Endearing. Affirming. Whatever.
I'm arrogant enough for two people half my size...so it all evens out, right?
I was visiting Big Hollywood website today where (once again) Liberals (with a big L) are typecast as humorless about and blind to their own faults and failings, all the while being gleeful about the supposed failings of people like me.
Hey, a laugh is a laugh, and if I can make just one Liberal chortle by stating my conservatism, I can put that in the laugh bank. Not Left Bank-that's in France. Please pay attention.
I don't really have to DO anything to rile up the un-Conservatives. My mere (and I mean mere) existence gives meaning to their empty little lives; without me and my cohort, they would have nothing and no one to oppose.
Think about it-they are so politically correct that they cannot pick on anyone with regard to race, gender, sexual disorientation, or geographical provincialism. They NEED us! The bile would blow their heads off their necks if it didn't have an outlet.
I'm arrogant enough (so to speak), in that I have no doubts about God or my place in His Creation.
A neurotic person unsure of anything can only perceive such confidence as arrogance. So, semantics.
My faith in God informs my politics, my work, my life.
A Liberal's lack of faith in our common God informs everything about them, hence the bile.
I'm going to borrow my old friend Janeane Garafalo for a moment as an example of what I'm talking about.
If Jane triggers your mirth with her standup where she goes all political on Republican targets, if you love her outspokeness with regard to what she sees as hypocrisy on my side...well and good. You know what I'm talking about. You are tuned to her mental radio.
But then something happens. Janeane get saved, meaning that God puts in her a desire for salvation and brings her into His kingdom.
All of a sudden Janeane's faith begins to inform her politics, her work, her life. Just as suddenly you begin to hate on her. The hate seems valid because she's a turncoat; a shining light of Liberalism has been extinguished.
Don't doubt that it couldn't happen. God saved a Pharisee named Saul who was actively destroying the lives of Christians. He wrote approximately one quarter of the New Testament through the inspiration of a Holy God who saves sinners.
Bottom line: Liberalism is a lie, darkness that hates the truth. It inflates man's perception of Man while ignoring God. Give it up while you're still upright. Thank me later in Heaven.
14 comments:
I had a picture of Janeane ready to go for the post, but...naw. She's kind of sad. This is a happy site.
Happy Fourth Of Independence Day, citizens!
I think the only time I've seen Garafalo was in The Truth About Cats and Dogs. It's one of my favorite movies, but apparently she's disavowed it as she feels that the happy ending (hope I'm not giving anything away here) negates the political point she wanted to make. Ah well. I still like it.
I tend not to mix entertainment with politics: I liked watching Curt Schilling pitch even though I obviously disagree with him politically. (I also think he's a prima donna, but find me a star pitcher who isn't.) I probably wouldn't go see anything with Charlie Sheen or Mel Gibson in it, because I think they're jerks. I don't even know Sheen's political views, if he can be bothered to have any. I guess if a celebrity I admire behaves badly I'm a bit disappointed, but I wouldn't consider becoming a Christian behaving badly.
My two favorite Janeane movies are:
"Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion" and "The Matchmaker" which was a starring vehicle for her.
But that is a bit away from my point-I could have used any Liberal in any profession-whoever you consider a rock solid Liberal-President Obama, for example-if he became saved, born again (I already wrote that story-it's in the archives)and his faith informed his political views, turning him to Conservatism...he would be seen as a turncoat by the Liberals who had viewed him as one of their champions.
The post at Big Hollywood came from a conservative who felt that he had been 'blacklisted' by the powers that Liberally Be in Hollywood once his politics came to light.
http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jvarga/2011/07/01/how-i-wound-up-on-the-black-list/
I myself am surrounded by Left leaning co-workers, none of whom are so rabid as to want to blacklist me for my politics. I only spend one third of my life at work-one third sleeping and one third watching baseball and making pizza (at least tonight).
Yum, pizza.
Doesn't that work both ways, though? Didn't David Frum become persona non grata at the American Enterprise Institute for not toeing the party line on health care? It doesn't seem to me sinister that a pundit or politician who changes sides (or is perceived to have done so) loses the support of their former allies. It needn't have anything to do with Christianity, either: I'm pretty sure it didn't in Frum's case. (Without looking it up, I would guess that he was and continues to be Jewish.)
As you undoubtedly know, I don't buy your assumption that Christian is automatically synonymous with conservative, and I maintain that you don't get to decide who is and is not a Real True Christian. And I still want to know how Christianity informs your life and your values in a positive way. I already know that you think it gives you license to other anyone whose views don't exactly coincide with yours. You once asked non-Christian readers to list positive traits of Christians; can you do the same? Leave out any attribute found in non-Christians as well, such as working hard, obeying the law, refusing to take handouts, giving to charity, voting Republican.
Oh, and happy Fourth!
I can hardly remember who Frum is, so I'm blank about your example.
Christian isn't synonymous with Conservative-there are plenty of non-Christians on 'my' side.
Maintain your whatever all you like, Lu-a born again Christian is going to be indwelt of the Holy Spirit and will accept the Gospel while rejecting the world. If we see anyone-let me highlight that-ANYONE
who claims to be a Christian but rejects the Gospel, rejects God's Word...we call them out and do not consider them Christian.
"You once asked non-Christian readers to list positive traits of Christians; can you do the same?"
Easy as sin, Lu. The one positive trait of Christians which is not found in anyone else is that we are forgiven by God.
Everyone can work hard, obey the law, refuse etc. but what sets us apart is that we are forgiven of all of our sins.
Happy Fourth to you also!
So we are back at the idea that what Christians do doesn't matter a whit.
Riddle me this, Doug: the Gospels say nothing at all about homosexuality, but there is a prohibition laid on divorce. Paul also forbids it at least once (I am too slothful to look up where exactly). So why are you not running up and down the countryside inveighing against it? You've mentioned it once or twice, and you're not keen on it, but the fact that half of all American marriages end in divorce doesn't seem to bug you anywhere near as much as that some small number of same-sex couples enjoy the benefits and responsibilities of marriage. Why might that be?
What we do as Christians matters plenty...to God. Jesus spoke about living for God, commanding "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF."
With that as our focus, we try to live a life pleasing to God; if we would live for Him, we must follow what He has set in His Word.
His ENTIRE Word, Lu. Even if the Gospels do not mention homosexuality, it is covered in His Word, where He calls it an abomination.
Your problem, Lu, is that you are trying to define Christianity by what it is against-homosexuality, divorce, alcoholism,etc.
Let's keep it simple: Christians are for whatever God is for, Christians are against whatever God has spoken against. Christians are 'pro-God' while the world, yourself included, is 'anti-God'.
"divorce doesn't seem to bug you anywhere near as much as that some small number of same-sex couples enjoy the benefits and responsibilities of marriage."
Who is it that keeps bringing up homosexuality, Lu? You, not me.
You think that possibly I get more upset at homosexuality than divorce? Nope-sin is sin. God hates sin. And God decides what is sin and what is not.
I try to live by Micah 6:8
" He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?"
Let's keep it simple: Christians are for whatever God is for
What is God for?
Ask Him.
Well, let's take three you cited, then: to do justice, to love kindness, to love our neighbors as ourselves. What do those mean to you? Because to me, and to most people I know, most of whom are Christian (yea, even in this benighted birthplace of American same-sex marriage), they mean working for social justice, for civil liberties, for equal opportunity for all: the very things the Republican party stands foursquare against. (Yes, it does. I have three words for you: Ledbetter Pay Act.) That's why I'll never be a Republican, nor what you would recognize as a Christian.
For all your talk of love, I find precious little that's positive in your blog: as I've said before, your chief delight in life seems to be dividing the world into Us and Them, and enumerating what you believe to be Their failings. (Usually I'm one of Them; the time we discussed the social safety net I got to play on Team Us, apparently because I'm employed, at least for the moment. It felt very strange.)
Until we meet again... when you lay yourself down, may it be to favorable dreams. When you rise, may it be to auspicious omens. Wherever you walk, may it be in robust health.
Doug writes: "Let's keep it simple: Christians are for whatever God is for, Christians are against whatever God has spoken against."
The problem, Doug, is that no one has heard the voice of God directly, and no one can claim an infallible understanding of Scripture.
The Southern Baptist Convention REALLY believed God endorsed American slavery when they were founded in the 1840s. These were devout men. They did have some Scripture passages to back them up as well (Exodus 21:20-21 is but just one).
You had Christians (both whom I'm sure you'd consider "born again", true believers) who couldn't agree on what God was "for" or what God was "against" in terms of slavery. This seems so obvious to us now, though doesn't it? I mean: how is it "loving your neighbor" to kidnap them from their families, force them to work in the hot sun for some measly grub and a tool shed to live in and beat them?
Many Christian men did just that with a clear conscience, though. If we knew what God was "for", well, shouldn't this topic never have been open for discussion either way?
Lu, do you know what 'blind spots' are? Let em tell you about one of yours.
When you ask "You once asked non-Christian readers to list positive traits of Christians; can you do the same? Leave out any attribute found in non-Christians as well, such as working hard, obeying the law, refusing to take handouts, giving to charity, voting Republican."
When I tell you that Christians are indwelt of the Holy Spirit, you ignore that answer and move on.
When I quote Micah 6:8
"" He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?"
you suggested that I said:
"you cited, then: to do justice, to love kindness, to love our neighbors as ourselves."
No I didn't. I said to walk humbly with your God.
Blind spot, Lu. You can argue against whatever I say all night, but your argument isn't really with me-it's with God.
As for James-you strain at gnats, friend. I reject the supposition that no one has heard the voice of God directly, or can claim an infallible understanding of Scripture.
God has spoken in His Word, which makes it plain that those who do not have His Spirit indwelling them will never be able to understand Scripture. Ever. Not in a million years.
Which is why you do not understand Scripture. Which is why you presume that no one hears Him speak.
You're not alone, James. The Pharisees of Christ's time heard Him speak right to their faces and they rejected what He said.
As for your unattributed slam on the Southern Baptist Convention-Christians began the abolitionist movement,believing that all men are created equal. The Southerners who fought to keep slavery were Democrats.
In the 1960's, the political party fighting against Civil Rights was, once again, the Democratic Party.
Read some history, man.
Doug, I pulled this from the SBC's own site:
"WHEREAS, Our relationship to African-Americans has been hindered from the beginning by the role that slavery played in the formation of the Southern Baptist Convention; and
"WHEREAS, Many of our Southern Baptist forbears defended the right to own slaves, and either participated in, supported, or acquiesced in the particularly inhumane nature of American slavery;"
http://www.sbc.net/resolutions/amResolution.asp?ID=899
"During the 1850s, arguments raged over the morality of slave-holding, and the exegesis of Scripture played a key role in those debates. The exegetical battles were one-sided: all abolitionists could point to was Galatians 3:28 and the Letter of Philemon, while slave owners had the rest of the Old and New Testaments, which gave every indication that slaveholding was a legitimate, indeed God-ordained social arrangement, one to which neither Moses nor Jesus nor Paul raised a fundamental objection. "
James,I followed your link. Here's what you left out:
Be it further RESOLVED, That we affirm the Bibles teaching that every human life is sacred, and is of equal and immeasurable worth, made in Gods image, regardless of race or ethnicity (Genesis 1:27), and that, with respect to salvation through Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for (we) are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28); and
Be it further RESOLVED, That we lament and repudiate historic acts of evil such as slavery from which we continue to reap a bitter harvest, and we recognize that the racism which yet plagues our culture today is inextricably tied to the past; and
Be it further RESOLVED, That we apologize to all African-Americans for condoning and/or perpetuating individual and systemic racism in our lifetime; and we genuinely repent of racism of which we have been guilty, whether consciously (Psalm 19:13) or unconsciously (Leviticus 4:27); and
Be it further RESOLVED, That we ask forgiveness from our African-American brothers and sisters, acknowledging that our own healing is at stake; and
Be it further RESOLVED, That we hereby commit ourselves to eradicate racism in all its forms from Southern Baptist life and ministry; and
Be it further RESOLVED, That we commit ourselves to be doers of the Word (James 1:22) by pursuing racial reconciliation in all our relationships, especially with our brothers and sisters in Christ (1 John 2:6), to the end that our light would so shine before others, that they may see (our) good works and glorify (our) Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16); and
Be it finally RESOLVED, That we pledge our commitment to the Great Commission task of making disciples of all people (Matthew 28:19), confessing that in the church God is calling together one people from every tribe and nation (Revelation 5:9), and proclaiming that the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is the only certain and sufficient ground upon which redeemed persons will stand together in restored family union as joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17)."
You could have gone back farther, as many have, and noted that many of the signers of the Declaration of Independence owned slaves and were Christians.
I agree with you that slavery in human terms is repugnant and I see it as morally wrong.
I say 'in human terms' as Paul and other of the apostles used the term "Bond-slave of Christ" to refer to themselves in particular and to Christians in general-we are owned by God. Jesus bought us out of the slavery of sin and made us His possession.
So, actually, this is a slave writing this; I couldn't find a better master.
The Southern Baptists repented of their pro-slavery past. If they repented, do you still find fault with the SBC? Then you have a problem without a solution.
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