My church had a giant crucifix with a silver Jesus on it. Probably cost over $100,000. Pews made of carved mahogany, a jewelled chalice, gold-plated eucharist dish. No expense spared on this church.
One day my faith was tested and I was very sick and needed some spiritual guidance very badly. I wanted to kill myself because of this illness. So I went to the church. (it was around 6PM) and there was a priest in the office. He was playing Solitare on the PC. I said "Father, I need help. Do you have a moment to talk?" Without even looking at me he just said "We're closed. Come back tomorrow during our regular hours.
So I left and went to visit my family cemetary plot and decided to talk (one-way conversation) with my father instead of "a" father. A cried a lot and sitting there next to the grave of my dad, I lost my faith. Not because God failed me but because the church did. I'm not a priest, but if anyone came to me in pain, I'd talk to them, especially if all I was doing was playing Solitare. That church had no right to turn me away like that yet so boldly display their wealth.
Should I have gone back the next day with a whip and given them the lashings they deserved? Would I have been justified in the eyes of God? No. Besides finding myself in jail or a mental institution, my act would have been made in anger and violent. If it were justified to whip people because they make a profit on God, the world would run out of whips in a day. We are all humans in this world. While I might be justified to turn my back on someone for being and affront to God, I am never justified to whip them because I am not worthy of holding that judgement against another man.
And where does it end? With just whips? How about chains? How about a sword? A gun? A bomb? The end of the world? It ends where it began: By putting down the whip. I never said Jesus was a douche. Nor did I imply it. I just said he could get angry and brandish a whip. He shouldn't have done that. And of all the stories in the New Testament, I find this one to be the most believable. Because it was an attack on the same people who decided to crucify him. It explains the justification for crufixiction better than anything else. Jesus's act with the whip was an act of terrorism. It was an attack on the Jews income, their ability to support their loved ones. Was it right, was it wrong? That is for God to judge, but in the end, mankind judged him as guilty.
BTW, i found my faith again years later. I am still a Christian. But I'll never forget the lesson of that day: Even those who live in the house of God fuck up.