God is not a Christian

In Him was life and the life was the light of men - Lalo Gutierrez

lady of Villers-Carbonnel

God is not a Christian. – Desmond Tutu

If the triangles made a god, they would give him three sides. — Montesquieu

Quite a profound statement by Desmond Tutu: God is not a Christian.

Three religions, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, all recognise the same God. So what is God? A Jew, a Christian, a Muslim? All three, none of these?

For many Christians they are having problems getting their heads around Jesus was a Jew.

– To heaven with Scribes and Pharisees

At two thousand years old, Christianity is a relativity new religion. Far older, Judaism, Hinduism. Far older still, the spirits of the forest, of the trees, the wind.

A recent find in France is of a small figurine, typical of the Middle East, a Mother Earth figurine, large breasts, large hips. Thought to date from somewhere between 4300 and 3600 BC

– The earth mother of all neolithic discoveries
– Six-thousand-year-old earth mother statuette found on banks of the Somme is named ‘Lady of Villers-Carbonnel’

The Somme “earth mother” appears to have broken into five or six parts while she was being fired between 4300 and 3600 BC. She was found in the ruins of a neolithic kiln at a French government “preventive” archaeological dig near Villers-Carbonnel on the banks of the river Somme in the département of the same name.

After the Romans left, Christianity has a struggle regaining a foothold in what is now England. Paganism was the dominant religion. Eventually rather than trying to defeat it was assimilated, many Pagan Temples became churches or their scared sites became Holy Sites, the festivals were adopted.

– Christianity A History: Dark Ages

We cannot know God, we make guesses in the dark.

A man lives in a cave. All he sees is the shadows. One day he comes out. Who are these people? He does not recognise them for all he has seen are their shadows.

We are arrogant when we think our religion is superior to another.

Religion is man made, an attempt to know the unknowable.

John 1:1-5

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

The light was not brought to Christians, it shone on men.

Or as made more explicit in other translations

New Living Translation: The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone.

International Standard Version: In him was life, and that life brought light to humanity.

GOD’S WORD Translation: He was the source of life, and that life was the light for humanity.

Good News Bible: The Word was the source of life, and this life brought light to mankind.

The light was not reserved exclusively for Christians, it was for everyone.

In the Koran is recognised that there are many religions and they are to be treated with respect, especially those who are the descendants of Abraham.

The Jewish sect established by the followers of Jesus was just that, a Jewish sect, but it was not exclusively Jewish, it welcomed Gentiles.

Rich poor, black white, gay straight, male female, war criminal genocide victim, we are all members of the human race, part of humanity, there are no outsiders. All are God’s children.

What I do effects those around me, what they do effects me. As individuals we are networked to form families, communities, society. In turn these networks sustain us and provide the environment in which we grow.

No one religion has absolute truth, though they may think they do. They may even claim what they say is superior to others. They may even tell you that you will go to Hell if you do not accept what they tell you. They of course always being by their own definition of the Chosen Few.

God, or G-d as some would write out of respect, is no more Christian than he is the old man sitting on a cloud answering prayers like a friendly old grandfather handing out sweets to the children.

An infinite entity cannot be known by a finite mind any more than by a finite man-made religion.

Those who try to tell us otherwise are at best misguided, at worse bigots and fundamentalists.

Sacred text were not set in stone, they were written by man, rewritten by man.

Most people recognise the Dalai Lama as the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi led what could be seen as a moral enlightenment, he influenced Martin Luther King, Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela. He was also a Hindu.

Rob Bell writes of an art exhibition where someone posts a note that Gandhi in Hell. Are they sure? How do they know? How kind of them to tell us.

There are those who see it as some sort of failing that Dalai Lama has not converted to Christianity.

Does God, the Christian God, have a conversation and say, sorry guys, I know you have done a lot of good in the world, but not quite good enough, you are not Christian, you belong to the wrong club, so you have to be sent to the fires of Hell for all eternity?

Complete and utter nonsense, but that is what Christian fundamentalists, bigots by any other name, would have us believe.

– Tutu: The Authorised Portrait
– The shack
– Love Wins
– Crass stupidity by Christian fundamentalists leads to persecution and massacre of Christians in the Middle East
– What is wrong with the church?
– God is
– Where does religion come from?

Tags: Christian God, Christianity, Desmond Tutu, God, Islam, Judaism