Contradiction

Greetings,

First things first: I am currently listening to Joshua Judges Ruth by Lyle Lovett - which is a fantastic album. Lyle Lovett does not get nearly enough credit from people who aren't musicians. If you've never given him a listen, I highly recommend you do so.

Ok, now that we've got that out of the way, we can get to today's Sermon.

As a lot of you already know, I was fired a couple of months ago from a job that I held for two years for filing a religious harassment complaint. I can't really discuss many details right now, but the bare bones details are: I worked in a small NON-RELIGIOUS company (that means that it was not a religious organization). The owner of the company, along with a majority of the employees are evangelistic Christians. I am NOT an evangelistic Christian. The owner of the company hired a couple of his friends as outside consultants to come and evaluate the business and make suggestions as to how to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization. During the course of their evaluation, the consultants called a private meeting with me. In this private meeting, one of the consultants began to inquire about a private enterprise that I am working on that is completely unrelated to my old job. He then proceeded to quote the Bible to me and told me, essentially, that I needed to heed what the scripture said and give up my private enterprise if I wanted to be successful at that company. I was very upset about this meeting and I filed a formal complaint about it with the owner of the company. About four hours after I filed the complaint, I was put on administrative leave, escorted out of the building, and told to surrender my key to the building. Two business days later, I was called in for a meeting with company management. They addressed my complaint, saying that they did not feel that it constituted religious harassment. Then, in the same meeting, they fired me for "unauthorized computer use," having taken time during my leave of absence to search my computer.

I was thinking about the whole situation today, what with the holidays upon us and all, and a really funny thought occurred to me. The following is pretty much my exact thought process:

Hmmmm, I wonder if they've got the office all decorated up for Christmas like they usually do. Probably. I always liked the way the office looked at Christmas time. I kind of wish I could go and see it. Yeah, for that matter, I wish I were going to be getting a fat Christmas bonus like I used to, too. Not a chance of that, though, what with the investigation and all. That really sucks. You know, I thought the Bible also says "...Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well." (Matthew 5:39-40, NIV) If those guys over there really believed in all that bullshit they preached, they would be sending me a check for my Christmas bonus.

I titled today's Sermon "Contradiction" because I think the word "Hypocrisy" has become like an overused antibiotic to people whom I refer to as "Pseudo-Christians." They are completely immune to that word. Note - For the record, my definition of a Pseudo-Christian includes, but is not limited to, anyone who publicly proclaims Christianity, but either fails to understand its foundational concepts, or only affiliates himself with the church for his own ulterior benefit. Usually the official Pseudo-Christian church answer to a charge of hypocrisy includes a variation this statement: "Yeah, there's a lot of hypocrisy out there, but you know, we're all sinners. The Bible says that "...All have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God." (Romans 3:23, NIV). The important thing is that we ask Christ for forgiveness." It's a total cop out. The same people who tell you this will also most likely tell you that Christians are to be held to a higher standard than "the world." That's what I want to see.

If you're out there and you're a Christian, I want to see you live your faith. I'm not talking about following all of the legalistic rules. I'm talking about the principles behind the rules. Read the Beatitudes (this is the name given by theology scholars to Jesus' famous "Sermon on the Mount" depicted in the book of Matthew in chapters 5 through 7 - for all of you non-church people out there), and take note of the parts where Jesus describes the spirit of the law as more important than the law itself. For that matter, pay attention to that concept throughout the first four books of the New Testament. If you really want me to respect your faith, then do your best to live the EXAMPLE that Christ set, not the rules that Paul wrote about later on, or that Moses delivered earlier.

I have read the gospels over and over and over again. I have studied them at a college level; I have studied them in small-group bible studies; I have TAUGHT them in small-group bible studies; I have studied them for hours upon hours at home alone. The overriding theme of Jesus' life was that people ought to be nice to one another, and that people who give to others ought not to feel like they're owed anything for their service. Jesus continually fought, and eventually died for fighting strict religious fundamentalism. He saw that there was something wrong with a system where the rule itself is more important than the spirit behind the rule.

Christians who are upset with what I am writing will probably want to point out my own hypocrisy in writing all of this. To those allegations I will say this: I am not preaching Christianity as an exclusive and absolute truth. I am not saying "I have the answers and the only way to Heaven" All I am saying is that people who profess a system of faith should live out the faith that they profess. I have some very good friends who are Christians. I have a tremendous amount of respect for them because they really try to live the way their faith tells them to. Do they have it down? No. But I can tell you with complete confidence that when one of them does something to offend his neighbor, they will go to the offended party and ask for that person's forgiveness before asking for forgiveness from their God. And they don't stand on a soapbox and preach to everyone about how wholesome and pious they are, either. Unfortunately, based on what I have seen so far, these people are the exception, rather than the rule.

One critique that I sometimes get from Christians is this: "You know, there are a lot of things wrong with 'the Church,' but just complaining about it isn't helping anything. You should be doing something about it instead. Why don't you start living out your faith?"

There are a couple of parts to my answer: First, I did do something about it. After spending years as a devout Christian, I realized that all of my preaching and genuinely trying to live out my faith wasn't doing much good. I dedicated most of my free time to building churches and ministries. I invested in relationships with a lot of people that I ordinarily wouldn't even like, let alone hang out with. The result was that most of the people in the churches I was involved with were just not willing to give up the comfort of their traditions, their rules, and their dogma. I was doing everything I could think of to help transform the Christian Church, and I wasn't getting anywhere.

Now, a popular definition for insanity is "doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results each time;" so besides ministry, I also dedicated a lot of time to theology so that I could learn and find new ways to help people grow. Eventually, after a lot of studying, prayer, and soul-searching, I came to the conclusion that I don't really buy most of what's in the Bible as literal fact. The more I started to realize this, the more thinking and praying I did in order to nail down exactly what I do believe. The results of this soul-searching have led me to a place now where all I can say that I absolutely believe in is my direct experience. The place I am in now is pretty far from the traditional dogma of Christianity, though I still value a lot of the principles that Jesus preached. So, the second part of my answer is that I am living out my faith.

My faith is now in the continuing evolution of our species and our ability of human beings to discover truths about our own existence and the universe as a whole. I have faith in mankind's capacity for grace and charity toward one another, and I do my best to encourage it. I have faith in the power of kindness and love. From time to time my behavior contradicts my faith, but not knowingly or intentionally - and I do my best to recognize those moments and resolve them as soon as they are brought to my attention. The difference between my moments of hypocrisy and the hypocrisy of Pseudo-Christians is that, though I preach my ideas, I go to great lengths to point out that they are only ideas - not absolute truths which carry the consequence of eternal damnation if left unheeded.

I want to end today's Sermon by saying that I'm not against Christianity on the whole. I have an enormous amount of respect for any person of faith who is wholly devoted to the PEACEFUL practice of their religion - that their faith might positively impact the world around them. I do not buy into Christian dogma anymore, but that is my personal decision, and I am not about to chastise you if you do buy into it. I will, however, repeat my earlier sentiment: Live out your faith. Whatever your values are, live up to them - and if you can't do that most of the time, then maybe you need to change your values.

I should also put this out there: If you're a Christian, and you know who I am because we used to go to church together or something to that effect, and my departure from my old faith is news to you, please don't send me any messages trying to save me or bring me back into the fold. Rest assured that I have done an enormous amount of praying and soul-searching to get to this point, and I've almost certainly already considered everything you may want to say to me. If you really feel that I'm lost and need to be saved, and you really have faith in your God, then pray to Him that I will see what you refer to as "the truth." Because, I'm telling you right now, I'm more truly convinced about my spirituality right now than I ever was when I was a church-goer, and it will take a miracle to convince me otherwise - but thanks anyway for your concern.

I am the Reverend Humpy and I have approved this message.