To Hell with Toxic Christianity

I'm an avid reader and I've read a lot of Christian books in my life. This book is very different to any of those. I've also been a Christian since I was at High School and it's been an all-consuming part of my life. I was labelled 'radical' by family members who believed I had joined a cult. I hadn't joined a cult but I suppose to an outsider at the time, my interest in the Bible, Jesus and all that stuff seemed to indicate I had.

From the time I became a Christian at school, to getting married, having kids and now with my boys at high school, I haven't looked back. I would be classed, by what many would call, a "religious" person. I cannot describe how that term makes me want to puke! I hate religion - the kind that seeks to control, vilify, judge and condemn.

"You want Jesus? Who cares! You smoke and have a tattoo. You not good enough for our church! !" That religion. You know what I mean? The kind that creates hoops to jump through and more hurdles to jump over. Absolutely hate it.

I have a wide variety of friends and people I mix with. Most are straight, some gay, my best friend is black, most drink alcohol and some cuss. I don't care what you are or how you identify. If Jesus would have a beer with you, then who am I? Besides, I hang with people who I get along with, have common interests with and generally have a sense of humour. If you don't laugh at my sarcasm, then chances are we're not going to braai together. Sorry. The point I'm trying to make is that although I believe in Jesus and try live my life so that He remains front and centre, I get so irritated with the toxic Christianity that has poisoned so many people in my circle and has damaged millions more.

There are countless stories of how Jesus hung around with what the Bible writers call sinners. He ate and drank with them, attended their weddings and house parties. In today's culture, would sinners hang out with the Jesus that the average church preaches about? Hell no! And It's because the Jesus that today's world has been told to believe in and pray to is a religious bigot that has nothing to do with the Jesus of the Bible. The Jesus in the Bible doesn't hate gays. The Jesus in the Bible doesn't have a five-step check list for you to follow before you're good enough to make it into heaven. The Jesus in the Bible doesn't wait for you to get your life together before He'll have a coffee with you.

The religious Jesus is a toxic construction of a God that is so far off the authentic Jesus of the Bible, it's flipping scary. My advice is simple and direct: RUN! Throw it in the trash, switch off the channel and walk out the church during the preaching! It's going to do nothing for you but lead you down a path of disillusionment or shame. But probably both. To hell with religion. It steals, it kills and it destroys.

For many of my friends that aren't Christians, they know deep down that the Jesus of the religious world isn't the Jesus they can read about in the Bible. They just don't know where or how to find Him. So maybe you're the same. Maybe you're willing to hear about Jesus but you're not willing to waste your time in listening to religious propaganda. I get it. You're sick and tired of most of what Christian television churns out and will never bother to tune again. But at the same time, you're still searching!

You're curious to find out more about the real Jesus but not quite ready to go to a church to do that. My friend, grab a drink and buckle up. Perhaps what you read in the next few pages will strike a chord with you and you will see that the real Jesus is a far cry from what the majority of Christian religion has portrayed Him out to be.