stammer476
Refugee
melon said:
Sin is already ranked. Some just admit it more than others.
I made this analogy about "communism" versus "capitalism." Communism blatantly tells you that the government owns your land. Capitalism tells you that you do own your land, but if you don't pay your "property taxes" ("rent"), the government takes it away. Even then, it still has full "eminent domain" rights for cheap. So tell me, in the end, how is that any different from communism?
Religion is the same way. Despite all the Christian bickering and how evangelicals / fundamentalists will argue that they're so much different than Catholicism, the fact remains that they're essentially the same. Catholicism is the blunt one, flat out telling you that your works matter, while evangelical Christianity tip-toes around the issue, saying originally that it's faith, not works for salvation, but then goes on "moral outrage" tirades against certain groups of people, and then claiming that their works are going to send them to hell by arguing that they don't have "enough faith."
And as for saying that "all sin" is the same, it's clear that they focus on only one kind of sin: the sins of "the Other." This kind of Christianity that Bono is railing against is nothing but a gigantic masturbatory session where they get to pride themselves on how "great they are," and how "bad others are."
So many exceptions have already been made for the "majority" in this nation. Despite Jesus' condemnations of divorce, the KJV oh-so-conveniently mistranslates "porneia," and, suddenly, despite more than half a dozen blatant passages against divorce in the NT, people latch onto one (sometimes two, depending on the translation) mistranslation found only within Protestant Bibles.
And then all the "greed" doctrines that simultaneously arose with the rise of Biblical fundamentalism in the 19th century and extending to the present. Jesus says it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than to reach the Kingdom of Heaven, then spends a lot of time talking about helping the poor. Yet, these "greed" theologies not only tell you that Jesus wants you to be as rich as can be, but that the poor deserve to be poor. Talk about a theological leap!
That's all modern religion is about: gross self-righteousness and judgmentalism against everyone that doesn't fit in with their hegemony. In this regard, the Pharisees never died, and it makes you ask whether Jesus' "First Coming" was for nothing. It appears that humanity learned nothing the first time around. These kind of Christians will never help against HIV/AIDS, because only "the Other" gets AIDS, whether it's those dirty sinful homosexuals or black people in Africa. God's chosen white American Christians don't get AIDS, remember?
Melon
I've stayed out of this thread for a few reasons, but I have to say something here. I'll echo the statements of 80'sU2 and say, frankly, you're wrong here. I'm sorry that this is the side of Christ's followers that you've been exposed to, but "modern religion" is much more than what you've written. I've seen sacrifice, selflessness, and aid on behalf of Christ and the Church that is nothing short of spectacular. But again, this isn't the type to make the headlines.