Is anyone else out there as tired as I am of hateful Christians? It's no surprise that so many people can't stand us. I'm sorry, I know that since I've started this blog I write a lot about this, but am I really the only one bothered by this!?

Let's examine a few instances of idiotic things that have been done "in the name of God" just in the past few years (or weeks) that scare people away from the faith, rightly so...

• Jaramiah Wright, Barack Obama's RACIST PREACHER preaches that the U.S. government has lied to their people by inventing the AIDS virus and injecting black people with it... and says God Damn America... and that the KKK and white-on-black racism still reigns... and says ignorant false statements about WW2 and 9/11 to make the U.S. look ridiculous...all in the name of God and His Word. (Oh and by the way Jaramiah, Jesus wasn't black! Nor was he white, you white folk out there.)
• Another black preacher went on national television to state that Obama was BORN trash, pimps big-boobed white and black women, called his father a whore... THEN claims that everything he just said was biblical and he is totally justified.
• The Westboro Baptist Church members who walk around with signs at funerals and main events that say "God hates fags", "Thank God for dead miners", "God blew up the shuttle', "Pray for more dead soldiers". (I wouldn't be surprised if they get blown away by a drive-by one day)
  
• Jerry Falwell. Need I say more?
• Catholic priests sexually abusing young boys.
• Of course who can forget the Crusades, the Inquisition, Witch Burning, and the KKK!

I just read this on a blog of a man who used to be a preacher and has rejected the faith... "...take Christ out of the word Christian. Why? Because you suck as a representative. You really do." Though I wouldn't agree with taking Christ out of Christian, just leave a "chun" sound at the end (wait..maybe that's ingenious! Being a Christian without Christ is just being a CHUN! Or wait, howabout this, since we suck at representing Christ as Christians, we can call ourselves Chuns in hopes of communicating that Christ is what makes us who we are, oh nevermind!)...anyway, I would agree that we suck as a representative. We all fall short of the glory of God, brother. I agree whole heartedly.

That doesn't give a cause to lose heart though--I hope that stupid things that Christians do and say (including ourselves) give us more reason to try and be as Christlike as possible. In a really twisted way I wonder if we're better off having the world full of lukewarm Christians, or wacko nutcases mixed with real genuine Christians.

In Don Miller's book, Blue Like Jazz, his friend persuades their group of friends to have a confession booth at their colleges. Everyone in the group thought that he wanted other people to confess their sins to the group...but instead, here's what happens: "Okay, you guys." Tony gathered everybody's attention. "Here's the catch." He leaned in a little and collected his thoughts. "We are not actually going to accept confessions." We all looked at him in confusion. He continued, "We are going to confess to them. We are going to confess that, as followers of Jesus, we have not been very loving; we have been bitter, and for that we are sorry. We will apologize for the Crusades, we will apologize for televangelists, we will apologize for neglecting the poor and the lonely, we will ask them to forgive us, and we will tell them that in our selfishness, we have misrepresented Jesus on this campus. We will tell people who come into the booth that Jesus loves them."

All of us sat there in silence because it was obvious that something beautiful and true had hit the table with a thud. We all thought it was a great idea, and we could see it in each other's eyes. It would feel so good to apologize, to apologize for the Crusades, for Columbus and the genocide he committed in the Bahamas in the name of God, apologize for the missionaries who landed in Mexico and came up through the West slaughtering Indians in the name of Christ. I wanted so desperately to say that none of this was Jesus, and I wanted so desperately to apologize for the many ways I had misrepresented the Lord."

Sorry if I'm beating a dead horse with all this Christian love stuff--but I figure, a) it's our greatest commandment and we kinda suck at it and b) it's turning people away from the faith, therefore we should perk up and start paying attention.

Anyone smell what I'm steppin' in?