I quit being a Christian

The following quotes are from Anne Rice on her facebook:

For those who care, and I understand if you don't: Today I quit being a Christian. I'm out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being "Christian" or to being part of Christianity. It's simply impossible for me to "belong" to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten ...years, I've tried. I've failed. I'm an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.........

........As I said below, I quit being a Christian. I'm out. In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of ...Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen.


My faith in Christ is central to my life. My conversion from a pessimistic atheist lost in a world I didn't understand, to an optimistic believer in a universe created and sustained by a loving God is crucial to me. But following Christ does not mean following His followers. Christ is infinitely more important than Christianity and always will be, no matter what Christianity is, has been, or might become.


Who is Jesus Christ? The following are my personal thoughts:

Jesus is a human being. Imagine a Nelson Mandela Jesus, a Mother Teresa Jesus, a Dalai Lama Jesus … when we imagine the human Jesus on earth, he could be any of these people.

These people don’t evoke fear. They inspire compassion, justice, equality … and people will have very little hesitation to go up to these people to present their problems, their short comings, their weaknesses and their needs because they know they wouldn’t be rejected or judged.

Imagine a gay person going up to Mother Teresa to tell her that he is gay. What would the mother’s response? “You filthy dirty smelly worthless sinner! Get behind me!”???? I doubt it.

Imagine a transsexual going up to Nelson Mandela to shake his hand. Will he say, “Go away, you rubbish! I shall not shake nor have any fellowship with degenerates like you!”??? I guess not.

Imagine a prostitute going up to the Dalai Lama and say “Bless me, your holy one.” Will he say, “No! You are so debauched that you are beyond blessed.”??? Impossible!

Jesus as a human being is a good human being. He loves sinners. He accepts sinners. He dines with sinners. Jesus in the Gospels loves dinning with people, especially the outcast and the sinners. Having a good meal with people he loved was so important that he instituted the Holy Communion during his last supper for us to remember him. Such is the humanity of Jesus. He loves parties. He loves having a good time and good meal with people. He loves people and being with people.

Jesus is a human being and he is a good human being. He is the combination of all the good and great people we know. He is Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama, Bishop Tutu, Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, Vivekananda, and anyone you know who has sacrificed him/herself for the good of humanity.

These people don’t evoke fear. They inspire compassion, justice, equality …

Jesus is a good human being who accepts and loves all human beings. Christianity may have rejected so called "sinners", the rejects of the church, but Christ hasn’t.

BLISS

Blog again, insya Allah!

My last blog was in February, right after the passing of Ceasar. Why is this long interval? I don't know. May be I have been busy? May be I have too many on my plate? Or perhaps I am lazy? I can find many excuses but the simplest reason is, I lost the motivation to blog.

Then why am I blogging now? Perhaps I feel I am responsible to blog because I started this blog and actually has a few followers. Perhaps it's something I am called to do but I just have been neglecting it and am feeling guilty about it. Oh well, the simplest reason, I feel I should start blogging again. Insya Allah, I will keep up. I think it's good for my soul if I at least blog once a week even if I am writing garbage (sorry, my dear followers). It should be good for my soul.

Just got back from a long needed holiday with my darling. Because of financial restrain, we only went to P.D. but it was a good holiday. We just spend time in the room watch movies and made love or by the pool to get a tan (I got burnt) or eat (both of us are so fat). Now we are back, refreshed and ready to face our busy schedules and workloads. May be this is why I blog again.

Watched a movie on DVD last night in the room with my darling, "Black Death". A well written, acted and directed movie about religious fanaticism. I highly recommend it.

BLISS