What is Christianity?

If you have a higher being that you follow in your life, then you probably subscribe into some kind of religion. Whether you do believe in a higher power, or if you don't, your experiences with it shape a huge part of who you are and the way that you operate through the world.

I do believe that there is a higher power, and I personally believe that the higher power out there is God. I know a huge part of this is the Christian community that I was raised, so inherently it makes sense that it's what I believe.

That being said, if I had not been raised in the environment that I had been - I would not be a Christian today.

Christianity today, with the way that it is marketed and what it is used as a mouth piece for, doesn't just feel wrong - it is wrong. Some of the people I've met that tout religion as a main part of who they are, are the most hypocritical people that I know. I have seen it at work place, in my personal life, at Christian Summer Camps, and everywhere in between. It is not an anomaly, it is a consistent trend. Because why not? In today's age, it is trendy to be Christian in a lot of spaces in the United States.

What this tells me is that a lot of the people who sit in the pews, or say they do, don't help people for the sake of helping them, they help them because it looks good and there is something that they get out of it. Which is ridiculous, and, when reading the Bible, is a factor that doesn't get them to heaven.

If you read the Bible then a lot of the way Religion is presented around us today, is the opposite of what the message inside of it is.

Matthew 22: 37-39 says it: the greatest commandment is to love God, and then to next love people.

The message of "love your neighbor as yourself" is at the core of Christianity, and how you apply it to your life says a lot. How you treat the people around you is a pretty direct reflection of how you view yourself. I know that I can't love people well when I am feeling worthless or perpetually exhausted. All that leads is to burnout and broken promises.

If took a long time for me to see it, but the most hypocritical group of people I know are religious. Specifically, they proclaim they are Christian. We all know everyone is a little hypocritical, but from my experiences no other group has shouted more loudly about "the good of all" while acting only in their personal self interest. Helping people when you have an ulterior motive, is really not the same as wanting to help others because it is God's command.

I know what the Bible says, I mean so does anyone with Google, and it's been harder to watch as people's actions are not matching their words.

Influential people {*cough* politicians & corporations *cough*} like to use religion as a mouth piece to say what sounds good, to get whatever result that they are going after. We see this pretty much daily on the news - but I am confident that we have all also seen it in our personal lives. My old CEO, of a non-profit for the homeless, hid a sexual assault that was done on one of his case managers, but you better believe he was on the board of a church I no longer attend.

The thing about that that kills me, is that the things that they say - the things they don't believe, are taken to heart by others. I mean, look specifically at politics today. I am not citing a certain side, but politics in general, since in the two-party system that American is based on, we see it in both. Which regardless of what "side" you agree with more, this means that both are part of the problem. People are not binary and this Country's political process shouldn't be either.

In my experience, the same could be said about a lot of people who sit in a pew during a service. Does the way that you treat people in your daily life match your words?

Everyone has issues, but not all groups act like they are perfect like Christian's try and morally stand on. You can tell by their actions. You can tell by their fears. You can tell by their votes.

Religion has always been twisted over the centuries, as a form of power and control, and it is still being used this way. Personally, I don't think that it ever really won't since "insert whatever" higher power is the best (i.e. laziest) way to back an opinion when you have nothing else.

Faith in God,, or in any Higher Being, is what binds people together when they can have nothing else in common. I also think that this is changing and is becoming a more and more divisive point in the relationships that we see today, especially since religion and politics are so intertwined.

We have all heard the political talking points that are have politicians taking sides based in religion points. Topics include, but are not limited to; birth control & women's rights, education, bodily autonomy, religious freedom (outside of the US version of Christianity), and access to social services to just name a few.

At what point are words no longer based in true religious truth? How can they be when there is an agenda behind it?

Napoleon Bonaparte said on March 4, 1806 the following: "I don't see in religion evidence of the mystery of the incarnate, but rather the mystery of social order. Religion associates heaven with an idea of equality that keeps the rich from being massacred by the poor."

Nutshell version: Religion is what keep the poor from murdering the rich. Look at world history since this is not a new thing, and you can see how this act of violence continues to repeat itself today.

I think that we can all agree that bad things happen to everyone. I also hope we can agree that everyone has unexpected and bad things happen to them. Why, when these bad things result in homelessness, then they are technically considered "less worthy"? If they weren't then I maintain that services for mental health, education, and homelessness wouldn't be a fight to fund on a National level.

In fact, if bad things didn't happen then where would miracles come from? Laugh at miracles if you want, but if the world can have unexpected and unexplainable tragedies then I am all for it having unexpected and unexplainable moments of joy. I think miracles are real since I have been lucky to see an abundance in my life. I also see them all the time in my line of work; and having a little bit of faith can change your life for the better.

Really, the difference between people is the kind support they have access to when they deal with the bad things happening to them.

The reason I have such an issue with today's version of Christianity is because these twisted words are taken by thousands as absolute truth. These thousands will then shape their life decisions off of it, share it with others, and then the waterfall effect lives on.

This waterfall effect is especially bad for programs in social services and schools. It's tragic that in a country that proclaims to be based in Christianity, that the spaces that care for the most vulnerable in society are used as talking points at the expense of those most at risk.

I have worked in shelters for about 6 years of my professional life at this point, and the people that I serve are directly impacted by policy changes made at all levels of politics. Really, their lives are bargaining chips for the rich and powerful of this "great" nation.

Stephen Colbert said, " If this is going to be a Christian Nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it.".

It's ironic to me that people in power use Religion for control, when the people that I serve use Religion to find true freedom. I know this because whatever personal religion the people that I serve in shelters believe in, their faith can be the thing inspires the most hope to survive.

This is part of the reason why my personal faith in God will not die. Faith inspires hope- regardless of the specifics of what is believed in.

I will not remove that hope from my life, especially since there are things in my life, and in lives that I have seen, that I am unable to explain. No matter how the words and actions from Christians around me can make my faith hard to associate with.

Hope, which is typically found within religion, is what sustains people when they are in their lowest points. No one can pick the life that they are born into or the sudden experiences that have life long impacts, but they can pick what/who they have faith in. This is why martyrs are held in such high regard. What you believe in is a choice that no one can take away from you, and it's up to you on how much you want to stand on it.

Do you have anything that you would stand on with your life? What inspires you?