I watched a portion of “God’s Warriors” on CNN and was suitably dismayed and saddened at the fanaticism of so many religious believers around the world. But I was most disturbed by the Christian fundamentalists who appeared to me to be little different than the extremists of Islam and other religions. It seems to me that they are constrained only by laws and an American patriotic ethos. I have no doubt that, if they could figure out a way to do it and still call it democracy, we could easily be living in a theocratic dictatorship. Disturbed is probably the wrong word; frightened might be more like it. I was most disturbed by them because they are supposed to be my brothers and sisters in Christ. After all, we are both supposed to be under oath to serve God as faithful ministers of the gospel: to proclaim the good news of God in Christ. But in these “Christian” extremists I see an abhorrent distortion of the bible and Jesus’ teaching that misleads their followers, and the general public, about what Christ and Christianity actually stands for. What makes it so scary is that there is just enough hint of truth in their propaganda to make it believable to a gullible people. They claim that the popular American culture has become steeped in moral depravity, and in a sense they’re right. Violent entertainment, both live and in video games, “reality” shows that encourage selfish gain through deceit and betrayal, toleration of corruption in government, government policies that endorse injustice and play games with the poor, corporate greed, rampant consumerism and more than that are all indicators of growing social toleration of destructive values and behavior. Those are things that really got God’s dander up as seen in the words of the prophets and Jesus. But these things don’t seem to bother the fundamentalists very much. They are consumed with other things that exhibit their own sort of depravity. All they can think about is sex, abortion, homosexuality and the proper role of women. Their new addition is a move toward a gospel of greed that promises material wealth to right believers. They wallow in this stuff day and night. They thunder about it with words intended to elicit hate, fear and anxiety. With threats and promises of hell and damnation on the one hand and a uniquely American version of “virgins in paradise” on the other, they acquire their followers. But where is Jesus in any of it? Apart from thumping the bible and using his name a lot, he is nowhere near. This is not good. As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD (look it up).
well said, cp. this is the line that really stuck out to me:\”What makes it so scary is that there is just enough hint of truth in their propaganda to make it believable to a gullible people.\”i know you are not a big movie watcher, but i think you might find \”jesus camp\” quite interesting. i had the same feeling of \”just enough hint of truth\” from both sides of the \’discussion.\’ i spent many years of my life just taking things in and not questioning, because i thought everyone knew more than i did and had already thought things out and knew the real deal, so i could just follow their lead (and i am not speaking only of christianity here). i\’m pretty certain that fits into the definition of gullible and there are LOTS of people that fall into that category just waiting for someone to tell them the truth. that (for me) is the really scary part!and even now i find myself squirming a little as i consider who am i to define \”truth\” for anyone but myself?thanks for keeping me thinking!
CP – liked the post and Lucy\’s comments as well!