OK so I've already put out
part one of my Easter Message discussing the historical reality of Christ. Now I want to talk a little bit about Christian doctrine and Christian hypocrisy which leads to Christian intolerance. Again I don't want to hate. I believe in the freedom of religion but I don't believe all religions are true. I believe that all religions have good and bad in them just like every community does. We can't really obsess over the bad but we can't ignore it either lest we be led astray. Christ said beware of wolves in sheep's clothing who will enter in from among us. What does that mean? You tell me. He said it. Now let's talk about it.
There are obviously different forms of Christianity.
First we had the Catholic church. Well that's the first that we know of. There was a gap of 300 years between the murder of the last Apostle and the formation of the Catholic church. Constantine had been killing Christians for years until he had a dream where he was victorious in battle under the Christian cross. So he has a change of heart and gets all the religious leaders together and said alright you guys get it together. I want you to stop fighting with each other and come to an agreement on a doctrine. We'll embrace that and persecute everyone who doesn't believe our own brand of Christianity. So the council of Constantine also known and the council of Nicea was created and the Catholic church was born.
Before that Christians were being killed for 300 years simply for being Christians. Paul was a zealous Jew who was present at the martyrdom of Stephen and was personally involved with killing many Christians for hearsay.
I talked about that in part one about the historical reality of Jesus. The law said people guilty of blasphemy were to be put to death. Paul saw the light on the road to Damascus. He was smitten blind then healed. He had a dramatic and lasting conversion.
My point is that Christians have not always agreed on doctrine. They have often fought amongst themselves just like the Muslims have. In Ireland we had a conflict between Catholics and Protestants but a lot of Protestants fight with each other too.
The conflict in Ireland was more about politics than religion. It just so happened that Protestants tended to support British rule while Catholics tended to support being independent of England. The flag for the Republic of Ireland is green, orange and white. Green for Catholic, orange for Protestant and white for peace between the two. I support the freedom of religion not the amalgamation of religion. Adapting a state religion is the road to abolishing all religion. First you abolish all religions but one, then you finally abolish that one last religion then mission accomplished. A New World Order of Communism has taken all your rights away once and for all.
OK so for all practical purposes first we had the Catholic church. Then all of a sudden King Henry starts to feel guilty for murdering his ex wives. The Catholic church didn't allow divorce so instead of murdering is exs he decided to create his own church. He created the church of England and put himself in charge of it. Israel had good kings and bad kings over the years but never in the history of Israel had a king taken over Judaism and formed his own brand.
Yet that's exactly what King Henry did and the Protestant Reformation was born. Although it had a bad start, many others like John Wesley had good intentions. The Bible was translated into English and people started reading it. After they started reading it they discovered that some things the Catholic church taught didn't line up with the Bible. So we had several groups of people try to confirm the church to be more in harmony with the Bible.
Unfortunately human nature replaced those good intentions with a whole lot of infighting. People would get in a fight and have a disagreement on some point of doctrine. They'd break off and form their own church and someone else would get in a fight with them and break off and so on and so on until we kind of had a mess of contradictions that missed the whole point.
I'm not hating on the Catholic church, the Church of England or any other church. I'm just calling it like it is. Personally I like Catholics. Although I don't agree with everything their church teaches they tend to be good normal people.
Some of the other break aways have become very hateful and intolerant. When I was young there was a guy on the radio called the Bible Answer Man. He was one of the most intolerant people I have ever heard. Any Christian who didn't believe his own exclusive brand of Christianity, was of the Devil. Which was in itself amusing because his doctrine was wrong.
I support Christian values. I agree with James who said faith without works is dead. When I was young I had some friends who were Mormons. Some of my intolerant Christian friends would insist that Mormons were of the Devil. I thought that was absurd and unchristian so I'd get in arguments with them.
They claimed that Mormons believe you had to earn your way to heaven and that took away from God's grace so it was of the Devil. I'd just shake my head and bow it in shame. These people were insane. They claimed Mormons were of the Devil because Mormons taught you were supposed to do good. That makes no sense.
I had studied Satanism. Satanism taught Do what though whilt shall be the whole of the law. Satanism taught no rules no morals. They taught the exact opposite of what the Mormons taught. I'm not saying I agree with everything the Mormons teach. I'm just saying the claim that Mormons are of the Devil is ridiculous and that leads us to the root of the conflict.
This brand of intolerant Christians teach that everyone who does not believe in their exclusive brand of Christianity is of the Devil. Everyone, not just Mormons. So right off we can all see the flaw in that doctrine and we can see where that doctrine leads. It leads and breeds intolerance.
Now I'm not saying we should have a tolerance for sin. I'm not saying we should compromise with the Devil. I'm saying we shouldn't be deceived by him. I saw a video clip of a crazy women hijack the microphone at a Muslim event proclaiming Christ as King rudely denouncing Mohammad to be a false prophet. That was very unchristian.
I'm not a Muslim but I do not see Mohamed as a false prophet. There is a lot of good in Islam. I see Mohamed as a reformer like John Wesley. Mohamed had a mission to the Arab nations and he taught them to do good. That is what Christ taught.
I understand the atonement of Christ. I don't believe Christ taught believe in me and continue to sin. Christ taught repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. John the Baptist taught the same thing. Christ and John the Baptist taught people to do good. If someone was to teach believe in Christ but don't do good, that is what I would call a false prophet.
We are told that one day every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ. Yet everyone will not be saved. OK what do you mean saved? Saved from what? Death? We all are. After this life the spirit continues. One day everyone will be resurrected and judged. Everyone. The good and the bad. The best of the best and the worst of the worst. Everyone will be resurrected and judged. So in that sense, thanks to the atonement of Christ everyone is saved from physical death. Yet Christ said in my father's house are many mansions.
Christ taught as ye sow, so shall ye reap.
He also taught the parable of the talents which implies not every Christian receives the same reward.
We are rewarded for what we do and don't do. That is not a Satanic doctrine. It is common sense. Mind how ya go. Live your faith.
Having said that, the flip side of Christian intolerance is Christian service. Mother Teresa exemplified this. Many churches included the Salvation Army, First United and Union Gospel Mission performs acts of service on a daily basis.
That is the intent of the religion:
love and service. Whosoever is
least among you the same shall be the greatest.
Martin Luther King.
