God

We need to stop holding certain values as “Christian” values that simply aren’t. I’m a Jesus Follower for sure, but I’m not even sure I want to be associated with the word “Christian” anymore. We need to understand the difference between Christian and culture — especially the American, conservative culture. We simply need to understand the difference between Christian and conservative. Maybe we should all just adopt the term “Jesus Follower” and try to live like Jesus, not merely conservatively.

My premise here is that I think if Jesus came today, instead of 2,000 years ago, He would’ve had a bone to pick with religious leaders, as he did when He came. Therefore, I think He would cuss to show religious people how often they’re “majoring on the minors.” I don’t think cussing is the only example, but it’s a prominent one in today’s society.

I just finished Christopher Hitchens’s book, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, and while I actually agree with much of it, we came to two completely different conclusions.

First, I want to distinguish the difference between God and religion. God is great. Religion is poison. God calls us to come to Him, through Jesus. Religion causes people to do insane things, including things like the Crusades, mass murder, manipulation, and events such as the People’s Temple leading and forcing people to literally “drink the Kool-Aid,” resulting in the single greatest loss of American civilian life in a deliberate act, prior to the September 11 terrorist attacks.