Before reading this post, read the story at this link . Don't worry; I'll wait.
Now that you are upset like me, you will be able to understand this post. How can any group of Christians be the MOST in favor of torture among all religious groups. Weren't the evangelicals the ones who wanted us to go see The Passion of the Christ so that we could see the brutality? And now they support the same brutality people were supposed to be appalled by, so much so that they would come to Christ?
Throughout history, and even today in some parts of the world, Christians are persecuted. Yet, here some of us are calling for the same kinds of torture. Do they still teach the Golden Rule at evangelical "churches", or are they too busy dealing with just gay marriage, abortion, and yes, that Satanic theory of evolution? Or, have they so completely sold their souls to the Republican party that they cannot call out the sin for what it is and must quietly follow in lock-step behind it? I don't know. I wish I did. Then we could figure out a way to get this sickness out of God's church.
It is clear by these numbers that it is not just a handful of evangelicals who believe this. This points to a failure of their preachers and leaders. And it means that those of us who are Christian, but not evangelical, have failed. We have failed to make God's message heard over the din of false prophets (remember that tsunami Pat Robertson predicted would hit the East Coast in 2005). We must do better. People will not want to be saved if they believe that this kind of torture is what Christ wants.
Okay, the rant is finished. Let's hope my preacher doesn't find this post and decide to have me give a sermon on it.
Reload, Restart, Respawn, Return
14 years ago
3 comments:
...and your preacher's email address, again, was....?
Because, I kinda wanna see you do that one :)
That said, something about this article is rubbing me wrong...To the point where I wonder if it wasn't out there to grab attention.
I mean, sample size = 742 people? That's really small isn't it? Only a fraction the population of some of the mega-churches you get in Cali. and Texas. It's about the size of the Jr. & Sr. classes at St. M's!
Then there's the semantic issue of lumping "sometimes" and "often" in together. Are "sometimes" and "rarely" so very far apart in the minds of the masses? It's like asking if you can imagine a situation in which torture was justifiable. And then consider that it's someone's personal definition of torture that they're applying...hasn't the past administration made that term fairly elastic?
Hell, without much thought I'd probably say that "sometimes" torture was acceptable...with the meaning that I could possibly see when slapping someone around a little could be justified.
Yes, I know some of the details about the study could be problematic, but I am worried about what the respondents said, not so much about the "finding" of the study.
And no, you aren't getting my preacher's email address (although it may have been in the bulletin). Then I would have to explain to my parents that I have a blog, and have to worry about my mom reading it just to make sure everything was okay.
The fact that this would give any one of these "hardcore" Christians pause for thought is repulsive. Do they not teach history in Sunday School anymore? I seem to remember a period of time where big kitties ate people unless they repented this "cult" they were in. Bloodlust does not sit well with Christian values, no matter how hurt or sacred they are.
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