Today, Christians around the world celebrate Good Friday,
the day Jesus Christ willingly went to the cross to pay for the sins of man.
It is an incredible story. But have we lost the message?
I’m often reminded of how little effort some Christians are
willing to put in. We often get caught up too much in the theological dogma,
and then fail to see what God has tried desperately to teach us. I honestly
don’t think he cares whether we are abstaining from red meat, if after our fish
filet sandwich we go out and screw someone over.
The other day I was reading a religious twitter war and
someone made the comment accusing religion of “killing more people than………”
Well, to be honest I forgot the point because I was too caught up in the
poster’s initial statement.
The topic has been on my mind a lot lately. In fact I was
astounded at how much God was vilified during the recent election of the newest
Catholic Pope. I am in the initial stages of writing a book titled “Where was God?” At the heart of the story is man’s penchant
for blaming God for all the things that man does wrong.
As I thought about the twitter post I again asked myself the
question, why is it that God continues to be blamed for the actions of mankind?
It’s not like he hasn’t tried to guide us.
Ten Commandments?
Our answer, nah, too restrictive.
Seven Deadly Sins?
Nope, I don’t think so Lord. Everyone
likes to splurge every once in awhile.
Man has systematically thwarted God’s attempts to have us
become a moral people.
I mean let’s face it, poor Moses hadn’t even come down from
the mount with the commandments before the good old Israelites were out
pounding their gold into new idols to worship. We as a people simply suck at
following any kind of laws.
In fact, as a society we continue to manipulate and even makeup
new laws in order to minimize our culpability. We take no responsibility for
our actions. How long has this been going on? Oh I don’t know…….. How about
thirty seconds after Adam and Eve ate from the tree.
The first official blaming of God comes in Genesis 3: “The man said, "The woman you put here with me--she gave me some
fruit from the tree, and I ate it."
Geez, what a guy that Adam was.
For a moment, consider this. How bad do you have to be to go
from ten commandments, to seven deadly sins, until God finally throws his hands
up and says ok folks, here you go two, really simple laws.
Love God, Love One Another.
I just get this mental image of a well intentioned parent
staring down at their little incorrigible two year old who looks up at them
with their adorable baby blues and simply goes “No.”
But the worst thing is that when the child goes on the
latest rampage, ripping up the house, toppling over plants, and washing the
cat, some how good old God gets slapped with the blame.
Think of that one moment in Matthew 5, when Jesus says” Do
not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come
to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
Most of us would risk our lives for a spouse or child. Maybe
we would even consider it for someone we love. Contrast that with Christ going to
the cross for those who did not even like him.
There are a lot of people who flat out reject religion. I’m
really not sure why. Sometimes I think it’s just an in-thing to do. Someone
once asked me why I believed in God, inferring that religion was for the weak
minded. Funny I had never thought of myself as being weak minded.
I thought a moment and asked them if science had the answer
to every question. They said no.
This was my reply:
This was my reply:
“I believe in God,
because I truly believe he loves me unconditionally. It didn’t matter what I
did, but when I did act outside of the life he called me to live I felt bad and
wanted his forgiveness which I knew he gave me. Like a parent and a child. By
feeling this way I believed that I earnestly tried to live my life in a better
way and to share that with others. My faith was not based on what I could see,
but what I could feel in my heart.”
“On the other hand,
you believe in science. The world was not and then it was. Given that there is
no God, you live your life and then die. The only ramifications to breaking the
law are whether you will get caught and punished, but in the end whether you
lived a good or bad life nothing changes. You simply die.”
“If I am wrong, I join
you in the blackness of death. But what if you’re wrong?”
In 2008 renowned atheist Richard Dawkins took part in an
advertising campaign in the United Kingdom
which put atheist advertising on buses. I remember an image of him standing
with an attractive young woman with a bus behind him and the slogan “There’s Probably No God. Now Stop Worrying
And Enjoy Your Life.”
The first thought that crossed my mind was, you’re betting
an awful lot on “Probably” my friend.
Galatians 6: “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for
whatever one sows, that will he also reap.”
For Christians, Good Friday should represent God’s loving
pact with us. It’s a gift we don’t deserve and requires nothing more on our
part than to accept it.
So how about this, let’s stop trying to blame God and run
around like a bunch of hypocritical jerks and just try to follow those two
simply tenants: Love God, Love One Another.
You have nothing to lose, and eternity to gain.
Follow me on twitter @HuntzmanBlog
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