Today I read a tweet, it read… “religion is the most repulsive, disturbing, crewel, disgusting and destructive thing humans have ever invented. All of them.”
This tweet came from a fellow musician whom I have respect for in what he does with his musicianship. Although, I have much respect for him, his tweet bothered me greatly- maybe bothering me was the point of the tweet in the first place. I began to think of all the lives he has a chance to influence every day and how easy it is for someone like him to influence the mind another human being. Then I started to wonder how many people he hurt today, on top of the insults, with that comment and how many people he confused with that comment because of his positive musical position.
I ask you, it is so simple to confuse the notion when a government has nationalized a world religion simply to gain an identity- with the people in the world who truly love their neighbors, want peace, give to the poor, and want to live right? It seems to me that there is an obvious difference in a nationalized religion and true believers of a religion. It seems to me that there is an obvious difference in the “abuse” of religion and the “use” of religion. There are many religions in the world, but I am a Christian so I will speak as a Christian.
So many people today, like the author of the tweet above, complain about religion, Christianity, and how much hate, violence, and destruction it brings. It is not Christianity that causes these evil things. It’s the absence of Christianity- the absence of peace, love, and grace that causes evil in the world. I am reminded of a great physicist who once said that cold does not exist in physics- cold is simply an absence of heat. Darkness, also does not exist in physics- only the absence of light. Evil exist in this world because of an absence of God’s love and grace in people’s hearts. The physicist’s name was Albert Einstein.
What about all the true Christians in the world? All the Christians who love God, desire God’s heart, and long for peace in the world. What about the handful of Christian teachers, authors, lawyers, musicians, soldiers, students, politicians, and others who do everything they can every day to make the world a better place? What about the positive influence that all these people have on others? What about all the good deeds that are performed to help others everyday? What about all the Christian charity givers in the world like the Red Cross, Salvation Army, Food For the Hungry, and World Vision (just to name a few), that change the lives of those in poverty everyday? What about these Christians? Yes, there are only a handful in the world, but where would the world be without these Christians? Where would the world be without these good people? These Christians are so easily overlooked by pop culture and media- almost to the point of forgotten. Let’s not forget the few Christians in the world that truly love God, give to the poor, pray for the hopeless, and change lives to good everyday. Love, Peace, Grace, and Joy are products of God and Christianity. If you think the world is so bad and corrupt now- how horrible would it be if you took all the true Christians out? How horrible would it be if you took God out? How horrible would it be if you took out all the Christian acts of love, grace, and mercy to fellow human beings? I would hate to see a world without with some God in it.
Yes there is so much distruction, hate, violence, and corruption in the world, but I think that the last thing to blame is religion and Christianity. People in nations will always fight and hate but mostly over money, real estate, and power. This world would self destruct if there was no religion- no true Christians who gave out love. If there was no religion, no Christianity, where would the refuge be for the hopeless, broken, and lost? Nowhere. Even though there are few true believing Christians, a small amount of love can always destroy evil.
Am I offended, insulted, hurt, or angry by the tweet? Absolutley not. I am only sympathetic for him and his soul. While thinking about what to write in this blog, I remember what a high school friend said to me one time. I came to school one morning and joined my friends before 1st period class like every morning. Students were standing around talking and cursing about their weekends, classes, teachers, and general gossip like most high schoolers. During these many conversations, my friend, Lauren, came up to me and said “I’m so sick of people talking so negative about God and especially cursing his name with G** D***.” I could only agree with her. She then went on to say “From now on when some one curses God with ‘G** D***’, I am going to say ‘God Bless’.” I ask why and she said “Because I simply want to bless God every time someone curses him.”
I totally agree with you and moreover: what could be our life and all of the difficult proofs that we have to go over without hope? Could you be hopeful if you don’t believe? And hopeful in the name of what?
I understand your feelings because I feel the same way when I try to speak about God to people of my generation. God is more real than anything else yet absent in the hearts of many. How could the spirit of God dwell in our hearts if our hearts are so impure?! Darkness, evil, cruelty is only present because God has desolated them. Can something holy dwell among the unholy?! We have abused the concept of religion because we think that by calling a system of rules and procedures “religion” it is right, yet Jesus Christ established only one religion, Christianity, and even that has been chopped into many different churches! I sympathize for those that blame Christianity for the decay of human society but I can’t help the feeling of anger and disgust towards these people, it just goes to show that I too need to grow more. God bless you, God bless all of us.
I have not spoke much of God because of what you are talking about and it is probably shameful of me, weak of me.
I conducted a study in college where I designed a print ad that showed a string of photos of social injustices that started with a family gathered around a TV and the message was to ‘wake up to what is going on’. I showed my sample group (other students) the ad but on half the ads there was a small sponsor logo that was a generic “Community Group” and the other half had a sponsor logo that was religious, like: “Christian Fellowship”. The students who viewed the ad which had a generic sponsor engaged with the issues and answered the questions on my survey with great thought. The students who viewed the ad which had the religious sponsor mostly ignored the specific issues on the survey while instead said things like: “This group has no right to tell me what to believe.”
I guess the lesson for me was to try to lead people to Christ through actions and less words but it is still a very tough challenge.
Whoever wrote that tweet is displaying a remarkable ignorance of history. This link http://www.scaruffi.com/politics/dictat.html lists the greatest genocides of the 20th century in order of people killed. You will note that the top two are communist leaders Mao Ze-Dong and Joseph Stalin, both of which ran countries which were officially atheist. There are many communists and political ideologues in this list but you would be hard pressed to trace any of theses horrible crimes against humanity to any form of Christianity, or any religion for that matter. This is true throughout history. Even with the crusades, the harm to humanity from a lack of a moral code is far more damaging than any misuse of religion. While some leaders have no doubt used religion to justify their unjust ends, no person of intelligence and a working knowledge of world history could look at the words of Christ and their impact on humanity without seeing the great good that has come from faith. People who blame religion for the bad in the world are simply looking to escape a truth they know in their heart. That truth being, humanity is fatally flawed and that we invite death and destruction on ourselves.
very good comment. thanks for responding with such thought! -Aaron
I love your quote from Albert Einstein
Aaron you are to be commended for confessing your faith, and the rest of you for coming out of your closets and realizing that we are all sinners and fall far short of God’s glory. Grace is the element that explains our existence. We are saved by Grace through Faith in Jesus, how simple and yet a stumbling block for so many, like the fellow who placed his confession of faith on his tweet. Aaron God has given you the gift of guitar understanding, but a greater gift in that you are not afraid to share your faith. God Bless all of you and the world. Don’t be afraid to make a difference.