02.21.06
Judging the Nations…already?
FORT CAMPBELL, KY. — Wearing leather chaps and vests covered in military patches, a band of motorcyclists rolls from one soldier’s funeral to another in hopes their respectful cheers and revving engines will drown out the insults of protesters.
Calling themselves the Patriot Guard Riders, they are made up of motorcycle club members who could no longer tolerate a Kansas-based fundamentalist church picketing military funerals with signs reading, “Thank God for IEDs.” Many soldiers have been killed in Iraq when roadside bombs, called improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, explode. Read the rest…
After reading this article, I don’t even know what to say. I thought I had seen the utmost heights of Christian stupidity, but apparently I was wrong. At the risk of sounding judgmental, I have to say that if I were there, I can tell you who would be calling down fire from heaven to crisp who, and it sure wouldn’t be soldiers in Iraq.
I mean, hello. HELLO! If they want to believe that God is killing soldiers in Iraq to punish the U.S. for “harboring homosexuals,” then fine, they can live in their own fundamentalist little bubbles, but to picket military funerals with signs that say such like the above? Way to show Christian love! What bigoted, hateful…mmm…I could go further but I cannot lower myself to their level in my anger.
And all that aside, how can anyone say God is judging anyone for anything? Did he come down and speak to them in a vision? Is there a prophet in their midst? If so, did they ask him for a sign? I mean, this is the extreme of the same rubbish that people were preaching around the time of Hurricane Katrina. Do I deny that God could judge anyone he should so please in any manner he please should he so please? No, of course not. But to go around saying that you know for sure that he is! And then to take such a sentiment an extreme like this, and desacrating funerals in such a manner! And then to attach Christianity to it! No wonder we have such a bad name! No wonder Christ has such a bad name!
It makes me so angry. And beyond anger, grief; because for every group like this that goes around making fools of themselves in front of the world we are trying to reach, the reputation of my God is tarnished. I like to think myself tolerant of Christians and the wide variety of beliefs they have, but this is just going too far. They are dragging Adonai’s name through the mud. Whether they are or aren’t true Christians, those who see them will connect them with Christians, and by default, with Christ.
Since when does God judge the nations before he judges his people? If God’s going to judge anyone, I think he’s going to start with the American Church. That’s what I’d be worried about.
Psalm 113
Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord!
2 Blessed be the name of the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore!
3 From the rising of the sun to its setting,
the name of the Lord is to be praised!
4 The Lord is high above all nations,
and his glory above the heavens!
5 Who is like the Lord our God,
who is seated on high,
6 who looks far down
on the heavens and the earth?
7 He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
8 to make them sit with princes,
with the princes of his people.
9 He gives the barren woman a home,
making her the joyous mother of children.
Praise the Lord!
The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 . Standard Bible Society: Wheaton
Eliana said,
February 23, 2006 at 7:52 pm
Well Eliana (or is that a hebrew name you picked solely to represent your believes on this site?) you talk about christians as though you are not a christian , because you said “I like to think myself tolerant of Christians.” I find that to be interesting, since that will only make you a spectator of the christian faith, upon which you place your judgement.
I will have to say that I agree with the last little bit that you wrote, about the American church. I will have to say that a lot of degraceful things have been done in God’s name, much of it including for the sake of american foreign policy. The sad thing is that it is not only christians that behave in this way, it is also jews and muslims. When humans know deep inside that what they’re doing is fundamentally wrong, they can only turn to the one institution to which they derive their external set of morals and interpret in their own leisure to give them peace of mind for the atrocities commited. That said, you must have realized by now that the middle eastern conflicts, as well as the other not so explosive ones around the world, are religious wars. Sure there are other factors, such as economical (oil, trade, etc), but religion is the true reason for these wars. From the christian perspective, it is another crusade to bring jesus to the muslims and save souls, which sounds very much like bringing freedom to the arabs and saving democracy. For jews it is a matter of saving their holy land, for they are the adam, the chosen people. That is the sole reason for their lives. For muslims it is a matter also of keeping soveirgnty in their holy places, and their right to a conservative religion and government. We must remember that they believe in hell as christians do, and feel the same fear of god. In fact, it is the same god (they believe in the archangel gabriel) but a different prophet.
Now that the world is shrinking and we are elbow to elbow, we feel as though we are suffocating as a human race by our differences. We cannot accept different people, and therefore must convert them, wether to a religion or a form of government. For this reason, a lot of people are becoming anti christian and anti american. It is easy to change an idea, but it is not easy to change a believe. It is the pillar of our self.
Right now I can feel god in a distance watching everything, seeing if we are going to pass the greatest test of all: life. I do not know if she is disappointed or proud, if she’s bored or surprised, if she is regretful or exhuburent at our creation. In a way we were created in her image but at the same time there is a seed of evil in us that causes us to create our own hell while at the same time loving heaven. One thing is for sure, that the recent future will have a great impact in the future of humanity, demanding us to transform ourselves and understand god, or plunge in our own self destruction.