A Christian's guide to governing the world

Flaherty

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Here is another demonstration of the madness of Christian fundamentalism from a letter to the editor of the Charleston Post & Courier.

Man's conception

The Aug. 12 letter "Obsolete Scriptures" stated, "We need to come to terms with the fact that a lot of the passages in the Bible are, in our modern society, obsolete and, above all, anachronistic."

True Christians know that God is the Alpha and Omega and his word is everlasting. Granted, God's law may not be politically correct for "our modem society," but political correctness is a conception of man and will not be considered when it comes to eternal salvation.

But do not take my word for it. Read Romans 1:18-32. When a nation begins to interpret God's law into what they want it to be in lieu of its intent, these are the things that will happen.

Do the above listed Scriptures describe the things that are frighteningly happening today? These are words written to the world's most powerful nation at the time, Rome. History has recorded what happened to that nation. Our great nation of the United States has been compared by many to the Great Empire of Rome. Are we to suffer the same fate due to our unwillingness to obey God's law, but be politically correct? I agree we need to "unbuckle the Bible Belt." Not to "purge our Southern society of its ignorance and homegrown prejudice" but to secure it around the entire nation and world.

MIKE HENSLEE

1323 Hermitage Ave.
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I could not let this go unchallenged, so I sent this response, which may or may not be published:

Mr. Henslee’s September 9 letter argues that there are no obsolete passages in the Bible, that modern reinterpretations are mere political correctness, and that his version of God’s law should be extended to the whole world. I wonder if he understands the implications of his wish. Women would no longer be allowed to wear jewelry (1 Tim 2:9) or to speak in church (1 Cor 14:34-35), children who curse their parents would be executed (Lev 20:9), adulterers would be put to death (Lev 20:10), and disobedient children would be stoned to death by the town elders (Dt 21:18-21). What Mr. Henslee may not realize is that there are places in the world where this sort of divine law already prevails. We call these places Nigeria, Iran, and until recently Afghanistan.

Fortunately for us, not even Christian fundamentalists take seriously the above passages as rules for governing a modern society. While they may be fond of slogans claiming Biblical inerrancy and timelessness, their lack of effort to enforce the above rules and penalties shows that even fundamentalists pick and choose scripture. Good for them. A country actually governed in such a manner would be a nightmare.

Fundamentalists argue the entire Bible is divinely inspired, but how can this be true? Nearly all of us agree that it is better not to execute disobedient children and to allow women a voice in the church. Does this mean we arrogantly think we have a better way to organize society in some respects than what God instructed us in the Bible? Yes, it might mean that. Or it might mean that not all parts of the Bible are divinely inspired. Could it be that some passages reflect nothing more than the prevailing prejudices of a rigidly patriarchal society rather than divine dictation? If so, then how are we to know the divinely inspired passages from the ordinary ones? We may have to reason for ourselves, which is what many fundamentalist ministers fear.
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That's a very good letter, Flaherty.

I hope they publish it.
 
Hmm. The letter-writer's cited passage from Romans is usually cited as a condemnation of homosexuality (although other forms of conduct are condemned there as well). The author seems to be suggesting that, unless we adopt a fundamentalist posture, people will turn gay.

The responsive letter is pretty good. Let us know if anything results from it.
 
Apparently the irony of the fact that the Roman Empire collapsed after it converted to Christianity, is completely lost on this nimrod.

There are parallels to the Roman Empire and the United States. One parallel is that we are a pluralistic society. Another is that if we allow the Christians to take over, and turn the country into a theocracy, then we are doomed.


Dr. Stupid
 
Lets take a closer look...

Man's conception

The Aug. 12 letter "Obsolete Scriptures" stated, "We need to come to terms with the fact that a lot of the passages in the Bible are, in our modern society, obsolete and, above all, anachronistic."

True Christians know that God is the Alpha and Omega and his word is everlasting.
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What?! True Christian?

Consider this: Suppose I assert that no Scotsman puts sugar on his porridge. You counter this by pointing out that your friend Angus likes sugar with his porridge. I then say "Ah, yes, but no true Scotsman puts sugar on his porridge.

Granted, God's law may not be politically correct for "our modem society," but political correctness is a conception of man and will not be considered when it comes to eternal salvation.
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So its really a "My way or my way" situation... not entirely...

Why do we need a God based society if they ultimately have no meaning when it comes to eternal salvation. It seems like it would be a needless burder to force everyone to conform against their will and beliefs to a theocracy, that would conflict with 2 of Locke's Three Natural Birthrights: Right to life, Liberty, and pursuit of happiness.

But do not take my word for it. Read Romans 1:18-32.
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I'll take all of those who are unfamiliar with Romans Chapter 1 through a crashcourse in the bible:
The wrath of god is upon all unbelievers because the existence of god is "self-evident" (meaning evident through faith...).
God abandons the unclean and unworthy, I guess that'd be any person who is an atheist, homosexual, woman, non-Israeli, or simply not a true Christian.
Homosexuals should be put to death.
Women are and should only be treated as sexual objects for the pleasure of men.

If you like Romans Chapter 1, you LOVE Deuteronomy Chapters 17 and 18!

When a nation begins to interpret God's law into what they want it to be in lieu of its intent, these are the things that will happen.
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Didnt you just state "political correctness is a conception of man and will not be considered when it comes to eternal salvation"? Logical Contradictions dont make your case very strong at all (or am I just interpreting what you say incorrectly :rolleyes:...).

Do the above listed Scriptures describe the things that are frighteningly happening today?
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No.

These are words written to the world's most powerful nation at the time, Rome. History has recorded what happened to that nation. Our great nation of the United States has been compared by many to the Great Empire of Rome. Are we to suffer the same fate due to our unwillingness to obey God's law, but be politically correct?
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Talk about being presumptuous! Are you asserting the fall of Rome due to being "politically correct" is casually or remotely related to the fall of the United states.

Talk about using a slippery slope arguement! This argument states that should one event occur, so will other harmful events. There is no proof made that the harmful events are caused by the first event. Example: "If we legalize marijuana, then more people would start to take crack and heroin, and we'd have to legalize those too. Before long we'd have a nation full of drug-addicts on welfare. Therefore we cannot legalize marijuana."

Talk about Hasty Generalization! It occurs when you form a general rule by examining only a few specific cases which aren't representative of all possible cases. Example: "Jim Bakker was an insincere Christian. Therefore all Christians are insincere."

I agree we need to "unbuckle the Bible Belt." Not to "purge our Southern society of its ignorance and homegrown prejudice" but to secure it around the entire nation and world.
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I would love to purge ignorance and prejudice out of any ignorant and prejudice society... maybe I have different morals...
 
Exellent response Flaherty. Mr. Henslee might also wish to rethink some of his verbiage in the future.

Not to "purge our Southern society of its ignorance and homegrown prejudice" but to secure it around the entire nation and world.
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really sounds like he's suggesting that ignorance and homegrown prejudice should be secured around the nation and world.

If you want a really scary Fundy revenge fantasy check out this first installment of Day One by Bob Enyart.
 
My wife works at a newspaper and one of her co-workers gets these e-mails almost every day from this crazy fundie guy who says to use them as columns. So...I'm going to post one here.

The Episcophallian Church said the spirit made them ordain a sodomite, not
the Bible. I felt like doing 50 laps around the beads, saying 100 Hail Marys
and shouting 1000 Praise the Laaaards. You see, when your false churches
stick their steeple up their rears, I'm happy. Maybe some who have had it
with their mainstream churches will actually find the truth.

Which spirit makes churches build steeples which are phallic symbols? Which
spirit has branded your churches with the sign of the cross, the pagan
symbol of sexual union? Have you seen those early Celtic crosses with the
head on them? That's not Christ's head.

Which spirit marked the medical profession with two snakes in their
caduceus? Is not Satan a serpent? Which spirit has its eye on every
prescription, the Rx, Eye of Horus? Which spirit is watching you on every
dollar bill with that same Eye of Horus in the pyramid? Yes, Big Brother is
watching you. But of course he's doing much more. He's ruling you.

Which spirit told the Catholic Church to keep the 1st day of the week holy
instead of the 7th day? Which spirit told that same church to keep Easter,
which is Astarte, the sex goddess of Asia Minor? That's why you have
fertility symbols of rabbits and eggs.

Which spirit tells you to go to doctors when you're sick instead of the
elders of the church like God says in James 5:14? Which spirit tells you to
fight in war when John the Baptist told soldiers to do violence to no man
(Luke 3:14)?

It's the same spirit that leads the left in the United States. The same
spirit that leads the Muslims. The same spirit that leads the right in these
United States. The one who leads everyone in the world by the nose. He's got
the whole world in his hands.

That's going to change soon.



Harold Reimann
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Lucerne Valley, CA 92356
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
eli3.tripod.com
Use as a column if you like. It's free.
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Check out his website. It's wacky.
 
Wow. The guy may be wacky, but he is on to some things about the whole falsification of ideals in the Christian tradition and the Christian co-opting of many ancient cultural mythologies.

Though his whole phallocentric talk is rather disturbing and I have no idea what he plans on doing to "change" the "great spirit" that moves us by the nose.

It's neat that such people exist though. Gotta give him that.

Edit: Just read his web-site. Are you sure he's getting his meds?
 
Hexxenhammer said:
Check out his website. It's wacky.
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I like this one.

His command is known and simple. When a true christian is sick, he is to go to the elders of the church, be anointed and prayed for, and God promises to heal (James 5:l4-l5). Doctors aren't mentioned. When you know where to go, you know where not to go.
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Let's hope that the next time he's seriously ill, he sticks to his own advice.
 
"Fundamentalists argue the entire Bible is divinely inspired, but how can this be true? Nearly all of us agree that it is better not to execute disobedient children and to allow women a voice in the church. Does this mean we arrogantly think we have a better way to organize society in some respects than what God instructed us in the Bible? Yes, it might mean that. Or it might mean that not all parts of the Bible are divinely inspired. Could it be that some passages reflect nothing more than the prevailing prejudices of a rigidly patriarchal society rather than divine dictation?"

I like this part. It gives the reasonable believers an out.
 
Stimpson J. Cat said:
Apparently the irony of the fact that the Roman Empire collapsed after it converted to Christianity, is completely lost on this nimrod.

There are parallels to the Roman Empire and the United States. One parallel is that we are a pluralistic society. Another is that if we allow the Christians to take over, and turn the country into a theocracy, then we are doomed.


Dr. Stupid
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You also forgot our mutual love of pasta and Gina Lollabridgida
 
Update: My response has not been printed in the Post & Courier as of 9/18. From past readings of this paper, I've noticed they sometimes batch letters of a similar theme and publish them at once, with some letters having been written weeks before.
 
UnrepentantSinner said:
really sounds like he's suggesting that ignorance and homegrown prejudice should be secured around the nation and world
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Well...yeah. He is.
 
Many biblical scholars (not nec. fundies) would argue that the bible was NOT written to try to address every culture and every era of time, before, during and after the writing of the bible. In fact, there are many many references to cultural issues in the bible where no sides are taken and no cultural mandates are made.

For example, the "holy sacrament of marriage" which many churches labor over and script out - there is no place in the bible that talks about unity candles or white dresses or singing songs from broadway musicals. It just says "marriage." The ceremony itself is not supposed to be described because ceremonies are specific to societies.

Another example - the line that says for slaves to obey their owners. Surely the bible is not okaying slavery, but it is saying "look, if you're in the situation that you're a slave, if you're in a society like that, then you have to deal with it and respect your owner."

A person who argues that the entire bible is relevant to modern times in modern societies has lost perspective on what many believe is the bible's stance on societal issues. And has probably lost perspective on a few other things, too.

Frink
 
Hmmm.....I've just started checking out Christian Reconstructionism and the Chalcedon Foundation. They seem to want to turn the clock back 2000+ years. These people (some of whom have more influence than you would expect) do not, as Prof. Frink referred to scholars talking about the Bible, want to try and address every culture and era, but rather, they want to impose an old, dead, culture and era upon every modern one. This is a very scary group--Does anyone have any citations dealing with Chalcedon links to politicians, businessmen, other organizations, or doctines?
 
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