I Don’t Want To Be A Christian

I don’t want to be a Christian
If Christianity means not the following of Christ, 
but of a Church - a particular church 
and her doctrine, and her gospel and her preachers
A church that tells tales of a god I struggle vainly
to locate in the Bible the preacher says is his guide
a god powerful enough to multiply money 
like he did bread and fish but bias enough 
to make only the preacher’s purse the 
regular beneficiary of His money miracles

I don’t want to be religious
If religion means the obedience of 
not the divine laws I find so boldly inscribed 
in the Holy Book, but of laws of men, enacted 
by men for the benefit of a select group of men 

I came here in desperation
To this system called "church" 
In hunger - like a starving lion I came 
I came plagued with sorrow and dressed in questions
The preacher sold to me a God I found worth having
But I find here, in this place called church, a system like a 
Slow-killing poison, which rebels against the very God 
it portrays to serve. But I don’t want to be 
a Christian who serves a church of men
And not the Church of God. 

Author: Christian Foli

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