Claiming to Be A Follower of Christ

Is it just me, or is this whole Republican Political Cycle driving you crazy? I know, it makes for some pretty interesting TV, and it does help boost the ratings for those questionable 24-hour news channels, but really – it’s just freaking crazy. I could never see myself voting Republican, if I ever did I would imagine myself sitting in a small dark room, ripping open the seventh seal, releasing the hounds of hell, pouring fire on the earth waiting for the apocalypse to kick in full gear – all while drinking a Pepsi. With all the rhetoric, all the God told me to run [only to drop-out. I guess, after hearing them speak, God said, ‘Oh, hell no – not that clown, I’m pulling my endorsement.’], all the hate, all the bigotry, and all the denial of being hateful and bigoted, This Republican Cycle has been crazy. But, what is craziest for me, is that those same people – the ones spouting hate, bigotry, the homophobia, the misogyny, the xenophobic rhetoric also are the ones claiming to be Christian – which totally confuses me.

It confuses me because, as one Christian Minister told me [and many believe], Why don’t Muslims speak out against those who twist the teaching of their Prophet to harm others? Never once realizing that some 70,000 Imams have done just that. My question to him was, Why don’t followers of the teachings of Christ speak out against those who twist the teachings of Christ to harm other? You see, I believe those candidates who claim to be Christian, aren’t speaking the words of Christ.

Without going into the surreal comparison of hand size among Republican hopefuls, the part that drives me to the point of insanity is many of them are claiming to be Christian, yet they speak with words Jesus would never use. Wait……. Come to think of it, while they may not be following the teachings of Christ, they just might be Christian. Let me explain:

• With all their talk about how lazy the poor are, and how they are leaches on the social dollar, regardless of the facts;
• When they speak of people with other [not theirs] faith traditions should be gone, and we should kill their families and carpet bomb their homelands [A Muslim friend told me, “If they want to bomb my home town to kill my family, I think others in Sarasota FL might get mad.”];
• When they condemn people crossing human defined boarders, demanding they be removed, and a wall built to keep them out;
• When they claim women should have no control over their own bodies, and medical treatments, and should be placed in prison for life decisions they disagree with;
• When encouraging violence against those who disagree with them is acceptable, and encouraging people to express that violence on others;
• When they see the rich as people of value, while casting those struggling as lazy leaches living on the social dime;
• When they see their point of view as the right point of view, and everyone else as having a wrong point of view;
• When they misquote The Collective Narrative [Scripture] to make their point, while discounting what it truly says;
• When they see people of color, or different ethnic groups, as a “voting block” and not people;
• When they dance around answering questions, and truly give no real solutions, I wonder.

When all that’s in play, I have to say, Yup, I see them as Conservative Evangelical Christians – not Followers of the Teachings of Christ – but Conservative Evangelical Christians.

Here is where I desire to draw the line – if you will.

If you’re belittling the poor, and have no heart to truly help – you’re not following the Teachings of Christ. If you spend time praising the rich, for being rich and productive members of society, while derogating the workers, the poor, as leaches, you’re not following the Teachings of Christ. If you reject tolerance, acceptance, grace, mercy, and forgiveness for all, regardless of who they are, or where they come from, you’re not following the Teaching of Christ. Over the past, many have refuse to say, “No, if you claim to be a follower of Christ, you cannot think that way.” We’ve allowed the political Right to coop and define what it means to be a follower of Christ – to define what Christianity is, and is not. I think this is because we have a poor theology that says, “All they have to do is accept Jesus into their hearts, and who are we to say they have not?” But, if they are not living a life that reflects Christ, did they accept him?