>First, in regard to the last article, I want to clarify: I don't think anyone should use the political/economic system that way, but I do recognize that it is legal to do so in this bless'd country, and I think it's ridiculous and hypocritical for the left to get offended at the right's using these tactics. I'm not saying I think they or anyone should use them. I'm saying the left is bitter and sanctimonious. If that chafes you, then you'll enjoy the reversal in today's posting. Read on, gentle pilgrim.
>Second, read this. Sarah sent me that article more recently. Below is my response to it.
If conservative Christians are nutty, this is what makes them nutty. I think they are definitely persecuted, and that they are certainly singled out more than most other groups. (Who doesn't love to hate Christians?) But I think that at this point they have a victim complex. Over the years of seeing morality decline, they've (we've) not been able to come up with a significant strategy to reclaim those lost lives and correct a maligned perspective. (Not that anything was ever close to perfect.) In the wake of these changes, they think that society's move towards hedonism is a personal attack against them. Or maybe they feel secretly guilty for "letting" it happen--as if they were the wardens of cultural morality. (And maybe we are that, I never know, but we shouldn't feel guilty regardless.) They no longer seem to recognize the power and influence they have. Rather, they DO recognize it, but do not use it to it's full potential in appropriate ways.
By using so much energy to continuously cry foul, they miss opportunities to affect real change by being what we are supposed to be: a light on a hill, salt in a tasteless world. I mean that they're wasting breath saying things that are not full of humility or hope or peace or joy or love or self-control. Instead, they are spouting bile, resentment, envy, and aggression--all the things the world loves to mock us for, when we slip into them. They are forgetting that we are supposed to turn the other cheek when someone strikes us.
But now we're getting into a discussion of how American nationalism and Christianity have become intertwined, like a bastard child that feels he is heir to the throne. The historical American sense of rebellion and "we're not going to take this!" seems to be guiding them, and I think there's a strong sense of "civil rights for Christians too, while you're at it!" We've forgotten that when it comes down to it, we are supposed to be persecuted. That's part of our normal lot in life as Christians. We're supposed to be wary of the wolves, not try to stomp them out. "In the world you will have trouble. But take courage for I have overcome the world." Does that sound familiar?
3 comments:
I seriously can't even believe it when a white american Christian says anything along the lines of "I'm being persecuted." What?! Anyone operating out of that whiney, selfish, over-priviledged mindset needs a serious ass kicking. If people would stop crying for a minute about their own rights, and focus on real problems like how to aliviate poverty, how to minimize the NEED for abortions, and how to love people, for whom it is counter-intuitive for us to love...then, maybe, we could get something accomplished.
I just heard a person who I would classify as politically Christian, spiritually secular, if that makes any sense, say "I just can't believe they took down the 10 commandments. That's just terrible. Those have been there for a long time. They're important for people to be able to read." I, being me, asked "Why it bad that they took them down?" And he said something along the lines of "The moral decline in this country is just horrible. It's just another sign of how far we've gone." I asked him how far from what? Killing the Indians and kidnapping millions of people from Africa and enslaving them? He ignored that. I then asked him, now more just to amuse myself than anything "Um, Matt, do you even know what the 10 commandments are?" "not really." He said. He named the one about honoring your parents.
The point is that I see people raising hell, if I may put it that way, to "protect" rights like displaying a list in a public building on principal, when I have my doubts that many of these people are spending nearly as much time working personally on putting into practice what that list says.
It feels so Pharisaical. Is that a word?
Hell, I hate Christians and I am one. This would help explain my low self-esteem.
"If people would stop crying for a minute about their own rights,..." Man, I'm right there. I'm so tired of this country's fixation on the Self as god. All hail capitalism! Three cheers for capitalism! And individualism! And freedom to do whatever the hell I want!
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