Self-Righteousness and the Corruption of Man

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I became an atheist at least partly because of my experiences with “Christians”.
 
Sure, their failure to be able to answer the most obvious (to me at least) questions about their beliefs in relation to the reality that modern science has revealed was an issue.
 
However, far more important was the behaviour of many “Christians”, observed and remembered, that kept me happily convinced of their hypocrisy.

This was especially true for the self-righteous judgemental attitude I saw being directed towards anyone who disagreed with their beliefs, or against those whose behaviour conflicted with their religious rules.

Now it stands to reason that not every Christian is guilty of this, but we all tend to see only that which is most visible and which confirms our opinions, and for me the conflict with the message of the Jesus of the Bible that I had heard about in my youth was enough to push me towards a more forgiving and compassionate humanistic environment, which also supported my leanings toward atheistic materialism.

… the conflict with the message of the Jesus of the Bible that I had heard about in my youth …

And History also supported me in my views! In the name of Christianity, countless atrocities have been committed over the period since it became legal in 315 AD: Christian on Jew, Christian on Muslim, Christian on Pagan, even Christian on Christian atrocities have been committed in the name of the religion – yet another fact I enjoyed throwing in the faces of my Christian friends and family when arguing the merits of their beliefs.

Until one day I was re-reading a small part of the Bible in order to find a quote I remembered so that I could back up an argument I was having about Christians being “sheep”: how their faith was blind, and how they don’t know how to use logic or think for themselves.
 
The quote is this:
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”

(fact check me at HERE, verse 27).

Because, in hearing the voice of Jesus Christ I knew absolutely and completely that all this behaviour, current and historic, was simply evidence of THE HUMAN CONDITION IN CONFLICT WITH GOD.

 

I knew with absolute clarity that the division was NOT between Christian and Muslim or Jew, and NOT between Religious and non-Religious, but between the Nature of God and the Nature of Man!
 
In fact, in that moment I realised that a great many professing Christians were not Christians at all, because the clearly stated evidence of being a follower of Jesus Christ are the two sides of the golden coin of Love: 
Love of God, and Love for our Fellow Man.

I also saw clearly how – in his absolute failure to achieve this – especially in his religious activity – Mankind is absolutely corrupt in his core essence, and because of that he corrupts everything he touches. This includes how mankind has abused the ultimate act of Love that was Jesus’ death on a cross, and the institutions that are meant to spread the message of his Love.

It explains everything that we see, both throughout history and today. It even explains how it came to be that Jesus was crucified by the most religious people of his day – the very people who claimed to be God’s Chosen Ones.
 
But we don’t get to be judgemental about that either: I maintain that if Jesus had come again at any time since, in the same manner that he did the first time, he would be crucified AGAIN (or something equally horrific, such as being burned alive), but this time by the religious people in the so-called CHURCH!
Which is why Jesus said what he said to one of the leading religious figures of his day:
“Unless you are born again, YOU CANNOT see the kingdom of God”.
(you can fact check me HERE, in verse 3.

What he is saying to everyone is this: 

 

without a complete renewal of our nature, where it is replaced by the Life of God being born within us, we will never know him, or in fact anything else that matters.

We will always look to find righteousness in ourselves – it is part of who we are – but in doing so we CANNOT see the truth of who we are. Without the sight that comes from having his Life within us, we are like a swarm of cockroaches in a sewer arguing about how good cockroaches are, about what the sewer is, even who owns the sewer, without ever seriously considering the existence not just of the sky, but of the Eagle.

 

Unfortunately however, all excuse for our ignorance has been removed. In Jesus’ own words:

“And this is the judgement: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God”

(you can fact check me HERE, verse 19)

But we do not see it because we remain very good at one thing, and that is fooling ourselves. Because in our desire to be the god of our own lives we will always look to find goodness and righteousness in ourselves, despite the evidence all around us of the fundamental corruption of our nature – including in religion.

So let’s try something different: to NOT fool ourselves about our true condition when thinking about ourselves, because now we have been told the truth:

“the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked”

(you can fact check me HERE)

Look around you.
 
Look inside you.
 
You know it’s the truth.
 
And check out why at www.bible.com/bible, where I recommend you start at the beginning of the Gospel of John.
What have you got to lose, other than being reborn to a completely transformed existence?

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