Evangelicals Have It All Wrong

Evangelicals complain a great deal about being mistreated.

Well, what do they expect?
Seems to me, Jesus makes it clear:
"What they did to me, they'll do to you."

So, why not be grateful for the mistreatment?
It's proof, is it not, of faithfulness?
Should it not be a joy for evangelicals?

I mean, "blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad."

So, what's the evangelical beef?
Well the beef is this!
They expect this nation to be theirs.
They expect to be in charge of the sandbox, king of the hill, and Commander in Chief.

This is a "christian nation."
And not just any brand.
But their brand.

But it doesn't go their way.
Except for now.
When the Orange Crush is in the Oval Orifice.
And folks like Franklin Graham and Paula White have his ear.
Because he wants their votes.
And they want his power.

What the evangelicals understand is power.
Control and dominance.
One nation under god.
Under god's heel.
Their heel.

On the throat of the nation.
No more bad people.
Well, at least poor people.
Who are lazy and no good.

And no more abortions, because it's murder.
And there will be no murder in their land.
And if bad guys die, well, that's not murder.
That's god's justice.

Bad guys.
Bad women.
Refugees who are only a cover for Islamic Terrorists.
All those children.
You bet.
Evil to the core.
Sinners for sure.
They believe in foreign gods.
Idols.
Alah.
And all the other gods of all those foreigners.

So, fly the bombers and launch the drones.
Build the fences and ban the Muslims.
Because we lub je-e-sus.
And je-e-sus lubs us.
Uh huh ...

So, no more mistreatment of us.
We take no joy in it.
We hate it.
And we hate you, too.
For mistreating us.

Put us in charge.
And it'll end.
And so will you.
You piece of unbelieving shit.
Oh excuse, I mean, you reprobate.
God loves you, and so do I, but let me warn you: don't believe a word I say.
You minion of hell.
You servant of Satan.
Lost piece of scum that you are.

Woo hoo ... I can feel the spirit.
Power flowing through my limbs.
Guns and the smell of napalm in the morning.
Good for a soul weary of being mistreated.

Well, that's the evangelical beef.
I think they've got it all wrong.
They've been wrong for a long time.
And the wronger one is, the more war monger one becomes.

War against everyone.
Who will not see it their way.
Who will not bow down to their little tin gods and phony miracles.

Oh well ... what does any of this mean?
I know they're wrong.
Seriously and dangerously wrong.

No One's Gonna Hush Us Up

As you may know, I'm reading a new bio on Martin Luther, the birther (hee hee) of the Reformation, 500 years ago.

Folks were always telling him to hush up and work it out.
Glad he didn't.

Was he perfect?
Heaven's no. Or maybe
Hell no.

But who is?
Yet, in our imperfections, can we not hope that
Some will show up who can beat the odds?

Luther did, for good and for ill.
And more for good than not.
And the ill remains anyway.

We fight the ill.
We faith the good.
And no one's gonna hush us up.

And we'll not work it out.
Because in such out-working.
The good is lost.

We will work, nonetheless.
But not for a sham piece of the pie.
But for the peace that surpasses all.

Thank you Martin Luther.
Thank you Martin Luther King, Jr.
Thank you John Lewis.

Driving Etiquette???

On a recent post, someone noted that
Folks don't say thanks all that much
Anymore.

Driving these days, I let someone in.
A wave, a nod?
Nope.

Of course, some do: a nod, or a wave.
I like that ...
Indeed.

Evangelicalism, Violence and Abortion

Evangelicalism is a violent expression of faith.

Whether it be the conversion of others and the subsequent condemnation of their religion and life, or waving the flag in heated hyper-nationalism and cheering on the dogs of war, or threatening children with hellfire and brimstone unless they quickly receive Jesus as their personal savior and be baptized, there is violence in the heart and soul of evangelicalism.

But violence demands compensation.

Even the most violent of people create for themselves some kind of an honor code to compensate for their otherwise sad lives.

Evangelicalism has crafted its honor code with a stance against abortion.

In its own backward and upside down way, evangelicalism portrays itself as kindly and faithful, loving and wise, and obedient to the gospel of god.

It's compensation ... and oddly enough, even here, evangelicals cannot escape their inclination to violence.

Even as they defend the "unborn," they threaten violence to the mothers who choose abortion, and to those who offer the procedure.

Ever here, rather than perhaps hanging their heads in sorrow and fleeing to the throne of mercy, evangelicals do the evangelical thing: violence.

Because of evangelical violence, this bizarre honor code is maintained with its own forms of violence - "You see how good we are? How loving of the unborn we are?"

Even as Second Amendment rights are touted from pulpit and podium, the flags of war waved against others who not of their own kind and the social disease of racism maintained as an expression of purity.

Violence on every hand is the evangelical way, and to compensate, evangelicals have crafted an illusion for themselves, that they love and protect the unborn.

And in so doing, unwittingly, have fled from God and turned to the task of their own justification - a decision that never ends well.

Those who live by the sword die by the sword ... those who embrace violence do violence to their own soul, and what's left is a ragged and angry human being who can't shake his or her own condemnation, no matter the honor code they self-create to compensate for their willful and deadly violence against others.

Karl Barth on Conservative Sexual Obsession

A gem from Barth ...

"So much secrete dissatisfaction with one's own conduct in this sphere, so much vexation at defeats which cannot be reversed and seem to cry out for revenge, so much indirect indemnification for virtue unwillingly maintained, so much repressed but in point of fact extremely virulent lust, can find vent in this preoccupation. One can be properly concerned about sexual ethics only when one has a clear head and a firm heart. Given a clear head and firm heart, sex will cease to be isolated and made a false absolute, either in theory or in practice. It will be understood in its vital connection with the real centre and with other aspects of the divine command and of the obedience we owe it. Therefore let it be said as a definite warning that the man who in reading or hearing ethics begins to pay attention only at this point endures the suspicion of being a doubtful character. And we can only advise or appeal to him to drop the matter for the time being and to consider how he might best come by the clear head and the firm heart which will enable him to give it proper consideration. A diversion from sexual ethics to the point of departure of al ethics and therefore to God and oneself is perhaps a fundamental requirement for many and even the majority of men in this matter of sexual ethics." CD, 3.4.119

When I read this gem from Karl Barth, I immediately thought of James Dobson and his evangelical cohorts, what with their fixation on human anatomy, that portion of the body located somewhere between the chest and the knees, a fixation that is clearly unbalancing Dobson, revealing, as Barth suggests, a man of "doubtful character." 

By making one aspect of our life before God the center of their concerns, evangelicals, are in fact, guilty of violating the command of God, to find purpose in God's own love for creation, for all, for one another. So, it's no wonder how violent and vicious evangelicals have become - living in violation of the heart and soul of God's mercy and grace, they turn upon one another, and the world around them, with the harshest of judgments and ceaseless condemnation, compelling their adherents, if not themselves, to live in blindness and fear, in some vain effort to quite the heart as it cries out for something better. No wonder they are such an unhappy lot.

Health in Your Hands???

"Your health in your hands" reads the tagline on a website ...


I thought, "True enough, but are there no other hands?"


What about the hands that manage the air I breath?
Or the hands that grow, process and package the food I eat?
The hands that mange the water I drink?
The hands that fill our world with ads to eat this, buy that, drink all the more?


Our health is in lots of hands.
Hands that would just as soon remain anonymous.


And, of course, if we get sick, it's our fault.
No one else's.
Because our health is in our hands.


Or so the other hands want us to believe.

Well, It's Sunday!

Well, it's Sunday.
Now what?
For me?
Church.


Been there all of my life.
Early-on memories, dark
Vaulted, beamed
Ceiling.


Pews too high for
Short legs.
Swinging away.
Listening.


Parents, brother.
Preacher in the pulpit.
Windows, glass, stained.
Light.


Pot luck dinners.
VBS, and I didn't like it.
Not one bit.
Played a seed in the Sower Drama.


God.
Early-on memories.
Presence.
Good and kind and loving.


I don't know what religion means.
I don't know what church is all about.
It's my DNA.
It's bone of my bone.


I cry with music.
I nod my head in hope.
I pray to be mindful and kind.
I want things for my family.


Life is short.
And gets shorter all the time.
Days hurry on.
Time passes on.


It's Sunday.
A time to think about
Passing things, and things, that may be
Permanent.