"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Ghandi
Yes, that perspective definitely has merit - but as I mentioned, mostly just if you base it on USA Christians.
The Christians I've met in Mexico (and that I consistently read about in many other countries) are vastly different.
Of course there are exceptions to everything I'm saying.
There is one other mistake that people like Ghandi may have made. Focusing exclusively on the Gospels rather than also on the other 98.9 % of the Bible. I'm not sure about that, it's just a hunch.
The last point is just that (in my opinion), it makes no sense to reject a truth, an ideal, a religion, or a God, simply because you have observed many of their followers who fail to live up to the ideal.
That would be like saying: "People are so unkind. I guess kindness must be fantasy of the weak and hypocritical!"
Where Ghandi's perspective is lacking is that following Christians was never the point, nor the ask. It's following Christ.
Last "point" is that following Christ is a very high ideal. You will commonly find people only half heartedly trying, and therefore it doesn't make much difference in their life.
This actually isn't unusual, nor unique to Christianity. It's like a person with addiction going to a 12 step meeting and learning to live by spiritual principles. It's
very hard - and most people only attain a small % of what they might, or could, or want. Sometimes people discard it, claiming it didn't work when really they didn't work it. In fact, most initial attendees do just that. And yet, it lives on, a program never being discarded simply because 75% of its "followers" didn't work it.
Personally, I find an overwhelming number of inspiring Christians. Then again, there are all kinds of them and it's a busy world out there that we're receiving a lot of inputs for.
You find what you are looking for.
