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?

Happy Birthday Black Jesus!

For Christmas I would like to share some of my recent artwork dealing with Jesus Christ.

Happy birthday Jesus!!!

I pray that you will be with the poor, the lonely, the humble, 

and the weak on this beautiful day.

I also pray that people will be willing to help those in need,

just a Jesus of the oppressed would (and did) do.

Amen!

A Black Jesus

This poster, with an image of a Black Jesus, is designed to represent James Cone's theology in my Make it Plain art exhibition.  James Cone was a theologian who made the idea of a black Jesus famous.  Cone was responding to the images of a white Jesus and a white God that supported the oppression, murder, enslavement, and oppression of blacks. James Cone responded with the idea that Jesus represents the oppressed peoples, and Jesus therefore was seen as black.

Cone combined the ideas of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.  He took Malcolm's ideas of self love and a added them to Kings philosophy of loving others.  Cone  used MLK Jr's Black Christian theology.  James Cone is known as the founder of Black Liberation Theology (which still had some grit if you read his actual sermons).

The church responded to Cone with the idea "God is not black; God is race-less."  Keep in mind before Cone, God was seen as white often with blonde hair and blue eyes....sorry, God is not European (don't worry I know Jesus was not biologically African either).

For Christmas I would like to wish Jesus a happy birthday and thank him for teaching us to love those our society sees as bad, evil, poor and untouchable. 

European Jesus from Sodahead.com

People who have heard of James Cone in response to the anti Obama campaigns, have heard incredibly distorted views of what black Liberation Theology actually is saying.  These same people seem to forget the circumstances that men like James Cone and Malcolm X were responding to and living with on a daily basis.

Visit my art blog to see more art work from this Make it Plain

Click here to listen to James Cone on NPR.

Tweet

Update: I don't believe the BLT is 100% perfect, anything that is "Jesus +" is not the true Gospel. Nor do I believe that Jesus was actually black. This poster was a component of a larger art exhibition.

Best Church Ever!

Ok so Emmaus Road Community Church in Laramie Wyoming may not be the best church in the world...and maybe I shouldn't encourage a competition between churches...and this project is inspired by the church I grew up in.  Anyways, this post is about how much the community and members at Emmaus Road rock.

Three days ago, on Sunday, I announced that there was a family in town that could really use a little help.  I had a wish list consisting of one item per person and asked if the congregation would help out with the gifts.  I gave a little background such as the family just decided to go without Christmas presents this year and that they went several weeks without toilet paper a while back.  The family is currently living in a 5th wheel as well.   I told the congregation that I would love to do more than just the gifts but it would really depend on how many people could help...It was a small service since all the college kids were away, so I was not expecting a lot... However, we will be doing much more than the three suggested gifts. 

Here is a bit of what the church helped the family with in three days. 

 Stockings

 Each family member will get 1 stocking filled with...

  

Personal Hygiene Items 

Toothpaste
Toothbrush
Flossers
Mouthwash
Razors
Deodorant
Hand sanitizer
Lotion
Soap

And a couple small candies.

A Coffee Gift Basket for Mom

Diane from church knows her coffee (and the mom) and offered to get some gourmet coffees.  She found one decent size bag of coffee, 12 single servings in assorted flavors, and 4 flavored dairy creamers.  Go Diane!

I added a scarf for decoration/warmth, a candle, two mugs and a coffee travel cup to the gift basket.
If you haven't noticed yet, I love gift baskets!

$40 for a Medical Alert Bracelet for the Daughter
The daughter in this family has several serious medical conditions and really needs this bracelet.  When I asked the daughter what her and her parents would want this was all she wanted for herself.  She was much more excited about her parents getting gifts.  We still wanted to get her a gift that was for fun and not a necessity.  So we made...


A girly Gift Basket for the Daughter

This basket includes a candle, nail polish, lotion, body spray, shower gel, a loofah and some festive candies. 
Again with the gift baskets :) 

An Amazon Kindle Card for Dad
The dad in this family loves to read.  He has a Kindle, doesn't have room for books, and doesn't have money to buy more.

A $100 Wall-Mart Gift Card for the Family
One church member donated a $100 gift card, which will be perfect.  

&

A Christmas Tree

The tree was donated from a lady that I work with.  

She works at a greenery and was actually looking for a family to give some leftover trees to.
Although this family does not have much living space, the tree will be perfect outside or inside.

$5 from the Dollar tree worth of decorations.
It was simple but really kept decorating the tree from being a family burden.

That was three days worth of love and there is still one more day.  We have around $200 left to spend.  I am looking at purchasing  

A Meal or Two or Three

One gal from our church wanted to buy the family a meal. I am not sure what this will be yet.

I would also like the purchase $50 worth of groceries including

A Christmas Dinner

a small ham

instant mashed potatoes

corn and beans 

3 Movie Tickets

When you work as hard as these guys are, and have their entire lives, you need and deserve to have some fun.

University of Wyoming Gear

The dad is a huge Cowboys fan and I was told by my pastor that he would love anything Cowboys.

I am not sure what this will be yet, but probably a sweatshirt, a hat, or gloves.

An Electric Blanket
Living in a 5th wheel in Laramie Wyoming's weather gets cold.
An electric blanket will keep them from midnight runs to get more propane, keep them warn and save money all at the same time.

2 More Gift Cards

One for the daughter and one for the parents.  

This will be the remainder of the money.

And I gave the daughter (who is a close friend) a small painting

Hey God, I would like to close with a short prayer.  

First of all thank you for placing this family in our lives and town.  Thank you for blessing them this Christmas season.  I pray that you would help these gifts make a significant impact and help this family pay off some of their medical bills.  I pray for the mother and daughter's health and the fathers strength.  Please please please lord help this project expand so that we can make some major changes in the community.  This is for me, but I would love to see our church do this for more than one family in the future.

Thank you for softening the hearts of those you have blessed. 

Amen!

Update: I absolutely believe that the church should be the ones taking care of the poor. It is the churches job, not the governments. I do not, however, believe that adding anything to the gospel is appropriate. If it become "Jesus + serving the poor" then it is not Biblical. Also, sharing the Gospel is a humans most basic need. Sharing the gospel should be the priority.

Critical Thought Tuesday: Ignorant vrs. Naïve

I would like to address the difference between naïveté and ignorance.  Though they have similar denotation, their connotations are different.  I think there is a difference and this is how I distinguish the two...

Naïve – Is the term I use to describe someone who may have never been exposed to something or never had the opportunity to learn about it. It is not their fault and no-one chooses to be naïve

Poster created by Felicia Follum in response to the described situation.  Read more.

For example when I moved to Wyoming and people found out I had a boyfriend about one person a day asked if he was white or black before asking about him or any other question. As I later learned when people don’t know how to place you into a schema, they sometimes ask what may weird or naïve questions (though I was not offended, many people would have been). These questions are so that they can understand something they have not been exposed to.

Ignorant – is a term I use to describe someone who is presented with an idea and chooses to blatantly ignore it. Oftentimes showing contempt or anger. This is typically more of a choice. Once someone is offered the chance to become aware or educated, but they reject it without showing any thought, remorse, or confusion in the response to cognitive dissonance.

The person above would be naïve, just trying to figure something that is new to them out where as the ignorant person may respond with “good, I am glad he is white” and yes this did happen.

Another difference is that between being respectful and blatantly rude, whether it is an un-acceptance to realize that people have different beliefs or using terms that everyone knows are offensive. The distinction become a bit cloudy, for example old people tend to be naïve rather than ignorant.  However, I do think that there is a distinction, that goes beyond someone disagrees so they are ignorant.  It has little to do with opinions, and more to do with how we express, form and process opinions.

I wanted to share how I use these terms and what I mean when I use them.  Are you intentional when you use these words?  How do you distinguish between the two?  Is there a difference at all?

Update: My grandma has since passed away. She never knew Jesus which breaks my heart. She was a wonderfully crazy and amazing women, even with some of her odd quicks.

Critical Though Tuesday

The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.
Socrates

Do you agree? Why? Why not? Is this Biblical?

15 Thoughts on Syncretism or the Mixing of ContradictoryReligions

15 thoughts in response to my trip to Haiti and the mixing of religions...I am not sure that any of these thoughts are accurate or TRUE but they are fun to think about and challenge my beliefs.

1. According to the pastor we worked with…Almost everyone in Haiti will call themselves Christians. Christian in Haiti has a similar meaning to human. Instead of saying “yes, I am a human being,” like we would in America, many Haitians would say “yes, I am a Christian being.” It has the same meaning. This is why the term Evangelical is important.

2. From what pastor Mark said, most Haitians also believe in Jesus and the Bible, but do not understand the importance of excepting Jesus or believing that he is their one true savior.

3. This seems to be true in America too.  Many people believe that Jesus was a great prophet, but not much more.  My husband and I were talking about the act of accepting Jesus and what "excepting Jesus" actually means just a few days ago.  We seem to agree that it should be a conscious decision, but there are certainly exceptions (especially individuals with developmental disabilities and those in other countries who may not have heard).  It is a tough subject.

4. It was fascinating to see how a Voodoo temple would be right across the street from a Evangelical Christian church.

5. The Voodoo priest would come hang out at the Church Under The Tree (Evangelical Christian). My pastor and I were there sharing the gospel once when he came by.  The kids giggled because they knew the irony of the situation.

6. Another time when the pastor was sharing the gospel (using the EvangeCube) nearly every child rose their hands saying they believe. I am now wondering if that means they believe the story of Jesus or if they have accepted Jesus or believe that he is their savior or if they simply believe he was a good man.

7. The Europeans forced their religion on the African slaves in America, Brazil, Haiti, and Cuba. In response the Africans often times kept their beliefs and added aspects of Catholicism (or Christianity) to their original beliefs. A common example was the use of the imagery of the saints to represent African gods. According to Haitian pastor Mark, in Haiti Catholicism still has deep voodoo ties.  Voodoo is the mix of Catholicism and African Animism specific to Haiti.

8. The effects of Colonialism on world religion may be another example of the mixing of religion or at the very least a corruption of Christianity.  The gospel of colonialism was not Christ-like at all.

Critical Thought Tuesday

If you don't believe in the gods, leave them alone.
Chinese Proverb

What do you think? Do you agree? What perspective/religion are you?