“For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
– Matthew 25:35-40
Are we the least Christian country in the civilized world?
That’s not a facetious question.
I suppose if you want to nitpick, you could say Israel is less Christian than we are, but that’s only because Israel is a country with a state religion.
We’re certainly less Christian than most of the countries in Europe. They do a lot more to follow the teachings of Christ as quoted in the Gospel according to Matthew. In an earlier chapter, Christ told a rich man that to follow him, the rich man must sell all he had and give the proceeds to the poor.
He didn’t say anything about homosexuality being wrong, and indeed, he never even mentioned abortion.
In fact, something like 30 percent of the verses in the four gospels reporting what Christ said dealt with helping the less fortunate.
As a Roman Catholic, I learned that there are three basic things we need to believe to call ourselves Christians.
First, that Jesus is the divine Son of God.
Second, that He died for our sins and was resurrected.
Third, that He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.
Conservative evangelicals will tell you that you can only be saved through faith, that good works alone will not get you into Heaven.
I guess to some extent I believe that faith or lack of it is the dealbreaker, but someone saying they believe in Christ as their personal savior but does not follow His teaching is just a hypocrite.
Actually, while Christ said the first great commandment is to love God with everything you have, the second one is to love your neighbor as yourself.
That second commandment, also called the Law of Reciprocity, is at the core of every religion except Satanism.
If you believe the United States is a Christian nation, you might be confusing Christianity with 17th and 18th century puritanism. Perhaps the most famous sermon ever delivered in this country was the early 18th century screed “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Puritan cleric Jonathan Edwards.
He said only God’s mercy keeps us from perdition. Oh, and follow all the rules.
One thing you will occasionally hear people quote Christ as saying is “God helps those who help themselves,” but the quote actually came from someone much more human. It wasn’t Christ who said it, but Benjamin Franklin.
Good old Ben.
When it comes down to it, saying you believe in Christ as the savior of mankind isn’t enough. Without taking what He said and acting on it means little or nothing.
It’s why every time I see a homeless person asking for help, I do what I can. I give to charities that help the poor and less fortunate and I do my best to love my neighbor as myself.
There’s only so much I can do and I fall short on most occasions. But I have no problem with paying taxes so my government can help people who truly need help and cannot make it on their own.
Whether our nation is Christian — big C or small c — has nothing to do with how well our rich people live.
It’s a lot more about how we take care of those who are desperately poor.
Remember that Christ himself said that inasmuch as we have done it to the least among us, we have done it to Him.