Why I Will NOT be Joining ANY Christian Churches today or into the Near, Probably Even Far, Future…
By Brother Tracy Gibson
I was going to join Bright Hope Baptist Church at 12th and Cecil B. Moore Avenue. However, after attending the New member’s Class a few days ago, I’ve decided I’ll have to let the Reverend Kevin Johnson down. I cannot join that church, even as much as I would like to. The reason is a simple one. I have to be true to my heart. And in my heart, I don’t want to take communion because I feel GOD is already in me and I am NOT into cannibalism. I know that sounds gross, but that is how I feel. Have we ever really thought about taking in the Body and Blood of ``Our Lord Jesus Christ’’ I know it is ``just symbolic’’ but symbolism is very, very powerful.
But that is just the beginning of my problems with traditional Christianity. I have already written about much of this stuff before, it is in the manuscript of my book and has been there for years. My thought have been developed a good bit more since then, but they are basically the same.
I am what is called a Polytheist. A Polytheist is a person who takes the best of LL religions, even ones He or She doesn’t know completely about, and believes in and takes hold of that, because that is what represents the Best in mankind and the best in our religious beliefs as People of the World.
I don’t believe in and can’t dedicate myself to churches that want me to believe in a variety of things that are ``unworldly’’ and ``odd’’ and ``not humanly possible’’ today—right here and now. Can anybody walk on water today—not unless the water is only an inch deep or if it is frozen like a lake in Winter. So, no I don’t believe that Jesus ever walked on water.
Can anyone, even a very special person, blessed by GOD, heal someone who is disabled, broken, diseased or very, very sick with just the touch of a hand? No, that is still impossible. Prayer may well help. SO might the healing thoughts and concerns of friends and family. Ultimately GOD will take whoever She or He wants and there isn’t much we as humans can do about that. Not much at all. This is something we have to all face up to like men and women. So no, I don’t believe Jesus made a blind man see, now do I believe he made a multitude of people eat from just a few fishes or drink enough wine for themselves from just a little wine. I just don’t believe all this.
Does this make me a fool? Does this make me an atheist? Does this make me a devil? I don’t think so. It makes me one of the most powerful kind of people who presently walk the earth. A person who questions things and asks questions about what is presented before us as reality and fact, when there is nothing holding it up and making it real. Belief is fine and good, but what can we take from religion besides faith?
I think it is vastly Important for our churches, especially Black and Progressive churches and Progressive churches from other communities such as the Latin community and or the Gay, Lesbian and even the Transgendered community to get together and face some of the realities and problems I our world together as much as possible and put our differences behind us and work towards a better world. But some of our so-called Pastors are just lining their pockets with money and saying they love the Lord and not really taking care of their flocks. It is happening all over the place. It is happening in Texas and Massachusetts. It is happening among Catholics in Cuba and North America. It is happening among Pentecostals in England and North Philadelphia. It is happening among Jewish People in New York and Muslims in the Middle East. People who profess to be the teachers of GOD’s word are turning their backs on GOD and taking bribes and money and corrupting and misrepresenting His word and not really helping the people like they should be, like Jesus intended and like it professes so much in the Bible. There are several verses in the Bible that talk about helping the poor, yet we just had a Presidential contest where the mere work ``poor’’ was abandoned almost completely for the words ``Middle Class.’’ It was like Romney and Obama were to get 50 real lashes with a real whip for even mentioning the word ``poor.’’ Yet and still more and more North Americans are becoming just that ``poor’’ because the 1 % ers continue to hold on to their money—and I’m talking about Billions and Billions of dollars--as if their very lives depended on it. Now, they may know something that I don’t know, but what I know is you can’t take it with you and the more we all learn how to dismiss greed and share, the better our world will be and the better the world’s people will be. All this is talked about in the Bible as well.
Do you know that Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, is worth some $25 Billion of Dollars? He professes to want to help the people of New York as the Mayor and he professes to want to help the people of New York solve their problems, but to me, it looks like the people of New York have been, guess what, Bamboozled, swindled and tricked again. If I had $25 Billion Dollars I would be putting it to work paying to fix our broken political and economic systems. I would be advocating for the poor and trying very, very hard to break the backs of any people {figuratively speaking} and any system that is oppressive to mankind and woman kind. I would make sure I treated the poor and the homeless people with dignity and respect. I would hire people to build bridges and roads and repair Dams, and pay for nurses, doctors, policemen, firemen, and the like. WHAT THE Heck are these people doing holding onto that kind of money when there is such great need in the world? They are tricking us into believing that when they give away one half of one percent of their money and get back a fat tax deduction and a check from the government as a tax return that they have in fact done something for humanity. They haven’t done anything for humanity. They are just further lining their pockets. They are taking the life’s blood people need to live on and hoarding it. They are maintaining the status quo and it is a status quo that is literally killing people each and every day through economic, monetary and financial strangulation and manipulation. They haven’t acted as the stellar characters the media often portrays the rich to be. NOT AT ALL!!!
There is another Church I was supposed to finally join this week. It is the Unity Fellowship Christ Church of Philadelphia at 55 North Broad Street in Philadelphia… I will attend this church on a regular basis and work with them on many, many issues if they allow a non-member to do so. But joining, even though they have a much more open policy for believers than many other churches, joining Unity Fellowship, will again, put me into a box that I just don’t fit into because my beliefs are ever changing, growing and moving forward. I can’t join that church either, because in fact, while I believe very strongly in GOD and Jesus, as I said, I’m a Polytheist. I can’t say I believe Jesus was anything but a man-- a bright, intelligent, kind and loving man who cared for others, but who couldn’t walk on water or make water into wine. A man who had faults. A man who fought temptation, but who ultimately gave his life for humanity. But there are literally millions of other lesser known men and women who gave their lives for humanity, but who barely get a scribble of credit for their efforts. Such as the 20 Million men and women who were Russian who died in World War Two; such as Malcolm X; Such as Joan of Arc; such as Che Guevara; Such as James Baldwin; such as Marlon Riggs; such as Clifford Rawlins; such as Martin Luther King Jr. … Such as Fidel Castor {who nobody wants to give proper credit to}… And there have been women too. Women who have dedicated their lives to the freedom of Black people or who have questioned our systems and or fought to make it better. Such as deceased Congresswoman Barbara Jordan; Such as the still living Angela Davis; such as the Still living Winnie Mandela; such as the deceased Harriet Tubman; such as the deceased Fannie Lou Hamer. The list goes on and on….. We can learn from all these people. They were just people who fought tierney and hatred and wanted love, respect and kindness and freedom for the Common man and the Common woman.
So this is why I’m not joining any church right now or probably ever. I have to be true to self, love self and respect my own beliefs and my own belief system. To turn everything I believe over to an alter that I don’t really believe in would be the height of hypocrisy and an indecency. And I WON’T do it!! That’s My Story and I’m sticking to it!!!
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