Christian distortions/”Real” Christians

So I’m commenting on a SD blog. There is one right-wing pastor in the legislature, and another one has signed up to run. I went to their websites to see what kind of church they lead and what their beliefs are. Both of these guys said they feel it is their Christian duty to run for office and vote according to their Christian beliefs. Then I want to know – What the hell do they believe?

 

After reading the websites, which were not encouraging, I went back to the blog and wrote a comment asking about certain aspects of what I read. They Do Not Want to Answer. I mean they Really don’t want to. We’ve been going back and forth.

 

 

The one guy, Steve, wants me to go to his website and listen to hundreds of hours of podcasts, read his books, and take his class. He also questioned how I could dare ask him such personal questions and what about me? He wanted all kinds of information about me. So I responded by saying that I am not serving as an elected public official, nor am I running to be one, so my information is my business. I said again, will you answer my questions?

 

This time he said he was too busy and the answers were too complex. There were about 5 questions which were pretty simple. He is dodging his little heart out. Makes me curiouser and curiouser. It’s also making some others pretty curious too. All that is good, in my opinion. It’s good for voters to have more information.

 

The other guy, Scott, hasn’t responded at all. In the meantime, a right-wing Roman Catholic, Troy, who is very upset by my questions, has risen to the defense of these guys. Well, not so much defending them as attacking me. Several months ago on another blog several commenters, including myself and him, were having a conversation about the bible. There were several non-believers commenting, which I thought was great.

 

The conversation became fairly heated, with Christianity taking some good shots. (I think that’s great. Christianity can handle it and it’s a great way for people to learn.) I responded to questions by explaining how the bible was created and codified. I talked about theologians and varieties of opinions and theological understandings. Troy got really upset about that. He has apparently read some things his priest recommended to him. He has some good biblical knowledge, but it’s limited. The more information I offered on the blog, the more upset he became. He began writing long comments in response, with lots of capitals and exclamation points.

 

What seemed to offend him most was the idea that Christianity is not monolithic, the bible is not, and was not, always universally accepted in its present form, that there is a lot of jostling within the Christian community about faith and theology.

 

Troy did not accept most of the authors, leading theologians, I quoted. It seemed that was mostly due to what they said, rather than their research methods or accountability. I tried to give him some room by telling him that his reaction was understandable since he has never been involved in what can sometimes be a rough and tumble theological disputations. I tried to remind him that none of what I was saying was personal, and that I was not arguing that his beliefs are wrong.

 

He really did show himself as a layperson, though I think he would not like that. He seems to like to think of himself as quite well-educated theologically. For a layperson, he is. Troy apparently felt very threatened. The thread and comments went on and on. Many of the other commenters had lots of questions for me, and thanked me for providing so much information. I really enjoy offering information to the public, and dispelling myths and fantasies. But Troy just became more upset. Finally I told him that he has an absolute right to his beliefs and I wished him the best. I was done writing on that thread.

 

I feel like I handled it about as well as could be done via blog comments. Perhaps I should have stopped sooner. I’ll never know that.

 

 

Well now Troy is at is again. He is jumping at my questions again. I confess some guilt. I knew that he would rise to the bait, and I was baiting him, in addition to wanting some info from those guys. Guess what Troy is doing? Saying that if I were a real Christian, I would be nicer. Ah yes, that old standard. He says that I should “show some love” before I comment again. Yup, I am just not Christian enough. A real pastor would only be nice. A real pastor wouldn’t upset anyone. He says that I “claim” to be ordained. Hmm. Don’t see much addressing the issues. He’s pretty much sticking to his gauzy ideal of what a real pastor ought to be.

 

I remember when I first felt that I was going to have to go to that damn seminary and hang around with those awful, milquetoast religious people. Ickeeeee!!! So I made a deal with God. I didn’t want to go, it was patently absurd . . . but if I had to, I wasn’t going to turn into one of those namby-pampy, mush-voiced, ultra-bland, soft-spoken, perfectly controlled, very moderately and modestly dressed in neutral colors, religious people that I was used to. (I had next to no religious experience before the call, so I had my own stereotypes.) I was going to stay as edgy, outspoken, opinionated, critical, skeptical, profane, and occasionally outraged as ever! So there!

 

I’ll be damned if God wasn’t willing to go with that. Son of a bitch. That was not what I had in mind. But I had made a deal, so I had to keep it.

 

Now here I am, being myself in my blog comments there. I am sometimes snarky, sometimes funny, sometimes glad, sometimes encouraging, sometimes supportive, sometimes sarcastic, sometimes angry. All of the above. Troy is not going to silence me by trying to shame me. I know that God doesn’t want from me what Troy wants. God agreed that all of me was the package. That’s exactly what She wants, and that’s exactly what Troy and the others on the blog are going to continue getting, because that is the real me.

 

So suck it up boys!! I’m not done!! I’m just getting warmed up!!

 

(Wow. I just love how therapeutic this blog is. Really fun!)