So, just what are we talking about?

[Doc]

You know, don't take this as an insult, but you would make a GOOD Christian.

The big problem these days is figuring out what a Christian is. So many people call themselves by that label. Mormons, Jehovah's Witlessess, Catholics, Snake Handlers, etc etc etc. And that I think is the problem.

Religion is the problem. I loathe religion. I my self have no religion. The Bible warns us not to have religion. Jesus came to abolish the Mosiac Law. Religion, in the very root of the word, means man reaching up for God. Jesus bridged the gap and allowed God to reach down to us. The Ten Commandments, while ten very good rules to live by, no longer exist. None of the Mosiac Law exists. It was impossible for man to live by. Any man or congregation that lives by the Law will die by the Law. Catholics, live by the Law. As do so many others. They will be judged by the very standards they hold themselves to and fall accordingly. Grace is the one simple bone of contention that so many fail to live by or see. Jesus left one and only one last commandment. Love one another.

Grace is the one thing that has drove a wedge in the Church in the past 2000 years. Man it seems, would rather live under impossible conditions. Baptisms, communions, collection plates, all of it useless. Especially collection plates. Tithing was part of the Law. Any church passing around a collection plate now should be fled from. During the Age of Grace, it is the Minister's responsibility to work to cover the expenses for his flock. Look at Paul, he worked as a tent maker. Up till the day he died, Paul made all of his own money for his Ministry. It kept him honest.

Faith should be a simple thing. I believe. Therefore, I am. It is a personal private relationship, not a religion or gathering of miserable souls. It should not be you dragging your ass down to church each Sunday getting bored, falling asleep, and wishing you where at home watching the ball game. If that's how it is for you, then Christ died in vain. The whole purpose of Jesus' death was to give us the freedon to go to God at any time with out the need for Rabbi or Pastor. Sure, it's nice to have those folks around for some things. Tough questions, spiritual guidence on some issues, marriages perhaps. But it's a lot more fun to gather together for fellowship in a back yard, having a BBQ, shooting the breeze about life and drinking cold frosty beer. Jesus showed us with the Last Supper that worship and fellowship begins at home. All of the first Church gathered in homes, then catacombs, graveyards, and places of hiding as the Church Members became outlaws. It went sour shortly after that, as leaders and temple guildmasters realized that if this dreadful idea of people worshipping on their own and not dropping coin into the temple coffers, many men used to free and easy living might have to actually go out and work. So a bunch of yahoos got together and created the foundations to the Modern Catholic church that exists today with it's strings of pagan worship and idol fixation wove in with the Bible. The "All Things For All People" thing just hasn't worked out. Easter, the coming holiday, based on some old dead God of fertility, created to draw in pagan worshippers. (Do not confuse Passover and Easter.) The worship of statues and saints, from back in the Roman days when men made their own God. Bad news, none of those statues died on a cross for the sins of the world. And they don't weep blood either. It's a couple of microscopic grains of red dye lodged in the cracks around the eye and condensation from dew causes it to shed tears of blood. Mary was a deity unto her self to bring in the Celtic worshipers during the Great Conversion of Europe, giving them a female figure to bask in her glory, to replace their Goddesses and Earth Mother. Before that point, the very idea that a woman was even worth anything was laughable. What's that about necessity being the mother of all invention... Christmas, the Festival of Reaping. In the Bible, in the Gospels, it said that Jesus' birth happened after a decree that the whole world be taxed. Romans taxed the world every year or so around April first. Jesus was born with the lambs, as a Lamb. Not a Reaping Goose.

See where I am going with this? I could bury you in the sheer amount of baggage. See what people carry with them? See why your friends got huffy puffy? I will probably go out and see The Passion later this afternoon. Under much protest. I rented out a whole showing for a Youth Group I sponsor. So I may join them. (But I dunno. All that damned giggling and bouncing about boingy behaviour... gets on my nerves it does. What do teenagers have against sitting still and enjoying quiet contemplation.) Egads I hope I am not in a theatre with a bunch of kids throwing up in their popcorn buckets. Somebody is bound to be a troublemaker and throw JuJuBees or Raisinettes or something. (Might even be me) Please pray for this old Grumplepuss.

Occhi, should you ever change your mind, seeing as how you would make a good Christian, don't let anybody hand you any baggage to carry on your way to the Gate. Just you, your faith, and God is all you will ever need. And for the love of Jesus, never ever join a church full of snake handlers.