Counterfeit Faith

My wife and I had a discussion on Easter Sunday about churches. We have people from all different directions that invite us to their services. They all say "my church is different, we don't have problems that the other churches have." Somehow each individual church is right and all other churches are wrong.

I told my wife, the reason why I refuse to go to church isn't even because I don't agree with what they teach. I don't go to church because you know that their teachings are void by looking at their lifestyle.

How do you know the true intentions of a church or congregation? How do you know they are counterfeit? I am about to give you some answers.

1. If a preacher is a true man of god and his sole ambition is the good of others, then how should he organize his ministry? I can tell you that a REAL preacher should work a normal job and still preach on Wednesdays and Sundays. Any money brought into the church should go back out into the community and helping those in need. However, churches are not ran in this fashion. Instead, preachers sit on their asses on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday "preparing sermons and seeking the lord." Any money that comes in goes into their pocket to accompany their lazy life.

2. Some churches (southeast Christian church) actually compete with other churches to be the largest in the US. They will even add on to the church if another surpasses in size.

3. Some churches like Central Church of Christ will build a 4 million dollar building when there are homeless men and women and children down the street.

4. Some churches are ran in the pyramid fashion like a corporation. 

5. Televangelists..... Do I really need to go there! Just send them your money and you'll be saved.

6. Catholic priests molest children.

7. Penecostals believe in signs and that they can heal the sick! Then why is your congregation dying?

8. Preachers are constantly on the news for adultery, fraud, etc.

9. Some Christians even claimed that god had told them to rape women and abuse children.

10. Some churches believe it's ok to protest funerals of soldiers because there are gays in America.

11. Politicians and the rich claim Christianity when the bible clearly says what about the rich man? Also, the Bible pretty much says that a man can't be a politician and go to heaven, so why are we so concerned with a conservative "Christian" being in office. Would a Christian really be any different than a non-christain? You see "religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.”  –  Seneca the Younger


Not to mention the superficiality of it being a social gathering. That's simply it. A preacher can say what they want and you'll believe it because by god the church is where your friends and family are.

Blessings of an Infidel

"I'm so glad god blesses you and not me, because I sure wouldn't want your life." - Adam Kincaid

I have to chuckle when I hear others speak of "gods good blessings" and how "god is faithful." I want so badly to say, gods blessing? Really? Are we assessing the same life? Because the way it looks from here, you are living a sad life. I wouldn't want your life. 

How about when these "lunatics" judge infidels much like myself saying "he is cursed." Really? Im cursed? Because from here, it looks like I'm doing just fine. I'm feeling just fine. I'm loving life, I am ambitious and making something of my life. I am living extraordinary! 

So, is it's "gods good grace" that you are an alcoholic, a drug addict, a racist, a swindler, a cheater or a hypocrite? So yes, I am glad god blesses you and not me, because I sure don't want your life. 

I guess my next point should be, how can you believe a "god" would actually bless someone with the attributes listed above? See, your not thinking! You can judge someone like myself if it makes you feel complete, but always know... You cannot hate someone for displaying intelligence over insanity.

So I have been sitting at home tonight playing video games and drinking an alcoholic drink. Not "drinks" but a drink. I haven't had the opportunity to sit down and enjoy video games since my short break in December. However, that is just a small price to pay for a bright future.

I had 3 finals this week and I made A's on all of them. Tonight I came home and wrote three nursing articles and came to the conclusion that I could actually take the rest of the night off. I have no class tomorrow and I do not have another final until Wednesday. If I had responsibilities in the morning or tests to be prepared for, I would not be relaxing and drinking, but for the first time in 4 months I have the chance to breathe. I deserve this. 

I don't hate my responsibilities, I actually love them and take pride in them. That's the beauty. I don't regret that I can't drink and party because i have to spend time late at night studying and learning or because I have an amazing daughter that I have to protect and in a emergency I must be alert. I don't hate my responsibilities. I am going to have an amazing job with amazing benefits near an amazing beach someday soon. I also love learning, it's an amazing thing.... You should try it.

Nursing school is probably one of the most difficult, but most rewarding things that I have ever done. ETSU has the most prestigious nursing school in Tennessee and one of the top nursing schools in the East. With an ANP program more prestigious than Harvard and Yale. 

I had to attend college for 2 years taking General Education courses. At ETSU, anything below a C+ is considered failing. Each semester 70 students out of thousands are selected to enter the nursing program. The semester that I entered, an overall 3.8 GPA was the cut off and I was lucky to be one of the chosen few. Achieving all A's and a couple of B's. 

You had to be extremely competitive to fight for a spot and it took more work than one could imagine, especially after being out of high school for 4 years, having a family and working full-time at Walmart for the majority of the time. 

I am also lucky to have all A's in nursing school, considering the enormous amount of pressure that is placed on the entering students. If you get below a 75 on specific tests, you fail the course. And if you fail more than one course, your out of the program.

There is less than a 60% pass rate in the first semester of nursing school at ETSU. That means the 70 students in my class will soon be eliminated to around 35 according to the current grade standings.

At first, I was left wondered if the failing students were just not intelligent, but that is far from the truth. I have a lot of compassion for even the students that fail out. First, they had to work their asses off to even get into the program. Second, the standards and the stress is extremely high. It takes a special kind of integrity to be willing to study non-stop for an A. However, even the last of the nursing students have more intelligence and integrity in their pinky than the average nitwit that isn't doing anything with their life. I have been lucky in that I have worked hard, but also surpassed all expectations for each course and I am excited to continue my journey in the fall.

You see, there's too many people living their life without a purpose. They have no goals, they have no meaning, they have no ambition, they don't want to change the world or make it better. These people just breathe, they show no signs of life, no signs of intelligence, they just breathe. They are essentially an empty bag of air. They are just like an empty pair of lungs, and we all know that lungs do not function too well without a heart or a brain.

I know I sound arrogant and I will gladly accept that title. But nobody is doing you a favor by letting you think that you are actually living your life. Because your not. 

I am not saying that you have to be rich, or go to college. Don't get me wrong. But you must display intelligence and have goals. You must display integrity and ambition. You must seek after truth and run from fallacies. You must be REAL and honest. You must be unique and courageous. Esteem beauty and art over insanity. You must want to change and better your world. You must run from discrimination and injustice. You must live extraordinary (I love that.... "live extraordinary").   

Bits of Brilliance and Truth

For my senior project in high school, I had printed a quote that read: “Sometimes you have to join a parade in which you are not interested to get closer to your final destination.” This quote had significant meaning for me at that time. Speaking in the sense of how I had to pretend to like rednecks and their immoral, unintelligent, childish behavior to get through school. I also had to partake of religious ideas in which I did not agree.  However, I knew that one day I could get away and break free from such insanity.

I have quickly thrown together a few quotes and a lot of lyrics that I often get lost in. While there are so many other lyrics and quotes that could be added, I figure that this is sufficient for now. There is so much meaningless garbage on the radio today, but a few artists stand true in portraying truth and brilliance.

So many people just listen to music without thought of what is being said or without using their imagination. While bland music filled with “hallelujahs and praise you jesus” are okay to some, I require a sense of lyrical brilliance and maturity in music that I listen too.  There are also deeper things in life than muses of drinking at the bar, your wife leaving you, and your dog named earl running away. There’s a lot to be said for intelligence. Music should be art!!!!

I thought it was funny that someone on-line was trying to argue that Brett Dennen was a Christian when his music clearly conveys the opposite. In fact, I pulled up an interview where Dennen was asked: “Between Buddha or Jesus, which do you lean towards?” Dennen responded: “Buddha! I don’t worship Buddha, but I am definitely not a Christian.  No way.” I find it hilarious that people can listen to artists and not understand what they are trying to convey. Another example being Jack Johnson. Johnsons music makes it clear that he doesn’t agree with any form of religion and he adapts to new age philosophies. Somehow there are a lot of Christians that say they like Jack Johnson. Either they are not intelligent enough to see what Jack Johnson expresses through his music or they don’t care, which would mean they aren’t “Christians.” Nothing disgusts me more than contradiction. Jack Johnson, Jason Mraz, Brett Dennen, etc. is not music for redneck, racist, Christian  Conservatives! DUH! So why do so many east Tennesseans listen to Jack Johnson? Well they are either too dumb to understand the lyrics or they are hypocritical! These artists hate religion, they hate war, they hate racism, they despise the greedy, In fact: All three supported Barak Obama’s presidency.

Im still trying to figure out how people live in such contradiction. Why aren’t they just REAL! Why do they straddle the fence of contradiction while looking like complete idiots? There is a Church of Christ college group that I heard discussing a Jack Johnson concert they attended recently. What did they do when Jack Johnson broke out into “I love you and Buddha too” or “Plastic Jesus” or “Fall Line” and the list goes on. HHHHMMMM! What did they do? I wonder if they were there to share the gospel with Jack? HAha!

Anyway, people should live life in reality and joy rather than contradiction and insanity. But you see, there is nothing I love more than to point out when “Christians” live their life in contradiction, because I know, they know and EVERYONE knows that they are no different than anyone else. So if you are a “Christian” and you claim to “live by those laws” then you better be prepared to walk it. I WILL CALL YOU OUT!!!!!

One theory to the issue is this: “Christians” follow preachers and what they speak without searching out their beliefs. They don’t actually read the Bible or even pray, but they claim what preachers tell them. They use Christianity as their own logo, like a trademark, if you will. This makes Christians… Followers. It is somewhat of a syndrome, because they follow whichever way the wind blows. They see rising artists or trends and they feel that they have to follow them eventhough, they contradict their very beliefs.

I call it the Chameleon Syndrome. They adapt to their surroundings rather than being themselves regardless. They speak and act the same as those who are nearby. At the core, this is HYPOCRITICAL.

A true leader is someone who paves their own path. They do not adapt to trends and often times they go against the trend. They aren’t afraid to be themselves or speak their minds regardless of who their audience is.  A leader is often a part of the minority. They may even be termed “unique, different or even crazy.” However, a leader is someone who doesn’t care what others think of them. Are you a leader or a follower? Let me tell you finding an agnostic liberal democratic hippie in East TN is harder to find than Osama Bin Laden in the Mid East.

All this aside, I will leave you with page upon page of quips:

“A liberal is a man who is right most of the time, but he's right too soon.” - Gregory Nunn

“There is nothing worse, I guess, than being black in an all-white church than being southern and being a liberal.” – Lee Hazlewood

“The world holds two classes of men – intelligent men without religion, and religious men without intelligence.”  – Abu’l Ala al Ma’arri

“Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.”  –  Seneca the Younger

“I refuse to prove that I exist,” says God, “for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing”. – Douglas Adams

 “Politicians lie and I am not fooled. You don’t need a reason or a 3 piece suit to argue the truth.” – Brett Dennen

“All the burdens the centuries accrue get passed along to every generations youth
And all the allegories told in lewd truth; I watched them grow wild and spread like a flu” – Brett Dennen

“I saw the rise of an untamed industry and I watched machines print a paper economy I saw my own self stand right in front of me and I didn’t do a thing” – Brett Dennen

“With a whole wealth of doctors and pharmaceutical companies but still poor people are dying from disease” – Brett Dennen

“And I asked when is the revolution” – Brett Dennen

“What is this place? Who am I? Where did we come from? I can’t tell you anything but the truth. I don’t know.”  - Jack Johnson

“Well look at all those fancy clothes but these could keep us warm just like those
and what about your soul? is it cold? is it straight from the mold and ready to be sold?
and cars and phones and diamond rings - bling bling
those are only removable things
and what about your mind does it shine or are there things that concern you more than your time” – Jack Johnson

“There were so many fewer questions when stars were still just the holes to heaven.” – Jack Johnson

“Numb is the new deep; Done with the old me and talk is the same cheap it's been.” – John Mayer

“Is there a God? Why is he waiting? Don't you think of it odd when he knows my address?
And look at the stars, Don't they remind you of just how feeble we are? Well it used to, I guess” – John Mayer


“I'm a new man, I wear a new cologne and You wouldn't know me if your eyes were closed
I know what you'll say: 'This won't last longer than the rest of the day'
But you're wrong this time ; You're wrong” – John Mayer


“Stop trying to figure it out ; The deep will only bring you down
You know, I used to be the back porch poet with my book of lies
Always open and knowing all the time that I'm probably never gonna find the perfect rhyme For 'heavier things' – John Mayer

“people are lonely and only animals with fancy shoes
and hallelujah’s zig zag nothing but misery it's on the loose
because people are lonely and only animals with too many tools
that can build all the junk that we sell and sometimes man it makes me want to yell” – Jack Johnson

“The wine bottle's half empty and the money's all been spent
We're a cross between our parents and hippies in a tent” – Jack Johnson

“I don't care if it rains or freezes as long as i've got my plastic jesus sitting on the dashboard of my car.
it comes in colors pink and pleasant it glows in the dark cause its iridescent
I'll take it with me whenever i go far
so give me my lady Madonna dressed in rhinestones and sittin on a pedestal of abalone shells
drivin 90 but im not scared because i've got my virgin mary assuring me that i will never go to hell” – Jack Johnson

“Oh Jesus, I love you And I love Buddha too
Ramakrishna, Guru Dev, Tao Te Ching and Mohammed
Why do some people say That there is just one way” – Jack Johnson

“Beyond the rules of religion, the cloth of conviction, above all the competition where fact and fiction meet;
there's no color lines, casts or classes. There's no fooling the masses.
Whatever faith you practice, whatever you believe...
Oh, heaven, heaven. What the hell is heaven?
Is there a home for the homeless? Is there hope for the hopeless?” – Brett Dennen

“Who do you carry that torch for, my young man? Do you believe in anything?
Or do you carry it around just to burn things down?” -  Brand New

“If everyone's a structure where their own savior sits
Then I'm a little red house but no one's living in it
Cars are little blood cells and We are oxygen
City is the airways and Suburbs appendages” – Brand New

“We live in a jar and think the lid's the sky.
Your hoping for a savior on your cross outside.
Stars are just a million little fireflies.
The sun is just a hole; it's the light outside.” – Brand New

is it in you now? to hear the truth that you have spoken.
twisted up by knaves, to make a trap for fools.
is it in you now? to watch the things you gave your life to, broken
And then stoop and build them up With worn out tools?” – Brand New

“I know you're coming in the night like a thief
But I've had some time, O Lord, to hone my lying technique
I know you think that I'm someone you can trust
And I swear I'll try to nail you back up
So do you think that we could work out a sign
So I'll know it's you and that it's over so I won't even try” – Brand New

“I've heard them rotely repeat your teachings with elitism
I've seen them boasting robes and foreign sandalwood beads
I've seen men overlooking god in their own essence
I've seen their upward glances in hopes of instant salvation
I've seen their righteousness mixed without loving compassion
I've watched you smile as the students bow to kiss your feet” – Alanis Morissette

“While you’re beating with  a book everyone that book tells you to love.” – Brand New

“God should deliver all my blessings in small brown paper handbags near the porch.” – Manchester Orchestra

“Its a military mother with a boy in hell
And its a flag draped casket down an oil well
Its an Argentina school girl, gagged and bound
Its a torture camp, its a long way down
Its the constant bracing shock of now
Its the whole damn world turned inside out, all right
Its a march to extinction with your god in step
Its his name in your mouth, its his cross on your neck
Its a farm boy sprinting over desert dirt
And hes panting the Our Father in staccato spurts
now that's his automatic rifle and it tells no lies
Thats his truth in your stomach, its no alibi
But the trouble lies on the other side
With an equal truth prepping for his holy night
He sees his crescent and the star blink in the virgin sky
He hears the call of milk and honey from the afterlife
And as he eases to the check point, he is calm and sure
Its collateral damage, its the cost of war
Its another bag of bones for the gods to sort
Its just another bag of bones for the gods to sort” – Kevin Devine

“I'll know that you exist
When all our bombs stop exploding
And when all of those landmines are stripped
And we stop blowin' up strangers' houses
And making orphans of innocent kids
And people stop thinking the world's theirs for the taking
'Cause your world once told them it is
'Til then, i'm gonna shake my head
I'm gonne bite my tongue
When people tell me, 'Have faith and be patient,
We're waiting for God to show up.'
Yeah 'til then, it's one more skeptical song
And i'll be glad as hell
If you come and prove me wrong” – Kevin Devine

“Reforms won't work - I think it's time we tried revolt; but I don't got the guts to jump up and go first, so I'll just shout until my throat hurts, and I curse and I curse... At what we fucked up in Iraq, you say "support the troops" - I do, I want them all brought back - and every building that you bombed raised from the ground. And pull your contractors the fuck out. And if you really go and reinstate the draft, just straight away just split the country straight in half; so try arresting everyone who sends their draft cards back. I'll be returning mine in no time flat.” – Kevin Devine

“And those of us who make our mark  / Use someone else's blood
Our western stain won't wash away / It won't vanish in the flood” – Kevin Devine

“When we wake in guitines  And pitch our screaming fits
When the govenor strikes up the band And gags our parted lips
When the worst case shows up Dressed and dazzling ready for the ball
But that bubbles bound to burst And what a tragic way to fall” – Kevin Devine

“The tabloids tell us hate the rat

And strikes the Subways closed and put's you out
Forget those fifty hour tunnel weeks
Inhaling steel dust poison Through his mouth
Well if he don't deserve a pension
To make his family feel secure
If we're now so disconnected then It's our reflections we ignore
And if our constant choice is skimming Past the writing on the wall
Then I'm sad to say we're lost And I'm embarrassed for us all” – Kevin Devine

“And I've wrestled the rage through Katrina
The response make me sick to my heart
I'm sure FEMA would've come running
Had it flooded rich whites in Cape Cod” – Kevin Devine

“All the infidels are in their terror cells, guarded by rifles of gods good grace” – Kevin Devine

"Anyone with a real religious conviction, Is I propose, A religious convict."
FROM: WICKED
“I hate all your show and pretense
The hypocrisy of your praise
The hypocrisy of your festivals
I hate all your show
Away with your noisy worship
Away with your noisy hymns
I stop up my ears when you're singing 'em
I hate all your show
Instead let there be a flood of justice
An endless procession of righteous living
Instead let there be a flood of justice
Instead of a show
Your eyes are closed when you're praying
You sing right along with the band
You shine up your shoes for services
There's blood on your hands
You turned your back on the homeless
And the ones that don't fit in your plan
Quit playing religion games
There's blood on your hands
Let's argue this out
Give love to the ones who can't love at all
Give hope to the ones who got no hope at all
Stand up for the ones who can't stand at all, all
I hate all your show”  - Jon Foreman

“The world spins round in secret lives
Everyone that needs to hide
Cheap parade of endless lies
Filters through this lazy eye
And I don't believe in signs
No I don't believe your lies” – Goo Goo Dolls

“The last one born and the first one to run
My town was blind from refinery sun
My generation is zero
I never made it as a working class hero
21st Century Breakdown
I once was lost but never was found
I think I'm losing what's left of my mind
To the 20th Century Deadline
I was made of poison and blood
Condemnation is what I understood
We are the class of 13
Born in the era of humility
We are the desperate in the decline
Raised by the Bastards of 1969
My name is no one
The long lost son
Born of the 4th of July
Raised in an era of heroes and cons
That left me for dead or alive
I swallowed my pride
And I choked on my faith
I've given my heart and my soul
I've broken my fingers
And lied through my teeth
The pillar of damage control
Dream, America dream,
I can't even sleep
From the lights early dawn
Scream, America scream
Believe what you see
From heroes and cons?” – Green Day

“Don't wanna be an American idiot.
Don't want a nation under the new mania.
And can you hear the sound of hysteria?
The subliminal mindfuck America.
Well maybe I'm the faggot America.
I'm not a part of a redneck agenda.
Now everybody do the propaganda.
And sing along in the age of paranoia.

Don't wanna be an American idiot.
One nation controlled by the media.
Information nation of hysteria.
It's going out to idiot America.”  - Green Day

“Raise your hands now to testify
Your confession will be crucified
You're a sacrificial suicide
Like a dog that's been sodomized
Stand up! - All the white boys
Sit down! - All the black girls
You're the soldiers of the new world
Put your faith in a miracle
And it's non-denominational
Join the choir we will be singing
In the church of wishful thinking
A fire burns today
Of blasphemy and genocide
The sirens of decay
Will infiltrate the faith fanatics
Oh bless me lord for I have sinned
It's been a lifetime since I last confessed
I threw my crutches in "the river of a shadow of a doubt"
And I'll be dressed in my Sunday best
Say a prayer for the family
Drop a coin for humanity
Ain't this uniform so flattering?
I never asked you a god damned thing
Don't test me
Second guess me
Protest me
You will disappear” – Green Day

“The ocean breathes salty, wont you carry it in?

In your heart, in your mouth, in your soul.

And maybe we’ll get lucky and we’ll both live again

But I don’t think so.

Wont you tell me what you saw

And Ill tell you what you missed

When the ocean met the sky

You wasted life, why wouldn’t you waste the afterlife?” – Modest Mouse

“Pieces of us die everyday
As though our flesh were hell
Such injustice, as children we are told
That from God we fell,
Where are my angels?
Where's my golden one?
Where's my hope
now that my heros have gone?
Some are being beaten
Some are being born
And some can't tell
the difference anymore
Amen
Hallelujah” – Jewel

“When you find yourself falling down
Your hopes in the sky by your heart like grape gum on the ground
And you try to find yourself
In the abstractions of religion and the cruelty of everyone else
And you wake up, to realize your standard of living somehow got stuck on survive.” – Jewel

They say abortion will send you straight to a fiery hell
That is if the fanatics don't beat Satan to the kill
They say that Jesus loves you
What about me? – Jewel

She's an ugly girl, does it make you want to kill her?
She's an ugly girl, do you want to kick in her face?
She's an ugly girl, she doesn't pose a threat.
She's an ugly girl, does that make you feel safe?
Ugly girl, ugly girl, do you hate her
Cause she's pieces of you?
She's a pretty girl, does she make you think nasty thoughts?
She's a pretty girl, do you want to tie her down?
She's a pretty girl, do you call her a bitch?
She's a pretty girl, did she sleep with your whole town?
Pretty girl, pretty girl, do you hate her
Cause she's pieces of you?
You say he's a faggot, does it make you want to hurt him?
You say he's a faggot, do you want to bash in his brain?
You say he's a faggot, does he make you sick to your stomach?
You say he's a faggot, are you afraid you're just the same?
Faggot, Faggot, do you hate him
Cause he's pieces of you?
You say he's a Jew, does it mean that he's tight?
You say he's a Jew, do you want to hurt his kids tonight?
You say he's a Jew, he'll never wear that funny hat again.
You say he's a Jew as though being born were a sin.
Oh Jew, oh Jew, do you hate him
Cause he's pieces of you – Jewel

Poverty stole your golden shoes
But it didn't steal your laughter
And heartache came to visit me
But I knew it wasn't ever after
We'll fight, not out of spite
For someone must stand up for what's right
'Cause where there's a man who has no voice
There ours shall go sing
My hands are small I know
But they're not yours, they are my own
But they're not yours, they are my own
And I am never broken
In the end only kindness matters – Jewel

Walk in a corner shop
See a shoplifting cop
See the old lady with a gun
See the hero try to run
Nothing's what it seems, I mean
It's not all dirty, but it's not all clean
There's children paying bills
There's monks buying thrills
There's pride for sale in magazines
There's pills for rent to make you clean
Marvin Gaye, there's no brother, brother
Woody Guthrie's land can't feed Mother

Mothers weep, children sleep
So much violence ends in silence
It's a shame there's no one to blame
For all the pain that life brings
If you will just take me It might just complete me
And together we can make a stand

A waitress brings me lunch
We meet but do not touch
On TV, D.C. is selling lies
While in the corner, King's dream dies
Go to the counter, pay for me and my friend
A homeless man pulls out a roll, says it's on him
The mayor has no cash
He said he spent it on hookers and hash - Jewel

 ‘It annoys me that the burden of proof is on us. It should be: ‘You came up with the idea. Why do you believe it?’ I could tell you I’ve got superpowers. But I can’t go up to people saying ‘Prove I can’t fly.’ They’d go: ‘What do you mean ‘Prove you can’t fly’? Prove you can!” - Ricky Gervias