Harder to Believe Than Not To — YouTube video
From Steve Taylor’s I Predict 1990 album.
“The song takes its title from a line found in the collected letters of Flannery O’Connor, acclaimed short-story writer and novelist from Georgia. Her literary friends in New York had a hard time believing that a writer of her caliber could profess to be something as common and unfashionable as a Christian. She reacts in her letter to the criticism that Christianity’s primary function is as a crutch for the weak-spirited, writing how they don’t understand the cost involved in following Jesus, that ‘it’s much harder to believe than not to believe.’
“The quote stuck. The cost of discipleship–the ideal of taking up your cross everyday and following Jesus–makes it hard to believe, because Christianity demands things from us that we don’t naturally want to give. In the words of playwrite Dennis Potter, ‘There is, in the end, no such thing as a simple faith.'” [From the liner notes of “Now The Truth Can Be Told.”]
A beautiful song.
I post this to make a point.
It really gets under my skin the nonchalant way people claim to be “Christians.” There are very, very, very few true followers of Christ in this world. In your lifetime, you might not run into a single one.
Anyone with any real reading comprehension skills can see that to follow Christ is to lead a life of self-denial and misery on this earth. Christ was falsely accused, scourged, ridiculed, and executed. To follow him is to really follow him — in other words, to ultimately meet his same fate.
Those of you who think you’d be willing to do so are deluding yourselves. Peter denied him three times — and Peter knew who Christ was firsthand. Those of you so far removed from Peter’s experience are going around with some cartoon perversion of Christ in your heads, not the firsthand experience of seeing God made flesh.
And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly. — Matthew 26:75
If Peter could deny following Christ, so will you.
As for me, my position is that if there is a God, he’ll damn well have to come here and take over things before I believe.
Or obey.
Previously in this blog:
Oh, So You Lot Who Write Tech Don’t Know Truth? Here’s What It Looks Like.
Damn. I Wish I’d Thought Of It!
Death, Do Your Duty!
Like You Think Adults Who Eagerly Volunteer To Wear Pinstripes Daily Would Understand?
Compassionate Conservatism My Goddam Ass!
Fag Beasts And Bloody Flags
Run For Your Life. This Is A Real Person!
God Bless This Guy!
“What If You Support Fags? What Does That Make You?”
The Original Sin. No, Wait. The ONLY Sin!
God Almighty, Are Your Followers All Fucking Insane?!!?
The Three Words “Christian” Fascists Never Utter
Healthy, Immortal Chinese To Conquer Sick, Dying World
And Then There Were None
Losing My Religion
Oh. This Is Good.
Good Thing It’s Not Called The Wii-Wii
The Homo Fag Queer We All Owe
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