Friday, September 13, 2024

Politics And Religion

This could be part of the outrage, too.
If memory serves, Russell Moore lost the leadership position of the Southern Baptist Convention to an even more conservative figure.  "Conservative" here meaning both theologically and politically/culturally.  So I cannot say that Mr. Moore speaks for anyone but himself, or to anyone in particular.

But still, he's right.
Trump's "No" went on to include his statement that the "real threaat is at the border."  So he's an ingnorant xenophobe depending on jingoism to win this campaign. Maybe this is where I should note one of those closed schools was a Catholic school. They will pretend, anyway. The rest of us shouldn't go along with it. This is demonic. Not in some Christian mythology sense; in the sense of reprehensible evil, which in my theology means unrepentant selfishness. Donald Trump and J.D. Vance only care about Trump and Vance, respectively. They have no place in leadership, indeed, no place in government. Because they are contagious: James Rosen of Newsmax is the 'journalist' there. He thinks he's clever. He's foul.

Gah!  I need a palate cleanser.
That's better; but I still gotta say this:

Matthew 25:31-46  (SV)

"When the Son of Adam comes in his glory, accompanied by all his messengers, then he will occupy his glorious throne. Then all peoples will be assembled before him, and he will separate them into groups, much as a shepherd segregates sheep from goats. He'll place the sheep to his right and the goats to his left. Then the king will say to those at his right, 'Come, you who have the blessing of my Father, inherit the domain prepared for you from the foundations of the world.  You may remember, I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a foreigner and you showed me hospitality; I was naked and you clothed me;  I was ill and you visited me;  I was in prison and you came to see me.'

Then the virtuous will say to him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and fed you or thirsty and gave you drink? When did we notice that you were a foreigner and extend hospitality to you? Or naked and clothe you? When did we find you ill or in prison and come to visit you?

And the king will respond to them, 'I swear to you, whatever you did for the most inconspicuous members of my family, you did for me as well.'

Next, he will say to those on his left, 'You, condemned to the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his messengers, get away from me! You too may remember, I was hungry and you didn't give me amything to eat; I was thirsty and you refused me a drink; I was a foreigner and you failed to extend hospitality to me; naked and you didn't clothe me; ill and in prison and you didn't visit me.'

Then they will give him a similar reply: 'Lord, when did we notice that you were hungry or thirsty or a foreigner or naked or weak or in prison, and did not attempt to help you?'

He will then respond: 'I swear to you, whever you didn't do for the most inconcpicuous members of my family, you didn't do for me.'

The second group will then head for everlasting punishment, but the virtuous for everlasting life.



Abba John the Little said: “We have abandoned a light burden, namely self-criticism, and taken up a heavy burden, namely self-justification.”
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3 comments:

  1. The Thought Criminal7:19 AM

    That would be the same James Rosen who was such a fine journalist that he took propaganda from a North Korean asset and was investigated by the DoJ during the Obama administration. I had to look up to see if it was, hadn't known that the hacks at the ACLU got their pinafores all twisted up because the DoJ investigated a "journalist" who was acting as a mouthpiece for North Korea. I think it's about time to ditch the ACLU along with any number of other willing dupe entities.

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  2. rustypickup5:21 PM

    As always, the community (in this case evangelicals) want to blame their leaders for where they are, instead of looking at themselves and seeing that they have picked leaders that represent who they really are.

    Here is an article about a local school, a few towns over from where I live.
    https://indepthnh.org/2024/09/13/goffstown-turns-down-gift-and-sues-families-over-lunch-debt-instead/

    My apologies for not making a live link, but a cut and paste should work. To summarize, a local school had students in arears on their lunch money. A local Episcopal church took up a collection to pay off the debts. A school official refused to allow the church to pay off the debts (and claimed the school board wouldn't accept the money even if asked), choosing instead to sue the families. "One of the arguments against St. Matthew’s helping that Gross raised with Wells last year, is that some of the families don’t qualify under the guidelines as poor and should therefore be made to pay. A blanket gift for all the debt would be helping people who did not deserve the assistance." It is better to harass and sue the poor families.

    Such attitudes are hardly rare. On my town's unofficial Facebook page, a post referenced Narcan. I asked if there were local organizations that train people and distribute doses. (I work next to a park where drug users gather). While I got several supportive and helpful suggestions of places to contact that would help, the responses were filled with comments that such people should just die. Those were the more polite ones. Trump and Vance are somehow corrupting these poor conservatives? They know their base well and are the leaders they want. Trump hopefully loses this election, but these people and their attitudes will remain.

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  3. rustypickup5:22 PM

    One of my papers this past semester was why study theology and how would it matter for my future vocation. As part of that paper, I wrote of the 14 Christian governors that turned down funding to feed over the summer children that get free school lunches during the rest of the year. I also recounted the evangelical colleague that believed you should feed the poor, but only just enough that they don't starve to death. Anything more would be taking their dignity. People shouldn't be naked, but don't give them a second pair of socks (and do they really need socks at all?). I then recounted when my children were in elementary school there was an annual food drive. One year the recommended list (peanut butter, pasta, canned fruit...) included a request for "birthday kits." They were a disposable pan, cake mix, a can of frosting and candles. When we asked why the kits, we were told that families using the food pantry would have children with birthdays, but couldn't afford to celebrate them. They often lacked even basic baking supplies like a pan (housing insecurity, they traveled with little). The pantry felt every child deserved a birthday no matter their family's situation. We were very moved by this and made up at least a half dozen kits and donated them along with the more regular items. We were one of very few families that donated the kits.

    The governors, my former colleague, and myself are all Christians. As my intro to theology class progressed (and we read black theology, liberation theology, eco-theology and more), I began to understand that I had been taught a theology of abundance, a theology of optioning for the poor, a theology of universal love by the various pastors of the churches I've attended, social ministry projects, one on one discussions with those pastors, Adventus, and more. The evangelicals agonizing over Trump and Vance have selected leaders that ultimately match their theologies. Neither Trump nor Vance made them deny food to children over the summer, nor for the more generous, that a few poor that meet their definition of the right kind of poor get a few bites of food eke out another day, or should be sued because they can't pay for their children's lunches. The problem is not Trump and Vance, it's who they are and what they believe. As for myself, I believe in a theology of abundance, there is more than enough for all and we are called to support everyone. I've learned that every child gets a birthday, because that is the world that God has called us into.

    To finish, the Episcopal priest that has been attempting to pay off the school lunch arrears said they won't give up, they will continue to collect money to pay off the arears in small claims court. The article itself is a lesson in theology, since it ends with this quote. "A blanket gift for all the debt would be helping people who did not deserve the assistance. But for Wells [the priest], that’s not the point. He cited Catholic author and activist Dorothy Day who said, “The Gospel takes away our right forever to discriminate between the deserving and the undeserving poor.”"
    Amen.

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