Bumper stickers and T-shirts have never struck me as ideal venues for sincere or mature spiritual expression, as if Team God were akin to the New Orleans Saints. Be that as it may, if you feel like proclaiming "I (heart) Jesus" on the butt end of your SUV, go for it. But don't then turn around and drive like a jerk, with no thought of doing unto others, etc.
In fact, if you insist on being a fundamentalist Christian, you might start by reading a little book about a guy named Jesus Christ. ("Christ"--"Christian." Get it?) It's called the New Testament, and in many versions Jesus's actual words are all lit up in red. If you're like many fundamentalists, it would probably take you a lifetime to read the book from front to cover, but these red lines are a good place to start if you want to go around in your "WWJD?" Fruit of the Loom jersey.
Now, granted, Jesus isn't always as kind and loving as more liberal Christians would like to believe. Killing a fig tree for not producing fruit out of season seems--even to this peevish blogger--to be a bit over the top. And he's pretty clear that it's his way or the highway.
At the same time, if we do a Top 10 Sayings of Jesus, most of them have to do with obeying The Golden Rule and refraining from judging others. Most Christians with fish-sporting bumper stickers would be shocked--SHOCKED!--to learn that Jesus did not, in fact (or fiction), give his life and crawl back out of the grave so that homosexuals would be hounded to the ends of the earth. Some might argue that the Savior's comments on Sodom and Gomorrah decried homosexuality (many would disagree). In any event, that would be Jesus's only allusion at all to gays--and yet you can't sit through a Southern Baptist or other evangelical service without some foaming of the mouth about "Adam and Steve." Supposed religious leaders like Jerry Falwell (RIP) and Pat Robertson can't open their holes without take pot shots at queens and dykes--yet they completely ignore the recurring messages about refraining from judgment and avariciousness.
Am I really supposed to set aside my Sunday Times and put on a pretty dress to go listen to this drivel? Am I supposed to be inspired or uplifted when you bludgeon me over the head with your ignorant religious beliefs? If you're going to inflict your religion on other people, try reading--and living by--the damned book on which it's based. Merry Christmas!
Posts
2 comments:
Leaving our token Christmas Eve service to head out on the family parade of visits, we have to pass a hospital on the way to the freeway. So the cars begin to come to a stop at the traffic light and the SUV jackass who pulled out of the church parking lot in front of us refuses to let the person coming out the hospital parking lot in in front of him. Even honks at the guy, who is slowly nosing out. My thought is A)You're leaving the hospital--maybe not this poor guy's best Christmas; and B) The jackass in front of us just left church. Need I say more??!!
Are you sure the guy in the SUV wasn't part of a presidential cavalcade?
Post a Comment