Christianity 101

Now, here’s one blog that’s bound to piss some people off, especially Christians. Hey, not that I’ve anything against them. Heck I myself am one. So, what’s up my mind then? What? Giving into apostasy just to gain a little notoriety?

No, actually what I would like to share was about the time when I skipped Church on a Sunday morning to go on a walkabout in a village. Don’t remember why I did that, but I did that.

Anyway, I remember distinctively telling myself on that day that I’ve seen more of Christianity than all the time I’ve spent in Church. Here I was among nothing more than regular folks, many of whom were breaking their backs just carving out a living, even on a weekend. Somehow, there was a great deal of authenticity there, albeit in quite a rough form. Now, contrast that with the often irritatingly daintiness and goody-two-shoes attitudes (or rather pretenses) that most Church-going Christian will mask themselves so as tohave others believe that they are “good Christian brethens”.

Honestly, all that does sicken me to a great extend, especlally when those same folks “revert” to worse than regular human beings on weekdays, you know, the ones that makes one want to just give up being a Christian. Their attitudes leave much to be desired. Yet, somehow, they are the very same folks that still maintain a holy Sunday look even on weekdays, minus the most crucial differences – hearts.

Actually, no one makes me feel more disgusted to be a Christian, than Christians themselves.

See, abstaining from drinking, partying and such does not make a Christian a Christian. Why, even Jesus himself must be quite a party animal, considering that the very first miracle he performed was the turning of water into wine. So, how is it that his followers today can have an even “holier” attitude than their founder by denouncing drinking as evil and merry-making an almost satanic ritual?

Either they forget, or are blissfully ignorant that Jesus, in as much as he was divine, was also humanly a carpenter. And believe me, if you’ve dealt with carpenters, they aren’t exactly the most refined of people in the word. So, let’s have no misconception. Our lord and saviour was not without rough edges. Yet, what differentiated him was his heart. Heart for others, heart for those that society considers ungodly, undesirable, and well, un-Christian like. Above all, a heart for others regardless.

So, strip away all that “Church-likeness” and if you can still find the heart of that person, it would have truly defined what a Christian should be. No wonder, Gandhi once remarked that while he had great admiration for Jesus, he could not say the same for Christians. That, my dear friend, hurts. It hurts to the core of a Christian heart, not because they are words that go against our grains, but rather, those words are well... honestly true. Let’s not kid ourselves anymore. Jesus was indeed right when he said that it isn’t the things that goes into the mouths of men that make them sin, it’s what comes out of it.