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| photo credit: Gerry Toler |
Blake Lasater, minister of the Eureka Springs Methodist Church, is intelligent, kind, and quite brave. This month’s sermons fall under the heading of #ChurchFail. Today he told us the failure of American Christianity is its love affair with hellfire and damnation. He gave us a history of how churches ceased working for social justice and began the the business of “saving souls”. Rather than helping the least, the last, the lost, they began berating their congregations for supposed sins. He told us churches are meant to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. I am honored to play music for this congregation which defines itself as a reconciling ministry. May more people examine their motives and acts in the way Blake so openly does!
“If the crucifixion is seen from an upside-down point of view, it does appear as if God permitted and even encouraged one of His Sons to suffer because he was good. This particularly unfortunate interpretation, which arose out of projection, has led many people to be bitterly afraid of God. Such anti-religious concepts enter into many religions. Yet the real Christian should pause and ask, "How could this be?" Is it likely that God Himself would be capable of the kind of thinking which His Own words have clearly stated is unworthy of His Son?” A Course in Miracles - Chapter 3, Atonement Without Sacrifice
