I’m going out on a limb here. Because the points you make in this post, Pastor Brian, truly are radical, controversial you could say. Because at the heart of Christianity’s history in America, we see some damn ugly things, things that Christians today will BE VERY naïve to, if they only intake approved “Christian” ideas, books, music, movies, etc… Christianity is built on too much bloodshed for me, and in my humble opinion, I am ready for a complete re-think of every tradition and long held notion which we celebrate. We must Not trivialize the violence inflicted on fellow man in the name of Christ. And we do trivialize it by participating in traditions that we don’t even understand the history of. We don’t know exactly where they started, and why. So the “American Christian” label doesn’t represent the true belly of the faith, and maybe it hasn’t for a long long time. But rather the parts which we know today, may only be here because their power is built on the blood of people who were deemed “unrighteous” by our ancestors. They used a grading scale of racism, sexism, slavery, domination, and humility to justify their actions… ::crickets::

I wonder how those ancestors visualized Christ in their minds…The Humble-poor-wandering-servant of humanity; The Majestic-powerful-bearded-saint whom sits on a cloud-with-a very large book of Life, The ALL powerful-Judge-backed by Holy Spirit Fire- and riding on the wings of the Dawn- with thee Baddest angel army-a man-ever did see… Which Jesus were they taking orders from? What does the Jesus from the Bible order? How do we know?