Sacrificing your Faith

Christian Conservatives are shouting out with glee.  They're happy because someone died.  For a group of people who insist they're the most pro-life people who've ever lived, that might seem like a massive contradiction.  It is.  They don't care.  They've been contradicting their faith for decades as they've whittled Christianity down to one major issue; stopping legal abortion.

The person who died was Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, one of the most prominent liberals the Supreme Court ever had.  Her death is giving pure joy to Republican Christians as they feel now, with a Conservative judge to replace her, they'll be able to finally overturn Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision which made abortion legal in the 1970's. 

You can point out overturning Roe v. Wade won't make abortion illegal in the US, just stop the national standard which made it legal.  Plenty of states will still have legal abortion, and there are more options for ending an unwanted pregnancy which don't include the act of an abortion.  There will be a lot of murkiness on what is and is not legal in a post Roe v. Wade world.

You can point out applying a Christian standard to abortion not only violates separation of church and state, it's also forces a person's religion onto someone else, something Christian Conservatives would never tolerate if it was being done to them.

You can point out Jesus never once condemned abortion.  Never did.  If you're Christian, you take Jesus' teachings as your standard, as Jesus is what makes Christians Christian.  If this was such an important issue, you'd think he would've mentioned it.  There are passages in the Bible which are undoubtedly anti-abortion but Psalm 137:9 is pro-abortion.  The Bible is also chock full of baby killing stories.  Do you think Noah's flood didn't kill thousands if unborn babies?  There are Biblical passages which make it clear only specific clothes should be worn, that you shouldn't eat delicious bratwursts (Leviticus 3:17), rules for when you have to marry a brother's wife, orders for us to murder a person if they cheat on their spouse (who wants to tell Trump?), and how women should wear head coverings in church (plus 1 Corinthians 11:4-7 has misogyny too!).  If you're not following all those rules, you're admitting you're already cherry picking the Bible.  I know Rightos: "But Matt, those are lesser issues! Thou shall not murder is a Commandment!" So is the whole adultery issue, and you guys are perfectly fine with that Commandment being violated, so...

They don't care. They don't understand Roe v. Wade, they sure as heck want to force Christianity on people, and they themselves ignore most of the Bible when it's inconvenient to their political argument.

Let me take the rest of this post to highlight how much of their faith Evangelicals and Christians Conservatives have sacrificed to be in bed with the Republican party; in order to make abortion the 'One Christian sin to Rule them all!'

1) Feeding the hungry! Jesus ordered us to do so, and the Republican Party has consitently cut food aid to the needy, creating shame hoops for the hungry to jump through just to eat.  Before you argue "Well I donate to food agencies and causes!"  Great, but you're also a proud supporter of a political party who works against a basic teaching of Jesus (feeding the hungry), and you've never condemn their anti-Chrisitan, pro-hunger behavior!  NEVER!

2) Sheltering the homeless! Once again, the Bible, both Old and New Testament, ordered us to get people shelter, and the Republican party's official stance is to scream "Get a job you moocher." Once again, you NEVER condemn their official policy.  'Well I do in the silence of my own heart!'  Forgive me if I don't believe you, and even if you did, that's a cowards validation.

3) Taking care of the sick! How many Jesus stories are directly related to giving people better health?  TONS!  Lazarus was definitely a preexisting condition. You applaud a political party who's not only trying to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, not only are they trying to make preexisting conditions a reason to deny people medical treatment, not only are they trying to get rid of Medicare and Medicaid, not only are they encouraging a 'healthcare for the wealthy only' standard, but they've mismanaged Corona Virus, BADLY!  The US is the worst place for the illness on the planet, yet you NEVER condemn the Republican Party's for violating the command to 'take care of the sick.'

4) Drinkable water! "I was thirsty and you gave me drink." When was the Evangelical/Christian Right's protest of the Republican Party of Flint Michigan?  Oh that's right, NEVER!

5) Welcoming in strangers from strange lands! The Christian Right and the Evangelicals have spectacularly violated this command.  We're supposed to welcome people, and the Republican Party is only about walls and concentration camps.  There is NO WAY you can claim to be a good Christian and support the Republican's immigration policies.  Heck, most of you are at the Trump rallies screaming 'lock them up!'  You've NEVER condemned this.  Even if you were against it, you didn't want to upset the party, so you silently forsake your faith.

I know there are Righto Christians furious at me so far (wait! It gets better!).  All I'm doing is holding YOU to the faith you claim to embody, a faith you willfully ignore to follow Republican politics.  That's on you, not me. Go get angry at the mirror.

Back to the countdown!

6) Jailed prisoners and the death penalty! Part of Matthew 25:36 calls for people to care about prisoners, a far cry from the corporate prison business the Republican Party, and in turn Evangelicals/Conservative Christians, endorse.  You scream for mandatory minimums and three strike policies for lesser crimes.  You applaud locking people up for life and praise the police even when police violence is the undeniable cause of the problem.  On the Death Penalty, let me cut off your usually defense; it's only in the last 200 years people changed the Commandment from 'Thou shalt not kill' to 'Thou shalt not murder.'  The original Hebrew word outlawed far more than just murder, a command to not kill other humans. Modern Christians (who love their revenge narratives) embraced 'murder' because it allowed them to say nothing when people are executed, something Republicans LOVE to do.  As Christians, we're NEVER supposed to kill anyone, but I guess that commandment can be followed when convenient.  When it comes to life, you guys are "Baby's yes, prisoners no." By the way, Romans 12:19 calls out revenge and vengeance.

7) Guns! Jesus was against weapons, PERIOD!  It goes WAY beyond Jesus' direct command to throw down your weapons as 'if you live by the sword, you die by the sword.'  The Old and New Testament have dozens of passages which say weapons are bad. But here you clowns are, speaking like Jesus founded Guns and Ammo Magazine himself.  I might give you guys the out if you said "hey, I'm only for hunting weapons," but many of you, and the official party platform of the Republicans, enforce the idea that everyone should have a machine gun.  Jesus would never want you to carry, or romanticize, a gun.  NEVER!

8) Wealth worshipping!  Wealth worshipping is a tent pole of the modern Republican Party.  Their entire economic policy is worshipping the wealthy just because they're wealthy. Evangelicals and Conservative Christians, if you want violations of the Ten Commandments, wealth worshipping is your pound for pound winner: You place money above all else, so that violates the first Commandment about false gods.  One could make an argument putting 'God' on currency would be taking his name in vain (false validation of wealth), so there's the 2nd.  Many people, in their quest to accumulate wealth, applaud stealing in some capacity, whether not paying taxes or defrauding employees (7th). Keeping up with the Jones' by buying more things just to brag is definitely violating the 10th, and what was that about not working on Sunday (the 3rd)?  You praise Chick Fil-A for being closed, but do you demand businesses shut down on Sunday?  Of course not!  For Republicans, Capitalism is king, not Jesus (once again the first).  If you want New Testament reference, Luke is great at shaming the money obsessed (something about camels, needle eyes and rich people.)  And as far as Prosperity Gospel, don't run to Timothy or Peter to overrule a major teaching of the Christian faith.  Sure those books were included in the Bible, but it was only in the late 1800's did wealthy people start twisting the Bible to validate their greed with the fraudulent Prosperity Gospel.  Stop it.  Jesus would NEVER be for wealth worshipping.

9) Babies in cages, concentration camps on the border, and forced hysterectomies on women! You Evangelicals and Conservative Christians are quiet on this things because A) You know they're horrible and there's no Christian defense of them, and B) since you desperately want to defend the Republicans over your religion, and since there's no way to make these things Christianity compatible, you say nothing.  NEVER! That's how often you should stay quiet about these crimes against humanity.

10) Sex scandals! You worship a man who's a walking sex scandal, BY HIS OWN ADMISSION!  He has admitted to having multiple affairs, he's been married multiple times and we even have him on tape talking about sexually assaulting a married woman.  And that doesn't include the 40 plus accusations of sexual misconduct against him, something you accuse the accusers of lying about, even though you have ZERO evidence they're lying.  Republicans love him for his sex scandals, but you shouldn't.  Most Evangelicals and Christian Conservatives NEVER once have criticized his ways, even though he's repeatedly violated the 6th and 9th Commandments. And we haven't even gotten to his good friend Epstein (who definitely did not commit suicide).

11) Racism!  Trump is racist.  As we get further into this campaign cycle, he's becoming more and more racist.  The Republicans love him for being openly racist.  Evangelicals and Christian Conservatives say nothing about his undeniable bigotry.  Your best case scenario is you're enabling racism with your silence.  At worst, you agree with Trump's racist ideals.  Regardless, there has NEVER been a place for racism in Christianity.

12) Trump is a mean, disgusting, lying disgrace of a human!  You can't candy coat this Christians.  Trump mocked a disabled man, AND YOU STILL VOTED FOR HIM!  Trump constantly lies; CONSTANTLY, so much so even Fox News acknowledges it by insisting 'this is what Trump meant to say.'  He's disparaged victims of natural disasters, military families, soldiers; pretty much anyone who does not place him as their number one deity.  Not exactly 'loving your fellow man.'  Not exactly 'turning the other cheek.'  And let's just be honest.  Down deep beneath the thin layer of your so called Christianity, you LOVE how he treats people you disagree with.  LOVE IT!  Jesus would NEVER condone any of his behavior.

There are many more examples I could point out, and then start an equally long list of Trump's anti-Patriotic violations too!  Look at how the Christian Right has mutilated such a wonderful and peaceful religion as Christianity by turning it into a one sin faith, used to validate Republican political positions. 

And once again Roe v. Wade was only about a national standard.  When they do overturn it, it will lead to some states still having legal abortion.  And pro-lifers, it's time for you to face the truth.  Even in harsh anti-abortion states, after they make abortion illegal for the masses, new specialty clinics will open in the high end strip malls and gallerias in wealthy white suburbs.  They'll offer a special medical procedure, an 'anti-baby-oscomy,' at a cost of $5000.  It will be legal abortion, but under a different name.  Wealthy Republican donors won't take THEIR kids to a different state for an abortion.  Of course not.  Abortion will still be legal everywhere, as long as you're wealthy.  Considering how easily you fools are manipulated, you'll probably rally to make sure 'anti-baby-oscomy's are never made illegal. 

This new Conservative Supreme Court will wipe out the Affordable Care Act, so tragically, there will be a case where Evangelicals and Christian Conservatives will force a woman to have a rapist's baby, and then watch as medical bills bankrupt the victim, crippling a family's finances for a generation.  CHRISTIAN!!!

You're also never going to crack down on deadbeat dads like you should.  Women shouldn't have to go to court for years to get their baby's father to pay their rightful share.  All you far right Christians will do is shrug your shoulders at best; or at worst you'll find more Biblical passages which allude to women being property (like the aforementioned 1 Corinthians 11:4-7) further shaming women.

Increased demand on social services will cripple them.  People will starve.  People will freeze to death.  People will die of treatable illnesses.  But you don't care, as the second the baby is out of the womb you cease caring at all.  You'll pat yourselves on the back, insist you did a good thing, and ignore their plight.

I can hear your outcries of "that's not fair, MATT! Of Course we would step up to help the needy."  Sure you give a few bucks in the collection plate, but we'll still have tens of millions of people suffering in the wealthiest country on the planet.  Your donations are more about absolving your responsibility as opposed to stopping suffering.  "People are starving?  Here's five dollars.  See I feel better!"

Let me give you an even more stark example of why I have ZERO faith in Evangelicals and Christian Conservatives.  Currently there are somewhere between 115,000 and 125,000 kids waiting to be adopted in America today, mostly male, mostly 6 years old and older, and many of them from minority groups.  There are somewhere around 300,000 Christian churches in the United states today. All it would take is one family per every two to three congregations adopting one child, and the US wouldn't have any children waiting to be adopted.  One family out of every two to three congregations, yet here we are. 

This is the point where your furious anger boils over.  "WELL MATT, HOW MANY KIDS HAVE YOU ADOPTED?  HAVE YOU GIVEN UP YOUR HOUSE AND YOUR MONEY? HOW DARE YOU TRY TO LECTURE ME ABOUT MY CHRISTIAN FAITH.  I'M ONLY TRYING TO SAVE BABIES AND YOU MAKE ME OUT TO BE A MONSTER!  HOW DARE YOU!!!"

Once again, this is not about my faith or my standards.  This is not about my choices.  This is about your faith, or rather lack of it.  For the record, I'm personally against abortion, but that's the CHOICE I've made for myself.  Everyone else can make their own choices, since we all will be judged by our own actions on earth.

I'm not too fond of people taking my religion and destroying it for political purposes wrapped in the thinnest layer of morality.  Once again, if you're mad, go scream at the mirror.  That's who you're really mad with.