Many turn from Jesus because of a bad experience with religious people. And this is completely understandable.

But we must be reminded that Jesus had a bad experience with religious people too.

Why, do you ask? How could Jesus, literally the symbol of the religion Christianity, be treated badly by religious people?

Well, he was killed by them. Beaten, mocked, betrayed, and crucified.

The group of religious leaders at the time, Pharisees, bribed one of Jesus’ disciples, Judas, to hand him over to the Roman soldiers so that he might be killed.

You see, Jesus isn’t the one who turns people away from Christianity. He isn’t the one who is lying to them, raping them, torturing them, abusing them, or manipulating them. That’s people. People hurt people—and people in positions of power in the church have often abused that power, using it to convince church members that it’s okay.

But y’all, this is not what Jesus designed the Church to be! The Church as a whole was created to be a safe space of healing and love. Not abuse—and unfortunately, in some places, it has very much become that.

But these stories don’t go for every church! More often than not, churches are a safe space. More often than not, pastors will help you on that healing journey. More often than not, the congregation is one that is genuine and loving.

You know how when the news picks out a group of people to judge, they always show the very worst part? The riots and the screaming and the threats?

We do this for everything—politics, LGBTQ+, different races, ages, schools, occupations, and religions.

And I’ll admit that I have done this myself, numerous times, choosing the ugliest part of one general topic or group, and judging harshly based on that one part and not looking at the whole picture.

This goes for Christianity and other religions as well—we look at the stories of Christians and churches throwing out youth who have gotten involved in not-so-amazing things. We look at testimonies from young women who have been raped by church leaders. We look at accounts from families who discovered their pastor to have been brainwashing the congregation.

But this isn’t true Christianity—this isn’t what a true faith looks like, but rather a wolf disguised in sheep’s clothing. (Matthew 7:15)

So I conclude this post with one final statement: Christianity is not a religion that will turn you away. Bad sides of it do exist, but that’s not because of God—that’s because we are sinful, messed up humans.

You are welcome, no matter your gender, race, religion, political views, and more. Why? Because God loves his children, no matter how different they are. (1 John 4:19)

Thanks for reading, have a great day!
~Willow