A reprint of an earlier post about Christians
25 03 2008This was originally submitted to me by a reader, who for whatever reason, stopped blogging. The original, with the credit, can be found in the archives.
Why Fundagelical (a wonderful term I read on Pharyngula today) Christians are the way they are:
1. They must live lives that show how good God is.
* This keeps them from admitting when they are wrong
* It keeps them from being honest about the shit in their lives
2. Only Christians possess any wisdom.
* totally destroys their perspective
* isolates them from some awesome knowledge
* allows really stupid people to rise to power in the churches
3. Sin can be outwardly defined and measured; It is the breaking of certain rules.
* they have to create a list of rules (each denomination has a different list)
* They have to do something to those people who break the rules.
* They have to elevate those people who keep the rules.
4. Basic human logic does not reflect God’s logic, his thoughts are higher than ours, therefore our logic must be flawed.
* they reject sound logic
* they think that God must then think the opposite of what most people think. They often do the opposite of what they originally think is right.
* That believe that unsaved people are incapable of understanding anything
5. It is a Christian’s duty to force the government they live under, to do the right thing. Only then will a nation escape God’s judgment.
* they try to legislate morality (even though “the law” clearly showed that morality cannot be legislated)
* They pour their resources into politics and hopeless causes that do nothing to help the poor or build up the communities in which they live.
* They concentrate more on restricting the freedom of others, than they do on living peaceable, quiet lives that reflect God’s love.
6. God must be feared and revered, children therefore, must be taught to fear and obey their parents because parents are representatives of God.
* they justify doing cruel things to their children
* they are arrogant about their position in their children’s lives.
All I have to say is that “perfect love casts out fear” it doesn’t instill it.
7. Humility is being humble about how much you know.
* they don’t even recognize their own arrogance
* They can be stubborn and close-minded and still feel humble.
8. There is nothing worse than sexual sin.
* They improperly prepare their children for the natural desire to have sex. They mystify sex.
* they distort passages in the Bible to justify their obsession with sexual sin.
* they lie about their own desires.
* They list, but ignore ‘sins” that have an equal impact on society such as gluttony, turning your back on the poor, not caring for orphans, slander, arrogance, malice, stubbornness, hatred, murder…
9. The Bible should be taken literally. The Bible should be taken allegorically. The Bible is all HE wrote. The Bible is magical. (Take your pick)
* They elevate it above God.
* They refuse to believe anything unless they can prove it through the “scriptures”.
* They use the Bible to beat up people who do things that annoy them.
10. God’s “need” for justice outweighs his desire for mercy and compassion.
* they cannot relate to people who live in freedom or any decisions that allow freedom.
* they are afraid to sin, terrified, paralyzed by the fear
* they resent those who “get away with” living lives they find offensive
Yeahhhhhh … sorry about that.
Some Christians really slurp on the actual “being a follower of Christ” thing.
And on that note, I’ll leave you with a very stereotypical joke that I heard growing up …
Ya’ know why Baptists are so adamantly opposed to premarital sex?
They’re afraid it might lead to dancing.
Buh-dum-dum-CHING!
Thank you! I’ll be here all night!!
Hmmm, I have come across a lot of people like that, and they are not necessarily Christian either, I simply refer to them as the LOST ones.
I think I’ll refer to them as assholes myself. I’ve certainly seen them in other circles Karisma but we have a whopping pile of them in Christianity. We manufacture them en masse.
It’s the complete and utter lack of self-reflection that gets me. The arrogance and unwillingness to take an honest look in the mirror. And I always give them just a bit too much credit. And inevitably it’s Doc that knocks sense into me.
Or, you get sense knocked into you by those types of people and leave what you thought was the right thing. I’ve renounced my faith(thankfully) because of these idiots. I’ve just come to the realization that they just have no clue what they are talking about.
And my life is so much better because of it.
toni
Hey Doc,
Here’s a book suggestion for anyone who’s interested in exploring this topic further:
Why God Won’t Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief by Newburg
(quick brain teaser for any evangelical extremists who read this: I’m not a Christian and I’m not an atheist……..what am I?)
The biggest problem I see with fundamentalist Christianity (as commonly practiced) is that there is a constant emphasis on distrusting your own conscience (“lean not on your own understanding” and “man’s wisdom is but foolishness,” …). My former church (which teaches pastors worldwide, and is highly influential in many ways) made the “understanding the ways of God is like an ant trying to understand the internet” popular. It’s why I picked it up as a theme on my blog and a reason why I harp on it so much. The message is obviouly very dangerous. You can argue with Brian till the cows come home. Maybe someday it’ll sink through; for now, however, the Bible doesn’t inform his conscience. It has replaced his conscience.