"I Wish I Could Help You"

Grrrrr.

THIS right here is why I am not a Christian.

Well, to be fair, there are other reasons. Lots of them:

• the superiority complex Christianity has over other religions (and often, other sects of itself!) 
• Hell. Sorry, doesn't exist as anything other than a tool to enforce obeisance. 
• Institutionalized racism, sexism, homophobia, and a whole lot else -- and yes, there are 'liberal' denominations and churches, but they're looked down upon by the 'true believers'
• have you actually read your Bible? There's no better argument for atheism, or at least nonbelief in the God being peddled within, than a good thorough reading of Christianity's "hole-y" text. It starts right in Genesis with multiple Gods doing the creating (well, there's two different creation myths); the OT God is so clearly human it's a farce. Jealous, judgemental, capricious, and not to put too fine a point on it, a POINTLESSLY violent being. The NT is not much better: the Gospels are ridden with contradictions and people like Paul, who never even met Jesus except "in a dream", somehow have free rein to slander women and gays. Jesus Himself was much more in line with what a God ought to be -- forgiving people as they murder you is pretty godly -- it's really too bad that
• Jesus of Nazareth and much of the rest of Christianity was lifted wholesale from Mithraism, which was probably in turn lifted from something still older. Ecclesiastes did have it right: there is nothing new under the sun (or the Son, as may be). 

But all of that, all of that I might be able to get past, and I'd still be hit with that poster above.

That poster is not Christian. It is not godly. It is, in fact, evil.

I say it's evil because it's the backwards of "live". To live is to love, and that poster is telling us that loving is not our job, it's God's.

If "my love for you" is not helping you find happiness, then one of two things follows: 

• I'm not expressing my love for you adequately, or in a way you are receptive to

OR

• our relationship has run its course and served its purpose, and it's time to move on to the next grandest version of the greatest vision we ever had about who we are.

Communication should adequately determine which case applies.

This poster is no less than the total abdication of our responsibility as human beings. I actually have little doubt I could find some Christians who would agree with me on this: aren't we supposed to embody God's love? Are we not all sons (let's use 'children') of God? 

Let's stop "wishing" we could do these things and actually TRY TO DO THEM. Hugs work wonders at taking pain away: that's been scientifically proven (oh, no, science, how unGodly!) Let's actually try loving people and see where that might lead. Maybe by telling, and showing, people how amazing we think they are, they might discover that yes, they are, in fact, amazing.  

I wouldn't be saying this if it hadn't worked for me. Repeatedly. And on me.

Most importantly, we do NOT walk ANYWHERE on our own (with or without God). We are SURROUNDED by people, animals, even plants to those who are receptive to their energies, all of which can re-center us and remind us who we are. Who are we: we are co-creators. We create our reality through our thoughts, words, and actions. You can choose to use Christian parlance ("the indwelling Spirit") if you want -- words really don't matter, even though wars get fought over precisely how doctrine is to be expressed (and isn't that disgusting?) The point is, we are all here to love each other, not to force people to walk their paths alone and hope (to God) they're praying hard enough that they might be granted some measure of self-worth.   

Because that's what this poster says, at root. Problems in your life? You're not PRAYING hard enough.

Grrrrrr.

  

If I've got any of this wrong, well, I'm cheerfully toddling off to Hell, and I hope to find most of you down there with me. In the meantime, I'm just going to go about loving as many as I can, as much as I can, for as long as I can.