A Day For Fools And Christians

by John Andrews - April 1st, 2007 - Townhall.com

As a staunch conservative, I've never had much use for Hillary and Bill. But after their recent civil rights pilgrimage to Selma, Alabama, a change of heart overtook me. I have signed on as national chairman of Republicans for Clinton 2008, and you read it here first.

Please check the date before you take this statement seriously!

I don't think that I have ever posted an article by John Andrews before, but I am going to have to check him out more often. This is a really good article and there is nothing more important for those of us here in the Inner Banks than the following.

We profess to worship a good man, executed unjustly, who used his dying breaths to redeem a fellow convict, give his grieving mother a new son, and even forgive his murderers. Why do we often dishonor his example by bashing each other with Bibles?

A pastor I admire greatly recently gave a sermon in our area bashing Mormons. It has caused me much grief.

Many years ago I attended the Mormon Church for a while and I found one thing to be true. There are a larger precentage of good decent Christian people in every Mormon Church than in any other church I have ever attended. I don't agree that the Book of Mormon is or should be a part of the bible. I did not find it credible and it was a major reason I left that church. But you cannot deny that something about the Mormon Church works to attract people who try very hard to live the message that Jesus gave us. You can say that does not make for salvation, but is it really of value to denounce that church?

I do not find it credible that the sermon against Mormons by our local pastor served any useful purpose. Why bash a church that appears to work for so many decent people? Do we not have things in our own churches that we need to work on?

The pastor was not giving this sermon to try and lead some wayward Mormons back to the right path to salvation. He was not concerned with any Mormon at all. He was giving it to tell his congregation that their sneering at Mormons was okay. He stated emphatically Mormons are not Christians. What if he is wrong?

At this time of year I am once again drawn to the awesome story of Jesus and the sacrifice he made for our sins. The love of our fellow man that he has engendered is a love that came from the heart and soul of goodness. It is preferable that we focus on that.

And yet since I returned to North Carolina two years ago I am confronted daily with the reality that our churches are bastions of Christian bashing. They are the process by which we burnish our own self righteousness and feelings of superiority by putting others down.

Mel Gibson created a powerful message with his movie "The Passion of the Christ". It helped all Christians to relive the truth that Easter is not a pretty message even if it is a good message. The passion that drove the church's early growth was driven by the reality of that experience. Those people understood what a horror it was to be scourged and to die on the cross. The government powers of that time used these two horrible experiences to keep people in line through fear. It is a reminder that government is almost always evil even as it reminds us that the sacrifice of Jesus was one of both powerful love and physical courage. If you do not understand the bloody truth of how horrible was his death, you cannot understand the power of his love that he showed through the sacrifice. That is a message of purity and truth.

Compare that message of great truth with the message of our local pastor, "Mormons are not Christians. Their message conflicts with our beliefs." The implication is that it is okay to bash them. He is usually a good pastor with good messages and I think he is a good man. How can he believe this was a message that helped anyone?

It is messages like these that flow from the pulpits of our area on a weekly basis. It is the reason that our churches are segregated by race and denomination. I don't think we are focusing on the message of Jesus. We are tearing down our church values even as we build up our self righteous pride and superiority. We excuse evil acts in defense of our particular church's dogma. Does anyone think that bashing other Christians is okay?

I think my own concern about this pastor's message has grown to a crisis of faith because of this truth . . . . it is impossible to find the message of Jesus in the church practices of our area. Look at your church today . . . . and next week too. The attendance will be up. We know that is true of this time of year. Look at the people who attend and assess them honestly. Then send me your feedback on this subject, do you think that people are attending your church to seek God, truth and to find out how to be the people Jesus would want them to be . . . or to defend their own self image and defend their unwillingness to change in any meaningful way?

If your church is a place where the message of Jesus is spoken to any who come, no matter whether they are sinners, or members of a different race, or have learned about Jesus in some other denomination, please let me know. I am a sinner and I need a good example of his love working. If we are only looking for salvation in the next life and don't care about this one at all, what does that say about the value of his sacrifice? Are we just looking for some legal technicality to earn eternal life?

Don't say "April Fools!"