"The greatest enemy to the movement of Christ is Christianity"

this quote is by a guy named Erwin Mcmanus who has a sweet action ministry down in LA called Mosaic. anyways, this guy has balls.

and though this is a huge generalized comment and quite offensive...i can't help but agree with him. and it also breaks my heart, because it is so true.

we go around all day long "preaching" the gospel in people's faces telling them that if they only accept this message that their lives will be changed forever better and everything in their life will be taken care of...but, as I look around, Christians go through the same shit that everyone else does...and well, a lot people say, well, they handle it better, and they see the good in it...well that's a bunch of bullshit too...

you know what drives me crazy...christians thinking that they are different or better than everyone else...

i think it stems from what could be one of the greatest theological "oops" in history. something that happened when constantine legalized christianity in 318 where it became the good and right belief instead of this grassroots revolutionary, ARE ALL WELCOME, belief. before 318 it was all about survival and love and community and truth and each other, and then after, when money got involved, it turned to all about rules, power, and control. and i don't think that it's changed since...

we have this idea that if you're not a christian, you are inferior, less than, not "one of us"...that you are "evil"... and most people will say, nahhh, i don't believe that...but think again...think about how you term people who don't believe what you believe...think about how many of your friends are not christians, and how we term them as "non-believers"...think about how in every way, we as christians and christianity have dug a cavern between what is "christian" and what is "secular", and the only bridge across, the only bridge to the "good life", to "goodness", to "joy", to "perfection", is what we have deemed as "conversion". what the hell is "conversion" anyway? (i am not trying to discount anyone's personal spiritual encounter, just give me a second)

yes, we all have one or many points where we make decisions and commitments to do something different or believe something different. BUT, how different and better is your life since your "conversion"....honestly? honestly? have we promised an all inclusive trip to hawaii but given a one day pass to six flags?...aren't you still lonely? aren't you still bored? aren't you still angry? aren't you still confused? aren't you still human? is your life really any different than any other person on this earth? maybe you don't know because you don't know anybody deeply or close that doesn't believe?

that's because we have taken the message "be not of this world" to mean that we should not have any connection with anything that isn't "christian". well, after a while of living the separated life, i got bored. and lonely, depressed, left out, cold, judgemental, cynical, and lonely, and bored. and so i started thinking, and hearing, maybe this isn't the way it's supposed to be? maybe this separation is bad? maybe there's something i don't understand? maybe there's something that all of us have misunderstood for a very long time?

what do you believe happened when Jesus died? what do you think happened when he broke down the gates of hell? how do you take his words, "I died so that all may have life and may be saved, redeemed"?

what if its not so exclusive as we've always thought it to be? what if the worst sin in christianity, is not homosexuality or abortion, but what if its' just believing that we are different and better than everyone else? believing that we should separate ourselves?

if i remember right, it's His job to separate the sheep and the goats?

you know what i hear first and most of all when i talk to nonbelievers about Christianity? nothing...that's because i never have shut up and quit judging them to listen to one word...

we have built walls around our lives in order to keep us out of this "world". if it's not "christian", it's crap.

it is here where this type of "Christianity" is killing the movement of Christ.

so what is "christianity" anyways? who came up with this word? who's idea was it to stop just telling people about Jesus? and instead start trying to convert the world to christianity? what if you love Christ and love the world and love others, but hate Christianity?

has christianity become the modern day sanhedrin? have we all become little pharisees?
responses....

(i've been reading this book call the Irresistible Revolution by a guy named Shane Claiborne...it's really good and straight forward, and unlike me, he takes his anger and does good things with it. i'm still stuck in the just bitching phase...so forgive me for my bluntness)

allow me to let off a little steam...

you know what has really been getting on my nerves lately...bullshit, fake people, know-it-alls, drama, did i say bullshit, prejudice, whiners, arrogance and ignorance, politics, money, exclusion, reality tv, materialism, consumerism, and bullshit, if i didn't say that already...i'm sick of all these arrogant folks who think that they have all the answers, they think they have it allll figured out, that its really simple actually, that everybody else in the world is going to hell because they're wrong and sinners, and i have it right and you don't, and you suck and are evil until you believe the way that i do, wear the hat that i wear, wear the necklace that i wear, say what i say, eat what i eat, walk the way i walk and talk the way i talk, well guess what...kiss my ass...though Jesus does still love you, everybody else thinks your an asshole...including me and my dog...so seriously, isnt it about time, that everybody just calms the freaK down, have a flippin beer, take off your shoes, chew a little juicy fruit, watch the wind blow by, jump in cause it's warm, let's all just get along, all you need is love, so be a simple man, let's love one another and feel alright, eat some banana freakin pancakes, and enjoy life, ey brudda?
this world was created for one thing...for man and woman to enjoy the God that created them and the world, including the mountains, beer, love, 1969 shelby cobras, hardwood floors, finding the one, sweet tea on a front porch, rocking chairs, a chocolate lab, meat and potatoes, the ocean, smoking whatever around a fire pit with your 5 best friends, boobs, a good hardworking good paying job, and a good shit, shower, and shave, and everything that is anything beautiful and messy...and all we have to do is say thank you to God once in awhile for creating this beautiful mess, and lend a helping hand now and then to those who need, BUT....i'm having a hard time enjoying this beautiful life with all your yapping...so shut your pie hole about your little perfect life and how me and all the arabs are ruining your pursuit of everything, so you can control the world with your puppet strings, and can we all just forget all of our damn grudges, realize that honestly, life would be a lottt better if we saw people as just humans who need food, sex, silence, and good hug every now and then, and that we all are just trying to survive in this world that was built for only beauty and love, but has been so freakin messed up by this big desire for power and control, can we just lay it all down, quit all the fakeness and games, i don't want to hear about all your money, and i'm sorry if i don't call anyone back, i'm busy trying to enjoy life, so CHILL OUT...it's hard to relax with all the racket...