Friday, May 18, 2012

Deconstructing "God's Party"

It is a funny thing. In my experience most evangelicals have a similar take on theology. Of course there are differences that each sect finds highly significant, probably most notably pentacostal vs. non pentacostal. They all think the "early church" was right and that in between constantine all the way to Billy Graham, christianity was under the control of legalists that bastardized the true "early church" teaching that relied exclusively on what they consider to be the only valid interpretation. Yet despite having great antagonism for the post-constantine era and all of the religious leaders of the time, they still hold that the crafters of the canon were divinely inspired to form a perfect canon, and they thoroughly believe that the current canon is perfection, which is inconsistent with their core teachings. For example, they reject all teachings other than what is explicitly in the bible, but there is absolutely nothing in the bible that indicates what the canon should be and there is ample proof of problems with the canon. Now if you ask the same evangelicals what they think of mormons, they will launch into a tirade about how its fake becasue the book of mormon was supposedly delivered directly from god to Joseph Smith, therefore the errors proved that it was lies as god cannot err. But they treat the canon with every bit of the same level of sanctity that the mormons do their book, maniacally focused on every jot and tittle of the law, clinging to the words as if they are the only possible way we could know right from wrong. Believing that if it werent for these words we would be lost in a freefall of moral relativism.Yet archaeology has progressed and we have learned a lot about proper interpretation of ancient languages, we have found newer manusripts, we know the story of the canon being an absolutely perfect compilation doesnt add up. We know we can see additions and changes to the texts over time, and their is no biblical reason to believe the canon is perfect, it is simply a cultural belief that evangelicals accepted directly from the traditions of the crusaders and religious leaders that they abhor.  And then they talk a lot about Jesus and Love before they practice something that is so judgemental and legalistic it would make the pharisees look benign, and they do it all while they are talking about how legalistic the pharisees were. There is an active cognitive dissonance in almost all churches I have been in, worship an idea that talks about pure unconditional agape, no judgment, deep compassion for the weakest, poor and most destitue of sinners, engaging with the diseased and poverty-stricken,  and while this is spoken a culture that practices the exact opposite is instilled into the actions and minds of all these churchgoers. One thing I believe with certainty, if there is any truth to their end-of-days stories, where it is said that many will truly believe they are worshipping god while in fact worshipping the devil ... then it is these evangelicals that fit this description. They preach love and they stand up and fight against every advancement in civil rights and every positive change in society. Their beliefs are all about greed and fear, they are plutocrats and corporatists, worshipping the almighty dollar over all. They would vote consistently to bomb the world before they supported a program to feed our homeless. They could care less that there were aramaic and greek words for homosexuality, and those were  not used in the new testament as they preach hatred towards gays, but their churches halls are lined with adulterers and divorcees. They claim to trust the movement of the spirit, but they cannot tolerate those with different lifestyles nor trust that god can work within them, they do not trust god. They have forsaken science choosing to believe that god only works through a book that has been under control of people who they would describe as the most vile and controlling dictators, yet they cannot accept the unadulterated examination of gods creation.  I have studied in 3 different theological seminaries, and if any of this is true, all of these 'gods party' christians who only use Jesus teachings to create a paradigm where anyone with a different belief is a evil damnable person who deserves an eternity of torture, they are the first that a just god would damn, if a just god could really damn at all given the circumstances we are all in.