They've rewritten their own gospel to say the opposite of Jesus's teachings. For them, money is good, rich people are blessed, and the poor are pests. Tolerance and love for others is a sin.

It's literally the opposite of Jesus's teachings.

This god has several faces, one of which is money.

They read (the parts they like) one book in their entire life and they presume to tell you that they know what the lord high holy omnipotent master of the universe is thinking, and what (he, she, it, whatever) wants. They also will tell you that after reading this one book they are ready and entitled to run the planet. That is some serious hutzbah!

for white evangelicals only.

That's what they want to be called and that's how they see themselves, but they're no more "conservative" than my butt is green.

They 're right-wingers.

They care as far as their own front porch...anything beyond that is merely lip service so they look good in the public eye.

“affirm sin, validate lies or support destructive policies,” Trumpers do this all the time. without being burdened by empathy. Anybody who’s not a rabid Trumper is “the left“

There is no "Christ" in whatever the fuck the GOP is marketing as "Christian nationalism". It is a sick joke.

But, Catholicism slipped easily into the Spanish Inquisition, and some subsets - the Jesuits - were no shrinking violets. Suffering and punishment were responses to the Black Death. Salvation through suffering is a way of life for some of these people.

However, if he did the "Christian" right would be the first ones to call for his crucifixion

their AR15s and turn him into Swiss Cheesus.

(the latter as in Monty Python's Flying Circus), screaming, "What is this dreck?! We want prime rib and good wine! You can manage the wine, can't you?"

The autorities of religion (and now in religopolitik) want one thing and one thing only - OBEDIENCE. They want power too, but they really have no aims to use that power beyond extending their hold on more power, but to do that they need obedient drones to boss around and to use as a weapon against that which would displace them - the truth and knowledge.

Dostoevskey's inquisitor explains to the returned Christ that He is not needed for the church's plans, that He had his chance and chose to give man free will instead of order and rules and that the Church had 'fixed' this error. Today's religopolitks are replete with this notion - they alone have a right to rule and no one should EVER deign to challenge that.

Fuck them all. Hard.

said everything worth knowing was in The Brothers Karamazov, "But that isn't enough anymore"? Was it Eliot Rosewater? (It's been at least 40 years since I last read it.)

It was a while ago that I read Slaughterhouse Five too... too long but things just seem to get away from me more these days!

repubes are making his case for him

I love this. May I steal it?

Do they realize that eventually they will turn on each other?

My aunt has always been a devout Catholic, but wants nothing to do with tRump or his followers. Pretty sure she has been voting Democratic recently.

Look up The 30 Years War.

The hate runs deep in religious wars. No mercy for anyone.

we could send them all to some remote, inescapable island. They'd turn on each other much faster until there was no one left but one survivor. And what would he/she do then?

These so called Christians better start reading that $60.00 Bible that the melon Antichrist conned them into buying! I think they'll find in Matthew 25, verses 31-46, that whatever they did NOT do to help the "least of these brothers and sisters of mine", will keep them out of Heaven! Those that don't feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, WELCOME THE STRANGER (foreigner,) give the needy clothing, comfort the sick, and visit those in prison--they "will go to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." What good does it do for them to be Christians if they don't follow Christ's teachings!

Faith is the one way ticket to paradise and nothing else matters, because "we are all sinners".

I've heard this over and over even while trying hard not to pay attention to those people. But thanks for that Bible reference.

So Ocelot II was the original poster of the Bible reference.

If they were in Iran or Saudi Arabia, they'd be fundamentalist Muslims enforcing clothing laws on women with violent penalties. In Stalin's regime, they'd had been atheists joyfully persecuting Christians. In India, they'd be radical Hindus, attacking Muslims, and urging Modi even further to the right. In Israel, they'd be ultra-Orthodox Jews advocating the ethnic cleansing of Gaza, and settlements in the West Bank that steal land from Palestinians. In North Korea, they'd be leading the cult of worship of the Kims. And so on.

But their eternal damnation is simply being them. What a despicable existence.

The scholars are way off on this. Isn't Jesus' motto along the lines of wherever you see a poor or sick person we need to think it is Jesus himself and help as if that person were a child of God? Did I get Sunday School wrong?

I didn't read down far enough when I started reading the comments to find yours. I commented using the same scriptures to a post a little higher up. Your comments are exactly how I feel--if you say you follow Christ, then follow his teachings. You don't get to pick and choose or edit Christ's words! Great post!

You need actual help.

while pretending it's "Christianity"

The more they commit these sins of omission and, worst of all, Pride -- the deadliest sin of all -- the closer to hell they and their souls are.


Matthew 25:32-33, 41-46
32. And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

33. And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left...

41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

they are full of shit.

And sin, in my view, isn’t real.

they do ritual well. that's all

using their religion to make people hate other people. crusades. indoctrination, discrimination, suffering and causing suffering.

#Atheist

they cannot even begin to change how i feel about empathy. I am empathic, not a true empath. I would not change it even if I could. fuck them.

Empathy is a good thing

but these people on the right make me ashamed to be a Christian. Thank goodness my minister isn't one of them.

The way I see it, this particular anti empathy BS is part of an Orwellian labeled fake Christian movement that calls itself “Real Christians”. That’s their newspeak for it. It might be just me, but I’ve noticed they rarely use the word Christianity as reference, esp. compared to terminology like “Real Christians” and/or “American Christians” “law-abiding Christians” “biblical Christians” (although the final one there might have a tiny .00 whatever percentage who aren’t rightwing/conservative, only a fraction at this point in USA) etc.

It’s fascism. I have a theory there are quite a few, but in modern, what used to be liberal capitalist USA there are two main flavors of God belief/faith in God.

Possibly genetic factors, but particularly trauma and/along with exposure to conservative isolation ends up hardwiring the image of God/godliness starting in the late teenage years and during and thru mid 20s with perfectionist discipline, self-control over childish interests and late adolescent (pubescent sexual) urges, and finally, revenge against those who refuse to “grow up” and see that order, control, worship of divine authority figure is the truth of God is a necessary “healthy obsession”.

I think this is such a strong effect at certain times in our society (or others- Germany 1930s) that it will build up until the conservative, religiously progressively misled people decide to basically ‘flip the switch’ on their own churches.

And it’s like, they subconsciously (or perhaps consciously and proudly for some) know that they’ve changed eras/phases. Terms like charity, forgiveness, welcoming the other typically associated with Christianity are left in their past while Christian Nationalism becomes the new religion, rewarding patriotic Christians (whatever that means that day), instead of valuing empathy or kindness.

As the fascist leader takes over for these foolish people, his crimes and those of his cohorts in business require destruction of the poor, hurting the marginalized for chaos, division, and to placate the most hateful who want that instead of policy.

Empathy becomes a “sin” and the “church” is willing to go along with it, because they’re so institutionally similar in the final stages.

empathy is a cornerstone of Christianity

And that’s bullshit.

This is just a way some people justify their callous, loveless nature.
The radical religious right has no interest in following the teachings of Jesus, but they're all in on adhering to the antithesis of what He stood for.

... are the complete antithesis of everything they purport to represent. They are the very embodiment of pure, undiluted evil. They are a cancer that poisons the very soul of humanity. Do not... do NOT let such a vile and hateful belief system pervert all that is good and worthy about America. Only irredeemably rotten sociopaths can even think about subscribing to such malevolence. We're better than this.

If you are commanded to live...you must have empathy


Wanna go old testament. Micah 6:8 what does the Lord require of you? Do justice, live mercy, and walk humbly with your God.

These Christian nationalists are a heresy and do great harm to people who try to actually live those three statements.

They love pride, anger, and power.

Hypocrites that Jesus and the prophets would condemn.

attributed to Jesus, like the Beatitudes. If they say yes, tell them that would be a confession. Then tell them since they confessed, I can truly tell them. You Are Forgiven, Now Go And Sin No More.

I was raised and attended an evangelical church the first 60 years of my life. It finally dawned on me they were more interested in walking the walk Fox] News subscribed to than what the bible teaches. Inside the church building they proclaim how we should look after our fellow man but when they exit the door for the parking lot it is like Jekyll and Hyde. How more immoral can you get than Trump yet they claim he was picked to be president by God. Case closed.

Like they don't manipulate people to hate and fear.

But one economist from way back said the under Capitalism, "All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned".

Jesus preached grace and mercy and love. We all fail every single day in those areas, but we STRIVE to do the best we can based on his teachings.

I choose to be a Christian and my faith is important to me. That does not mean (to me) that anyone else has to believe the same as I do. It's about having a choice. But when these crazies actually try to use scripture to justify their hatefulness, it becomes a little absurd.

The newer Messiah represents our current crop of Christians very well.

Rare breed.

Look him up if interested.

taught. In fact, it seems more like their "devil" has infiltrated their teachings, their attitudes, and their churches.

Look at the ayatollah. Same shit....

But you know what?
No more empathy from us for them.

You know, so it can cover for all the other stuff they do on a daily basis.

and follow him instead of that imperial Christ fella.

They could start making the world a better place instead of a worse one.

Sin is just a tool they use to control people. It is a fiction based on nothing more than a lack of understanding of human nature and has been used for centuries to control, manipulate, and terrorize people into submission. Fuck all those people.

I look forward to hearing more from you.

she found a sharp pencil jammed up her nose

It's just that she doesn't care about sharp pencils jammed up other people's noses

and justify its existence. Explain the reason(s) you think it must necessarily be.

(Them, not you.)

At the end, each and every one says "This is the one and only one correct way to believe." Granted, some are more punishing of non-believers than are others, but they are all wrong.

We all know religion is man-made, but some do it far worse than others, particularly those who want to force their religion on it. It's why wars were fought throughout time over it. That being said, while I sharply disagree with religion in general, last I checked, I don't recall hearing Native Americans forcing their religion onto others, but Christianity (and the Abrahamic religions for that matter) certainly have. To be honest, many of these so called "Christians" are no better than the other religions they criticize about.

... as long as you hate the right people

They are all RWRE's - right wing religious extremists
One of them was Timothy McVeigh who murdered 168 people
based on his beliefs.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/documents/mcveigh/

Pure evil.

They do not model themselves after Jesus, they create a false portrait of Jesus's teachings, defaming him and blaspheming, and they misuse the name for the purpose of power, money, and control. They fit the prophesy of Jesus who said: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:21-23)

They may claim Christianity all they want, but by there fruits you will know them.

Are they spreading joy, peace, love, goodness, kindness, patience, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control?
Or do they (like Trump) spread joylessness / dissatisfaction, strife / discord, animosity / hatred, wickedness / corruption, intolerance / maliciousness, intractability /frustration, harshness / brutality, disloyalty / treachery, and instability / rashness?

There is nothing virtuous about being a sociopath.