Amen, brother! I had a Christian brother of mine, share a link of a video of a couple of Christian theologians expounding on the concept of "the sin of empathy". Honestly, I wasn't sure he was joking about it or if it was real. It was real...he actually thought I would get something out of it.
All I could think of was "Get thee behind me, satan!"
Remember that parable of the vineyard where all of those workers were bent out of shape that the worker who came late in the day received the same pay as they had agreed to? It sure seems like the evangelical church is full of those guys these days.
I'll be honest...the whole Trump thing has me re-thinking my faith...in a good way. You can't be going down the right path when you follow a guy like Trump saying that God is using his imperfect instrument to employ His will on earth. I feel it's more like, God is allowing us our free will and to be as stupid as we want to be...only to be stuck with living with the consequences for the next decade or so.
Same for me. I'm really struggling with my faith right now — not because of God, but because of the people who say they know and follow Him. If the behavior I'm seeing is indicative of their God, then I don't want any part of it.
The people that scare me more than the MAGA type Christians, though, are the ones who *aren't* but will still only vote Republican because that's the "Christian Party". Like. There shouldn't even *be* a Christian party? This is all secular politics aimed at governing a secular country; Christians should only have one home country, and that's the Kingdom of Heaven. It's tantamount, in my view, of saying Christ isn't powerful enough to use the church to radically transform the hearts of those around us — no, the church clearly isn't up to the task, so they have to turn to institutions of men to legislate the standards of Christians unto all people so that they may be "saved" by being made to follow standards that *Christians* fall short of.
Make it make sense. The mental gymnastics of the religion of Christianity are impossible for me to follow and exhausting besides.
I hear ya. Literally, this morning, one of my MAGA FB friends posted John 3:16. I sort of feel like he's posting verses and quotations aimed at me. He has accused me of being completely misled and in need of counseling.
All the while, he blames everyone else but Trump for 1/6 and think the J6 committee was guilty of practically treason in their hearings to get to the truth.
Honestly...what the heck am I supposed to do? Trust God, right? At this point...I believe I've said enough to him and he knows where I stand. If I'm listening to the Spirit of God (which isn't very loud these days for me) I hear something along the lines of "It's ok...you've spoken the truth to him. Let Me take it from here."
Or is that just me talking to myself? You see? I really do hear ya!
"Let Me take it from here." I've had those moments, too, and I will say that when I let Him -- and shut up and get out of the way -- things get better. Not necessarily the way *I* want them to, but better.
Like Trump, himself, this "sin of empathy" is such a litmus test for me. For me...that whole concept is simply and clearly man's attempt to justify unloving actions that pretty much add up to "doing whatever the hell you want to and having a built-in excuse not have guilt or remorse about it".
Jeff the original, “the whole Trump thing has me rethinking my faith” is me too, just not sure in a good way for me. It has about killed me honestly, but I maybe I needed to wake up. At 72 years old, it has been a hard lesson. I feel like I have been living in a parallel universe. I have said so many times, especially these past ten years, and this goes for Charlie Kirk for sure, if THAT is Christianity, I want no part of that, and why would ANYONE??? This country has lost its mind and soul.
Like me you probably grew up hearing that the devil is strong but God is stronger. Even when it looks like the devil has won. I never had trouble believing in the devil, oddly enough. I just had to look around. But God doesn’t advertise, and here is me shutting up with all this religious talk. 🤐
Was it G.K. Chesterton who said that original sin is the only Christian doctrine for which there is unimpeachable historical evidence? Love you, sister. Now me signing off.
The Trump administration almost is a characterization of satan being in charge. Lots of hubris, strong proclamations, severe lack of self-evaluation...a feeling of invulnerability...all the things destined to bring the whole thing down because it's not built on a sustainable foundation of truth.
Yah...I'm not going to say it hasn't been difficult, but I think because my faith was started with a real and honest desire to follow it...no matter what...that I feel somewhat isolated from it. Apparently, too, I remember all of the parables that Jesus shared and why He shared them. Too many have either forgotten, never actually read/absorbed them or have chosen to ignore them. Not me. I'm not perfect, but I am trying. Finally...on that note...I found myself no longer being able to keep quiet about things and have spoken out on FB. Not necessarily about the religious side, some but not a lot. Mostly I find myself simply wanting to share THE TRUTH. In doing so, I feel VERY strongly that this is supportive of my faith. I'm trying my best not to throw it in people's face, but sometimes, simply sharing the truth with them can seem like it. It's not easy, but I feel that I'm being called to do it. It's NOT FUN and I've lost some friends, but I can't help but think that the friendship wasn't very strong if the truth is what separates us.
Another thing that's helpful is to consider this a winnowing of sorts of the church. The fake Christians are being identified and although they may seem to have the moment...a time is coming where the actual truth will be revealed to them and all of us.
Amen, brother! I had a Christian brother of mine, share a link of a video of a couple of Christian theologians expounding on the concept of "the sin of empathy". Honestly, I wasn't sure he was joking about it or if it was real. It was real...he actually thought I would get something out of it.
All I could think of was "Get thee behind me, satan!"
Remember that parable of the vineyard where all of those workers were bent out of shape that the worker who came late in the day received the same pay as they had agreed to? It sure seems like the evangelical church is full of those guys these days.
I'll be honest...the whole Trump thing has me re-thinking my faith...in a good way. You can't be going down the right path when you follow a guy like Trump saying that God is using his imperfect instrument to employ His will on earth. I feel it's more like, God is allowing us our free will and to be as stupid as we want to be...only to be stuck with living with the consequences for the next decade or so.
Same for me. I'm really struggling with my faith right now — not because of God, but because of the people who say they know and follow Him. If the behavior I'm seeing is indicative of their God, then I don't want any part of it.
The people that scare me more than the MAGA type Christians, though, are the ones who *aren't* but will still only vote Republican because that's the "Christian Party". Like. There shouldn't even *be* a Christian party? This is all secular politics aimed at governing a secular country; Christians should only have one home country, and that's the Kingdom of Heaven. It's tantamount, in my view, of saying Christ isn't powerful enough to use the church to radically transform the hearts of those around us — no, the church clearly isn't up to the task, so they have to turn to institutions of men to legislate the standards of Christians unto all people so that they may be "saved" by being made to follow standards that *Christians* fall short of.
Make it make sense. The mental gymnastics of the religion of Christianity are impossible for me to follow and exhausting besides.
I hear ya. Literally, this morning, one of my MAGA FB friends posted John 3:16. I sort of feel like he's posting verses and quotations aimed at me. He has accused me of being completely misled and in need of counseling.
All the while, he blames everyone else but Trump for 1/6 and think the J6 committee was guilty of practically treason in their hearings to get to the truth.
Honestly...what the heck am I supposed to do? Trust God, right? At this point...I believe I've said enough to him and he knows where I stand. If I'm listening to the Spirit of God (which isn't very loud these days for me) I hear something along the lines of "It's ok...you've spoken the truth to him. Let Me take it from here."
Or is that just me talking to myself? You see? I really do hear ya!
"Let Me take it from here." I've had those moments, too, and I will say that when I let Him -- and shut up and get out of the way -- things get better. Not necessarily the way *I* want them to, but better.
Here's a statement Charlie Kirk made about empathy: "I hate the word empathy, actually. It's a made-up new age word and it's done a lot of damage."
Hard to believe that someone that the right wing is calling a saint made that statement.
Agreed.
Like Trump, himself, this "sin of empathy" is such a litmus test for me. For me...that whole concept is simply and clearly man's attempt to justify unloving actions that pretty much add up to "doing whatever the hell you want to and having a built-in excuse not have guilt or remorse about it".
How's that for some truth?
Lots of precedent for that. Love you, brother.
Any movement that makes Donald Trump its standard-bearer and hails hm as a hero cannot be fundamentally ethical.
Jeff the original, “the whole Trump thing has me rethinking my faith” is me too, just not sure in a good way for me. It has about killed me honestly, but I maybe I needed to wake up. At 72 years old, it has been a hard lesson. I feel like I have been living in a parallel universe. I have said so many times, especially these past ten years, and this goes for Charlie Kirk for sure, if THAT is Christianity, I want no part of that, and why would ANYONE??? This country has lost its mind and soul.
Like me you probably grew up hearing that the devil is strong but God is stronger. Even when it looks like the devil has won. I never had trouble believing in the devil, oddly enough. I just had to look around. But God doesn’t advertise, and here is me shutting up with all this religious talk. 🤐
Was it G.K. Chesterton who said that original sin is the only Christian doctrine for which there is unimpeachable historical evidence? Love you, sister. Now me signing off.
Lol...and with a last name like that too...
The Trump administration almost is a characterization of satan being in charge. Lots of hubris, strong proclamations, severe lack of self-evaluation...a feeling of invulnerability...all the things destined to bring the whole thing down because it's not built on a sustainable foundation of truth.
Yah...I'm not going to say it hasn't been difficult, but I think because my faith was started with a real and honest desire to follow it...no matter what...that I feel somewhat isolated from it. Apparently, too, I remember all of the parables that Jesus shared and why He shared them. Too many have either forgotten, never actually read/absorbed them or have chosen to ignore them. Not me. I'm not perfect, but I am trying. Finally...on that note...I found myself no longer being able to keep quiet about things and have spoken out on FB. Not necessarily about the religious side, some but not a lot. Mostly I find myself simply wanting to share THE TRUTH. In doing so, I feel VERY strongly that this is supportive of my faith. I'm trying my best not to throw it in people's face, but sometimes, simply sharing the truth with them can seem like it. It's not easy, but I feel that I'm being called to do it. It's NOT FUN and I've lost some friends, but I can't help but think that the friendship wasn't very strong if the truth is what separates us.
Another thing that's helpful is to consider this a winnowing of sorts of the church. The fake Christians are being identified and although they may seem to have the moment...a time is coming where the actual truth will be revealed to them and all of us.
For what it's worth, I believe that the path of living faith is sometimes decidedly not fun. (I am not a Christian though.)