If only Christians would follow the actual teaching attributed to Jesus, [View all]

things might be working somewhat better. Instead, however, they tend to follow the teaching of everyone connected to Christianity except its namesake. Now, I don't know if someone named Jesus or Yeshua actually said the things Jesus was supposed to have said, but then, neither did the writers of the Gospels, who never saw or heard him.

Still, instead of picking out those words from the mass of other language in the New Testament, entire religious denominations are based on the words of Paul, who also never met the man called Jesus in English. Not even close. Never heard him speak. Never laid eyes on him, except in a dream sequence written down to make it seem like he met the namesake of the religion.

Lip service is given to Jesus's teachings by Christianity. You can read those words in the four Gospels, if you care to. You might hear some of them from time to time from the pulpit, just before the page is turned to one of Paul's letters. But those words don't get a lot of attention. The problem is that they're often inconvenient and don't accurately convey the official doctrines of the church or the behavior of the church's leadership. Awkward, that.

Ask a Christian to recite some of Jesus's own words some time. You'll get a recitation of John 3:16 from most, but there it will stop in most cases. There are plenty of those words written down in Matthew, for example, sometimes in long speeches to crowds, and sometimes as folksy parables that get explained. But most Christians can't quote them to you. "List the Beatitudes," you might ask someone. In response, you might get one of those pithy blessings, but that's about it. Ask, "What did Jesus say about wealthy people?" and a few might give you the gist of what he had to say. Or ask about what Jesus said about hypocrites and public prayers. Here and there, you'll find someone who can quote chapter and verse, but it will be rare.

And so it goes. Meanwhile, thousands of children have been sexually abused by priests in recent years. More thousands of women have died screaming due to complications of pregnancy with a child they did not want to conceive. Innocent black men have been lynched by mobs of Christians while a Christian cross burned in the background. "Witches" burned at the stake and "heretics" tortured and killed by Christian priests. The list of wrongs could go on and on. I could write about that list all day long.

It's a 2000 year old story, and it's one of people ignoring the words of the very person for which the religion is named. Isn't that just a kick in the teeth?