Those Born Againsts Again!
by P. Little Savage, June 25, 2001
Oh My God! When are the Born Agains going to realize that preaching that their way is the only way to salvation is such a turn off, a put down, and not the way to convert anyone to Christianity! I'm beginning to feel that they give Jesus a bad name.
At the Summer Solstice Parade we were accosted by the Born Against again with a Christian Quiz about Biblical references to the sun in the Bible. Every year, the Born Agains show up at this celebration of life to try to show us pagans the evils of our ways.
[check out the Solstice Parade and our PhotoJam to see the expressions of creativity, how working and playing together brings together the community in this family event which began more than twenty years ago]
One of the Born Agains asked me if I were a witch. I wish I'd had the comeback line in my pocket: "Yeah, and your ilk burned me at the stake in one of my past lives!" Instead, being a bit shocked by the question, I first stared blankly and then said, "No" because I'm not. My mother was, but not me.
These “born againsts” really get my goat. I kept trying to convert them, but they are non-convertible models. I told the guy, "you're judging me, telling me I'm going to hell because I don't believe what you believe. Didn't Jesus say, judge not lest ye be judged?'"; And he kept insisting we are the children of satan, that we are all born into sin, and that the devil is a real person, just ask any satanist, to which I said, "That makes you a satanist, because you believe in and give power to satan."
It seems to me that the Born Againsts are looking for an easy way out. Just say that you accept Jesus as your Savior and everything you’ve ever done or ever will do is OK. Perhaps this is why the Religious Right can so easily justify the lives they destroy in the name of their God., justify their greed, their guns, their trickle down theories, their pro-death penalty, anti-abortion hypocricy. And historically, well, over the past two thousand years, how many have been killed in the name of Christ or somebody’s God?
Being a Christian is a lot harder than all that. Jesus asked that we be like him, even do greater works than he did.
Matthew 5:33:6 “Be careful not to do you ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2. so when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets.....”
And then Corinthians 11:23:13 “I am nothing without Love”, Jesus says that the best way to Spirit was through Love, not gifts, not words.
The Born Againsts seem to think that their Baptism gives them ownership of the Truth, the Whole Truth and the Only Interpretation of the Truth. I asked, “What of my father, who was agnostic, a Native American, who never accepted Christianity? Or those who have never heard of the Bible. Why would God count them out, just because they didn’t accept “Jesus as their Savior”?
I cannot believe that the God of the Universe, the Great Spirit, the Creator, the Universe itself would allow this. For example, just because an alien species never met one of these proselitizers, are they are doomed to Hell and Damnation forever? Yikes!
Fear based, guilt based, denial based, and easy. Yup. Looks to me that they want the easy way out. Accept the Spiritual Gift of Jesus “dying for our sins” and you’re going to Heaven. There is no other way. If you don't do this, you're doomed to hell.
What about learning to love without judgment, accepting different points of view, and most of all, to following the Spiritual Path of Love, whether it be through becoming more Christlike, more Buddhalike, more compassionate, less greedy, more tolerant of other paths. Just say the magic words and you’re saved.. If we are to become more like Jesus, then each of us must be willing to die for our sins, to follow his example, to become truly resurrected, by letting go of our old selves, treating ourselves as we are Divine, and finding our authentic existence.
If there be a God, or if the Universe itself is Consciousness/Love, then becoming more attuned to Love, letting go, working through, facing demons (and they are only as real as we let them become), taking tea with your anger, doing unto others as you would have others do unto you, is really the foundation of all Spiritual disciplines. All the affirmations, prayers, declarations of "I accept Jesus" in the world mean nothing if there is no love. Always speak your truth, from your Soul, whether you believe it to be, whether you believe yourself to be a collection of cells and electrical impulses, if there is Love in your Truth, you are doing a better job than most Christians have done through the centuries.
My kind have been burned at the stake far too many times to believe the so-called Christians have my best interests at heart, but that has nothing to do with whether I walk a truly Spiritual Path, has nothing to do with how I might be judged if the Universe or God or Goddess (whatever you care to call it) judges. And would a true Christian ever burn someone at the stake?
There are Truths in the Bible, there are Truths in the Koran; there are Truths in the Bhagavad-gita;in the Talmud., the Torah; the Upanishads; the IChing; the sayings of Confucious; there are Truths in all the great spiritual teachings. No single book holds the only way; there are only paths to the same end through different cultures, different languages, different Messiahs, and Teachers. If any one of these helps a society to get along better, to live closer to Love (i.e., God) then how could God turn away that Soul? If I am an atheist and I live in Love, without harming anyone, with integrity, why would God turn me away? Because I didn’t say these words: “I accept Jesus as my only Savior” ? I may be doing His/Her Work better than the fundamentalist who preaches hate, guilt and fear. I think it’s time the world got over it.