How we learn to be brave

 I am also reading "How we learn to be brave" by Marianne Edgar Budde.  If the name doesn't ring a bell, she's the Bishop who had the backbone to ask trump to show mercy.  

For all his photo ops with upside-down Bibles and groups of "ministers laying on hands" while he tries to look more pious and less aroused, He is not, and never has been , a Christian.

What is the saying ? "Standing in a church and declaring you're a Christian is a lot like standing in a garage and declaring you're a car"  

I went to Church as a kid. When I became a Teen, I saw the hypocrisy of the Church I went to and several others and decided that  this was not for me. I can, however spit out random Bible phases that might apply to the situation at hand

Matthew 7:16 says "By their fruits ye shall know them"

Take a look at the person in the Oval Office.  Does HE embody Jesus greatest command- "Love ye one another"?

I think not.

I was reading a mystery recently. I like Mysteries  there is usually a beginning a middle and an end and in the current state of the world, it's nice to have the solution in a nice neat package.   In the book , the choir was practicing "Onward Christian Soldiers"  and it struck me what an absurd thing that hymn was.  After all, they call Jesus "the Prince of Peace" but here they are putting him at the head of an army ready to do battle with some unidentified Foe with banners ablaze.

See why I stopped going to church?

Budde's book details her journey of faith and references many other leaders of faith.  It is well written and gives me a lot to think about.  I had heard she was getting threats and that there were a lot of bad reviews of her book- which became an overnight best seller, I had to buy a Kindle copy which would up on my desktop.   It looks like Amazon culled the bad reviews and are only allowing verified purchasers to review it so she is back to having mostly 5-star reviews.

My faith is my faith.  I do not feel the need to win you over to my way of thinking.  I cannot be shamed into changing my mind.  I do, however, feel that there are some who say they are Christian who use hate and fear to keep their flock in line.  I saw a video of a young girl, forced to apologize to the congregation for getting pregnant.  They were shaming her, but where was her partner in this. I'm pretty sure there was ne, since the last time that happened three guys showed up with weird presents (what the heck is Myrrh anyway?)  the minister was practically salivating as he shamed this poor child.

See why I stopped going to church?

Still I am enjoying her book and admire this woman of faith and courage, who asked the newly elected president to follow the teaching he professed to follow (conveniently ditching them as soon as he was elected). Donny-boy looked pissed.  I suppose he thought he was going to be praised and blessed and fawned over (I wonder if that happened the last time)  He was in for a surprise and boy did his cult members take it personally.

Maybe they should read Matthew 5-7