Religion freaky ?

Attention: The following post has religious references

"Judge not, that ye be not judged" - Matthew 7:1

"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven." - Luke 6:36-38

"As for those who seemed to be important–whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by external appearance–those men added nothing to my message." - Galatians 2:5-7

"Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. " - Colossians 2:15-17

I recall a little incident back in college.

Back in my second year, a whole bunch of us were called for a "meeting" with a bunch of Christian seniors. It wasn't pleasant.

It was about crucifixes. (I had an 8 inch long wooden one in my room given by my parents) And my catholic friends' rosaries. (I'm Anglican, therefore rosaries are optional) And pictures of Jesus.

We were all accused of idolatry. A little background would help I think.

Our accusers were from the so-called new Charismatic brand of Christianity. We, the accused were from the traditional houses of the Church. Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Methodists etc.

We tried to explain why we had those things. That these objects are symbols of our faith, as opposed to objects of worship. We tried to explain tradition and ritual. To no avail.

Some of these so-called "brothers" were so vehement with their accusations that I'm sure if this happened a hundred years ago we all would've been lynched. Or burnt at the stake as heretics. Or subjected to some other grisly, slow, painful sort of death.

We didn't back down. It was tense for a while. But that's not the point of this post.

Religion isn't very popular these days. Especially with the younger crowd. Wonder why ?

There are many reasons. People like these are one of them. You see that's the great paradox. I don't ever recall the command to be generally jugdmental ANYWHERE in the Bible. Why does this happen ? Why does believe in a god infect some people with the need to prove that their way is right ?

In Christianity, the greatest demand is to love and keep your half of the bargain for salvation. Not to make a general nuisance of yourself. Not to judge and to put people down just because you don't understand their way. How come so many "Christians" forget that. You know, this is one reason why I don't mind people making jokes and mocking faith. Considering how some people behave, how can they not be the butt of jokes ?

Human nature is weird like that. Also annoying like that.

Everywhere you go, you meet people who somehow think that they know better. If you read enough blogs, you'll see enough idiots telling the blogger what to write/not to write or how to live their lives.

The problem again is people. Not religion. Not anything else. It's people and all their damned issues that manifest themselves through tactless, callous behaviour.

As anyone who can read and watch TV can tell you, ignorance, human nature and religious zealotry can be a deadly combination. In my second year, I saw that first hand. For the one & only time in my life, I was persecuted for a belief.

I'm still shocked.

Stay tuned for part 2 of this post.