Evangelism for introverts

I have a guest post up on author Davalynn Spencer's blog entitled "Evangelism for introverts."

Hop on over and take a peek, then linger and explore this neat lady's website.

Hollywood vs. Real America

There is a television series that's just hit the prime time called (pardon my language) Good Christian Bitches (later modified to Good Christian Belles after the understandable outcry). It's made by the creators of "Sex and the City," so I guess that tells you something. We don't have television reception so I've never seen this latest example of Hollywood art, but I gather the basic premise is to show how Christian women are nothing but a bunch of biblical hypocrites. Ha ha -- it's so amusing, don't you think, to watch women be catty? And placing them in a church environment just seals the deal, in the opinion of Hollywood.

(Just as an aside, imagine a Hollywood brainchild called "Good Jewish Bitches" or "Good Muslim Bitches" and see how quickly the producers would get flayed. But hey, it's open season on Christians.)

This show is apparently full of splendid advice, such as "cleavage lets your cross hang straight" and other useful suggestions.

As I see it, this is just the latest example of Hollywood's absolute disdain for Middle America and its values. I was going to link to a trailer to demonstrate my point, but after watching it I didn't want my girls to see the shocking content, so I found another, slightly less racy trailer (here). And keep that in mind: the first trailer I found was so shocking I didn't want my girls to see it... yet this show is now on prime time television, where young people all over America can hear the catty language and watch the degrading situations played out in this sitcom.

As with any television show, the actors and actresses involved are drop-dead beautiful. But what good is all that beauty if its purpose is to ridicule and scorn an enormous segment of our nation? Its whole essence is the mockery of values, particularly Christian values. Such ideals as modesty and chastity are held in contempt as unattainable and unrealistic (and unnecessary) goals. The nuclear family is shown as dysfunctional (of course) and a source of oppression for women (of course). It's considered "empowering" for women to dress like skanks and seduce men away from their marriage vows. It's sole purpose, apparently, is to illustrate (with the help of lots of cleavage) how religion is bad.

But no one ever talks about how religion is good -- how many lives have been turned around, how many overwhelmed people have found solace, how many challenges have been overcome because of faith (and this doesn't even examine how many souls are saved).

What it comes down to is Hollywood's persistent ambition to demonstrate how secular life is vastly superior to religious life. The pious are hypocrites and idiots. All devout church-goers are in reality closet deviants bent on fulfilling their animal urges. And somehow, in some way, Christian values are to blame for it all.

Now this petty and superficial television show is moving into the prime time, where countless numbers of young people, whose faith may still be fragile, will fall under its outwardly-beautiful and glamorous sway.

So anyway, this morning I was writing this blog piece and getting on my high horse when I got bumped down to earth by a sobering piece written by columnist Dennis Prager. It seems he and his wife, who are traveling in Australia, met a young waitress from Iran who was raised Muslim. Due to the violence she saw around her while growing up, she now considers herself an atheist.

"Nothing produces atheists like despicable religious people," writes Prager. "They do far more harm to religious faith than all the atheist writers and activists in the world put together."

This statement made me wince because there are far too many times when Christians are seen in a similar light. While I can't go into details, let's just say I'm in a position to see a LOT of chatter back and forth between the political left and the political right, between atheists and Christians, between progressives and conservatives. Many people will claim that conservatives are more verbally restrained than the name-calling and vitriol that marks the left; but I'm here to tell you it ain't necessarily so. There is just as much mud-slinging, name-calling, and nasty language coming from so-called Christians; and it serves to reinforce every bad opinion atheists could ever hold of us.

As a Christian I am held to high standards, standards I continuously fail to meet (which is where forgiveness of my sins is so comforting). Nonetheless those standards are there, and I must strive toward them. I must guard my tongue and my (typing) fingers from falling into the classic human failings of gossip, name-calling, and hypocrisy. In other words, I -- and every other person who calls him or herself a Christian -- must be ambassadors for our faith. We must represent the goodness and mercy of Jesus, not the gossip and slander that GCB illustrates.

I'll fail, of course. But at least I have a Higher Authority to whom I can lift my fallen eyes and beg forgiveness.

But you still won't catch me watching Good Christian "Belles" any time soon.

Insulting the Spirit of grace

Recently I’ve been seeing comments left by an atheist on a popular website. These weren’t just shrug-there-is-no-god comments. Rather, they were vitriolic attacks on the Divine, a blanket hatred and condemnation of anything having to do with the Almighty. And I mean these were vicious. Naturally, anyone who believed in God was included in this fellow’s blasphemy. His ire was particularly directed at Christians since he was certain we are all knuckle-dragging hypocrites.

This man took great glee in writing how he was raised in an evangelical home, but became “enlightened” as an adult and now spends much of his free time (if his comments are any indication) waxing eloquent with his gospel of hatred and loathing. His words are disturbing, lingering in the mind of the reader.

Lately this fellow, and folks like him, have been on my mind. I can't understand such hated, I guess. I find myself praying for people like that, people who are so filled with loathing for God that they entirely miss the peace which passeth all understanding.

Then last night I was reading Hebrews when this passage leaped out at me:

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?

Gave me the shivers, it did, for that’s precisely what this person was doing with his comments. Trampling the Son of God underfoot. Treating the blood of the covenant as an unholy thing. Insulting the Spirit of grace. I fear his punishment will, indeed, be severe.

Guess I’ll keep praying, sounds like he needs it.

The stethoscope

Here's an interesting video clip called The Stethoscope. It has a nice little surprise ending.

Viewing this video will allow the new troll who has found his or her way to my blog the opportunity to leave a snarky comment. Enjoy!

Don't leave it on the desk

A reader sent this.
__________________________

There was a certain Professor of Religion named Dr. Christianson, a studious man who taught at a small college in the western United States.

Dr. Christianson taught the required survey course in Christianity at this particular institution. Every student was required to take this course their freshman year, regardless of his or her major.

Although Dr. Christianson tried hard to communicate the essence of the gospel in his class, he found that most of his students looked upon the course as nothing but required drudgery. Despite his best efforts, most students refused to take Christianity seriously.

This year, Dr. Christianson had a special student named Steve. Steve was only a freshman, but was studying with the intent of going onto seminary for the ministry. Steve was popular, he was well liked, and he was an imposing physical specimen. He was now the starting center on the school football team, and was the best student in the professor's class.

One day Dr. Christianson asked Steve to stay after class so he could talk with him.

"How many push-ups can you do?"

Steve said, "I do about 200 every night."

"200? That's pretty good," Dr. Christianson said. "Do you think you could do 300?"

Steve replied, "I don't know.... I've never done 300 at a time."

"Do you think you could?" asked Dr. Christianson again.

"Well, I can try," said Steve.

"Can you do 300 in sets of 10? I have a class project in mind and I need you to do about 300 push-ups in sets of ten for this to work. Can you do it? I need you to tell me you can do it," said the professor.

Steve said, "Well... I think I can...yeah, I can do it."

Dr. Christianson said, "Good! I need you to do this on Friday. Let me explain what I have in mind."

Friday came and Steve got to class early and sat in the front of the room. When class started, the professor pulled out a big box of donuts. No, these weren't the normal kinds of donuts, they were the extra fancy BIG kind, with cream centers and frosting swirls. Everyone was pretty excited it was Friday, the last class of the day, and they were going to get an early start on the weekend with a party in Dr. Christianson's class.

Dr. Christianson went to the first girl in the first row and asked, "Cynthia, do you want to have one of these donuts?"

Cynthia said, "Yes."

Dr. Christianson then turned to Steve and asked, "Steve, would you do ten push-ups so that Cynthia can have a donut?"

"Sure!" Steve jumped down from his desk to do a quick ten. Then Steve again sat in his desk. Dr. Christianson put a donut on Cynthia's desk.

Dr. Christianson then went to Joe, the next person, and asked, "Joe, do you want a donut?"

Joe said, "Yes." Dr. Christianson asked, "Steve would you do ten push-ups so Joe can have a donut?"

Steve did ten push-ups, Joe got a donut. And so it went, down the first aisle, Steve did ten push-ups for every person before they got their donut.

Walking down the second aisle, Dr. Christianson came to Scott. Scott was on the basketball team, and in as good condition as Steve. He was very popular and never lacking for female companionship.

When the professor asked, "Scott do you want a donut?"

Scott's reply was, "Well, can I do my own push-ups?"

Dr. Christianson said, "No, Steve has to do them."

Then Scott said, "Well, I don't want one then."

Dr. Christianson shrugged and then turned to Steve and asked, "Steve, would you do ten push-ups so Scott can have a donut he doesn't want?"

With perfect obedience Steve started to do ten push-ups.

Scott said, "HEY! I said I didn't want one!"

Dr. Christianson said, "Look! This is my classroom, my class, my desks, and these are my donuts. Just leave it on the desk if you don't want it." And he put a donut on Scott's desk.

Now by this time, Steve had begun to slow down a little. He just stayed on the floor between sets because it took too much effort to be getting up and down. You could start to see a little perspiration coming out around his brow.

Dr. Christianson started down the third row. Now the students were beginning to get a little angry. Dr. Christianson asked Jenny, "Jenny, do you want a donut?"


Sternly, Jenny said, "No."

Then Dr. Christianson asked Steve, "Steve, would you do ten more push-ups so Jenny can have a donut that she doesn't want?"

Steve did ten. Jenny got a donut.

By now, a growing sense of uneasiness filled the room. The students were beginning to say, "No!" and there were all these uneaten donuts on the desks.

Steve also had to really put forth a lot of extra effort to get these push-ups done for each donut. There began to be a small pool of sweat on the floor beneath his face, his arms and brow were beginning to get red because of the physical effort involved.

Dr. Christianson asked Robert, who was the most vocal unbeliever in the class, to watch Steve do each push up to make sure he did the full ten push-ups in a set because he couldn't bear to watch all of Steve's work for all of those uneaten donuts. He sent Robert over to where Steve was so Robert count the set and watch Steve closely.

Dr. Christianson started down the fourth row. During his class, however, some students from other classes had wandered in and sat down on the steps along the radiators that ran down the sides of the room. When the professor realized this, he did a quick count and saw that now there were 34 students in the room. He started to worry if Steve would be able to make it.

Dr. Christianson went on to the next person and the next and the next. Near the end of that row, Steve was really having a rough time. He was taking a lot more time to complete each set.

Steve asked Dr. Christianson, "Do I have to make my nose touch on each one?"

Dr. Christianson thought for a moment, "Well, they're your push-ups. You are in charge now. You can do them any way that you want." And Dr. Christianson went on.

A few moments later, Jason, a recent transfer student, came to the room and was about to come in when all the students yelled in one voice, "NO! Don't come in! Stay out!"

Jason didn't know what was going on. Steve picked up his head and said, "No, let him come."

Professor Christianson said, "You realize that if Jason comes in you will have to do ten push-ups for him?"

Steve said, "Yes, let him come in. Give him a donut."

Dr. Christianson said, "Okay, Steve, I'll let you get Jason's out of the way right now.
Jason, do you want a donut?"

Jason, new to the room, hardly knew what was going on. "Yes," he said, "give me a donut."

"Steve, will you do ten push-ups so that Jason can have a donut?"

Steve did ten push-ups very slowly and with great effort. Jason, bewildered, was handed a donut and sat down.

Dr Christianson finished the fourth row, and then started on those visitors seated by the heaters. Steve's arms were now shaking with each push-up in a struggle to lift himself against the force of gravity. By this time sweat was profusely dropping off of his face, there was no sound except his heavy breathing; there was not a dry eye in the room.

The very last two students in the room were two young women, both cheerleaders, and very popular. Dr. Christianson went to Linda, the second to last, and asked, "Linda, do you want a doughnut?"

Linda said, very sadly, "No, thank you."

Professor Christianson quietly asked, "Steve, would you do ten push-ups so that Linda can have a donut she doesn't want?"

Grunting from the effort, Steve did ten very slow push-ups for Linda.

Then Dr. Christianson turned to the last girl, Susan. "Susan, do you want a donut?"

Susan, with tears flowing down her face, began to cry. "Dr. Christianson, why can't I help him?"

Dr Christianson, with tears of his own, said, "No, Steve has to do it alone. I have given him this task and he is in charge of seeing that everyone has an opportunity for a donut whether they want it or not. When I decided to have a party this last day of class, I looked at my grade book. Steve here is the only student with a perfect grade. Everyone else has failed a test, skipped class, or offered me inferior work. Steve told me that in football practice when a player messes up, he must do push-ups. I told Steve that none of you could come to my party unless he paid the price by doing your push-ups. He and I made a deal for your sakes."

"Steve, would you do ten push-ups so Susan can have a donut?"

As Steve very slowly finished his last push-up, with the understanding that he had accomplished all that was required of him, having done 350 push-ups, his arms buckled beneath him and he fell to the floor.

Dr. Christianson turned to the room and said, "And so it was that our Savior, Jesus Christ, on the cross, pleaded to the Father, 'Into thy hands I commend my spirit.' With the understanding that He had done everything that was required of Him, He yielded up His life. And like some of those in this room, many of us leave the gift on the desk, uneaten."

Two students helped Steve up off the floor and to a seat, physically exhausted, but wearing a thin smile.

"Well done, good and faithful servant," said the professor, adding, "Not all sermons are preached in words."

Turning to his class, the professor said, "My wish is that you might understand and fully comprehend all the riches of grace and mercy that have been given to you through the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He spared not His Only Begotten Son, but gave Him up for us all, for the whole Church, now and forever. Whether or not we choose to accept His gift to us, the price has been paid."

"Wouldn't you be foolish and ungrateful to leave it lying on the desk?"

Ten Steps toward Christian Simplicity

Since I was in high school, I’ve been fascinated by the concept of simplicity. Sometimes this is called “voluntary” (as opposed to “involuntary”) simplicity. Either way you cut it, the idea is to not complicate your life with too much stuff.

But “stuff” can be interpreted in many different ways. Most people think “stuff” means physical possessions, and the more hard-core simplifiers believe all you have to do is jettison 75% of your things and you'll have a simpler life. While most of us could unquestionably toss a lot of stuff, to me simplicity goes much deeper.

Christians often shy against the term “simplicity” because of its New Age associations. When they hear the term, folks immediately think of a cabin in the woods, tie-died clothing, Birkenstock sandals, hairy armpits, and dreadlocks. Most Christians don’t want to go vegen, eat tofu, read auras, wear hemp clothing, bow to their “inner universe” (whatever that is), anticipate the harmonic convergence, or raise their consciousness on a daily basis with sitars playing in the background.

So what's left? Here are ten steps to simplify your life.

1. Make Good Choices
The essence of simple living can be summed up in these three words: make good choices. Think of it as having Jesus peeking over your shoulder, approving or disapproving of what you do. Remember, you reap what you sow; and if you sow bad choices, your life will not be simple.

For example, I know a family who lives far, far beyond their means. They are in debt past their eyeballs. Everything – including their clothing and furniture – has a lien on it. Yet they act as if nothing is wrong. They continue to spend and spend and spend (on credit, of course). When I mention that perhaps they should scale back, they shrug and say they’ll be okay.

They won’t be okay. They are very close to losing their home. And – here’s the thing – they will be totally shocked when it happens. They will think it unfair.

This is not a tragedy. Their financial situation was not caused by medical hardships or job loss or something similarly out of their control. No, it was caused by their poor choices. They will shortly reap what they sow.

Simplicity is understanding that we are all a product of our choices.

2. Don’t Have Kids
…until you’re married, that is.

This should go without saying, but it’s worth reviewing the facts and figures.

According to Blake Bailey of the National Center for Policy Analysis, about thirty-one million Americans live in households below the poverty level. He says, “Poverty is more than a lack of income. It is also the consequence of specific behaviors and decisions. The 2001 Census data clearly show that dropping out of high school, staying single, having children without a spouse, working only part time or not working at all substantially increase the chances of long-term poverty. Certain behaviors are a recipe for success. Among those who finish high school, get married, have children only within a marriage and go to work, the odds of long-term poverty are virtually nil.”

Get the gist here? These are all choices. These are things that are (mostly) within our control.

Don’t have children until you’ve finished (at least) high school and gotten married, in that order.

3. Choose Wisely, Treat Kindly
There are few things that will simplify your life more than a solid relationship with your spouse. A strong marriage will uplift you through all of the stresses, misfortunes, difficulties, and bad luck that life throws your way. It has the added advantage of improving attitude and behavior, another key factor in simplifying one’s life.

Those of us with happy marriages did not win the lottery. We didn’t just randomly pick someone, get married, and by jingo our spouse happened to turn out terrific. No, we chose well. Then we worked hard to keep our spouse happy.

Read those last lines again: we chose well. We worked hard to keep our spouse happy.

Once you choose a good spouse and then work hard to keep that spouse happy, it is staggering how much simpler your life can become.

4. Live Within Your Means
There’s a lot involved in these four simple words. Living within your means brings tremendous peace of mind from debt, from fighting over money, and from stress from being over-extended financially.

It also implies obedience of the Tenth Commandment. When we don’t covet (a bigger house, a nicer wardrobe, a fancier car, etc.), then we can learn to be satisfied with what we have, however modest.

This doesn’t mean we can’t strive for better things. It means that we acquire those better things only when we can afford them without going into debt or depriving our family of necessities.

5. Cut the Clutter
Look around your home. What do you see? Craft supplies, magazines, knickknacks, statuary, gewgaws, framed photos by the dozen (or hundreds), duplicates, collections of tools or bowling trophies or stuffed animals…

Our homes are often filled with things at too high a cost, both physical and emotional. We stuff our houses with more and more items, thinking they will bring joy. The result, of course, is a living space that squeezes the “living” right out of it.

Dump the clutter. Simplify your housework. Reduce your possessions to only the useful or the beautiful. Make your home lovely, peaceful, open, and welcoming. Because, after all, that’s the whole purpose…isn’t it?

6. You Aren’t What You Own, Do, or Wear
How much of what complicates our lives ultimately derives from our efforts to impress others? This ego-driven desire to display can push us into careers that may not satisfy, homes that may be too big, cars that may be too expensive, and possessions that may be unneeded.

As Christians, we need to put our treasure elsewhere besides our homes, careers, and wardrobes. We need to acquire the confidence that allows us to march to the beat of our own drum, one that allows us to be pleased with a smaller house, used vehicle, and modest job. Our Christian confidence should allows us to not be affected by any snobbish barbs that come our way from those who feel that what we do, own, or wear signifies our importance.

7. Stop It!
I once caught a Bob Newhart comedic skit in which he played his usual role as a psychologist. A woman came to him with a myriad of problems because she’d heard he could cure her in five minutes. She poured out one dilemma after another and then asked for his advice.

His reply? The sum total of his advice for all her problems? “STOP IT!!!!”

The skit was hilariously funny simply because it was Bob Newhart, but underneath the humor there was some merit to his advice. Sometimes we just need to… stop it.

Stop living beyond your means. Stop overeating. Stop nagging. Stop driving too fast. Stop drinking so much. Stop smoking. Stop gossiping. You get the idea.

If we could just magically “stop it,” life would be simpler. Now our job is to make those “stops” come true. This isn’t rocket science. If you’re doing something that makes your life too complex…STOP IT!!

8. Discipline Your Children
The concept of discipline for children has become watered down in recent decades. As a result, many children run amuck, wreaking havoc in parents’ lives.

The fact of the matter is that children need strict, loving, consistent discipline. They need to learn the parameters of acceptable behavior in our society.

The Bible (particularly Proverbs) is full of sensible advice on disciplining kids. The problem of unruly children clearly dates back thousands of years. Remember: you reap what you sow. If you sow leniency with your kids, you will reap brats.

Discipline your children so that they can be a source of pride, not embarrassment. Believe me, your life will be simpler.

9. Stay Healthy
The entire health industry that attempts to keep us healthy can largely be reduced to four major things:
• Don’t smoke
• Keep to a healthy weight
• Eat five to six portions of fruits and vegetables daily
• Exercise regularly

That’s it. Very simple. Doing these four magical things will reduce or solve the health problems of 90% of us. Studies have shown that people who do all these things live an average of fourteen years longer than people who adopt none of these behaviors. Yet surveys have shown that only 3% of us do all four.

The nice thing is that all four of these things are within our control. Obviously not all health issues can be solved by adopting these four things. But it certainly can’t hurt.

10. Count Your Blessings (and Give Thanks)
If we counted our blessings as often as we counted our problems, we would be overwhelmed with gratitude. Sometimes it takes a simple readjustment in our way of thinking before we recognize the incredible blessings we have in our lives.

Our pastor once said in a sermon, “If you lost everything you have right now, and then suddenly had it all restored, you would be one grateful person.”

This is so true. Suppose (like Job) we lost our health – our home – our way of life – our neighbors – our job – our voice – our children – our spouse – our food – our water…

…And then had it suddenly restored again…?

Would we ever grumble again? All our petty annoyances are so petty in light of what it would be like to lose everything.

Gratitude is an important part of simplifying. Cultivate it now – before you lose anything more.

League of the Juvenile Godless

Vox Day is, among his many other remarkable writing credits, a columnist with WorldNetDaily. My husband is a faithful follower of his blog. Recently he had a post which Don found fascinating. Because we can't link to specific articles on his blog, Don emailed and asked permission to reprint the entire blog entry here. That permission was granted.

The neat thing about Vox Day is his ability to clearly articulate things that I simply cannot wrap words around. This is an excellent case in point.
__________________________

League of the Juvenile Godless

Despite their best efforts to conceal it under a facade of reason, they always eventually reveal the essential lack of intellectual and emotional development that underlies their social autism:

But nowhere has the reaction of believers been so forceful as in Fort Worth, to the delight of Fred Edwords, the national director of the United Coalition of Reason. The coalition’s local chapter spent only $2,400 for four bus ads, which will run through the month in a city with about 200 buses.

“That’s more brouhaha for the buck than we have seen anywhere,” Mr. Edwords said.

And thus are all the claims that their various ad campaigns are about anything but annoying Christians at Christmastime belied. Can you even imagine how upset Jews would be if Christians began running ads directly attacking Jewish beliefs during the high holidays in a similar manner? Or how ballistic Muslims would go if similarly attacked during Ramadan? Atheists constantly attempt to portray the public celebrations and positive assertions of Christian belief as some sort of attack on their non-belief, but that is nothing more than absurd and juvenile drama-queening. Consider the lack of equivalency here:

Christian: "God loves you."
Atheist: "You know it's [the Christmas story of the birth of Jesus Christ] a myth."

The Christian statement doesn't say anything about the atheist or his atheism. While one can correctly deduce that if it is true that God loves you, then he must exist and therefore contradict the atheist belief that he does not, it cannot possibly be considered an attack on atheism of any kind. The atheist statement, on the other hand, is nothing but an attack on a specific belief of a specific religion. This isn't to say all of the atheist ads are attacks; millions of people most certainly are good without God. They're simply not good enough to enter into His presence come Judgment Day.

Now, when Christians start running historically correct ads featuring quotes like "There is No God" and "Science is My Religion" along with pictures of notorious atheist murderers such as Lenin, Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao Tse-tung, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Timothy McVeigh standing red-handed over the stacked skulls of their many victims instead of "God loves You", atheists can legitimately complain that they're being attacked. (Not that such attacks are not merited; they would be provably accurate whereas the atheist "myth" ad is not.) Until then, they've got absolutely nothing to complain about except for being alone of their own choice at Christmastime because a statement that contradicts your beliefs without making any reference to them is not only not an attack, it's not even about them! And while it's true that atheists happen to be America's most-disliked minority, perhaps they should consider not behaving in such an annoying and thoroughly dislikable manner.

Sad diatribe

Please note that the person who wrote this is NOT a reader of my blog, so don't jump to any conclusions about who wrote it.  This is the same person who wrote the lovely note about firearms.

My pity for this person knows no depths.  Please pray for him

Even the atheist readers of my blog do not express themselves with this much anger and hate.   This person truly is to be pitied.
_________________________

The bible is by far the worst book ever in humanity. It does nothing but breed hate and intolerance. It is filled with ridiculous and indefensible errors. I would sooner let a kid read Playboy that the violent, intolerant bible. It is not the word of any god. It reflects only the bigotry and hate of humans and belongs in a landfill.
 

I am ready and willing to provide CONCLUSIVE PROOF that the bible is WRONG on just about everything, but deluded people refuse to consider challenges to their crutches, preferring instead to just pretend there are no legitimate challenges as they move forward trying to shove this crap down everyone's throat. The bible is responsible for more hate, intolerance, violence, and death than any other book in history and should be burned into oblivion, along with the genocidal make believe god and religion it created.

I am sorry if you object to my opinions, but as an American, I have just as much right to express them as any of you do.

_______________________________

No splendor, no poetry, no joy, no majesty, no comfort, no knowledge, no insight, no salvation... that's what this person is missing by his attitude.  The Bible certainly has its fill of violence and death, and horrible things have been done because of some twisted justification found within its pages.  But it also has enormous and unspeakable beauty, and far more magnificent things have been done by those who take inspiration and direction from it.

During this season of praise and thanksgiving, I honestly do feel sorry for those unable to reap the benefits from this best-selling book of all time.

They STILL don't get it (Part II)

Yet again in response to yesterday's column, "What Is a Socialist?", someone took the trouble to write a rather cleverly-written looooong Digg reply in which they recreated the format of my column but equated Christianity with all the negative points I made about socialism. Be sure to read my comments at the bottom.

Christianity and Socialism seem to have a lot in common. See, it's easy to find examples for each charge, as if maybe those negative traits being ascribed to socialists were, in fact, just human traits...examples of which may be singled out and pointed to in any number of philosophies.

1) Socialists believe in the use of force to gain their personal ends: Christianity forced millions of conversions over the centuries, upon pain of death and torture. The Spanish Inquisition, for example. The Bible states that all who do not worship God are to be destroyed and their homes burned. They even burned people alive. And they didn't give up that authority willingly. They want it back.

2) Socialists believe in slavery: Christianity does too. It has rules for buying and selling, and even beating one's slaves. It has provisions for selling one's own daughter into slavery. Moses' holy conquerors took little girls as slaves. Numbers 31:17.

3) Socialists are racists: Christianity tells us that Ham, of dark skin, is cursed forever with servitude. Christian churches presided over the early American slave trade with smiling 'benevolence'. Mormons were even worse. Joseph Smith declared that black people who are 'exceptionally moral' will gradually become white.

4) Socialists believe the worst in everyone: Christianity tells us we're all worthless sinners who are, by default, condemned to eternal agony and torture because of something done centuries ago by people well beyond our control.

5) Socialists think religion, especially Christianity, is stupid and nothing but a prop for the unwashed masses: Christians claim all OTHER religions are nothing but a prop for the unwashed masses, or worse, worthy of 'destruction/conversion'. To quote Ann Coulter (of Muslims): "We should kill their leaders and convert them all to Christianity." Also see 1) above.

6) Socialists believe in an ignorant society: Talking snake. Tyrannosaurs on the Ark. Magic rib. Flat earth. Crystal heavens. Abiogenesis. Incestuous genetic origin. Do not question authority. Ever.

7) Socialists believe you have no right of self-defense: All are Judged by (our) God, there is no escape. Obey our rules, or suffer forever after death. Your guilt is hereditary.

8) Socialists are intolerant: Gays are worse than terrorists and morally equivalent to murderers? They caused 9/11? Or how about today's headline? [NOTE: The writer included a long list of links to articles]

9) Socialists are hypocrites: "Gays in this country are destroying the traditional family!" - Ted Haggard

10) Above all, socialists are in denial: See above.

Okay, to the writer of this piece: I don't really care about your obvious contempt for Christianity. Your religious persuasion (or lack thereof) is an issue strictly between you and God. But try - close your eyes and please, just TRY to wrap your little pea brain around this concept:

SOCIALISTS ARE THE ONES PASSING LAWS AT THE POINT OF A GUN. CHRISTIANS ARE NOT.

Whatever your views on Christianity and its history, the fact remains that Christians aren't the ones FORCING (can you please try to comprehend the term "force"?) the rest of us to conform with their will. Socialists are.