Fundies Stole My Jesus!

Ken AshfordBlogging, Godstuff, Web RecommendationsLeave a Comment

That’s the cry of an angry single mom at, uh, the Angry Single Mom blog.  Here’s a sample:

Arthur Ruger wrote a thought-provoking article about the dichotomy between the Jesus of the New Testament and the Jesus of the fundamentalists. He correctly compares the High Priests of Evangelical Hyperbole to the Pharisees and the Sadducees, those responsible for Jesus’ death. The Pharisees brought charges against Christ to the Temple high priests. The Sadducees then handed the Messiah to the Romans to be crucified. The evangelicals and fundamentalists continue to pound away at the nails, crucifying Christ on the Cross of their selective interpretation of Old Testament Law.

Fundamentalists and evangelicals both use the New Testament to show how God forgives sinners, then use the Old Testament law to beat anyone over the head who doesn’t agree with their narrow and oftentimes erroneous interpretation. For example, homosexuality is considered an abomination in the Old Testament. However, the original Greek of the New Testament uses a word that means homosexual prostitution only. For fundies, homosexuality (usually a 16-syllable condemnation in their limited vocabulary) is an abomination, regardless of what the early Church had to say about it. The logical extension of this, in fundie world, is that gay marriage will destroy western civilization.

The catfight over displays of the Ten Commandments runs into this bizarre paradox, too. We all are to abide by the Ten Commandments, according to the religious right, but other parts of the Law as explicitly spelled out in Deuteronomy and Leviticus are ignored completely. The logical extension of this is that spending all of one’s righteous energy to ban gay marriage is somehow more holy than fixing the appalling rates of heterosexual divorce and spousal abuse.

I happen to agree with Carl Sagan’s observation in the book Contact that if God really wanted us to pay attention He would have carved the Ten Commandments in the moon so that all of humanity could see them.

The God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament don’t resemble each other, either. A psychologist friend of mine diagnosed the Old Testament Almighty as "Severe Personality Disorder with Psychotic Features and Narcissism." In contrast, the Jesus-God, and later Holy Spirit-God of the New Testament is forgiving and understanding, and capable of dispensing grace to those most unworthy.

Apparently, He’s no longer voting Republican.

Christians on both sides of the aisle, both conservative as well as progressive, need to take a deep breath, have a gut check, and get moving. There’s a whole world out there to serve, and the message of the entire Bible is to live the Message. So get to work!

Here’s another sample:

According to the Dr. Jerry Falwell, evangelical Christians overwhelmingly supported the war in Iraq. Despite evidence to the contrary, the good reverend and his ilk continue to perpetuate this myth.

Why are conservative Christians so eager to settle matters with guns? Why are they so willing to risk the lives of other peoples’ children? Why can’t they remember the words of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, who said:

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful. (John 14:27 ASV)

All I can say it . . . more more more like it, please.