The Camel and the Needle

Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." —Matthew 19:21-24

This seems fairly straightforward to me. It's not the only time Jesus suggested giving away money was a godly thing to do, of course, but this passage seems to sum it up nicely. The message I take from this is that concentrating on keeping wealth—caring about doing so—is detrimental to your relationship with God. Note I say "detrimental", not "an absolute bar", yet either way, I'm not sure I understand why so many Christians seem to be amongst the most greedy wealth-seekers, and I definitely don't understand prosperity preachers.

Brotherly Love

Via a comment on slacktivist, I was pointed to this post, reporting on a Christian "demonstration" at the Gay Pride parade in Chicago... one where the Christians wore shirts saying "I'm sorry". They were apologizing for the years they and/or their churches have treated gays like... well, the way too many Christians treat gays.

The article links to the blog Love is an Orientation, maintained by the founder of the group The Marin Foundation, which is a non-profit outreach group trying to work towards a better relationship between churches and the GLBT community. I recommend taking a look at both, because we all could use some more love and acceptance in our lives.

As a side note, the founder's blog mentions that he and his wife live in the Boystown neighborhood in Chicago, which, for those of you who don't know Chicago, is where the most open GLBT community in Chicago is centered. It's the neighborhood I first saw pairs of men and women openly together back when I was much younger, and it was just a couple miles up the street from there I first worked with three openly gay people... which is how I learned that the only difference between me and a gay woman was who we were attracted to.

Universalism

I've written before about how I can reconcile being a Christian with believing that non-Christians aren't doomed to either eternal punishment or exile from Heaven, but I've felt a need lately to talk about it some more. Maybe it's because I keep seeing so many people—both Christians and non-Christians—talking about how exclusivity is a major hallmark of Christianity.

Prayer for... Everyone

This year seems to be attracting a lot of disasters. Some have been natural (tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanoes), some man-made (mine disasters, the BP platform explosion). For the families and friends of those who have lost loved ones in those disasters, as well as for everyone else who is suffering right now, I pray for peace and the strength to carry on through all of life's troubles, and hope that they can find happiness again, even if it seems it's been lost to them right now.

A couple of links

Via one of my old friends, the moderate voice of American Muslims regarding a recent attempt by non-Muslims to be stupid about how Muslims feel about visual depictions of Muhammad. (No, they didn't call it stupid. I am calling it stupid. Going out of your way to offend people of a specific religion is stupid... and it violates the "don't be a dick" rules of many religions.)

Via another friend, a liberal Christian shared blog, bearing witness (dreamwidth|livejournal). From their profile:

Jesus Christ lived and preached love and acceptance of all, but it increasingly seems like the most vocal Christians are preaching intolerance and hatred. So we, as Christians who believe in Christ's true message, think it's past time for us to exercise our right of rebuttal.

Note that our aim is not to evangelise to non-Christians about our religious beliefs, but rather to evangelise to other Christians about our political beliefs, and to strengthen ourselves in fellowship with others who take these beliefs as not merely compatible with, but actually required by, our faith.

Sounds good to me.

Modest dress and the law

I feel somewhat disturbed by the number of countries in Europe which have banned, in part or in whole, Muslim head coverings.

I am apalled. Again.

I'm about thisclose to taking back every single good thing I've ever said about Catholicism.

I disagree with their doctrine and their positions on a number of things, but I've appreciated the beauty of their rituals, their dedication to education, and their charity work. Yet all of that seems tainted now in light of recent responses to public outcry about priests abusing children.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. That means not going against the consensus of psychological studies regarding any alleged link between homosexuality and child molestation. That means not accusing the people who have been outraged at the Church's coverup of child molesting priests of being part of some Zionist plot, conveniently ignoring the number of Christians (including Catholics!) who have expressed outrage. That means not accusing Jews of being the secret overlords of the world, deliberately giving fuel to the minds of conspirators you know would love an excuse to lash out at Jews. And it also means telling the truth about the crimes you know were committed... because covering up a crime is also false witness.

The fact that these things are being said by priests, by people who have sworn a lifelong commitment to God and His works, is completely disgusting. Deliberately breaking a commandment is not a way to show one's dedication to God's word. It is inexcusable.

Easter

If Jesus were alive today and preaching the message he preaches in the Gospels, he would be crucified.

It wouldn't be literal. We don't do that anymore, at least in our society. But the word has become metaphorical for harsh, often angry criticism. And in the U.S., people who ask for charity and love for one's fellow man generally find opponents in plenty who will attempt to verbally crucify them.

But no matter how harshly such messages are criticized, people continue to try. In the face of such metaphorical crucifixion, knowing that criticism and anger and even violence may come their way, people still spread this message: to love their neighbors, no matter how different, and to help those in need. Like Jesus, who knew that sooner or later his words would lead to his death, these people do not let the knowledge of their opponents' likely reactions stop them. The message is too important to them.

These people are not all Christians. Some are, but others are Jews or atheists or Muslims or agnostic or pagans or Buddhists. And some of their most strident opponents do claim to be Christian. Many who do not believe in Christ have much more in common with him than those who do. And I believe it is not which beliefs they hold but what they do from those beliefs that matters most.

This Easter, I celebrate not only Jesus's resurrection, but also the continuing efforts of those who act in a way he would surely approve of, no matter what the reasons are that those things are done.

Only Human

"There is none righteous, no, not one."—Romans 3:10

"For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God."—Romans 3:23

One thing I find interesting about how people view religion and faith is how the same thing can lead to such wildly different conclusions. For instance, one or both of those quotes above, or the summary of them, is frequently cited by people as a reason they have issues with Christianity. Yet, for me, they're one of the things that form the bedrock of my belief.

A gospel song I like

One of my favorite gospel songs is one I was introduced to via Babylon 5.

Yes, really.