters. I have had around five of them up in public spaces so far. Woot!

Religion is sick.

Why is Christianity sick and what remedy (ies) can nurse her back to health?

Christianity seems to be ill. She is not what she was meant to be. She is not the grace that Jesus talked about. She is not the love that Jesus showed. She is rules and rituals. Christianity uses the bible to get what she wants. She uses the bible to justify slavery, and hate. This is clearly not the same Christianity that claims to follow Christ (the much loved and respected rabbi). This is the religion that is gaining a reputation of judgmental, ignorant, and hateful people throughout the world.

Looking at “religious people” today, it seems like Jesus would not be happy with us. Not because of the things we do but because of the things that we don’t do. We don’t feed the hungry; we don’t clothe the naked. We instead fight to keep people that are different than us out of the church. We fight to keep those who aren’t clean, like us, out.

Jesus was the one that went to eat with prostitutes and gay people. He sat with the homeless, and prayed with the social outcasts. He exploded at the money changes in the temple. He held Christians accountable while at the same time loved everyone else.

People of the time didn’t understand why a rabbi showed the grace or picked the followers that he did. But we now understand that a Christian is not meant to be an outstanding student, or a perfect person, but rather Christians are called to love the unlovable above all else.