A Calling for Ethical Zealotry

I have abandoned all hope in the modern church as it is incorporated today. The Catholic church looks the other way repeatedly on child abuse, and almost all major denominations do not love God's creations as God intended. Therefore I am demanding that all who wish to follow God should declare themselves ethical zealots, and refuse to define their relationship with God through man-made doctrine. The catechisms of man have distorted the Word of God to suit modern conveniences - there is no room for excuses in Heaven.

We are commanded to love literally everyone, even the awful people who undermine and destroy everything we stand for. I mourn daily for those who have lost their faith because the Church tells them that who they are is not acceptable to God. We should not and will not place our opinion of God on the judgement of man because we should not and will not place our grace on the judgement of any man. I love every one of you in my own special way. Being a naturally emotionless (and functional) person it is hard for me to explain how I perceive love, but I know I do. I would help even my enemies if they asked for it, because I do not want them to see me helping but God helping them through my vessel. If I am even remotely possible for someone not finding God's love I myself would not deserve God's love.

For those of you who read this and consider yourself righteous, I pray for you. Man is an unfinished project that will never be completed. I believe that man may only attain a seat at God's table if we incessantly pursue Him and His love. I do not believe there is a finish line - it is there mere fact that we chose to run that determines our fate.

What I ask of all of you who read this is to stop thinking about whether anyone in front of you is worthy of God's love, to put aside any form of judgement, and just love. We can not assume that we know all of the answers, or that we know St. Peter's holy entrance exam, and treat our family, friends, neighbors, and enemies as God intended: love them for who they are. Only then can we mend the doctrines that that caused so many people to falter.

Christian Functionalism

I have been struggling to define the details of what I believe and how it should be exemplified in my day to day life. The end result is something I call Christian Functionalism, derived from the philosophical concept. The following is the result of a year of steady prayer, deep pondering while keeping my body busy (I did a lot of this while doing dishes and while in construction at my job at the time), and analyzing the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7). I undoubtedly consider the Golden Rule found in Matthew 7:12 to be the universal rule of common law, and ultimately what separates us as men from animals is that we consider fairness to one another in the course of our own self-interested pursuits. The following is a boiled down version of the tenets that I feel are the crux of how to truly pursue a lasting, potent relationship with Christ, and how we can exist in a world that needs us while not being of it.

Treatise on Christian Functionalism:

1) I believe that the soul lies between our instinctual thoughts and our resulting behavior. Therefore that is where God's place should be in our lives: acting as a moral filter for not how we initially may feel in a given scenario but for what course of action we pursue.

2) Be a good steward with what the Lord has given you. God has called us to be content with what we have while striving to constantly put to use that which He has given us.

3) Fear no man or creature, they will have judgement passed in time. Thus you must not swear an oath to any man. Maintaining the social contract is morally good, but hide your heart for The Lord's needs.

4) Give freely and as much as possible of your gifts. God has not commanded us to passively give the fruits of our toils to others to help those who need. We must be active, persistent, and thorough in charity, ensuring that we have given all we can in service to God.

5) Leave judgement entirely to God. A studious relationship with God provides understanding but we are human, and should admit that we may be wrong. What any individual thinks may be correct in God's eyes may differ from another, we must embrace a communal goal of searching for truth, nothing less.

6) Love.



At a later point I may expand on each of these concepts to further detail each point, to explain how they affect our relationship with God as well as how we should function as Christian outsiders in a secular world. For now, I want to stamp this as eternally a work in progress, illustrating where I am now and how I want to pursue truth in the future.