When good religion goes bad
November 18th 2009 03:35
Christianity takes a lot of flak for a lot of things, most of it, in my opinion unjust. However, there are times that Christianity takes a beating for exactly what it deserves. Now don't get me wrong, Christianity isn't all bad based on what sometimes comes out of the church or from religious circles.
The intents of the church are good, and for the most part it has done alot of good in this world, maybe not enough and admittedly it has fallen well short of it's mandate. We were called to love one another, yet we fail to even come close to that. It seems we've gone in the opposite direction of selfishness and greed. It's now all about "me" and what "I" can get from a situation. Instead of giving and not needing to get anything in return, we now expect to get something back.
The problem is that people take what is written in the Bible and twist it to suit themselves. It isn't a new situation. Humans have used the Bible to condone extreme acts of opression and violence throughout history and the best examples of that are slavery and a women's role in the church.
Now, it has taken on a more ominous role. There is a new push from the extreme "christian" right (not mainstream Christianity mind you but the kooks who are the hardcore fundamentalist hatemongering kind of "christian") who is now supposedly using one line from the 109th book of Psalms to oppose the President of the USA. This line is taken from Psalm 109 v 8 which reads "May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership". It sounds innocuous when read, but when you take a closer look it actually speaks of asking God to take him out of office.
Verse 8 certainly is vague on how God to do this, and depending on how far right someone is on the spectrum would depend on how long they want him to be in office. Now reading one line in the book doesn't give the reader the full context of what the intent is. Reading v 9 says "May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow." The intent is now clear. He should die by the hand of God. Not to serve one term and demit office and live a peaceful, quiet life away from politics. All it takes is a wrong minded, fuzzy headed, extremist to read these two lines and decide to play "god" to make a point. It just takes one.
Once again, the extreme "christian" right has hijacked an entire religion, and holds it to ransom for it's own political means and ends, and once again gives the entire religion a very bad name. Hatred and intolerance is not what Christianity is supposed to be about, and this kind of behaviour should not be tolerated, or let alone supported by anyone, especially a believer.
The intents of the church are good, and for the most part it has done alot of good in this world, maybe not enough and admittedly it has fallen well short of it's mandate. We were called to love one another, yet we fail to even come close to that. It seems we've gone in the opposite direction of selfishness and greed. It's now all about "me" and what "I" can get from a situation. Instead of giving and not needing to get anything in return, we now expect to get something back.
The problem is that people take what is written in the Bible and twist it to suit themselves. It isn't a new situation. Humans have used the Bible to condone extreme acts of opression and violence throughout history and the best examples of that are slavery and a women's role in the church.
Now, it has taken on a more ominous role. There is a new push from the extreme "christian" right (not mainstream Christianity mind you but the kooks who are the hardcore fundamentalist hatemongering kind of "christian") who is now supposedly using one line from the 109th book of Psalms to oppose the President of the USA. This line is taken from Psalm 109 v 8 which reads "May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership". It sounds innocuous when read, but when you take a closer look it actually speaks of asking God to take him out of office.
Verse 8 certainly is vague on how God to do this, and depending on how far right someone is on the spectrum would depend on how long they want him to be in office. Now reading one line in the book doesn't give the reader the full context of what the intent is. Reading v 9 says "May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow." The intent is now clear. He should die by the hand of God. Not to serve one term and demit office and live a peaceful, quiet life away from politics. All it takes is a wrong minded, fuzzy headed, extremist to read these two lines and decide to play "god" to make a point. It just takes one.
Once again, the extreme "christian" right has hijacked an entire religion, and holds it to ransom for it's own political means and ends, and once again gives the entire religion a very bad name. Hatred and intolerance is not what Christianity is supposed to be about, and this kind of behaviour should not be tolerated, or let alone supported by anyone, especially a believer.
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