A Nation of Hypocrites

I probably should stay off of Facebook.  People I know--and actually like--post things that scare me about our society.  In fact, some of what I read almost makes me ashamed to say I'm a Christian because of the things that are foisted in the name of Christianity.

Today, a group of students in a high school in Indiana decided that they wanted to have a "gay free" prom, and when the school and just about everyone else recoiled in horror, the group was given a place to meet--a local Christian church.  It made national news.  Yes, the Bible (Old Testament) says that homosexuality is "an abomination to the Lord"...but those same scriptures also forbid cutting beards, eating pork, allowing women to be teachers, mixing meat with dairy products, and (of course) divorce, among MANY other taboos.  Modern society pays no attention to them, but it seems to hang on to the anti-gay scripture and hold it as untouchable.  Guess we get to pick and choose which things are forbidden and which aren't?

One of the Ten Commandments is "Thou shalt not kill."  That applies to abortion, apparently, even though the unborn have no real opportunity to live outside of the mother's body, but it does NOT apply to criminals assigned to Death Row?  Soldiers are revered in our society as "heroes" just by reason of their service.  We overlook our so-called Christian beginnings in order to honor people who are trained to kill in defense of our country.  (I'm not against this, by the way.  Just trying to point out our selective hypocrisy.) 

Another of the Ten Commandments declares "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife."  Care to guess how many married people cheat on their spouses??  Do you hear anyone squawking about that on a national level?  Heck, even our nation's top leaders have done that and got re-elected anyway. 

Then there are the gun nuts.  The second amendment to the Constitution provides that all citizens have the right to keep and bear arms.  It is a God-given right, durn it, because it is in the Constitution that was signed by the very founders of this great nation!!  But...the founders of this great nation were just men dealing with the circumstances of their time.  Not all of them were Christians.  George Washington--father of our country--was a slave owner.  Thomas Jefferson was also a slave owner--in fact had children by one of his slaves.  (Proven.)  I see so many things on Facebook that show Americans touting guns as the American way of life--something I used to see on TV about the Middle East as a kid.  Emotional men at the funeral of someone, shooting their weapons in the air.  I can remember thinking, "Thank God we aren't like that here."  But more and more, we are...

Today, one of my young Facebook friends (a former student) reposted a deal about how Americans will be required to have microchips implanted in their hands for "Obamacare" starting in March.  Anyone with half a brain knows this isn't true, but I investigated it on the various Internet hoax sites.  Sure enough, it is a hoax.  Thus, I posted on the gal's site that it was false and that she needed to look these things up before she posted stuff like that.  One of her friends responded by saying, "The world will be doing this, though."  I challenged that, asking what crystal ball she was using.  Her response was, verbatim, "read your bible it don't take a moron to figure this one out".  Well, apparently it DO take a moron!  I asked her to quote chapter and verse where the Bible says anything about how people of the world will be microchipped.  So far, no response.  (Duh!) 

I get angry at this stuff while understanding that most of it is designed to make me so.  People who are so-called Christians need to pay attention to the words of the Christ.  Jesus said not one word about homosexuality.  He kept company with the poor and some harlots...and knew their hearts.  He told us that we should not judge because we would be judged in the same way.  He didn't tell us to bear arms against our neighbors, but that we should turn the other cheek...love our enemies...treat others as we want to be treated...(not just those who have jobs and pull their weight in society).  Jesus was a liberal!  (Egads!  I probably just condemned myself by saying that in the State of Indiana!  We are all conservatives here, you know...)

If you have your prejudices (as I do), please don't use the Bible or Christianity to defend them.  I want to have my faith without feeling ashamed that we supposedly share the same beliefs!