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...Mahatma Gandhi was inspired to begin his nonviolent movement by the Sermon On The Mount. He was far more of a Christian than Mars Hill church leaders are ~ and he was a Hindu. He was a far better Christian than the leaders of the Mars Hill are because he LIVED what that sermon taught. He took a vow of poverty, worked against a system thousands of years old working toward freeing the untouchables, he advocated for the poor, and created a world movement of peace that some of the greatest Christians such as MLK took up as well.
Jesus said more than once that being wealthy is no way to get to heaven, indeed it is a stumbling block. "It is harder for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle." Some "Mars Hill" and other evangelists try to justify that the rich are not sinning by being greedy as there was supposedly a small gate into Jerusalem called "The Eye Of The Needle" which would require a camel to get on its knees if they wanted to enter. In other words they are rationalizing that if you are rich but "stay on your knees" you will be fine. They think it is fine to be allowing greed while condemning homosexuality, for instance. Jesus said NOTHING, NADA, ZERO about homosexuality, but said plenty about how bad it is to be rich because wanting more than you need is what foments wars, creates poverty, and causes starvation and disease.
The Mars Hill church leaders are known for their greed, which they openly practice. They fly in private jets, support leaders that tout forced labor in children and adults as well as forced prostitution, and forced abortion ~. they have no problem forcing women to have babies but then taking away any support system to raise these children, and worse these leaders profit from these stances.
Being a Christian first means taking a vow of poverty, and is she seeing this in her church leaders? No! Jesus said as well to "love your neighbor" and is preaching hate toward anyone outside of their faith against this (such as with Islam)? Yes!
As an athiest, I support you. I am a Christian, but atheism is just as valid in my book. However I might as an atheist offer to go to church with her if she could find a church with a minister who actually LIVES the words of Jesus instead of just mouthing them as the church she attends does and it is well documented mega-church leaders do this. I would tell her, if she wanted you to go to church with her, you would have to go to a church that accepts you as you believe and at least practices what it preaches, as hypocrisy is not something I would want to support, whether or not I believed as they do. If she loves this church so much perhaps she will leave you alone because it means she would have a choice ~ having her husband attend with her sometimes or staying where she is. If she is sincerely wanting to pursue the real life of a Christian and see leaders who live it, then perhaps she will find a place for both of you where there are a wonderful group of potential friends as well.
One suggestion of a church living their faith are the Quakers (I am not one, but I know they try hard to practice what they preach). I will tell you what I know about, though I am not tsuggesting this is a good church for you: I am a UCC (United Church Of Christ) member and my minster is marching and speaking against the war as we also stood up against the sanctions against Iraq in the 1990's and participated in the Sanctuary Movement in the 1980s (as did the Quakers). We have one verified atheist member in our church who goes because she says we try to live our faith. All people are welcome in our church and your wife would find ministers as well as their parishioners as earthy people many who are highly intellectual (UCC churches attract highly educated people for some reason). My friend and former partner is also an atheist and he goes to my church (he was also the son of two ministers) because he says it has people trying at least to live their words. These churches are small because actually living what you believe is much harder than spending your time condemning others for what they believe and trying to convert them to a narrow way of thinking.
My 2 cents
Cat In Seattle
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