“I’d be a Christian if it were not for the Christians.” —Mahatma Gandhi

Ephesians 4:30-32, “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”

Dear reader, you may be the only Jesus that someone knows. Pastor Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899) rightly said: “Out of 100 men, one will read the Bible, the other 99 will read the Christian.” That is absolutely true! Having said that as introduction, please read this:

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗚𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗵𝗶 𝘀𝗮𝘆, ‘𝗜𝗳 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻’𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘀, 𝗜’𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝗮 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗻?’ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗞𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗮𝘀 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿 (𝗧𝗡𝗦)

Chuck Stanford, lama emeritus, Rime Buddhist Center: To fully understand this quote, it is important to know the backstory from where it came.

While Gandhi was a practicing Hindu, Christianity intrigued him. In his reading of the Gospels, Gandhi was impressed by Jesus whom Christians worshiped and followed. He wanted to know more about this Jesus that Christians referred to as “the Christ, the Messiah.”

The Rev. Pattison tells the following story: One Sunday morning Gandhi decided that he would visit one of the Christian churches in Calcutta. Upon seeking entrance to the church sanctuary, he was stopped at the door by the ushers.

He was told he was not welcome, nor would he be permitted to attend this particular church as it was for high-caste Indians and whites only. He was neither high caste, nor was he white. Because of the rejection, the Mahatma turned his back on Christianity.

With this act, Gandhi rejected the Christian faith, never again to consider the claims of Christ. He was turned off by the sin of segregation that was practiced by the church. It was due to this experience that Gandhi later declared, “I’d be a Christian if it were not for the Christians.’“

SOURCE: https://www.vvdailypress.com/story/lifestyle/faith/2016/08/26/why-did-gandhi-say-x2018/985856007/

“𝗜’𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝗮 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗳 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘀.” —𝗠𝗮𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗺𝗮 𝗚𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗵𝗶

I couldn't help but be reminded of the cold-hearted leaders at Campus Church and Pensacola Christian College (PCC). As of August 2, 2022 their rotten pastors have banned me from attending their church. It didn't matter that I apologized for criticizing them on social media, nor that I offered to do whatever they require to reconcile and make things right, they still refused. That is why we are enemies today.

Mahatma Gandhi was told he was not welcome (just like I was told I am not welcome), nor would he be permitted to attend this particular church (just like I am not permitted to attend Campus Church). If I didn't know any better, I'd never become a Christian because of the bigotry, hatred, Pharisaism and woeful lack of compassion for individual people at PCC. The way we treat people matters. It really does! People just want to be loved.