I was watching one of my favorite classic Clint Eastwood westerns recently, “High Plains Drifter”. There’s a catchy line in the script, worthy of reflection in our culture today, where he’s describing the low character, hypocritical and cowardly town folk, and he says, “It’s what people know about themselves inside of them that makes them afraid”.
Why is it that it is virtually ALWAYS the “Conservative Right Wing” candidates in Presidential elections who love to overplay the “fear card” in their campaign commercials and stump speeches? Why is it ALWAYS the “Conservative Right Wing” candidates who love to pander to the white culture of the 50’s while denigrating certain selective minority and immigrant groups?
And that being such a fact…Why then is it that in doing so, Conservative Right Wing candidates can virtually ALWAYS count on “Christian evangelicals” to support them in the “name of Jesus”?
The answer to that question is largely due to the Bible beliefs of so called Christian evangelicals among which I was raised, beliefs that are entirely founded upon a fear-based image of God. Fear-based condemnation of all other ‘non-believers’ is rampant all throughout both the Old and New Testament. It never completely ‘sat right’ with me as a kid growing up, though I forced myself to accept it for the first 25 or so years of my life from such strong family and church conditioning.
Most who call themselves “Christians” don’t go to church except for maybe on Easter or Christmas Eve, if even then. Most who call themselves “Christians” also have not read most, if any of the Bible they claim to believe. They just think the word “Christian” simply means someone who ‘loves their neighbor’ and believes in forgiveness and ‘turning the other cheek’.
They have not familiarized themselves with the Bible, and are completely unaware of the fundamental fear-based foundation of Christianity. But so called ‘evangelicals’ HAVE read the Bible, and are aware of the fact that such forgiveness for one’s neighbor is entirely CONDITIONAL…It is conditional on their being “born again” as a “believer”. (And at the bottom of this writing, I am actually including a reply thread from a ‘textbook’ example of this…It showcases a very dishonest ‘evangelical’ who replied to this when I initially drafted it as a post on Facebook, and who demonstrates the very problem I am writing about)
Don’t be fooled…There is NO LOVE from anyone who says “Jesus loves you” while their religion adamantly teaches condemnation of all those of diverse beliefs. And WORSE than that is the kind of person who would dishonestly go out of their way to try to HIDE that fundamental, condemning part of the Bible’s teaching, while pretending to ‘love and accept’ all others. That is an integral part of the manipulative ‘con’ involved.
There can be no denying, as much as many such ‘evangelicals’ often dishonestly try to do, that Christianity is entirely a fear based, man-made religion just like Islam and Judaism. As such, it is very important for you to understand that the founders of Christianity, just like the founders of Islam and Judaism, realized early on how they could “politically” capitalize on mankind’s fear of death, and their natural tendency to believe in something spiritual beyond this temporal existence.
So, just as kings, rulers and organizers of religious myths and beliefs had been teaming up together very effectively for thousands of years prior, as was the case with Judaism, the origin of Christianity was no different. It was simply just a break away from Judaism for something new by a growing, angry faction of unhappy Jews at the time. These revolting Jews were, as you may know, not happy waiting for their ‘messiah’, and decided that their messiah had already come and had been crucified by their unbelieving Jewish brothers…
So, as the momentum of this breakaway movement of Jews grew larger and it gained popularity, it was eventually seen as VERY politically useful by the Roman ruling class at that time in history. In order to more effectively control their population and to forcibly unite and motivate them politically for purposes of conquering and accumulating land and power in the “name of Jesus”, the early fathers of the Roman Catholic church and the political rulers at the time found allies and mutual benefit from each other.
Their joint agenda involved fraudulently crafting the New Testament scriptures, fraudulently attributing writers’ and apostles’ names to the books that have long been determined to be forged (meaning most books of Bible have a writer’s name on them that is proven not to be who wrote their contents, and no one knows who did).
And here’s the most important thing. In doing so, these so called ‘Holy scriptures’ concocted a totally fear-based, bigoted image of a God that would torture and damn all non-believers…Just a coincidence of course that all the expected ‘non-believers’ were mostly the enemies seen as a threat to them!
And this belief that such ‘non-believers’ (their enemies and those of other diverse cultures they didn’t like) be damned and tortured was not just to briefly torture them like just being burned at the stake (which would be bad enough!), but tortured and burned ETERNALLY in a lake of fire in Hell, etc. etc.
It doesn’t get any more sick, bigoted or fear based than that, and all supposedly in the name of a “loving, forgiving Jesus”. C’mon now! Time to get real.
And “Christian evangelicals” are called evangelicals because THAT is what they are ‘evangelizing’ and teaching their children to believe. It is far from harmless. On the contrary, just as we can see the same kind of fear based beliefs and teachings in the Koran are far from harmless, such deep seeded fear based beliefs are at the core of what is keeping us from being truly loving and forgiving UNCONDITIONALLY as a human race on this planet.
And forgiving and loving unconditionally, WITHOUT CONDEMNATION of any kind, is the true fundamental nature of “God”…That is to say, the enlightenment and understanding that we all as diverse brothers and sisters SHARE in being equal ‘aspects’ of God…We are all collectively a diverse and loving ‘part’ of what God is. Put even more succinctly, Divinity equals diversity. And as such we have the HOLY, SACRED RESPONSIBILITY to accept our diverse brothers and sisters across the planet UNCONDITIONALLY, WITH NO CONDEMNATION FOR ANY REASON.
But see, that truth is just not compatible with the history of man-made bigoted desires of cultural elitism, superiority, power and political control. The fear-based model is the only thing that works for such an agenda.
“Organized religion” has caused more damage to humanity with such a fraudulent fear-based upside down concept of God than any other source. The primary way you can KNOW that a religion or even a political movement is fraudulent, bigoted and nothing but a man-made lie is when it depends on fear, along with the demeaning and condemnation of others in its core message. The reason is simple: REAL LOVE CANNOT EVEN CONCEIVE OF CONDEMNING ANYONE.
But just like clockwork, you will routinely also find along with the fear-based beliefs, the accompanying bigotry of condemning and demeaning of others while teaching that those “believers”, followers (or even often voters) who adopt such beliefs are superior and “preferred” or “chosen” and “saved” in the eyes of God.
In closing, while that Clint Eastwood line in the script of “High Plains Drifter” sounds pretty cool, in the big picture of true spirituality, the truth is exactly the opposite: “It’s what people DON’T KNOW about themselves inside of them that makes them afraid.”
They don’t know that they are all a PART of what God is. They don’t know that they are equal spiritual brothers and sisters with no right to condemn or demean or hold grudges toward each other for any reason. The reason they don’t know these truths is because of the fear-based man-made lies rampant and running all throughout the Bible and the Koran.
In America, this politically results most often in the conformity and knee-jerk support of the Conservative Republican candidate by ‘evangelicals’, sadly even when the person is as embarrassing a candidate as Donald Trump.
This is the issue of our time. Yes, it is considered ‘politically incorrect’ to criticize people’s religious beliefs, but it was ‘politically incorrect’ in the 60’s to challenge people’s beliefs on race, school segregation and civil rights.
There is a huge difference between religion and spirituality. And to repeat, regardless of how unpopular it may be to many, the truth is that religious beliefs are not harmless…They are fundamentally DIVISIVE by their fraudulent, fear-based nature, as is fundamentally found all throughout the ‘scriptures’ of both the Bible and the Koran.
And those divisive, fear-based teachings about “God” have ZERO to do with true spirituality. As such, they are the primary thing holding humanity back from real spiritual understanding, unity and global peace.
Connie Bryan
(Connie Bryan is a writer in Sacramento, CA. Check out all her material on her blog and website at www.conniebryan.com)
Connie Bryan LOL, I was raised on the Bible, memorized more of it than you can imagine. You are living in a fantasy land to even begin to respond as such Brian. Don’t even try to act like it isn’t replete with condemnation toward all ‘non-believers’ in both the Old and New Testaments.
Brian Evan Sweet There is nothing in the New Testament that condemns anyone.Brian Evan Sweet John 3:16 sums it up.
Connie BryanIt is amazing to me how many Christians are dishonest about the condemnation and damnation that are all throughout the scriptures in both the Old and New Testaments and that they know are part of their beliefs, but they try to deny. That is called ‘lying’. I believe it is likely that those who act like you are acting are deep down struggling with accepting those scriptures that are the foundation of Christianity. Regardless Brian…According to those who wrote the Bible, what does the Bible say over and over again will happen to ‘unbelievers’ ? If you again try to deny that it teaches over and over that God will condemn them to eternity in Hell, you are either number one, a liar trying to manipulate the truth, or #2 mentally challenged and struggle with basic word comprehension.Connie BryanFirst, THANKS for being the ‘textbook’ example of what my post was about…Second, the insult can only be taken if the ‘shoe fits’, and if you are going to lie like that, the insult is deserved. Now to prove how dishonest you are, in trying to say there is no condemnation/damnation in the New Testament…It is time for you to actually READ the Bible with my help here…Connie Bryan First example of so many: Revelation 20:15 – “And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire”…The Book of Life is the book that all ‘believers’ names are in according to the writer in Revelation, and all those who are not ‘believers’ according to the writer are thrown into the Lake of Fire. That is being eternally condemned Brian. Again, if you try to say otherwise, you are being dishonest, i.e. a liar, so as to mischaracterize your beliefs to others to gain favor. Below are a few more examples…
Connie Bryan Matthew 25:46…Jesus’ quote about unbelievers…””These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (It doesn’t get more condemning than that.)…Connie Bryan 2 Thessalonians 1: 8-9 (Quote from Apostle Paul) “dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (Again, that’s the definition of condemning others with religious belief)Connie Bryan Revelation 21:8 “”But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Clearly lists the ‘unbelieving’ and Wow…Looks like the writer is saying if you are dishonest…i.e. a liar, you are going to be thrown into the Lake of Fire, lol…so I’d be careful if I were you)Connie Bryan There are sooo many examples, I could go on and on, they are all over the Bible in both Old and New Testament. Lastly, even the chapter you tried to use with the verse most Christians love to fixate on without reading the others around them…John Chapter 3, actually refers to unbelievers being specifically ‘already condemned’…here it is: John 3, vs 18 which you seem to be ignoring as such an expert on the Bible…It says “He that believeth on Him is not condemned. but he that believeth not is condemned already” So, no more of this dishonesty from you Brian.
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