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No Longer a Christian
Published
on Monday, October 25, 2004 by CommonDreams.org
No
Longer a Christian
by
Karen Horst Cobb
I was told in Sunday school the word "Christian" means to be Christ-like,
but the message I hear daily on the airwaves from the “christian ” media are words
of war, violence, and aggression. Throughout this article I will spell Christian
with a small c rather than a capital, since the term (as I usually hear it thrown
about) does not refer to the teachings of the one I know as the Christ. I hear
church goers call in to radio programs and explain that it was a mistake not to
kill every living thing in Fallujah. They quote chapter and verse from the old
testament about smiting the enemies of Israel. The fear of fighting the terrorists
on our soil rather than across the globe causes the voices to be raised as they
justify the latest prison scandal or other accounts of the horrors of war . The
words they speak are words of destruction, aggression, dominance, revenge, fear
and arrogance. The host and the callers echo the belief in the righteousness of
our nation's killing. There are reminders to pray for our “Christian” president
who is doing the work of the Lord: Right to Life, Second Amendment, sanctity
of marriage, welfare reform, war, kill, evil liberals. . . so much to fight, so
much to destroy.
Let me tell you about the Christ I know. He was conceived by an unmarried woman. He was not born into a family of privilege. He was a radical.
He said, “It was said an eye for and eye and a tooth of a tooth, but now I say
love your enemies and bless those who curse you.” He said, “Blessed are the poor
in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for
they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” (Matthew
5: 3-9) He said, “All those who are called by my name will enter the kingdom of
heaven." He said, "People will know true believers if they have the
fruit of the spirit--love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness,
self control.“
He knew he would be led like a sheep to the slaughter. He responded
with “Father forgive them.“ He explained that in Christ there is neither Jew nor
gentile, slave or free male nor female. He explained that even to be angry is
akin to murder. He said the temple of God is not a building, but is in the hearts
of those are called by his name. He was called "the Prince of Peace."
His final days were spent in prayer, so that he could endure what was set before
him, not on how he could overpower the evil government of that day. When they
came for him he was led away and didn’t resist his death sentence.
This is
a stark contrast to the call of the
religious Christian right, who vote for war and weapons, and suggest towns
and villages be leveled to bring freedom and peace to the people. They proudly
boast this country’s superiority, suggesting God has blessed our nation. Today,
as I listened to a popular Christian news network, I was reminded that in the
last days, even God’s elect will be deceived, (II Timothy 3:13). When the religious
media moguls preaching prosperity spout their rhetoric, I am reminded of the difficulty
Jesus described of a rich man’s ability to enter the kingdom of God. (Matthew
19: 24) (http://www.4religious-right.info/rr_economics.htm)
Some who believe they are fighting evil will cry to the Lord, and he will say
“I never knew you.“ (Matthew 22). They will have a form or godliness but will
deny the power (II Timothy 3:5) to move mountains through prayer. (Matthew 17:20).
Jesus explained that he has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power,
love, and a sound mind. (II Timothy 1:17) I wonder if the innocent moms and dads,
brothers and sisters, and aunts and uncles, and grandmas and grandpas who were
the victims of US military weapons (the never reported collateral damages we are
protected from in the “liberal” nightly news) felt the love of Jesus with the
shock and awe. I wonder if the surviving family members now understand His radical
love and that they no longer have any need for weapons or defense.
The solutions
to the social issues used to manipulate good, decent people have no resemblance
to how Jesus responded to the social concerns of his time. He never once mentioned
the “right to life” the year he was born King Herod ordered the execution of all
babies. (Matthew 2:16). He knew that passing laws does not change the heart. As
a follower of his teaching I believe in the right to life, including the children
in Iraq who stumble onto land mines, cross the street at the wrong time, or who
are snugly tucked within the warm bellies of their wounded or grieving mothers
as US fighter jets fly overhead. These are living, breathing children. The killing
of these little ones are never even reported, and our tax dollars pay for these
bombs. I believe in the right to life for those in the United States who are unwanted
and impoverished. I believe in the right to life of the naive kid who was promised
by the recruiter they could choose a desk job and still get their education paid
or could see the world or could accelerate their life or could play a very realistic
video game from a cockpit.
I've worked at a shelter, and I know first hand the reality
of unwanted children. I know the reality of this right wing rhetoric when week
after week I begged and pleaded with people to give up only one night every three
months to sit with these unwanted living children for a few hours while the overworked
house parents had a night off. Of the few I found, many changed their minds when
they discovered that they would need to wear rubber gloves to change the babies
diapers. These “believers” stand on the street corners holding right to life signs
and then vote against medical assistance for the mothers and their unwanted children
creating an impossible existence for them. The few of these abortion activists
who might adopt some of these unwanted children generally want the white and the
healthy. The ones with hydrocephalous, tracheotomies, emotional/ mental problems
and communicable diseases along with their life long medical expenses can be someone
else’s problems.
I cringe as many christians vote for policies that deny help
to the poor in our own county, who vote to support the war and military strength,
assuring the latest weapons are developed and that the heavens will be dominated
by the military of the United States. We develop electromagnetic weapons to shatter
skulls , split the earth (http://www.raven1.net/emr13.htm)
and silently destroy a body as a thief in the night. Studies are even now searching
for the frequencies to override the freewill. These unbelievable technologies
are a reality and DNA specific weapons can or soon will target a specific nationality
(http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/981116/1998111619.html
).I weep as the waters Jesus walked on become contaminated with uranium. (http://www.greendove.net/resources3.htm)
I grieve as the missiles fly through the atmosphere on the continent where Jesus
rose into the sky, defying death and the grave and where the Holy Sprit first
descended. I cry out at the horrors of war and the indignity of the prisons so
close to where He took captivity captive. So I am no longer a Christian if Christianity
has become what is presented to us by our Christian president and Christian media.
I cannot support the right of the United States and Israel to develop and use the
most heinous weapons ever imagined. I want no part of a temple built on the blood
of the innocent. The sheep have been lead astray by the teachings of prosperity
and misinterpretation of the final battle between good and evil. Many no longer
can recognize the voice of the good Shepherd.
Some “good Christians” even work
at weapons facilities. It is not a stretch to say that a woman who tightens a
last rivet on a shiny new missile just off the assembly line might be the same
woman who licks the gold star on the attendance chart in morning Sunday school.
The missile could be launched by the kid in the youth group who reads the invocation
and it will find it’s destiny at a “target of interest” which might or might not
have been a result of good intelligence. The collection plate circulates children
are taught to love their enemies and bless those who curse them.
The statements
and lifestyle of Jesus are difficult for me to understand. What would he say to
evil dictators? This God would not justify 15,000
or more deaths. Even the wrathful jealous God of the old testament spared
whole cities for a few righteous souls. For Christians, to support mass killings
as a way to prevent future deaths is not at all like Christ. He would not say,"When
I am talking about war I am really talking about peace," like the self professed
Christian President proudly states. Who but God has the right to determine what
price a people should pay for their freedom? The religious leaders on the airwaves
today respond to the voices of the few brave peacemakers who dare to speak out.
They say that pacifism is insane, and that it doesn’t make sense, but what is
forgotten is that logic and faith are separate entities. I believe in the example
of Jesus and his admonition to love your enemies and bless those who curse you
. Do I understand how this works on the global scale? Do I know what Jesus would
say to all the world’s leaders? No, nor do I totally understand how the example
of Christ’s life and his message of love works in the world today. That’s why
I need faith. Am I always correct in my assessments and actions? No, that’s why
I need grace. Am I brave and unafraid? No, that’s why I need the perfect love
that casts out fear. Some put trust in Chariots and some in horses but I will
remember the name of the lord our God--the Prince of Peace. Perhaps politics has
no place for imitators of Christ.
Who will show the face of Christ to the world?
Who will speak His radical message? I hear from these so called imitators of Christ
that the pacifists are a collection of kids, hippies, socialists and communists
who haven’t got a clue. Some of us, however, have come to our beliefs as a result
of careful and prayerful study of the scriptures and admonishment from our elders.
Many are Mennonite, Amish, Quaker and other Anabaptists, whose ancestors did not
resist their torturers and were drowned, burnt at the stake and flogged for their
pacifist stand. They truly followed the example of Christ, and their resistance
against the catastrophic effects of the merging of church and state cost them
a great price. Churches today have signed onto the government plan and have agreed
to look the other way in exchange for tax free privileges. The true message of
Christ still exists to some degree in the quiet of the land to peacemakers, but
sadly these good people have been deceived by the angry words from a righteous
sounding religious media majority broadcasting in cars and trucks and tractors
all over our land ironically preaching the “good news of war for peace“ and convincing
24-7 “liberal“ bashing. I suspect there are many who share my sorrow at the loss
of what it means to be Christ-like, but our voice is seldom heard. The blaring
rhetoric drowns out the still small voice of the mighty God. Peace used be the
opposite of war, Conservative used to mean the tendency to conserve resources.
Liberal used to mean kind and generous, and Christian used to mean like Christ.
So I am no longer a Christian but just a person who continues trying to follow
the example of Christ. I’ll let him call me what he wants when I see him face
to face. Until then, I will pray that someday people like me will be able to reclaim
the meaning of Christ’s identity, and the world will see the effects of the radical
message of Christ‘s love--the perfect love that casts out fear.
Karen Cobb
is a freelance writer and artist in Santa Fe, NM and can be contacted at cairnhcobb@msn.com.
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