Today Focus on the Family founder James Dobson joined Mike Huckabee and some other conservative Christian leaders in blaming Friday's shootings on God who -- Dobson said on his radio broadcast -- "has allowed judgment to fall upon us."
Our country really does seem in complete disarray. I'm not talking politically, I'm not talking about the result of the November sixth election; I am saying that something has gone wrong in America and that we have turned our back on God.And uncounted legions of people yearning for a spiritual home and connection to the God of love, justice and compassion are given yet another reason to "pass" on Christianity -- because if Christianity is about a God who would kill children because He's angry about gay and lesbian people building families together then who wants any part of that God? Not me... said the Episcopal priest. Not me.
I mean millions of people have decided that God doesn't exist, or he's irrelevant to me and we have killed 54 million babies and the institution of marriage is right on the verge of a complete redefinition. Believe me, that is going to have consequences, too.
And a lot of these things are happening around us, and somebody is going to get mad at me for saying what I am about to say right now, but I am going to give you my honest opinion: I think we have turned our back on the scripture and on God almighty and I think he has allowed judgment to fall upon us. I think that's what's going on.
This would be the same God who "intends" a rape victim to bear the child of her rapist and who supports a bill that advocates killing gays in Uganda. Just to name a few.
Well, I don't have a radio show. But I have a blog. And I have news for Dr. Dobson: that God isn't irrelevant to me -- He is anathema to me. That God has nothing whatsoever to do with the God of love, justice and compassion who "came down at Christmas" incarnate in the Prince of Peace who became one of us in order to show us how to love one another.
And if we let Dobson -- or Huckabee or Buchanan or any of the other followers of that hateful, hurtful, homophobic judgmental God with an anger management problem -- speak for Christianity, then we fail to counter the toxic theology masquerading as the Good News of God in Christ and we fail to stand up, stand up for Jesus.
And we can do better than that. So let's do it. Seriously.
5 comments:
Pat Roberts and Jerry Falwell said EXACTLY the same thing following 9/11.
They never learn.
It seems *to me* like they don't really know Jesus (OCICBW).
Thank you Reverend Susan.. few dare to call these bible-bashers on their bullroar, and our so-called "media" seems fixated that these fools are the only voice for religion that they can locate.
What's "wrong" with this society can only be measured in the minds and souls of such fools, who claim to speak for God, or to have some special connection.. some kind of Holy broadband connection to Him.
As much as I may believe that eventually they'll be called to accounts for such behaviors.. I'd sorta like to see that happen in the strong light of current public media.
Peace - Gerry Phibbs
"We have turned our back on God". James said it twice. "Millions of people have decided that God doesn't exist, or that he's irrelevant to [them]".
What kind of a God is this, whom millions believe is either irrelevant or non-existent? Were I a woman impregnated by a rapist, or even the hapless victim of an overnight tryst, I definitely could not relate to a god who demands that my unplanned and unwanted fetus be held to term. A god who demeans my love for my partner—and now my grief at his passing—doesn't exist for me. Oh, yes, Susan, I have turned my back on such a god, for if he is not a false god, he is at a minimum a god of childish minds and understandings.
There is conscious non-judgmentalism in Jesus' outrageously equal treatment of the women in his life (for the times), and his healing of the slave of the centurion. This is the God I know, the God who loves me and my partner, now across the Jordan, beyond my wildest imaginings.
I believe in a God who weeps with us and knows our pain. This is the God who watched as His son was crucified yet He allowed it to happen. And we ask how God could watch someone die so horribly much less His own son. Regarding the school shootings we as mere mortals cannot fath nor comprehend why. Neither can the Obama's, fake tears and all, the Dobson's, the right nor the left. The one thing I know is there is evil in this world that sll of us and each of us meeds to face and address. That is what happened in the school.
Of course we can comprehend why Newtown happened. But powerful and moneyed interests continue to prevent us from doing anything about it. Other more civilized nations have done something about guns, and who can own them.
We have not, while making Wal-Mart the biggest arms dealer in the world, and while the self-proclaimed "pro-life" crowd does nothing. The worst evil would be to collectively do nothing yet again, while thirty-plus more Americans die every day as a result of gun violence. The number of guns in America, our lack of sane gun laws, and the number of annual gun deaths in the U.S. are verifiable facts. There are no facts to suggest that our President's tears were not real.
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