The tragedy, Egan, is that a lot of people use religion to serve an agenda. And different churches, different leaders, have different agendas.

As you might see from Russ and I's posts, there is no "easy" solution, even for those of us who believe that Jesus was God Incarnate. Churches are not always very good at teaching people about Jesus. They are so often steeped in ceremony, pomp, rituals, or at the other side of the scale are so dour, that they somehow distort the message of Christianity.

"But", our God is, to some extent, a personal God. Just like in every relationship of our lives, how we see a person may not be how others see them. It's inkeeping with God to think of God as responding to the different needs of individuals and revealing himself in different ways - kind of how we may approach two people with the same problem differently depending on their character.

I don't know what non-Christian thinks of Jesus. Maybe to them he is just a made-up figure or just a name in a swear, but maybe they think that he was some kind of tyrant or someone who went around trying to make people feel bad about themselves etc. But Jesus was very humble, of very humble origins. That's how God came to earth in Christianity. Not as some kind of rich king in a palace, but as a poor man, in a primitive time.

And he spoke out against preachers who made people feel bad:

"1Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples. 2"The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat," he said. 3"So you must obey them. Do everything they tell you. But don't do what they do. They don't practice what they preach. 4They tie up heavy loads and put them on other people's shoulders. But they themselves aren't willing to lift a finger to move them.

5"Everything they do is done for others to see. On their foreheads and arms they wear little boxes that hold Scripture verses. They make the boxes very wide. And they make the tassels on their coats very long.

6"They love to sit down in the place of honor at dinners. They also love to have the most important seats in the synagogues. 7They love to be greeted in the market places. They love it when people call them 'Rabbi.'

8"But you shouldn't be called 'Rabbi.' You have only one Master, and you are all brothers. 9Do not call anyone on earth 'father.' You have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10You shouldn't be called 'teacher.' You have one Teacher, and he is the Christ" (Matthew 23:1-12)

Remind you of any churches you might know?

This is what Jesus said to the disciples he chose (and indirectly to us)

"Just as the Father has loved me, I have loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love. In the same way, I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy will be in you. I also want your joy to be complete.

12"Here is my command. Love each other, just as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than the one who gives his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command.

15"I do not call you servants anymore. Servants do not know their master's business. Instead, I have called you friends. I have told you everything I learned from my Father.

16"You did not choose me. Instead, I chose you. I appointed you to go and bear fruit. It is fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you anything you ask for in my name.

17"Here is my command. Love each other." (John 15 :9-17)

And this is what the Bible says love is:

1Suppose I speak in the languages of human beings and of angels. If I don't have love, I am only a loud gong or a noisy cymbal. 2Suppose I have the gift of prophecy. Suppose I can understand all the secret things of God and know everything about him. And suppose I have enough faith to move mountains. If I don't have love, I am nothing at all. 3Suppose I give everything I have to poor people. And suppose I give my body to be burned. If I don't have love, I get nothing at all.

4Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not want what belongs to others. It does not brag. It is not proud. 5It is not rude. It does not look out for its own interests. It does not easily become angry. It does not keep track of other people's wrongs.

6Love is not happy with evil. But it is full of joy when the truth is spoken. 7It always protects. It always trusts. It always hopes. It never gives up.

8Love never fails. But prophecy will pass away. Speaking in languages that had not been known before will end. And knowledge will pass away.

9What we know now is not complete. What we prophesy now is not perfect. 10But when what is perfect comes, the things that are not perfect will pass away.

11When I was a child, I talked like a child. I thought like a child. I had the understanding of a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.

12Now we see only a dim likeness of things. It is as if we were seeing them in a mirror. But someday we will see clearly. We will see face to face. What I know now is not complete. But someday I will know completely, just as God knows me completely.

13The three most important things to have are faith, hope and love. But the greatest of them is love.
(1 Corinthians 13)

God wants us to be happy, and gives us guidelines to best help us, but it's not often you will hear that at church.

This is why some of us are having problems with churches. There is too much "putting heavy loads" on peoples shoulders.