Faulty Christianity

Are You God?

I’ll apologize if you say you are

I may have been a little too harsh on the man. But he deserved it! How dare he? When I got home, I went online searching for a bible verse that talked against women wearing shorts. It was infuriating.

It happened early this morning in Ghana as I was walking a neighborhood kid to school. As we walked, I noticed an older man staring me down. He was also sending some kids to school, but he’d stopped paying attention to the kids and was looking at me as if he's seen an abomination.

I thought, “What the hell is the problem and why is he staring at me like that?”

I assumed he knew my father — who was very well known in the area — and was surprised to see me back in Ghana after being gone so long. But I mind my business and kept on walking. As I walked past him, he stopped me and asked me where I lived.

“I live by the Pentecost Church.”

“What church do you go to?” he looks me down and asked. I was wearing a T-shirt, shorts, and slippers.

“I do not go to church.”

“You don't go to church?” he asked with a surprised look.

“No,” I replied boldly.

You see, the Ghanaian people think everybody must be a Christian and if you don't go to church, well that's unheard of. Why would anybody not go to church? What must be wrong with them to not go to church? Ghanaians don't believe in any other religion or the lack thereof.

“What you are wearing is inappropriate for a woman,” he says to me.

What? I couldn't believe I was hearing this. Immediately I’m flooded with all the reasons I stopped going to church — the judgmental people in the church who feel the need to point out things in others.

“Excuse me? How dare you stop me with such nonsense?”

At that moment, I felt I owed it to every person who has ever felt judged by Christians and has been forced to quit the church altogether to set this man straight. I had to give him something to think about when he went to sleep.

My brother and cousin quit the church because of being judged for their lifestyle. This past Sunday, my whole family went to church because it was my dad’s one-year death’versary. We went to give thanks, but my brother and cousin didn't go with us. My brother kept on sleeping when it was time for church and said he won’t be going and my cousin was nowhere to be found.

They didn't want to go to church.

When we returned, I asked my cousin why he disappeared when it was time for church. He told me how the pastor came to the house one day just to scold, judge, and disrespect him.

“How can a pastor do this? I'm never going back there!” my cousin said.

And my brother used to smoke marijuana, but the church people made it such a huge deal they tried to deliver him from his demons. His weed-loving evil spirits. I was so upset when I heard what the Christians had put my brother through. I couldn't find a bible verse that spoke against smoking marijuana. But this is what I found:

Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything — Genesis 9:3.

Weed is a gift to humanity. If I was home with him during that time, I would have asked him to pass the damn blunt and puff these judgemental people off! But I wasn't home, and the church made him feel all alone.

You see, I'm not the only one who has been judged by Christians who think they are so righteous and holy to judge the things and the way others live their lives. I’m not the only one who has suffered at the hands of righteous Christians.

It was my responsibility to let this man know that it is people like him that give the church a bad name. It is people like him that cause many people to quit the church.

There is nothing wrong with the church, but it is the judgmental folks that stop people from feeling at home in the church.

“I stopped going to church because of people like you!’’ I said to him.

“What gives you the power to stop a total stranger to judge them?” I added. “Are you God? Tell me you are God and I will apologize to you right now, say thanks, and walk away.”

“Tell me. Are you God?”

He just stood there.

“Answer me! Are you God?”

He obviously was no God. He wasn’t even a true Christian, but a disgrace to God and Christianity. All this man probably does in the church is point out what’s wrong with everybody and ignore everything in him that’s wrong.

“It’s people like you that give the church such a bad rep and you must change your ways. You must stop judging others whose lifestyle differs from yours. You point your finger at me to judge me,” I said. “But how many fingers are pointing back at you?”

“I’m as old as your father and you talk to me like this?” he says.

“Don’t bring my father into this. Don't try to guilt-trip me. My father was a very dedicated Christian, but he would never do this. He would never stare at a woman like an abomination, stop them only to judge them.”

“You give Christianity a bad name! You should be ashamed of yourself and I hope you remember me — the girl in shorts with the American accent — every time you are tempted to point your finger and judge another person,” I added and walked away.

When I got home, I couldn't help but think that I might have been too harsh on him because it was out of character, but he asked for it and I refuse to feel bad for enlightening him.

How is this okay? Why do Christians keep doing things like that, thinking that it’s okay? I just can't understand. And oh, I couldn't find a bible verse that said wearing shorts as a woman is wrong.

But this is what I found:

She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future — Proverbs 31:25.

There weren't any specifics, and it certainly didn't say a woman should not wear shorts. I interpreted “clothed with strength” as being able to stand up for what one believes in and not being afraid of anything or anyone.

I also found this:

1 Do not judge, or you too will be judged.

2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

3 Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?

4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?

5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye — Matthew 7:1–5.

It is very confusing when you hear Christians are to “judge not” and they still do so after claiming to know and understand the bible inside out. Jesus tells us to look at our own sin before judging someone else.

Christians are some of the most judgmental people you will ever come across and this gives Christianity a bad name, to the point that many Christians are hesitant to own the label of their faith.

I am not ashamed of Jesus Christ.

I'm ashamed of his fan club. I’m ashamed of his followers who give his church a bad name. And this is nothing new.

Christians have been doing this since the beginning of time. An example is when they judged the man with Leprosy. They did it even when Jesus Christ was right there with them, and this will not stop until we finally put our feet down and say that’s enough.

I have a feeling this man will never do what he did to me to another person. And I hope Christians can do better.