image courtesy of trackemtigers.com
[Warning: Scathing assault* on Christianity to come.]
Jeremiah 2:26-28 (and the actual passage):
As a college quarterback** would be disgraced were it proved he was playing for cash,
so Christianity is disgraced —
its adherents, their leaders and teachers, their priests and their pastors, all.
They say to knowledge, “You are our father.”
To money, “You are our friend.”
To popularity, influence, and control, “You represent our greatest goals and ambitions.”
They have turned their backs toward me instead of their faces;
yet when they are in trouble, they say, “Come and save us!”
Where are knowledge, wealth, and power? Let that trinity save you!
As if three were the number of your gods — but, no…
you have as many gods as you have denominations, O church.
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* This attack is overstated, and does not reflect my view of Christianity as a whole. I do not believe the following is representative of all of us — or even most of us. And I will not be venturing a guess as to the actual percentage to which it does and should apply. I will simply state:
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That I don’t mean this as an attack at all. Rather, I’ve been reading through Jeremiah and applying it as best I can to our current culture and context. After rewriting this passage in my own words, to address today’s church, I realized it might come across as harsh and excessive. This was not my intention.
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However, the ideas presented are indeed serious problems within Christianity today.
** Any seeming relationship between this phrasing and Cameron Newton of Auburn University is completely and totally intentional. I say Cam’s innocent until proven guilty and — if he indeed is eligible to play — should win the Heisman hands down. Full disclosure: I attended Auburn and desperately want all of this to be character assassination and nothing more. War Eagle!
