TO ALL MY RELIGIOUS FRIENDS

(I am now agnostic, but I was deeply religious, so this comes from the heart, with love and understanding and empathy!)


Please, do not justify inequality and oppression by looking to God and Heaven. I know the world is a difficult place, I know we can’t make everything right, but it is all too easy to become complacent and think that as long as we do “our best” God will make it all right in Heaven. How many injustices do we accept and excuse because God will be the final judge and those who go through trials here on earth will be blessed in Heaven? How much of our history do we ignore or excuse because God will make it right in the end? We need to do more, we need to do better.

I see a lot of people saying that we just need to love and seek to God in prayer and be peaceful. Peaceful hasn’t worked.

Righteous anger is justified when Gods children are suffering. In how many stories in the Bible can we read about God wiping out entire cities to protect his children? Or what about when Jesus turned the table of the merchants in the temple? And have you not read about God weeping for mankind? It is not a sin to be angry, upset or sad. Strong emotions are not evil, and we do not need to avoid them. We need to channel them and we need to act to protect our brothers and sisters who need our help. That is not Gods job, it is what we are called to do. We are his hands, his feet, his tongue, and we must stand up for what is right.

Please, do an experiment with me, and read this passage, that I’m sure you know well, but please remember that Jesus was from the Middle East. He was NOT fair skinned and blue eyed. Read this scripture while you are picturing Jesus as a man with black curly or wavy hair, dark skin and brown eyes.

Matthew 25

31 When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will place the sheep on His right and the goats on His left.

34 Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, 36 I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.’

37 Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 When did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?’

40 And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’

41 Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’

44 And they too will reply, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’

45 Then the King will answer, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’

46 And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

If you truly believe in Jesus, then act, and act now. What you do not, you do not do to Him. Do not be complacent. Do not send thoughts and prayers, and do not help only those who look like you, speak like you or dress like you.

Be humble.

If you pray, do not pray that the afflicted may feel Gods love and peace, and receive strength to get through their trials.

Pray instead that God can fill your heart with love for ALL of Gods children! Pray to get the courage to stand up for them, to protect them, to support them. Pray to be humble enough to listen, to understand and to relate. Pray to have the patience to read, to study, to learn – even when things feel difficult or painful.

Pray to be strong enough to study through your own discomfort. Pray to not be deterred because something you learn feels bad. Not everything that feels bad is untrue. Good feelings and bad feelings are not really an indicator of truth. Just because you feel bad when you have done something you wish you hadn’t it doesn’t make it not true that you did it. Just because you feel bad that children are dying of hunger, it doesn’t make it untrue that they are. And just because you hope and feel good about an alternative, it doesn’t mean the alternative is true. It would feel good if it was, but it isn’t necessarily the case. When you learn a truth that hurts, pray for the strength to act on that new knowledge. Pray to be humble enough to see your own privilege. Pray to understand what you can do to do better. Pray to be humble enough to believe those who tell you they are experiencing racism or oppression or discrimination. Pray to understand why they are suffering. Pray that you can learn to recognise it, in yourselves, and in others, and pray for the courage to speak up against it, and actively fight it.

I have another challenge, or experiment if you will, that I hope you will do with me.

Pretend for a second that there is no heaven. Imagine that there is no justice for those who suffer, for those who are born under worse conditions and with less opportunities than you, no justice for those who are suffering at the hand of others, as a consequence of accidents, disasters and other events that they can not control. Imagine that this is it. No rewards for the downtrodden. It is a sobering thought. But, it is also a strong and powerful call to action. What if this is it? Would you act differently then? If so, act that way! Do not use God as a justification for your complacency, because that is not how we build Gods kingdom on earth.

I used to believe that God is love, and if you believe that, then I hope you will agree that we can not build a kingdom of love, unless we act towards our fellow men, as if there was no heaven. We do not create heaven on earth by ignoring those who are suffering. We do it by becoming more like God. By having more love. We are asked to carry the cross of Christ, and he died for us, he bled for us. He was tortured, for us. His love was not one of looking inwards and trying to be good or find favour with God. He stood up for the oppressed, and he challenged the oppressors. Focus less on being good, focus instead of doing good. And if doing good makes you angry sometimes, I’m sure that God will forgive you, if that anger causes you to stand up to protect a stranger.

If doing good makes you tired and you forget to read your scriptures, I’m sure God will forgive you, because you are becoming the word, instead of just reading it.

I say this in the name of love, courage, compassion and integrity. Amen.