Defender of the Faith

It would seem that there are two warring types of Christians on the Interweb at the moment: those who think that the world is going to hell in a bucket and that the word secular equals evil (think Franklin Graham). And there are those who spend a lot of time loudly proclaiming that that is just crazy talk.  I have to admit, I generally fall into the second camp.  All of the prophecies of doom and judgment ring a little hollow.  In no way do I think Target re-naming their toy aisle in gender neutral terms is going to provoke the wrath of God.
Then again, there is that thing in Matthew 5: 21-26 about insulting others and calling them fools, and something about a hell of fire.  Then again, this is just too funny:

Please forgive me for that.

I guess what I'm saying is that it's just too hard to walk this particular line.  There are some really bad ideas about what is important and worthy of defending about the faith that I suppose I share with Pat Robertson and Franklin Graham and Guy Smiley up there.  They are part of the Body of Christ, and no matter how embarrassing or wrong-headed I feel they are, I still have to acknowledge that God can use them.

Embracing a non-dual consciousness is really tough, because once you get your mind around the fact that you have to love sinners, addicts and broken people, you turn around and you have to love self-righteous bigots, and shiny god-is-money people, and young earth creationists and all sorts of stuff that just makes your progressive skin crawl.

Some days I'm like, "Jesus Christ (not taking the name in vain, because I'm actually talking to him), did you really mean that stuff about not judging?  And if you did, could we maybe make a little exception for Osteen?" I poke fun at Joel a lot, but he's probably one of the least harmful nutters on my personal heretic list, at least I've never heard him threaten anybody with Hell, he's more of a carrot guy than a stick guy.

I get it, my theology is not perfect, but here's an idea for people who are twisted, or about to get twisted about some stupid thing on religious grounds.  Let's sort of create a Christian Hippocratic Oath. Not a hypocritical oath, Lord knows we do hypocrisy well enough already. No, I'm talking about the creed of the ancient physician Hippocrates, part of which is popularly believed to be "First, do no harm," (Read the wiki-article if you want what it actually says). But the thing, which has been updated over the millennia, is just chock full of good ideas about being humble and seeking wisdom in all things and not overstepping your knowledge or ability.  This is all good stuff for people who work on the relatively simple part of humans: our bodies.

Why then do those of us who do the work of the soul and try to guide others in such endeavors, often practice such quackery?  Shouldn't we be even more mindful of our responsibility? Humble in our advice? Honest with one another as we walk together?

I suppose it's acceptable for a neurosurgeon to be a little arrogant, after all they can do stuff.  But it is absolutely unacceptable for a Pastor to be that way.  Yet here I am, writing this little blog for the world to see, telling you that I'm right and a bunch of other people are wrong.

I can say I'm trying to do no harm, but quite frankly, I might be putting a stumbling block in front of someone who likes Joel Osteen's little inspirational speeches or who agrees with Franklin Graham that calling GI Joe an "Action" toy instead of a Boy's toy, is a sign that we are failing as culture.

I think we are at a point where the only thing we can really agree on is that there is something amiss.  Some people think it's cancer, others think it's just a minor cold, but we know something isn't right.  We can't really agree on a treatment for it, because we can't even agree on a diagnosis.

There's only one thing I can think of to really do or say at this particular moment that I know won't do any harm: "Please Lord, give us your grace."