Facebook Faith #41 Phelps is Dead. At Least He Died Honest.

It has been good to see so many folks taking the high road when it came to Fred Phelps' death. Even people who had been personally wounded by him chose to turn the other cheek and wish his family well.

It would be easy to hate Phelps. When I first heard of his death, I must confess that my internal response was not a gracious one. So much pain perpetuated by one man did not seem deserving of even an ounce of good will. I reminded myself that here was a man so plagued by his personal demons, so wounded and broken, that he fashioned himself a god that demanded him to wound others. His religion became the vehicle for his venom.

Yet, I have to give him this... he was honest. You knew where you stood with the man. He and his god thought the rest of us were lower than the gunk on his boot - and he did not hesitate to look you in the eye and tell you so.

Contrast that with so many other religious folks who smile at you warmly, speak in soft tones, and tell you they love you. Meanwhile, they are preparing their blade as they invite you into an embrace. What they say to you, and what they honestly feel, are two different things.

I watched this play out on a Facebook page recently. Phelps' death was being discussed and one Christian man commented that his treatment of the military was regrettable. Apparently, he only viewed the military treatment as problematic. He then went on to clarify that homosexuals were an abomination.  They should not be allowed to marry and they should stop being gay. To have an alternate view is to stand against god. Still, he said he didn't hate anyone and would pray for all of us.

I hear a lot of Christians giving very similar rhetoric. I think of it as Phleps-Lite. This is where you get to hold to every position of Fred Phelps, but believe you are somehow different because you deliver that same message with a smile and a hug.

To me, the only difference between Fred Phelps and the average conservative Christian is delivery style. It is similar to Delores Umbridge and Voldemort in the Harry Potter story. Both stood against Harry. Both wanted him eliminated. Both hated him.

Voldemort's hate blazed in his eyes. Delores hid hers behind soft tones, feigned concern, and a predator's smile.

But both had similar plans for Harry.

I don't believe there is an afterlife, but if I did I would hope that Phelps can now rest from the burden of his hostility, and that his wounds have been healed.

In the end, I preferred the bigotry Fred wore on his sleeve, to the slippery words of "love" offered by so many Christians who quietly share Fred's heart.

Facebook Faith #40 - Oh Sweet Irony!

I am going to have an impish grin on my face for the rest of the week. Yesterday one of my former Pastors and I were in a discussion on Facebook. He had used the phrase unconditional love in a context about god. I questioned him about the use of that phrase, considering that his church also believes that same god will be consigning a good portion of creation to eternal damnation. We had a cordial conversation about Hell theology. At the close of our conversation, one of the church's congregants weighed in with John Piper's view of unconditional love (it is only for the elect).

Her perspective, I believe, is the end game of keeping Hell in your church theology - even if you minimize it. Her closing comment could not have been more perfect - and is evidence to me that the Universe has a wonderful sense of irony... and thinks I rock! :)

_________________________________________________


Kacy -  This conversation was very interesting to me. I had a very simple statement, which I have come by on my own accord, but then I found this article that I think sums up God's unconditional love perfectly. My simple statement, that I have come to through God, bible studies and a community of Christian brethren, is this...God loves you no matter what, period. Of course there is punishment for not answering His call. If you child disobeys you, do you not discipline them in some manner or another? I may have taken something completely different away then what you two were discussing, but felt compelled to answer in simplicity. Also, this was just too perfect not to share :)


Is God's Love Unconditional?
www.desiringgod.org
Provides God Centered resources from the ministry of Dr. John Piper. Features free sermon videos, audios, books, articles, Bible studies and online store.


Andrew Hackman Disciplining a child for their good is infinitely different from the notion of eternal damnation. I accept the former and condemn the latter.


Kacy -  You have until your very last breath of life on this Earth to believe and accept Jesus as our savior. This simple act is enough to live eternally in Heaven. That being said, how would you discipline your child, taking this in to account, if you were a supernatural being that breathed the universe into existence? How exactly do you punish someone fairly, for turning away from you at every opportunity, knowing his/her choices, knowing there was a possibility of hell, and still choosing to deny you. What then is a fair punishment?


Andrew Hackman I am not so insecure as to be that put out... nor do I see a need to punish any of the "infractions" you describe... let alone doing it to my son or daughter. I honestly would see such behavior as being the work of a petty psychopath... not a decent father, or even a bad one for that matter. I would work to protect people from the creature you have described.


Kacy -  Thank you for your insight. Out of curiosity did you read the article I posted?


Andrew Hackman Yes


Kacy - Good :) Well one of the most beautiful things God gifted us...free will. Much love to you Andrew. Have a great evening! And if you ever change your mind, you are always welcome at K2!

Facebook Faith #39 Phantom Numbers

I am sure there is a psychological term for the sort of behavior that I am about to describe (and if any of you know it, please share).  In the teaching field it runs like this - A parent comes to me to complain that I am giving too much (or too little) homework.  Instead of making a case, they appeal to an argument of phantom numbers:

"Every other parent feels the same way!"

In reality, they have no idea who may or may not also hold this view.  However, it gives them confidence to enlist this phantom support group. I am sure that approach has its similar sibling in other professions, but that is how it goes down in mine.

I have noticed phantom numbers cropping up a bit on Facebook lately.  I tend to get involved in religious discussions which, for the most part, are about the issue not individuals.  However, I have a couple people in my friends list who interpret every inquiry that is not blowing flowers up their religion's rear-end to be a personal, full-on, frontal assault.  Within moments, everything about me as a decent human being is called into question... not just by these individuals but, in their estimation, everyone I know.

For example, during a discussion of where charitable inclination originates, one "friend" jumped in:

"Andy, once again, journeyed into a sarcastic, opinionated tyraid about what he perceives as what is wrong with everyone who doesn't see the world the same way he does. He takes his arrogant, condescending attitude and looks down his upturned nose at us all with contempt."

I did not feel any of the attitudes or emotions with which he labeled me.  When I tried to clarify that his use of "everyone" was a bit broad and that most of my friends are religious and yet they do not paint me in the light that he does, he responded:

"...most people are just way to [sic] polite with you to tell you how they really feel about you..."

The argument of phantom numbers.  This person knows my life and my relationships SO WELL, that he is able to kidnap them for his argument.

Everyone else has the SAME view as ME about YOU!

There is a term for this..... I will find it.

Year Long Popcorn

There is a local gourmet popcorn place having a contest to see who can bring the most likes to their page by Monday. This is my son Jake's favorite place... it was on his Christmas list! We are asking for your help with helping him win. So here is what you do:

1. Go to the Rooster's Gourmet Popcorn page and like the page
https://www.facebook.com/RoostersPopcorn

2. Then go here - https://www.facebook.com/RoostersPopcorn/posts/251790078316208 

and then click "Comment" under my comment to leave a comment in support of Jacob ( There are 40+ comments already there). 

It is two minutes of your time, and a few clicks.... Plus, we are giving a hand to a really cool local business!

Facebook Faith # 38 Wicked Core

If your religion has Hell for anyone not in your faith, then this Jesus meme is really what your religion boils down to. You may dress it up or cover it over. You may use words like love, acceptance, redemption, and forgiveness, but they are all rendered inert in the end. You may have exciting services with great music and coffee, excellent facilities, and engaging outreach. Your religion may be attractive in many, many ways.

But at the heart of your faith is a wicked and twisted core.... and it will come out in all the ways you do not want it to... and you will resent people for noticing.

The Apologetic Dance

Apologetics: (from Greek ἀπολογία, "speaking in defense") is the discipline of defending a position (often religious) through the systematic use of information.

What none of the definitions I saw on the Web clarify is that apologetic work is concerned with defending a conclusion that has already been arrived at. It is, at its foundation, the antithesis of the scientific method. While apologetics wants to defend the conclusion by any means necessary, the scientific method aggressively attempts to poke holes in the proposed theory.

Apologetic work goes relatively unchallenged within one's own religion. The only way to see its deformity is by observing it in another. I live in the heart of Mormon country. When I was an Evangelical, I would often hear my friends snicker at Mormon apologetic attempts to defend the veracity of the Book of Mormon.

Of course, what my Evangelical friends could not see was how quickly and wholeheartedly they accepted the weak structure of Evangelical apologetics. Again, one only tends to see the absurdity of apologetics from the outside.

My wife recently got a view of how quietly apologetic work had influenced her throughout her life. Part of apologetics is knowing when to avoid a topic. Though raised in Christianity, my wife had never dealt with what the bible had to say about slavery. After researching it a bit, she declared on Facebook:

I wish Jesus would have taken the opportunity to address slavery. His apostles certainly did. Imagine the radical shift in society if Jesus would have sided with "mercy and compassion" toward those who were owned (abused) by another.

Christians quickly swooped in to do the apologetic dance. The conclusion is that Jesus is divine, good, and perfect... so defenses are offered to support that.

Of course, those apologetic moves only convince the convinced. Their defenses work for Christians in the same way Mormon apologetics work for Mormons - the explanations only satisfy the already converted. To the outsider they are weak and often absurd. On the contrary, to one in the religion, the conclusion is already sure... so almost ANY explanation will do.

For my wife, the answers did not satisfy. She is no longer convinced of the conclusion. Apologetics only works as long as the dancing partner is willing to follow the apologist's lead.

For me, it is clear why Jesus had nothing to say on the issue of slavery. He was ahead of his time... but not that far ahead. Slavery was embedded in the cultures of biblical ages. It was in no way viewed as inherently wrong. So neither he, nor any of the bible authors, conceived it as being immoral.

On the contrary, the bible is supportive of slavery. It tells you how to do it, when to do it, and whom to do it to. It does not in any way, shape, or form reference slavery as an immoral practice. For example:

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ.  (Ephesians 6:5)

However, you may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you. You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must never be treated this way. (Leviticus 25:44-46)

When a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod so hard that the slave dies under his hand, he shall be punished. If, however, the slave survives for a day or two, he is not to be punished, since the slave is his own property. (Exodus 21:20-21)

The apologist will attempt to dance around verses like these with talk of context, and bond-servants, and culture (but mostly they will work at directing the conversation elsewhere). The Christian listening will nod, satisfied, and go back to reading John 3:16.

I often wonder how apologists would need to dance if other sins were substituted for slavery in these verses:

If a spouse is caught in adultery, he or she shall be punished. But if the affair is not caught after a day or two the affair shall not be punished, since the adulterer was very clever.

If you like this article, please share it. 

Just the Gas.... Please!

Insert form of payment please

<swipe> Done

<Pull gas trigger..... click>

Is this a debit card?

No

<Pull gas trigger..... click>

Zip code?

Tap Tap Tap Tap Tap

<Pull gas trigger..... click>

Do you want a car wash?

No! (sigh)

<Pull gas trigger..... click>

Do you want a receipt?

NO! (GRRRrrrrr)

What do I want?  I want to fill my gas tank without having to fill out a @#$%^&% survey every time!

Facebook Faith #37 Grinch Obama continued...

Cartoon by NakedPastor

A few days ago, I posted about a meme that was going around.  It complained that President Obama did not go to church on Christmas.  My friend who initially posted this was questioned as to why it mattered to her what President Obama did on Christmas, she responded:

Its Christ's birthday its an important day. If it was his daughters birthday would he forget it and play golf? Just a sign of respect from my prospective. Just food for thought this is how I was raised to have a reverence and respect of God and his son ,Jesus. Don't mean to offend some of you ,but I was raised to honor the Lords birth so this is offensive to me.

That meme, the scores of people who liked it, and her response are an example of why I spend so much time publicly resisting religion. It is not enough that many religious people enjoy their religion and get something out of it. It is not even enough that they desire other people to be part of their religion. No, like most religious people, they take it further and find offense when others do not show deference to their religion.

In their annoyance that others are not showing preference toward their spiritual predilections, they often seek to assuage this irritation by going to the courts and using legislation to make everyone else submit to their religious laws and customs.  We are seeing this presently as my home state of Utah is desperately working the courts in order to enforce religious dictums on its populace.

I would gladly leave religion alone... if it would leave me alone.  However, as Christopher Hitchens observed, this is probably too much to hope for.

 "there is a real and serious difference between me and my religious friends, and the real and serious friends are sufficiently honest to admit it. I would be quite content to go to their children's bar mitzvahs, to marvel at their Gothic cathedrals... And as it happens, I will continue to do this without insisting on the polite reciprocal condition - which is that they in turn leave me alone. But this, religion is ultimately incapable of doing."  ~Hitchens

Facebook Faith # 36 Grinch Obama

"Guess what Obama didn’t do for Christmas? Go to church. That’s right, Obama did a lot of things on the 24th and 25th, including playing golf on Christmas Eve, but he did not have time for church."

The text above accompanied this meme on my newsfeed today.  I literally sat and stared in wonder at this one for a few minutes.  I have seen a lot of bizarre religious things proclaimed this year, but this one slips in - with just 24 hours to go - as perhaps being the most idiotic statement of 2013 in the religion mixed with politics category.... and given Michelle Bachman, Ted Cruz, and  Louie Gohmert.... that is saying a lot.

In fact, it was so absurd, I thought that even the usual suspects of Pavlov conservatives would reject this. Unfortunately, when I went to the source page on Facebook - ForAmerica - I found that in 10 hours, nearly 60,000 people had liked this so far.  Combine religion with Obama-hate and the salivating will commence.

Beyond that.... the comments... oh, the comments!

• Muslims don't go to church
• Don't think Jesus is especially pleased, (we're not supposed to be anything but Christian..)
• Narcissist, sinners with messiah-complex don't feel a need for God. He'll try to lie his way out at his appointment before the judgment seat! He'll of course forget that God sees all, knows all, and has it all recorded. Poor soul.
• Prolly brought either his prayer rug, or a hammer and cicle golfing...
• he hates America and is an illegal muslim how is that news?
• if the dems get the house because idiots re-elect or the left fixes the votes again, this country is done for
• Don't get upset with him because Christmas is not a Muslim holiday.
• At least he's no longer pretending to be a Christian.
• he is a very mean person & only has one thing in mind.....To ruin our wonderful country

Facebook Faith #35 The Lady Doth Protest Too Much

http://explosm.net/comics/3408/

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks." ~ Hamlet Act 3

A few days ago I wrote a post about my observations during the whole Phil Robertson Duck hub-bub. Just on the duck-tails of that event, Utah, by order of a federal judge, became the 18th state to allow gay marriage.

Utah, as a whole, did not take to kindly to a Federal judge stepping in and declaring our voting away the rights of our fellow citizens unconstitutional. Our governor, like Governor Orval Faubus, has vowed to fight the federal government on this.

Throughout both of these events, I kept hearing things like:

• I am not a homophobe, but...
• I am not a racist, but...
• I don't hate anyone, but...
• Yes, everyone is equal, but...

A midst those phrases, various folks were expressing frustration about not being to express themselves.  They are tired of the "political correctness" in society today.  I saw this meme posted by one who is frustrated with PC:

Followed by this one:

Now, this same friend (and others of like mind) will jump on my page with guns blazing if I say anything about Christianity.... yes, then THEY will enter the 'magical place'.

But a similar reaction is not to be found when people with a different pigment, or sexual orientation are slighted.  Then these folks long for the days when anything could be said about homosexuals or people of color... with no worry of push back.

Those were the daaaaaayssssss!