"I'm looking for a Christian"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diogenes_of_Sinope

There is a story about Diogenes the Cynic being asked why he was carrying a lantern in broad daylight - his answer:  "I'm looking for a human being."  If Diogenes were here today I wonder if he might say "I'm looking for a true Christian."

I am not an expert in religion by any stretch - and I should be clear that I don't want to be.  I've read about Christ - directly without interpretation.  I did a lot of daydreaming during my church years and wasn't listening to whatever it was the nuns and priests were babbling.   This was part of my upbringing as part of the culture I was raised in.  Sunday school and church, I guess, were there to help instill morals and proper values.  I wonder what the hell happened?

If the church was doing its job all these years what has happened to all its disciples?  It kinda makes one wonder.  I, like Diogenes, am looking for a Christian.  One of my friends mentioned a quote from Ghandi:  "I like your Christ, but not your Christians."

I am surrounded by so-called Christians all the time since I live South in the Bible Belt.  I didn't grow up here and although having spent much of my life south of the Mason-Dixon line wasn't aware of the deep belief system here in southern Dixie.  It is surprising how closed-minded Christians are - and contradictory to boot.  Thank God I grew up in an area and around people more open-minded than those whose minds are held captive by the various churches here in the South.  Is keeping the flock hypnotized in fear a Christian value?

I don't mean to be mean or to pick a fight with Christians - after all I don't want to be murdered or burned at the stake or drowned like a witch - I only want to make clear some of the contradictions I see and cannot understand.

How is it possible to be a follower of Christ yet in the same breath make claims that it is OK to murder people who claim to believe differently in some other God?

Tithing?  What ever happened to the bake sale?

When I think of "tithing" (giving money to the church for nothing) I think of opening my own church.  What a profitable enterprise.  Think about it - like the Obama campaign - it is easy to sell hope because you never have to pay up.  You can take money and give hope all day long at 100 % profits.  You never have to worry about an audit because the auditor will be bound to the same belief system as the rest of the flock.  What a racket.

I've often wondered what the church has done with all this money they collect for nothing?  Every day Christians remind me that unless I make some stupid-ass public declaration in front of other people of my belief in their system I will go to hell.  If that is true - why couldn't they - if they really cared about me - use some of that money to pay God to keep me out of that furnace?  Maybe simply asking these questions will doom me to a furnace here on Earth - with a chance to be burned by Christians?

I hear much about so-called "moral relativism" from Christians - who are the biggest violators of this supposedly terrible sin.  Rather than abiding by their own "laws" like "thou shalt not kill" and "thou shalt not take other peoples mineral rights" Christians are led by holy men to do just that.  Christian kids are raised to hate the offspring of human beings who had the misfortune to grow up in an equally rotten parallel universe - where other holy men sell another faith to their kids teaching them to hate Christians.  Neither side will "turn the other cheek" because that would mean peace - something none of them really want.

Americans - and Christians -and Jews and Muslims too -  seem to love war.  America has been at war essentially forever.  It never ends.  This nation floats on an ocean of hypocrisy and debt.  Nothing is really as it appears - but there is some progress.  In today's America we've finally stopped some hypocrisy - like pretending that we care about peace and that this war will ever end.  Like the NAZIs before us from which we've taken our game-plan, we openly in broad daylight talk about killing forever.  It is manly these days to worship weapons of war - with everyone in the group always agreeing how neat this tank or jet or machine gun is.  There are endless newsreels from past wars and conflicts - mostly showing these weapons firing or their operators firing them.  There are not anywhere near as many films of the victims getting hit with the bullets.  They will show you a coupla' dead bodies here or there when it suits the agenda of those pumping out the propaganda - but for the most part our military machine is openly glorified.  Is militarism a Christian value?  Where did Christ discuss hosing people down with machine gun bullets?

Americans now believe, thanks to her dear leaders, that there is no other way to live than in a war economy.  We don't make much worth a hoot in this country although good people are trying to fix that.  Even the plastic bags everybody uses to bring their plastic stuff home from Big-Mart are cheapening to where the bags are falling apart before the customer has a chance to get to the car.  I should know as I've been re-purposing these bags as small trash bags for the last few years as I hate buying garbage bags.  Our greedy business leaders will always think of a way to shave a few dollars more to stuff into their bank account.  Who cares if the customer drops the junk on the way to the car?  Then they can come back in and buy more!

Are these Christian values - selling inferior or designed-to-fail products to the masses?  Or are there no Christians working in high-level positions in our corporations ?  Somehow I don't think it matters - Christians for the most part are Christians in name only.  Who cares about the examples Christ set?  Christ didn't work for a corporation and didn't use shopping bags.  What does selling a decent product and providing good service have to do with Christianity?

We've pissed so much money away on these wars it is surprising to me that the public doesn't notice.  I've met a few people who work very long hours six days a week who had their tax refund confiscated at the last minute for this reason or that.  It's "funny" - here are some folks who've been looking forward to that few thousand bucks to replace the worn-out jalopy they depend on in this freezing icy weather to keep the money coming in to the family - a car that just barely gets them to work - and the government grabbed the loot.  Rest assured taxpayer - the money has been well spent on munitions to murder non-believers somewhere else in the world who's leaders are selling them the same hate wrapped in different packaging.  Is hating Muslims a Christian value?  Is teaching kids to hate a Christian value?  Is scaring people a Christian value?  Is spreading terror and fear a Christian value?

There was a time when U.S. leaders got back to their herd from time to time to remind them why we are all chipping in to win the war.  This hypocrisy has also, thankfully, ended.  No longer pretending that there is any intention to ever end the "long war" we started by bombing ourselves on September 11, 2001, our propaganda machine simply fans the flames of fear and hatred.  There is always someone with a turban hiding in a cave somewhere up to no good.  Americans everywhere can be found publicly pissing their pants around the coffee machine and water cooler.  They talk in circles as each speculates about this or that non-issue fed to them by the corporate death-machine.  Forget ending the bloodshed - there is simply too much money to be had.  No - not for you or me - for the media, the manufacturers and the politicians.  Possibly the churches too huh?  I wonder if any of those robed ones are on the take - after all it is their flocks that are participating in these bloodbaths.

I saw a news article the other day - probably put out by some Republican propaganda outlet to bash  Obama for a bit.  Their complaint?  That Obama doesn't see an Islamic terror threat.  They proceeded to belittle him with the standard political propaganda expected from those wishing to plant a Bush back in the White house.  News flash:  I don't see an Islamic terror threat either - in fact all of the Muslims I've met so far have been pretty decent - since I met them here in the states and they were abiding by our laws.  None of them shot me or attempted to bomb my house - I think they were busy running their business or getting the kids to school.  With all the government peeping toms and perverts spying on all the Muslims in this country you would think they could have turned up more evidence over the last fourteen years other than zero.  The only "plots" discovered were patsies set up by our own agencies.

The terror threat is a maniacal plan to keep religous people everywhere shooting each other.  Religious people do what their leaders tell them.  The proof is easy to see - just watch them all throw money at their churches.  You would think these rich churches could spare a minute or two to remind their flock that torture is a sick, twisted and perverted crime against humanity.  But they won't because being the hypocrites they are - they revert back to their own type of moral relativism - rather than sticking with the fake absolute morals they pretend.  I'm sure they will knock off the hypocrisy eventually like the government of the US did - and openly admit they love a good Crusade.

The government and the churches are playing the same game - spreading fear and hate and superstition with no facts to present whatsoever.  This is a profitable enterprise as it exists without costs and brings the highest profits and mind-controlled robots to do ones bidding.

I'm still looking for a Christian.