| TheTip.org |
| Polls | Members | Refer | Forums | Write for TheTip! | Home | Impeach Bush |
Impeach George Bush
Theology and Homophobia
Okay, it's an unusual topic, but it's our topic for today. I heard George Bush was on TV kissing and holding hands with a heathen blasphemer - apparently for money. Worse, though, it was a man. Now if I ever got caught on TV kissing a man, I'd be the laughing stock of the airwaves, no doubt. But today our issue is only semi-serious.
Source: Robbie Lindauer, 2005-04-30
Candidate: Republican Party
A few years ago I made the mistake of calling in to Bob Enyart's radio show (www.theologyonline.com). He's a somewhat famous evangelist from the midwest. He's rather typical of the "dumbfuckistan" crowd. He's okay with guns, not okay with abortion, fine with war, not okay with homosexuality.
One of his trademark positions is that in order to get homosexuals to repent and convert is to make fun of them.
Unfortunately, Bob picked an easy target. Gay men have been ridiculed for centuries so there's a big book of stock jokes available so Bob won't actually have to do any thinking BECAUSE if Bob ACTUALLY thought about what he was doing, he'd realize that when God was Here, he didn't make fun of anyone but the Pharisees, Sadduccees and Scribes. Who were they? The self-appointed religious experts. Why were they ridiculous? Because on top of being self-righteous snobs, they were just as evil as anyone else. Why? Because they made their living by selling people appropriate sacrifices at the temple.
Paul says there's something to be learned from all scripture. It's very important when interpreting scripture to adequately understand the scene of what is being described. It's hard to really get a hold of Daniel without understanding how the Israelites came to be in exile from reading Kings. The bible is subtle sometimes, but never so blunt as the direct words of Isaiah:
"Fix yourself, learn to do good: rebuke the oppressor, defend the fatherless, plead the case of the widow."
Nowhere in the bible does it say to make fun of the oppressor, and certainly not make fun of your enemies nor of people you think are sinners. That's just not there.
Now Bob and I had a little talk about this, he noted that Jesus was taunting the Pharisees. It's true, Jesus taunted the self-righteous windbags that insisted that everyone wipe their hands before eating and never eat dairy and meat at the same meal. Because THAT ISN'T RIGHTEOUSNESS. It's false righteousness, a joke, a sham.
Worse, the scribes and pharisees KNEW BETTER. They'd read Isaiah too. Isaiah was very specific he said:
"Thus says the Lord: Who ordered this trampling of my courts? I'm tired of your sabbaths and your meetings and your new moon festivals. I won't listen to your prayers anymore. I planted a vineyard expecting to get grapes and I got junk. Fix yourselves; seek justice..."
God had revoked "the law" years ago by saying that he'd no longer accept their sacrifices. The deal was off. Why? Because, as Jesus said, the legalistic pharisitical interpretation of the law and the prophets had led to genuine evil. They'd focused on personal purity and ignored justice, love and mercy. They thought that by keeping their hands clean of dirt, they'd be pure. But Christ's teaching on the matter is clear:
It's not what goes into the man that defiles him, but what comes out, For from within, out of the human heart, come evil ideas, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, evil, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, and folly. (Mark 7)
Note that the personal sins are right up there with the public sins - greed is just as bad as sexual immorality, theft as bad as evil ideas and pride.
Now the pharisees were also aware of this fact about the law. Nothing that a person could do would ever make them approach the holiness of God; so nothing a person could do would ever make them worthy of God's love, forgiveness and blessing. Yet what they taught was that there was a long stairway to heaven of doing all and only the things they said to concentrate on in the law.
Well, God didn't buy it and neither did they. They deserved God's ridicule and God had been ridiculing them for centuries because that's how long it went on.
Well folks, this story, the story of legalism, isn't just an old story. It's today's story too. People like Bob Enyart try to tell people that in order for God to save them, they must make themselves perfect. It's not so - Jesus came for sinners, not for the righteous. And Bob's statistical argument for "reforming homosexuals" doesn't work either. If Bob's method were appropriate then every Gay joke should convert people to Christianity. But it's not so either. In fact, the funniest Gay joke I know was told me by a Gay man (not that there's anything wrong with that...)
Georgy Bush is, unfortunately, in the same position, the same old story. Here we have a man who finds time to disapprove of homosexuals (getting the spec out of someone else's eyes) but can't make time to to stop the war and bring the troops home (getting the log out of his own eye). And who can't wait to give his friends in the stock market a birthday present by taking the money that used to go to making guaranteed retirement payments to people who actually NEED it.
But the truth is, the Pharisees didn't even obey their own laws. They were just as bad as everyone else. They were putting on a show. Freudian psychology (not that I buy into it much) seems to tell us that that which we put much effort into despising is something we secretly love.
I'm not saying George is gay. I doubt it, it wouldn't fit in with the whole Massachussets-rich-cocaine-doing-draft-dodging son of a rich guy persona. Oh wait, it WOULD fit in with that persona. It wouldn't fit in with the self-made Texas oil millionaire persona. I guess you just have to decide who's twist you want to believe.
Peace out.
Add a comment to this Message in our Forums.
While you're at it, check out our forums too!
User Originated Comments:
From: Cryptik-Halo
2006-05-03 00:00:00
we can say this and that, but to what end, i can
no more convert you than you can convert
me.
just know this:
everyhing i say
is from my heart... i quote no one.
so
quote me if you like.
i think that you will
find plenty of truth in what i say. if truth is
what you seek. then read more,
trust not what
you read, but what you feel and i believe your
feelings will show you a light beyond that which
you can see with your eyes.
for the light in
your soul bears enough truth to guide you through
any darkness.
submit to this light and
you will find that it serves you
as you are
the master of this light.
trust not
doctrine
trust not the judges of thine
understanding
trust not the light that people
would shed before you
for your light is
stronger and brighter.
i follow mine.
From: Robbie
2005-12-28 00:00:00
here are some relevant quotes from wittgenstein,
because, well, he's the drollest:
1) go
ahead, believe, it hurts nothing.
2)
everything that smacks of ritual needs to be
eschewed. but a kiss is a kind of ritual. okay,
anything less sincere than a kiss must be
eschewed.
and now some
lindauer:
honest is the best policy with
oneself, knowing what you know and knowing what
you don't know. there are lots of things we kind
of know and lots of things we don't.
now,
i don't know that peter was crucified because he
refused to forswear his faith. i don't know that
paul was, nor simon, nor any of the other
apostles. but i've read it in several places that
wouldn't normally agree about things like this if
they didn't have to. and i know for sure that the
world of christs' resurrection has surp-ssed in
power every other creed or knowing or blessing
that this earth has seen - because it is the power
to save - the power to reconcile with the god we
all know in our hearts - who speaks to us in the
wind that hovers above the waters -to this very
day-.
that is, while i don't -know- that
jesus raised from the dead in the same way i don't
know that my mother and father were married, i've
heard it on reliable sources and the evidence of
the way things are now, today, still points to
that as the best explanation.
so reason,
will you. what is the best explanation for the
conversion of the entire roman world to
christianity within 200 years of the death of
christ? what is the explanation for the oldest
churches, the armenian and greek and russian and
ethiopian orthodox churches - from completely
different backgrounds and areas - accepting the
same core faith, that these apostles preached
jesus' resurrection and then were themselves
tortured to death to get them to deny it and that
christ appeared after his resurrection to
thousands of people in jerusalem on several
occasions. it's the best explanation for why
christianity survived when so many other cults
died - e.g. the ring of truth.
compare
this ring of truth to other religions - mohammed
never had a single miracle of his witnessed by any
other person - in fact one miracle he claimed to
have occurred was falsified by his own
wife.
who has seen the dalai lama walk on
water?
what good has the wisdom of the
zen masters done them in the face of
death?
it is your right to believe what
you like. it's your right to believe that the
bible was fabricated - a story meant to trick you
into submission. but without actually having read
it and studied the history of it, it would be at
best a premature evaluation of the
facts.
finally, i appeal to you who want
to know god, if jesus is god, he can prove it to
you. so ask him, it's that's simple.
i
offer this as advice only - you must find the
truth yourself. but do you trust reason - even
your own reason.
some wittgenstein
again:
nobody can think for you any more
than anyone can don your hat for
you.
peace and love
From: Cryptik-Halo
2005-07-10 19:19:36
about religion:
who are we to unfold the
mysteries of our creator?
what manner of
men are we to tell everyone that we know the
truth?
who, on this planet, do we know
that converses with the almighty, receives a
reply, and relays the messege to our humble and
meek minds.
we can seek with all of our
might, but we are limited to the answers we
uncover.
show me your idols of gold,
wood, and precious stones...
which of these
can give you the answers?
i meant my last
letter to be an unanswered mystery...
i
told you i would be back with an answer about
religion... yet i lingered a little longer to
show you that i as well as any other would never
find the right and true answer to the questions we
seek about our creation. i can only give you
theories and we all say the bible says this, and
jesus said this. i laugh now at the idea that
everyone believes that they know what jesus said
just because the bible tells you so. religion is
great, i think that it serves a good purpose in
that if we did not believe in good and evil, we
would not build a conscience that would keep
harmony in affect.
my interest is much
deeper than what will happen to me if i believe or
don't believe. what can you offer me. there is
none here that can tell me or show me the truth, i
can only choose for my self what i believe
according to my own logic or reason. i have a
growing interest in egyptology and i know that
from the ancients we can learn more about where we
come from. seek out the writings on the walls
left behind by pharohs of long ago.
words
mean alot and have many meanings.
how can we
know by the writings of ancient men what it is
they really meant by the words they chose to
write. the bible has been written so many times,
how are we to know what the true meanings of the
words are?
can you tell me what jesus
actually said on the mount. i know i wasn't
there. i know you were not there. i love the
claims that all churches make. everyone's
interpretation is there own. i think that there
is way too many religions if you ask me. if we
did come together to learn the truth, the world
would be a much better place. if we all had
understanding. we can say that this happened and
that happened, but there is none that can say it
with convivtion like the person that was there
when it happened.
put down your defenses
when someone tells you something you do not want
to hear. i see so many paople get offended when
someone says something about
religion.
think about this for a
second.
the story of babylon:
all men
were the same race.
all men believed the same
thing.
all men worshipped the same
god(s)
the land was all one peice.
when
men tried to build a tower to reach the heavens,
god seperated the men and changed their
language.
we can read this story over and
over in the bible, but who of us can say that we
know why, how, when, or where it
happened.
we can only say we know that
our creator knew what he/she
was
doing.
now what i find even more
interesting is what is it that makes us all
different.
whithin our genes is the answer, if
we were in deed one race in the beginning, what
made the change in each of us that made us
different?
i promise that if we started
studying each others religions and cultures we
would find out the truth of many
answers.
i believe that we all hold bits
and peices of where we came from whithin our
cultures. study art and you will see great things
from all over the world.
you say that
these men are fallen angels and then you probably
would call me a heathen blasphemer if i said i
believe that angels and demons come from the same
place. as history books dictate that there was
war in heaven. what if heaven was just another
planet?
can anyone disprove my
theory?
as i would not try to disprove
yours, but my point is can i believe what i want
to believe, or do i need permission?
as
far as i see, i see that religion breeds
hypocrosy, who are we to decipher what is true?
truth will come from him who prepared it
in the beginning, until then...
peace!
From: Robbie
2005-05-14 15:46:38
let's hear it!
From: Cryptik-Halo
2005-05-13 06:13:24
here are a couple of better
sites...
http://xfacts.com/x.htm
you were right, i was wrong.
i forgot
to put mercury on my list of planets downstairs...
mah badd! :-)
but i thank you for the
battle, i am only that much more stronger in my
knowledge.
but...
allow me to
teach you something next time... :-)
i have
some interesting facts to shed light on your other
comments regarding religion. (only if you have
the stomach for it)
same bat
time...
channel, etc.
i'll be back.
Related News
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
owned by TheTIP.
[ Skip Next | Next | Random Site | List Sites |Previous ]
NEWS | ACTION | RESULTS | POLLS | MEMBERS | SEARCH