Letters to the Editor
-
There Are Plenty of Steeples and Enough Rope -Do It Yourselves
Those famous words uttered by a Roman officer to a group of Montanists in the 2nd Century who came to him demanding martyrdom in their town. And those words apply to the Loony Right.
Jason Boynett's article is truly frightening. The other part of the story is that Darby got the rapture (sic) from the Plymouth Brethern in the early 1830's. The Loony Right can trace its interpretation of the end of the world to a tuberculine young Scottish lass, Margaret Macdonald, who revealed the rapture (sic) to her friends while in a fevered coma. So much for their biblical interpretations!
Don't take the rest of us with you, Evangelicals.
I'll supply the rope.
-
Gods ghost writers
This article discusses the fetishisation of Israel by some fundementalist based on old testament or Talmudic writings as well as the highly dubious book of revelations. It didn't discuss the fact that so much of the supposed veracity of the old testament has been undermined by the work conducted in the middle east by Archeoligists and other scholars and experts, many of them from Israel.
My understanding of some of their findings have been:
There never was a sizable population of Hebrew people in slavery in Egypt, no Exodus of thousands complete with miracles and 4o years of wandering in the desert.
There never was a conquest of the "Holy Land" and massacre of the existing population by Joshua and co.
That the Isralites and Judeans were actually two subgroups already in existance as part of the general Cannanite population.
That Yahweh the "one god" of these people used to have a wife, a goddess called Asharah.
That there is no contemporary evidence that a King called David or a King called Solomon ever existed and neither that a united kingdom existed prior to a date much much later than written.
That the Talmud was written up by scribes and priests just prior to, during and after the Babylonian exile fulfilling a political agenda to reestablish a single state which in fact had never really existed.
I have no problem with Israel existing only some of it's strategies to maintain itself and I consider Judaism a beautiful expression of human spirituality without having to believe any of its beautiful myths really occured.
What I have a problem with is spiritual texts, and that includes the Talmud, the New Testament, The Koran, The Rig Veda or any other holy book being used as a mandate to justify political, military and social actions.
Especially when those texts were written centuries ago and miss out completly on the evolution of human thought and consciounes. Slavery anyone or a class of "untouchables" or the righteous killing of those caught in adultary or rebellious children or for that matter anyone that dosen't believe in your God.
It's bad enough when people base their beliefs on their own nonsensical holy book but when they base it partially on someone else's as the "end of days christians" have it gets really weird.
Mother Mary Armageddon to be a Habit with You O.P.I.
-
Oh for christ's sake!
When, oh when, will we finally tell evangelicals to go fuck themselves? Why, oh why, do they get airtime on our news? It's really a shame that Mary didn't have access to RU486.
-
Culture of Death
Why don't the religious that believe death is the path to heaven, nirvana or reincarnation as a more enlighentened being, dispense with their lives entirely as the inconvenience and venial existence that they believe it is ? If they did perhaps they would leave it to us who realize how precious this life is and how important our actions and peace are while we live it.
Belief in rapture or that you will be greetied by 10,000 virgins is belief in a culture of death. If death is your solution or answer you shall have it soon enough. It is only unfortunate that you will not then be able see that you wasted your life seeking it instead of creating a life worthy of it.
-
Fictional at best; Delusional at worst
I love Lord of the Rings and other fantasy epics, but that's where elaborate prophesies belong - in fiction. However, usually those epics have men and women risking their lives to fight for their fellow citizens; Given the Christian Right's hatred for anyone who hasn't drunk the fundamentalist kool-aid, they will be very happy to watch everyone else fry while they get beamed up to God's exclusive country club in the sky. Not exactly heroic, is it. If they say that the end-times are preceded by moral decay, then the sheer hate-filled, judgmental nastiness of the so-called 'saved' ones should be ringing that rapture gong right now.
But it isn't, it won't, and this is just a fictional news meme to keep the terminally stupid glued to the television. It's telling that CNN calls novel-writers to comment on politics and treats them as if they have credibility. Do LaHaye or Jenkins have any expertise in political science, history, or theology, much less anthropology? No, they write fantasy stories, period. And those belong in the next row, next to stories about leprechauns, fairies and dragons.
-
Just another suicide cult
I don't think that people who believe in the end of days being a good thing should have access to nuclear weapons.
If they want to castrate themselves, wear black jumpsuits and wait for the messiah coming to Earth in a spaceship, then they should be free to do so.
But they shouldn't be allowed to hold public office. I have no desire to be part of their death fantasies.
-
Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition
In Boyett's article, David Brog optimistically agrues that that the premillenialist Christians are more interested in the Genesis prophesy for Israel's continued existence, rather than the dire Apocalyptic visions of Ezekial or Revelation. If it weren't so, he argues they'd be opening brothels and casinos at unprecedented rates to hasten moral decline. Further, "Wouldn't it (also) make sense [for them] to invite Armageddon by weakening Israel, rather than supporting it?"
Well, yes. In what is either a nefarious plot, or an egregious tactical oversight, the U. S. has allowed the Shiites to gain dominance in the region since the U.S. invasion of Iraq. In effect, the U.S. supports a Shiite coalition in Iraq that is sympathetic and overtly favorable to the Hezbollah Shiites. Obviously, Iran's Shiites benefit from this Shiite emergence, as well.
Here's where we go round the mulberry bush: the Hezbollah Shiites are fighting our main ally in the region, Isreal. The U.S. supports, trains and equips the Iraqi Shiites, and our Iraqi Shiite allies are supportive of Hezbollah Shiites, who are supported by Iran and who are attacking Israel. So the U.S. is running both dogs in ths fight. A little Armageddon, anyone?
Why does nobody question the support links between Iraq and Hezbollah? The U.S. military is training Iraqi soldiers who, because of their sectarian affiliation, may act in direct opposition to U.S. interests. Therefore, the Iraq War defies all logic. Unless, of course...
And why does the world clamor for a cease-fire between the Isrealis and Hezbollah?
Yeah, it's a real shoot-em-up between God's Chosen People and his own Chosen Party. Yet it seems that nobody ever mentions or even seriously considers cease fires in Iraq or Afghanistan. Why is one a hot topic, and the other simply a long-term slog with the concommitant acceptance of daily violence?
Maybe it's because we're God's Chosen Country; like the song says, "God saved his Grace for Thee." See also lyrics of country singer Toby Keith, resplendent in his red, white, and blue flag shirt (which may consititute a desecration of the Flag, but that's another story) for an exegesis of our ruling mandate. (I'm beginning to think that this God franchise might really begin to be exploited, with everyone from clothiers to food suppliers hopping on the bandwagon; I can see "flax is God's chosen cloth", etc. etc.--ad absurdum.) Onward Christain soldiers.