Well, here we go again, serving up a few mixed drinks while hoping the kick from the mixture will win over the American public.
It’s the same old kool aid that’s been served to “we the people” over the past four years.
First you blend together a cup of religious rhetoric, mixed with two cups of political jargon and throw in a few ounces of selective social sentences and there you have it – the same old “nothing.”
But we’re supposed to drink it like a glass of warm milk before bedtime and rest easy because the government is in control and we’re all better off for it.
The only proper snack to serve up with such a mixed drink is two slices of stale bread and a bunch of bologna.
It doesn’t sound right when it comes out of their mouths and, like the fast food sandwich I recently consumed for a late-day lunch, it’s even worse once it lies in your stomach for a little while.
The recent bombings that killed one of our distinguished diplomats and a couple of other Americans brought out the comments from both sides and quite frankly, both sides should have done a little better job at checking the ingredients rather than just slinging something together and serving it up.
President Obama says that, as Americans, we respect all religions.
Sounds good, but it would have sounded a lot better had there been a hint of truth to his statement.
We are to respect the Muslim faith while at the same time Christianity has become the brunt of jokes, the criticism of many of our government officials, and, because Christians have certain beliefs, have become tagged as hate-mongers, bigots and fanatics.
Besides, since when do we owe our respect to those who use their religion to incite violence like what happened on Sept. 11, 2001 and now again on Sept. 11, 2012?
I haven’t seen the alleged video that has been talked about, which reportedly runs down the Muslim god and I have no intentions of searching the Internet to find it.
I think it should be condemned, based on the reported content of the video.
But if we’re going to condemn that video, and so we should, then let’s start pulling half the shows off of prime time television that make fun of God and Christianity.
Last Tuesday night’s pilot of a new show didn’t make it five minutes into the program before one guy made fun of another because of the way he was dressed.
According to the scoffer, it would be fine if you were taking your date to a Christian rock concert, but not if you were going out on a real date.
And where were the officials when The Last Temptation of Christ was not only published over the Internet, but played openly in theatres and video? Talk about disrespect to one’s religious beliefs.
And let’s hush the comedians, such as Kathy Giffin and others who make their living publicly bashing God and Christians.
And on this whole ordeal, presidential candidate Mitt Romney could have, and should have, waited a few minutes before releasing a statement on the issue.
Why not let politics rest for a day while we mourn the deaths of our fellow Americans who were slain in the attack? And why not do what we did before when we gathered our political troops on the steps of our nation’s Capital and prayed for God’s wisdom and intervention?
I’m concerned that the upcoming election will not be based on what’s best for the economy, or how we can get our nation out of debt.
I’m concerned about the fact that it’s not going to be about how we get back to graduating students from our schools who have actually learned something and who are ready to face the world where jobs should be available.
Instead, I’m concerned that the results will be decided by whether or not women are given the right to government-funded abortions at will and whether or not homosexuality will be required to be accepted by all, even if one’s religious faith takes a stand against it.
Yes, I’m concerned that it will be required to be taught in our school systems, as is already being done in many of our school systems across our country, as an accepted alternative lifestyle.
One would already be hard-pressed to find a television show where homosexuality isn’t already portrayed as the new normal.
And I’m concerned that, even in our churches, the kool-aid is becoming a drink of choice.
One thing is for certain – it’s much easier to kick back and relax, sip on a cold glass of kool-aid and float with the tide than it is to paddle against it. The problem is, you’ll simply end up wherever it takes you.
Comparing the words of a pastor to the words of a comedian is not appropriate. One tells us what to believe and what is and is not holy, the other makes lite (and light!) of the contradictions and hypocrisy of the other. The first is both dangerous and dangerous to ignore, and the second is easily ignored, especially by those it would otherwise keep honest. Also, let’s admit that Christianity has been the most violent and invasive religion in the history of the world, and to complain about being attacked by comedians probably sounds ridiculous to the 70% of the world’s population that is not Christian. Watch the terrible, terrible video produced and/or promoted by the Christian pastor in Florida, and you’ll agree it is in a league well above the musings of a comedian.
We are all Children of god, yet the most religious among us behave as if only they can know him. They spend so much time telling others what is right and wrong, rather than guiding them how to live better. “Better” and “Correct” are really parts of two distinct scales; one is formative and the other is absolute. I worry that someone might save all of your blog posts and columns, and then send them to your grandchildren 10 or 15 or years from now. Will they be proud of their grandfather because, like Christ, he championed understanding and helping the underdog, the poor, the disadvantaged, the underserved or the oppressed; or will they be embarrassed by his rigidity ignorance, bigotry, narrowed worldview, and hypocrisy? I’m praying they’ll know you as the former.
Of course Matthew 7:12 reminds us of the Golden Rule, which predates Christianity by almost 2000 years to Confucius and Ancient Babylonia, and is probably the most consistent component of all major religions. “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
And let’s continue with what Jesus tells us about tolerance:
Most Christians know John 3:16 but forget to continue on to John 3:17, “For God sent His Son into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” Jesus was tolerant of sinners, but not of sin. And he wasn’t at all tolerant of hypocrisy. We see throughout the Gospels that the sinners also loved him. I wish all those twice-married Republicans (who Jesus recognized as adulterers, without exception) would consider also John 8:7, “And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her,” and let those who want to marry, marry. And regarding Christians and Muslims, consider Acts 10:28, “…You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean.” And Romans 14:4, “Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.”
I wish all pastors and preachers with a public voice would remember 1 Peter 3:8-11, which encourages living by example instead of spreading condemnation or deceitful words, “Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.”
Jim, I do hope my blogs are passed down to my grandchildren and they will be able to decide for themselves whether their grandfather was crazy or not. You know, there’s really no different between you and me, other than what we believe. Because in truth, you’re doing the same thing I’m doing, only on the opposite end of the spectrum. Where we meet in the middle is at the point where we each tell people that the other person is crazy and that his belief system is screwed up.
You, on one hand, speak about God as if you know your interpretation is right and no one else can think differently. For it offends you that I believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and that I believe God set the precedence for what is right and what is wrong. Mankind, if given the choice, would seldom ever put restrictions on him or herself. As it was in the days of old, the Bible said, “And every man did that which was right in his (or her) own eyes.”
Without God as our source for right and wrong, we are free to conjur up anything we want and even take it to the point where we can produce a religion out of it. Jim Jones was at one time living proof of how mankind will follow any fanatic who is charismatic enough, no matter what the message. Even to the point of drinking the perverbial kool-aid.
I guess you can say that, you and I are serving up our own brand of kool-aid, me teaching what the Bible says and you teaching a very liberal point of view of God with man being mainly the power of his own destiny by living out whatever he believes, as long as he’s not hypocritical enough.
I stand on John 14 where Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life and that no man comes to the Father but through Me.”
With that in mind, how can I take the sacrifice of his own life for the sins of mankind and shrink it down to a self-appointed, self-motivated religion?
One day, if God is real and He is going to judge each and every one of us, (For it is appointed unto a man once to die, and after that the judgement.” Heb. 9:27. And if that is the case, you and I will stand before the same God (since there is only one True God) and be judged for our actions, our reactions, the good and bad we’ve done. I’m comfortable that I have spent much of my life trying to lead people to a personal relationship with this Jesus, who died for them.
I’m really not trying to drink my kool-aid because I don’t have any to serve up except for what I find in the scriptures, that being that Jesus is still the Way the Truth and the Life and that He is the is the only way to the Father.
I am so glad that I am a Zmember of Christ Community Church and have a pastor that will stand up for the Word of God. Thank you Pastor Don