Christ-Like

"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

Gandhi had a point.

I ask you, Catholic Christians, did you have selective hearing when Christ said "Judge not lest you be judged"?

Christ didn't live by rules. He was not accepted by society. He was a vagabond and a radical. Ironically, what people found radical about him was that He chose NOT to abide by empty rules and regulations. His message was not that we should live a strict rigorous unhappy life. It was quite simple: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. He broke the rules, because He knew that love was more important.

When Christ asked the rich man what the commandments were, he started reciting off a list. And Christ said "love your neighbor as yourself." The man went away sad. Rules and regulations he could follow, but something as simple as being generous and selfless he just couldn't swallow.

"Let he that is without sin among you cast the first stone." In the recorded documentation of Christ's life in the Bible, where do we see Him pointing the finger? Not at the fisherman, the prostitutes, the tax collectors, the adulterers, the Samaritans. In fact those were the people with whom He chose to associate, and He didn't give a damn what people said or thought about it.

Clearly, casting out the people who do not choose the same lifestyle as you is not an imitation of Christ. The only place you see Him lose His temper and point a finger is at the Pharisees. The hypocrites. The posers who condemned everyone who didn't follow the exact set of rules and regulations that were supposed to be their ticket to salvation. He promised paradise to the man hanging on the cross next to him instead.

So if it is the very definition of the word "Christian" to be "Christ-like", where did so many of those who profess Christianity get lost in translation?

I, Like Christ, only point the finger only at those He pointed the finger at. I choose to seek to understand rather than condemn what is foreign to me. I choose to treat everyone around me with love, only pointing out wrong when I fear their safety, health, or happiness are at stake. I choose to be Christ-like.