Guard Your Heart...

Don't want to appear like I'm attacking the Christians. I'm not. But when soemthing affects me, it usually affects me multi-dimensionally. Though, I think I'm done with this topic. I could be wrong. We shall see.

When I was a Christian while living here in the metro ATL, I was a member of a church that had what I call an “All or Nothing” church philosophy. Either you fell in line to everything that came out of the minister’s mouth, or you bounced. I’m not saying the minister would kick you out the church (yes, I really am saying that), but he would make it clear that only your money was welcome. That was just at that church though (cause y’all know I bounced). Other churches had a more traditional approach with their parishioners.

The church I grew up in, in NJ had a completely different philosophy. NJ is not part of the Bible belt. Folks didn’t feel compelled to go to church. They were just happy you were there. I had plenty of friends that were confused by my Sunday obligations. I grew up attending Christian and Catholic schools (I know… Christian overload). One of the recommendations of Catholicism was to not read the Bible (Oh and the Catholic Bible is different than the KJV. Has more books.) because you would only misinterpret its meaning. Wow. Basically, Christian faiths just want your money and presence on Sunday mornings. Another wildly popular practice was this concept of “Guarding your heart” (Proverbs 4:23) against the perceived threats in this world. I.e. don’t learn anything about anything that might cause you to stray from Christianity. Keep your whole being purely for Jesus.

Look at these Scriptures in their different translations…
Proverbs 4:23 (TEV)Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.

Proverbs 4:23 (NLT)Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do.

Mark 7:21-23 (KJV)For from within, out of the heart of men,proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, [22] Thefts,covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy,pride, foolishness: [23] All these evil things come from within, anddefile the man.

James 1:14-15 (KJV)But every man is tempted, when he is drawnaway of his own lust, and enticed. [15] Then when lust hathconceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringethforth death.

You see any hope? I draw this up to mean that basically we are sinful beings that cannot be trusted. So we have to put all of our hope in the mystery god to save us and order our footsteps (I like that song btw). AND… According to Christianity, we should not pollute our minds with anything that might cause us to question this religion or religion as a whole. The architects of Christianity were geniuses! Trap their minds (tools and slaves) so that you can control the masses and not have to worry about folks sneaking off. Those of us that do break out are to be kept out completely, lest we pollute their number… But I digress…

I guess that means studying other belief systems is wrong. Studying science is wrong. There are more non-Christian Nobel Prize winning scientists than devout Christian winners. I wonder why?

I remember as a child being told that going to the movies (watching the movie on television was fine), playing cards, dancing and interacting with folks of other religions (unless I was trying to convert them) was strictly prohibited. That was crazy. I suppose this is a rule that must be in place in order to keep peace amongst the religious people.

I’m glad now I get to, and am encouraged to look at everything mathematically.



Peace