It’s Not God’s Fault If Christians Are Idiots

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Over the weekend, Fionnuala and I reorganised our bedroom. This included a bit of a spring clean and moving some furniture around. It was hard work but worthwhile. I found my missing Garmin watch charger and several dozen odd socks whose whereabouts had been baffling me for some time. I also recovered the grand total of 27 pence, a couple of euros and an old pound coin. Winning!

At the end of the day it was as if we had a new bedroom. There was so much space. I commented to Fionnuala it was as if we were away somewhere in a hotel room until the sound of the kids squabbling or the dog barking well and truly burst that bubble. Moving your bed 90 degrees may not be cutting edge feng shui but it certainly made a big difference as far as I was concerned.

Sometimes you have to reorganise the priorities in your life as well. Of late, I have been heavily focused on the book I am writing. Over the last month it has been as if my creative writing dam has burst for I’ve been making huge strides forward. Initial feedback from beta readers has been frighteningly good which leads me to believe I may have a half decent product in my hands.

Other pursuits have had to give though. One of these has been reading. I love to read but other than for the purposes of researching the book have been unable to do much of late. I have six books on my Kindle that haven’t been touched. This is most unlike me. Yet over the last week or so I have been getting subtle nudges to pick up one dust covered tome in particular. A book that I haven’t looked at in several months now. That book is my Bible.

The Bible used to be a priority in my life. I read it every day. I highlighted sections of it, made notes and tried to apply its teachings in my life. Then that all fell to the wayside. I’ve blogged about this at length previously so don’t particularly feel the need to cover old ground again. Let’s just say I stumbled. Stuff got in the way. Other people, other Christians and my own vanity and pride. I took the failings of others out on God.

I accused others of being hypocrites when the biggest hypocrite of all was staring me in the mirror every morning. I have come to the conclusion that it’s not God’s fault if Christians are idiots. I don’t mean to be glib or accusatory as there is no bigger idiot than me. But this has been a revelatory moment for me. So much so, that I’m picking up my Bible again starting today. We will see how that goes.

I may put it down again after a week. I don’t know. I hope not. I may devour it like I used to. I don’t know. I may even blog about it. Only God knows the answer to that one. But as far as life furniture goes, I’m shoving the good book into a more prominent position. It has been rescued from the pile of odd socks and dusted down again. I say Bible but I actually have four. They all might get an outing in due course.

So you have been warned. This blog may contain material of a biblical nature in the future. Fear not though, as I won’t be ramming it down anyone’s throat. That style of ‘evangelism’ leaves me cold. I’d like to finish by thanking all the Christian bloggers who have stood with me during this spiritual drought and patiently guided me back on track. Reading your daily wisdom has been part of that process.

Have you ever experienced a spiritual drought? How did you deal with it?

When did you last pick up your Bible?

Do idiotic Christians interfere in your relationship with God?

Published by Fractured Faith Blog

We are Stephen and Fionnuala and this is our story. We live in Northern Ireland, have been married for 17 years and have three kids - Adam, Hannah and Rebecca. We hope that our story will inspire and encourage others. We have walked a rocky road yet here we are today, together and stronger than ever. We are far from perfect and our faith has been battered and bruised. But an untested faith is a pointless faith. Just as a fractured faith is better than none at all. We hope you enjoy the blog.

80 thoughts on “It’s Not God’s Fault If Christians Are Idiots”

  1. I will admit that even just the word Christian scares the shit out of me at times, so I’m glad to hear you won’t be all evangelical and ramming it down our throats . On that same note, I’ve honored you questioning pieces that don’t work for you and getting back to the basics of love and light that our soul craves and this world needs now more then ever. One person’s “bible” is not another person’s bible and that’s more then okay. Keep walking YOUR walk Stephen.

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  2. My loss is faith came up with scientific questions that no one particularly liked to hear.
    When I was in college it became reinforced. Now I don’t know what to believe. I see the world in utter chaos and I feel like a true God wouldn’t let this happen and I get upset for having believed in the first place.
    I don’t know. Maybe I’ll read some religious texts and look for answers.

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    1. I am an American and a Christian who at one time (long ago) even considered myself a Republican. When the “party” decided to co-opt my faith and turn the The Word into bullets is when I had had enough – not with Christianity – but said party. They forgot the first amendment. In my mind freedom of religion means my religion has no place in their politics – nor do their politics have any place in mine or using mine. I did not vote for the 45th President, I pray every day for my country – that it will one day be redeemed and that those of us who are followers of Christ become leaders and examples to others of what Jesus really taught – not dogma corrupted by humans for their personal gain.

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        1. Sorry, Stephen – that comment was not directed at you but at the person who commented that Christians elected Trump and thus were all idiots. 😊 I consider myself such a fool at times and understand the point you were making for sure.

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  4. It’s an interesting book if there aren’t a load of people behind you telling you what it’s supposed to mean. I studied A-level scripture (many decades ago – in another world) and some of my classmates were unhappy to learn the context in which the books we studied were written – as if we were deconstructing magic. But this is real life, not Hogwarts, and context helps clarify a lot of things. Interpretation is just that – it isn’t law, or even the only option

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  5. I too like Dwight above stated became fearful until you said no ramming. I used to be a very very good christian but I had trouble reading the Bible. It rarely brought me comfort. About 10 years or so after searching and trying to believe I quit attending the Christian churches. But I’ll stop there. My blog I hope will start to explore how I went from a to z.

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  6. My bible is right next to me bed but I rarely read it. I think just having it next to my bed makes me feel better! But I know I will read it so i guess I can say I’m in a drought now. And lol! It’s not God’s fault if Christian’s are idiots. Great post. Thank you

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  7. Idiot is a strong word for me. But fallen and stumbled as you shared I completely hear you on. It is hard when people hurt us. Bitterness, anger, envy, jealousy and more all can eat at our soul. The longer these seeds are watered the harder it can be for us to connect to God. I know my bitterness needed to be revealed and when I was ashamed of myself, that too, God helped me realize. I hope something speaks to your heart.

    Way to go on the clean up! Different arrangement of furniture really can make quite a difference!

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  9. That’s great! And yes, I go long periods with only reading the verses that other people post on various social media, even though I do LOVE the Word of God. I feel like you may be like me, always struggling with the ability to really focus on more than one thing. I started going to a weekly Bible study with my kids back in 2010 and that really helps me stay focused. However, it doesn’t meet in the summer months and even though I said I was going to read my Bible this summer, I didn’t keep it up for long. We start back this week and I’m really glad. And, did you see that I went to church?!! Maybe you will do that, too! Praying for you.

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    1. Thank you. I’m not quite ready for church yet. Small steps I guess. I share your frustration and it’s comforting to know there are other believers out there who feel the same as I do. I’m grateful and humbled by your prayers.

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  10. For many years, ‘christians’ (small c) scared the crap out of me and in many ways they still do. It always seems that the guy (or lady as is often the case) that cuts me off on the freeway and flips me the bird is the guy with a Christian bumper sticker or fish symbol on there car.

    I’m not comfortable in traditional church settings. I believe that’s due to the relationship I have with God today. As I’ve stepped deeper into my spiritual life and encountered deeper grace, I find most church services to be dull and unimaginative, and more interested in getting those attendance numbers (as well as contributions) up than in transforming lives. That is what God and his son, Jesus, have worked out in my life.

    I’ve come to realize that they are on a different path than I. Moreover, trying to follow the Rabbi’s teaching is difficult because you have to throw out everything you thought you knew and learn how to receive grace. A world of self-importance, self-love, and well, self-everything, doesn’t leave much room for the transforming power of grace.

    I’ve learned there are many others out there who genuinely strive to live out the teaching of Jesus. They fail, just as I do, but they always get back up, and become evermore thankful for a loving God that does for us in ways we can’t imagine.

    That being said, I miss the community of ‘church’. I’ve had to find community elsewhere and that’s often as imperfect as traditional religion. It’s become a little easier to accept everyone’s failings as well as my own. I still pull out my trusty old Bible regularly, even when I’m not feeling it, because I know that every spiritual drought I go through ends, and I become more receptive to the transforming power of grace.

    Thank you so much for your words. I look forward to reading your blog daily. You all take care!

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  11. I have to admit, I have a huge frustration with Christians who assure me that the Word Of God is right there, perfect. They never seem to take into account the timing of the KJV, the Apocrypha, multiple translations, with a difference in meaning over time… These are the people that wear on my last nerve – and yes, they live to proselytize.
    We all have our own beautiful and loving interaction with God, The Divine, Buddha, etc etc. Follow your own path at your own speed – this isn’t a marathon. It’s your relationship with love.

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    1. Well you know how I love my marathons 😂 but I agree with a lot of what you say, Liz. I believe parts of the Bible are not 100% accurate translations of what the original message was; plus much of it is studied without a full appreciation of the context of the times in which it was written. Paul’s letters for example.

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      1. I think – and this is my own fuzzy truth here – that Christ’s message was to be kind and thoughtful. Honor those who deserve it, don’t be sucked into money mongering, be at peace with your soul. There’s more love in his words than in the books preceding, which is where a lot of “Christians” pull their words from. I find it – confusing and illogical.

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  12. Christians are idiots and they are God’s messengers so that makes him what??? Idiot savant? I don’t know what to think somedays about God or the Bible and Christians chalking everything up to sin. I feel most mental Illnesses stem from fear mongering and hell fire speak or the message that God is not happy with you. If I had never heard about God, my life would be better off. At least the version that the Bible talks about. And those idiots like to beat you with.

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    1. I think idiotic Christians are delivering their own interpretation of God’s message as opposed to the truth. It’s purity gets weakened, distilled and tainted the second mankind gets their hands on it. To be fair I haven’t heard any pulpit preach that mental illness equates to sin. I believe it can be a form of attack but that offensive does not come from God. The Bible contains a lot of wisdom and love but, again, it has been corrupted by man.

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      1. Sad, but true. I wasn’t saying mental illness is sin based on preaching or the bible (although I actually have heard that before) but more an observation that I can see how one can have mental health issues being in the church.

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  14. I have definitely experienced doubt and drought – the experience actually led me to your blog (for which I am grateful). I have heard it called “the dark night of the soul” and for me it seems like a never-ending night. Still, God is faithful, even if I am not. I find myself relaxing and leaving it all in His hands. Eventually I will be delivered and hopefully learn the lesson it’s come to teach.

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      1. You are so kind! Yeah, the very name “fractured taith” is how I have been feeling for a long time. I am searching, I guess. I enjoy your blog and the way you have with words. Keep it up – you’re awesome!

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  15. If we weren’t messed up in the first place then we wouldn’t need a Savior, right? I am so often touched by your insights and honesty. I go through times of drought and times of great thirst for God’s word.My last blog piece was abot when I completely walked away from Jesus and how I found my way back. I think this is the nature of our being. I am grateful for a God of Grace who desires and always welcomes a relationship with us no matter how long we have been away. I look forward to seeing where the Spirit is leading you.

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  17. I am glad to hear this, totally understand the struggle, and I will pray for you and your family.

    Part of the spiritual abuse in my childhood, which was done against me by a minister in my family, included using scripture in a sexualized manner to shame me and control me. As I got a bit older I wanted to know if things like the Song of Songs really said what the abusive minister was taunting me with — among other things and the spiritual abuse actually sparked me into having a very real passion for what God’s word ACTUALLY said, and a realization that it wasn’t necessarily what ‘I was being told’.
    In proper context, I saw that the abusive minister was an idiot to dare to use God’s word to shame and sexualize a child…I think we cross into idiot territory when we dare to use God’s word as a sword for our own flesh-filled and evil purposes, not as a sword for the purpose of dividing and judging the attitudes of our own hearts (Hebrews 12). But, I think my life is somewhat proof that even when it is used as a tool to try and torture someone, the Word is powerful and can save us and free us.

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  18. I have had a similar struggle. That’s why I’ve followed you without judgment over the past couple of years. We may not ever “fit in,” but in God’s family, we all belong!

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  19. Yes to all that. Idiot Christians put me off reading the Bible for almost forty years. Lucky i have a good study group now who keep me on track.
    Looking forward to reading more Blog.

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  20. Some Christians who seem to be pompous or really in-your-face certainly make me think some unChristlike thoughts. I applaud you for picking up your Bible again, and I hope it will fill you like it used to ❤

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  21. I completely understand your sense of drought as I have felt the same. I have continued to go to church and pray, but my new job and just life feels like it gets in the way. I, too, need to rearrange. Thank you for this–it reminds me I’m not the only one struggling with reading my Bible every day.

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  22. Well…I’m of the belief that 99% of humanity are idiots, and I do not exclude myself from that proportion.

    The Bible HELPS us, if we take its lessons to heart. God wants us to be happy; it’s up to us to listen. Which is the way it’s been from the early days, no?

    I wouldn’t let other people, Christians or otherwise, ruin things for you.

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  24. While I do make it a point of reading my “Daily Bread” every morning, and I do pick up the Good Book at least three times a week, I’ve been going thru a drought for some time now. I have no doubt I’ll return to the fold, as it were, but right now . . . I’m not “feeling” it. But He knows me better than anyone, right? And He’s patient, certainly more than I am. 🙂

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  25. This summer has been a bit of a spiritual drought but when you go from reading and writing about it every day to not much of anything at all…you’re bound to have a dry spell. It has been a time of busyness and contemplation. For some reason, God saw fit to bless me with a personality that is all in or all out. When I’m all in things look great but when the balance starts to shift and I’m more and more confronted with Christians being idiots it’s harder not to fall all out! That being said, when God speaks I can’t hold back and I’m relieved for the monsoon that has finally arrived!!! Vacation helped to recharge that on a grand scale! How do I deal with my spiritual drought? I don’t think I deal with it at all, my feelings of guilt and anxiety grow to an all time high. I know I should be paying attention to my relationship with God but I also understand the exhaustion that comes with fighting those spiritual battles day in and day out. My flesh is often much stronger than my faith, this saddens me 😦

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  26. So glad to read you have picked up your Bible again. I went through a drought years ago where I even doubted if God existed and questioned if all I had believed was just a fairy tale. I remember sitting on my front porch and saying (a little afraid lightning might strike) ‘God if you are real, if all I have believed is true, I need you to show me you really know what I’m going through and that you care.” The story is too long for a comment, but within the week He did show up. But as a retired pastor’s wife, I totally understand your comment that sometimes Christians are stupid. But maybe that’s part of the beauty of church – it includes stupid people – and somehow God loves them even though we may have to pray for God’s help to love them too. Many times as a pastor’s wife I have been so hurt, angry at stupid people…but as you said, then I looked in the mirror and saw myself. Pray your new reading is a help to you.

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  27. Love this! And love the sentiment, so very true! Honestly I can’t recall the last time I looked at any religeous text. I rather hated Hebrew school and after my parents divorce stopped going to Synagogue. As it happens there are idiot Jews out there as well. Those that despair over Canada’s open immigration policy and say racist, hateful things, even members of my own family. This really churns my butter, as my grandparents on both sides fled Europe during WWll as no one wanted the Jews around. At that time in history, Canada wasn’t exactly welcoming my people with open arms, but I am glad my family came here and am a proud 2nd generation Canadian. But some Jews seem to forget that most of the world has been trying to stamp us out of existence for the last few thousand years, and I am angered when they are so belittling of other new Canadians doing exactly what they did in 1942. I find it repugnant that Jews, of all people, would even think to deny another race of people their chance at a good life because “they aren’t like us”. It’s hypocritical at the very least. I find it no different than when I was dating a Catholic guy in university (that went over well with both sets of parents!) and his mum would join us for brunch on Sundays after she’d been to church and would complain about everybperson of colour in the room. Does Gd not say love thy neighbour? Do we disregard the 10 Commandments simply because they don’t suit our needs?

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  28. (I’m a polytheist, I hope it’s okay if I respond.)

    I’ve been through what I call a fallow time, when I can’t hear my gods and get no messages from them.

    I went through one over this Summer, from late May to late July. That’s been the longest stretch of silemce, but I needed it. It helped me see that I wasn’t getting the mental health help that I needed, but seeing that lead me to the road to recovery that I’m on now.

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  31. So happy you picked up your Bible again! James 4:8, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you!” I’ll be praying for you!

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  32. The Great Shepherd calls us sheep for a reason! And yes, I have had times of spiritual drought. Pretty much I handled the same way you are…one day at a time spending some time with the Lord through reading His word and prayer.

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  33. Hi Stephen,

    I have been in a spiritual rut for awhile now. I know you have read some of my own entries and know, if you remember, that hubby and I have had more than the lion’s share of hardship in the past year, and my health has been iffy, though some of my own doing. I have never been a big reader, well, not since I took ill 19 years ago, so my Bible continues to sit by my easy chair, dusty and unread. Prayer life? Its almost nonexistent anymore, so I surely know where you are. I continue to write encouragement because first and foremost, I need it.

    I will have to remember the title of this post when I think of every way man has failed us. I should be placing the blame where it belongs, starting with myself. Thanks for your words of wisdom.

    Wendy
    Random Thoughts, Purposeful Life

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