Saw a sign outside a church building today that read:
You Belong Here!!
What a reckless thing to say.
How can you possibly know that it’s true?
What if…
I’m a pick-pocket who lifts wallets while everyone else is lifting hands?
I’m covered with a contagious rash?
I drag a deer carcass everywhere I go?
Instead of shouting “Amen”, I shout the F-Word?
I set money on fire before putting it in the offering?
I demand the confederate flag be on stage during service?
I’m abnormally flatulent?
…do I still belong here?
Yes?
That’s great!
You’re such a beautifully inclusive group of human beings.
What if…
I reject your stupid religion?
Do I still belong?
Yes?
Wow!
You’re even more inclusive than Jesus!
He said:
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you,saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’
…In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.” (Luke 14:26)
Discipleship has a cost.
So if you’re trying to create disciples…
…you shouldn’t assure everybody that passes by the building that they “belong”.
If you’re just forming a group that gets together on Sundays to drink coffee and listen to music…
…you should drop the facade of being a church.
26 Responses
I’ve written about the churches that rape kids. I agree that shouldn’t happen. It’s not part of Christianity.
Nevertheless, it occurred. And your god did nothing to prevent it.
So you’re not an atheist. Can you answer Sarah Huckabee Sander’s question about what you actually believe?
Or are you just here to gripe about fundamentalism?
I’ll tell you one thing, free of charge. Your brand of fundamentalism is slowly dying. In order to stay viable, Christianity is going to have to make all sorts of compromises with secular humanism. The days of people just accepting at face value what fundies say about morality and truth: those days are fast disappearing.
At some point, people just stop believing the old myths. It’s sad, I know…
You’re not gonna answer any questions.
I tried.
Chris…
Why are you here?
–S.H.S.
It’s not just discipleship that’s proving costly. All the stats, polls, census figures demonstrate that fundamentalist Christianity is in steep decline across the Western world; even in the US, traditionally the stronghold for fundy evangelism. So the sort of dogmatism that you quoted approvingly from Luke is ultimately alienating for many people, and puts you in an increasingly terminal position. You’ll end up as marginal and irrelevant as, say, Ba’hai, or Zoroastrians. They exist, but have no bearing on the wider culture.
I say this, not out of empty triumphalism, but simply as an observation of all the current data.
Thanks for the heads-up, Chris.
What system of belief is being adopted by the masses of people leaving Christianity? Where are they going?
I don’t think he’s used to answering questions. I get the feeling he picks fights by tossing turds into discussions, and then leaves before he has to think about the fact that his hands are covered in crap.
John, it’s not complicated. They’re being replaced by younger generations who no longer accept what their elders believe. They’re demographically referred to as “nones”.
This is why fundamentalists redouble their efforts to indoctrinate the kids from an early, impressionable age. But they can’t control everything their kids end up believing.
So what do nones believe?
I don’t think they believe in a virgin birth, or resurrections, for a start. They understand these core doctrines to be myth. But you should probably ask the kids themselves; there’s bound to be some nones where you live.
Of course, the churches raping the kids, and lying about it, hasn’t helped, either.
I’ve written about the churches that rape kids. I agree that shouldn’t happen. It’s not part of Christianity.
In my experience, “nones” can’t answer basic questions…
When asked “What do you believe?” the Nones have been taught to reply “well, not that!” as if the question were “what DON’T you believe?” (Whenever someone asks “Where do you want to eat” the Nones probably say, “Not there!” 🙂 Super helpful! Thanks, guys!)
What DO Nones believe? If they’re honest, they have no idea. The ones I’ve spoken to get tripped up because they’ve been brainwashed by bloggers to replace the simple-minded “Jesus” answer with the simple-minded “science” answer. They didn’t understand anything for themselves in church, and they STILL can’t explain foundational Theological points. They take pot shots at strawmen because they heard other Atheists do it and thought it sounded cool. They’re still fundamentalists… But they’ve gone from fundamentalist Christianity to fundamentalist Atheism.
I’m not interested in talking to people who don’t know what they believe or why. And I think most of the readers on this blog are worn out from non-believers picking fights with stolen one-liners they haven’t actually thought about for themselves.
Can you demonstrate that you’re different from these Nones I’ve encountered before?
I’m on pins and needles waiting for his reply!!!
I get the feeling he’s about 16-years-old… He just found the Friendly Atheist or Debunking Christianity or the Atheism subreddit for the very first time.
And now Little Slugger is ready to apply what he has learned! (Go get ’em, Tiger! Debunk Christianity! We’ll be right behind you!) 😂
At least I HOPE he’s just a kid. It’s sad when middle aged dudes still trot out the same old hooks with the same old bait, hoping to catch themselves a Fundie.
Might be good for him to at least read the title of articles in order to find a place where his comments are remotely relevant.
That’s odd. I was talking to John Branyan, but Sarah Huckabee Sanders keeps popping up.
Hmm. I guess we’re going to have to leave a comment for Chris at the top of each comment thread if we want him to see it.
We have a repeat hit-and-runner, folks!
Okay, so that’s a valid point. Where I live we actually have the atheist church and these unity centers that have taken the name of Jesus out of everything so nobody is ever offended. Obviously, I disagree strongly. Ha! And obviously I am not welcomed there. I do not belong.
It’s a tough line to walk, because often the world, the enemy, tries to pick people off, tell them they don’t belong. People do that to one another too, because people are jerks sometimes. We want everyone to know that Jesus loves them, that they are welcome and invited in, but just the same, you have to want Him too, and you might have to sober up and learn to wipe your feet. The two churches I go to deal with these things frequently and they deal with it just beautifully. That’s a hard thing to know how to handle I am quite proud of them because they help to keep a sense of safety or security or order going on. Also, it’s just not kind or loving to completely ignore people’s bad behavior.
Sigh. Also if you do drag a deer carcass along with you everywhere you go, you will probably still be welcome at our church. That one was deemed socially acceptable where I live, but you do have to share and we all prefer our venison smoked.
Deer Chili = Yum
Bingo
That church probably had in mind people other than uncompromising fundamentalists.
You took the sign too literally. But I guess that’s what being a fundamentalist means.
Still, it gave you something to blog about…
Hey, you’re back!
You didn’t answer my question last time. Maybe you will this time:
What response are you hoping to get by commenting here?
Bravo!!! 👏❤️🙏