Many followers of the Christ assume only they are going to Heaven. Even worse, within Christianity, there are pickers and choosers; they claim to speak for God and freely condemn all sorts of people, just like the Pharisees did in their day. So this is dedicated to the harder hearts among Jesus’ legacy, sure the Rapture is just around the bend and rubbing their hands in delight and/or angst about all us miserable folks who are surely going to Hell.
Honey, Hell is right here on earth… just look in a crack den. I don’t believe in the Rapture. Jesus said love God and each other. God is LOVE! Can I get an “amen”? Amy
A THOUSAND YEARS
A Fundie sighed
that if I died
today, I’d go to Hell
“How do you know
just where I’ll go;
and when we’ll hear that bell?”
Until the “Rapture,”
let us capture
what God bids us to do:
Doing justice
living kindness
and walking humbly, too
End it today?
Guess I’d say
I truly have no fears
I live as though
the earth will go
another thousand years
© Amy Barlow Liberatore/Sharp Little Pencil
Image by Monty Propps at b3ta
Sharp Little Pencil 
Poetry & Icecream
Amen and amen Amy!!! Well done, I couldnt agree with you more. I am a Christian but I don’t like what I see in God’s people. “Doing justice, living kindness and walking humbly, too”…this is what’s it’s all about. Well expressed. I love the flow and rhyme too 🙂
Sharp Little Pencil
At the risk of sounding very un-pastor’s-wifely, there’s an old saying: “Jesus loves you; everyone else thinks you’re an a-hole!” It’s so true that it’s hard to profess you love of and following of Jesus without being thrown in a bin with a bunch of Bible-thumping Raptors (Rapture-believers, that’s my name, anyway!). Jesus said LOVE. And he didn’t even want to be worshiped, either – he was always pointing up, up, to the Creator. But of course, I’m preaching to the choir! Amy
vivinfrance
Well said I wish I dared forward this to my fundie sister, who nearly turned me off God altogether, and certainly achieved my alienation from organised religion.
Sharp Little Pencil
Hey, I have a Fundie sister, too, and she has no problem speaking for God and saying I, Pastor Lex, and daughter Riley are all going to Hell. I told her I’d rather burn with them and Oscar Wilde and Mother Teresa and Gandhi than be in a judgmental Heaven. I think any path lived in love is the right path for each person, including atheism. It’s what one does on the journey that counts! Thanks, Viv. Love, Amy
Misky
clever! Happy Easter, Amy!
Sharp Little Pencil
Same to you, Misky! Peace, Amy
Kim Nelson
Love the attitude and the message here, Amy. Blessings and Peace!
Sharp Little Pencil
Thanks, Kim. And always to you as well… peace… Amy
Kelly O'Sullivan (HILWD)
Nicely put. I’m an atheist, not an angry evangelical one, but I do yell at the TV from time to time when I hear “good Christians” condemning others to hell. I’m kind because that is what is required and desired, not because it is commanded of me.
Sharp Little Pencil
Kelly, well said. My motto is, any path that is lived in love, not in condemnation or judgment, is a life worth living. Regardless of whether one believes in a creator or has a name for the universe… I truly ran from religion for years because of my evangelical sister’s condemnation of my mom and dad to hell. Made my peace with my own God through the teachings of Jesus, unconditional love. It’s all about the journey, isn’t it, in the end? Thanks so much. Peace, Amy
brian miller
i def think we spend far too much time determining where we are going…and proclaiming our own get out of jail free card than making sure others have theirs….
Sharp Little Pencil
Brian! I use the “get out of Hell free card” reference a lot… also, when people sit in pews staring blankly, waiting to get the heck out of church, I say, “They take it like a vaccination.” Ha ha ha. Peace, Amy
Raven
What a wonderful and marvelous comment.
Sharp Little Pencil
Thanks, Raven. I know you are a rebel, and I love your enthusiasm! Amy
Sherry Blue Sky
I love this, especially the last three lines……..
Sharp Little Pencil
Sherry, I appreciate this very much, knowing how you feel about religions per se. Thanks! Amy
El Guapo
Great sentiment. I’ve always thought religion would be a pretty good thing if it could be uncoupled from dogma.
Sharp Little Pencil
There’s a documentary out there called, “Lord, Save Us From Your Followers.” That about sums it up for me. I think you’re right, and I’m a member of a church. I just keep singing praise songs and reminding snooty folks that Jesus loved everybody and wanted us to emulate that example. Peace, Amy
Raven
This was a delight to read! Thank you. There is nothing like a Christian to turn one off of Christianity!
Sharp Little Pencil
There are so many people out there who give my faith a stinky reputation, it’s true. I’m a follower of Jesus, and I’m appalled that those Westboro Baptist people who picket funerals and carry “God hates fags” signs call themselves “true believers.” Hey, it’s all about love, you know? I pray for them, I really do, and not in a snarky way! Peace, Amy
Raven
Amy I spent quite some time online in a forum for writer that ended up being nothing more than a place where extremists of any and every stripe eviscerated their their hatred in the name of God or Christ. Nasty, nasty people a very far cry from the Christ. Thank you my dear. (((hugs))) Liz
Sharp Little Pencil
I’m with you, sister! Amy
Raven
I am also a follower of Christ … but I am not a Christian. This is a group of people for the most part whom I prefer to remain distanced from. Their very public hatreds have followed me around the world and Internet enough that I truly wish nothing to do with them. I had a Christian experience many years ago and it opened me to the spiritual paths and longing of all … well “all” is a bit of an overstatement.
Sharp Little Pencil
Raven, this exactly why I also refer to myself as a ‘follower of Jesus.’ The word “Christian” is something that needs to be TAKEN BACK from the Right and used by all of us “heathen” who don’t approve of picketing funerals and carrying fetuses around in peanut butter jars (or worse, making our kids do it, which I have seen. I called the parents out right then and there as kindly as I could for the sake of their child, so they couldn’t say, “See, that’s the kind of unChristian Feminazi we’re always telling you about.”) I am sick and tired of Fundies claiming Jesus as their brother when they crap all over people the other six days of the week, and on Sunday, sit in church, crying “Lord! Lord!” and speaking in false, jibberjabber “tongues.” My Christian experience sounds a lot like yours… I came to know Jesus through transcendental meditation. ALL is only an overstatement if you include the pseudos! Thanks, Amy
Raven
(((hugs)))!!!
Sharp Little Pencil
Right back atcha, babe! Amy
Lindy Lee
No critique nor dissension for “A Thousand Years (Religion – Not Just For Fundies Anymore!)”. If magic wands were available to this loyal follower, it would be used to mandate all human behavior as per this poem…
Lindy Lee
We may or may not have been in contact when this poem was posted:
http://poeticlicensee.wordpress.com/2011/08/27/judge-not/