Morality

Morality Can Be A Heresy

"When you moralize a social issue, then you have no hope in solving it. For example prostitution. When it is moralized, the women are all 'sinners'; we have to look down on them. But if we look at it from Christ's point of view, probably we would have to say that our first moral obligation is the safety of those women. And then we have a moral obligation to offer them a viable alternative, and to provide the possibilities of that alternative for them, rather than just writing them off as a bunch of sinful, evil people. When we moralize them, we can't really communicate with them anymore because we are really putting our foot on their head and shoving them down deeper down into the darkness. [Many people think that's what Christianity is about; a moral force] to control and manipulate people to follow [a] particular brand of morality. This is something that Jesus Christ never did, and which was never a part of his teaching. [Which is] to reach to people and offer them with a co-suffering love; to penetrate their hearts with a co-suffering love. To recognize yourself in their struggle. To recognize yourself in their passions. To recognize yourself in their inner human suffering. To try to lift them up and lead them to a transformation of their inner person." -- Archbishop Lazar Puhalo, Interview on The Standard, CHNU-DT TV, British Columbia, Canada, 2010 (YouTube Video).

Christianity is Not Morality

We are losing our faith in exchange for a fantasy. Our kids are being taught to live as prisoners rather than as free citizens. The hope of the Gospel is being reduced to the triad of hopes expressed in the United States Declaration of Independence – to gain life, liberty and happiness.

The Christian faith teaches that without Jesus, we have no hope. The sad story being taught in many churches today is similar to what any and almost all religions teach: be good, work hard and be nice, and maybe God will give you a prize. That is a fantasy built on half-truths that gives no hope. Christianity teaches that God does give a glorious prize of eternal life in Him, but that it comes by grace through faith in Jesus alone and not by works." -- Rev Dr. Jason Pettus, bgdailynews.com, Gospel of Christianity Differs From The Morality Of Religion, June 15, 2012

Christianity Cannot Be Taught Without Christ

"I looked back at the previous ten years and realized I had spent ten years trying to convince kids to behave 'Christianly' without actually teaching them Christianity. And that was a pretty serious conviction. You can say, 'Hey kids, be more forgiving because the Bible says so,' or, 'Hey kids, be more kind because the Bible says so!' But that isn't Christianity, it's morality. And that was such a huge shift for me from the American Christian ideal. We are drinking a cocktail that's a mix of the Protestant work ethic, the American dream, and the gospel. And we've intertwined them so completely that we can't tell them apart anymore." -- Phil Vischer, original creator of Veggie Tales, "It's Not About the Dream," WORLD magazine, Sept. 24, 2011, pp. 57-58