Guest post by ObstacleChick
Most of the time when I check my social media accounts, I can be sure to find at least one post by fundamentalist evangelical Christians that either elicits an eye roll or a chuckle from me. Here are some good ones from this week, along with my comments.
“To pray ‘Thy Will be done’ I must be willing, if the answer requires it, that my will be undone.” – Elisabeth Elliot
OC: Bruce has written quite a few posts concerning Christians’ interpretation of the answers to prayer. If one prays for something that doesn’t happen, then the Christian says, “It wasn’t God’s Will.” If one prays for direction between option A and option B, the Christian usually just chooses what he or she wants to do. If it works out, then Yay! the Christian successfully understood God’s Will. If it doesn’t work out, then it was a “lesson from God”.
“Don’t worry. God’s never blind to your tears, never deaf to your prayers, and never silent to your pain. He sees, he hears, and he will deliver.”
OC: Yeah, that’s what makes him such a jerk – he sees and hears but he doesn’t actually deliver . . . just ask all the victims of every natural disaster EVER. Oh, yeah, the “God’s Will” thing again . . . it’s a mystery, isn’t it?
“Christ offends men because his gospel is intolerant of sin.” – Charles Spurgeon
OC: Judgmental blowhards like Charles Spurgeon and name-your-favorite-evangelical-pastor offend me with their incessant talk of sin, hell, and damnation for everyone whose interpretation of the gospel doesn’t match theirs. They offend me with their assumption that everyone is filthy and pure evil until they say the magic words and *poof!* Jesus makes it all better. They offend me by offering me a “choice” between saying the magic words to become a slave to Jesus but escaping the eternal flames of hell, or not saying the magic words and facing an eternity of torture – just for existing. They offend me with their insistence that I must vote a certain way, dress a certain way, act a certain way, give money a certain way – THEIR way.
“We are sent to bless the world, but we are never told to compromise with it.” – A. W. Tozer
OC: Because Jesus needs SOMEBODY to be judgmental and to fight the culture wars. Omnipotence only goes so far with the Trinity . . .
“Drunk Lot impregnated his daughter, who bore Moab, whence came Ruth, the great-grandmother of David. Christ’s own bloodline preaches his will to save even the most messed up of families.” – Chad Bird
OC: I’ll let you guys comment on this one . . .
“Parents who know how to repent in front of their kids give them a greater gift than a Harvard education.” – Scotty Smith
OC: I’d rather have the Harvard education instead of watching my parents pray to Jesus and consider themselves (and me) worms all the time. But that’s just me, and education is what led me down the road to atheism, so there is that.
“When you realize God’s purpose for your life isn’t just about you, He will use you in a mighty way.” – Dr. Tony Evans
OC: I like to be able to make my own choices, to choose my own purpose, to have autonomy as much as possible in my life. It’s worked out pretty well so far. I guess I could just sit here and let God repurpose me. Nah . . .
“Pray, then let it go. Don’t try and manipulate or force the outcome. Just trust God to open the right doors at the right time. Amen.”
OC: The principal of our local high school tells the students every day to CONTROL WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL. The point is to teach students to assess which aspects of a situation are in their control and which aspects are out of their control. Then students are encouraged to act on the aspects that are in their control. Sitting around and waiting for an invisible and silent deity to manage a situation is poor advice.
What Christian messages have you seen on social media this week? Please share with us in the comments!
I get vomit-inducing videos on my FB from ‘Gods411’. The latest was ‘If Jesus came to your house’…blah blah…all in twee rhyming couplets. This one has lines like ‘would you hide your secular music and put hymnbooks out instead?’ and would you hide the magasines and put the bible out instead?’ and ‘would you invite your friends in to meet him or rather they stay away?’ Love the bible and hymnbook idea, image is everything…and apparenty that will even fool jesus into thinking you’re his most perfect follower.
excellent post. r u on twitter? do you have a blog?
Matilda, that is hilarious. So much for Jesus sharing in the omniscience of God – it’s that whole trinity issue again – who can understand it?
Maura, thank you! I am still sort of “in the closet” with my atheism. I have a few trusted friends and family who know, but my brother might disown me if he knew, and I want to have a relationship with him, his wife, and his kids. We live far apart – he thinks we are apostates but I really don’t think he could handle atheism. We can’t even speak of someone being gay in front of his kuds.
Bruce is kind to let me post an occasional guest post from time to time. I was raised fundamentalist evangelical and made my journey put of that. I like to write, and my husband and kids don’t understand what it’s like to be raised fundy and going through the anguishing process of educating oneself out of those beliefs. When I tell them stories of my youth, they look at me like WTF??? But they can’t understand who or why anyone would believe these things.
So, no, I do not yet have the courage to have my own blog. But I turn 50 in a year, so who knows what might happen then!
I know some quite fundamentalist catholics, all spirity-filled, bible believing and nearly as saved as fundies…or so my unusual fundy friend thinks. So I thought of this post just now when she sent me this, from a RC priest friend ‘Priests are like planes, when one falls from the sky, it’s all over the press. No one thinks of all the planes still flying safely.’ My jaw-dropped at that sentiment. It would take me all night to deconstruct all that’s wrong and awful with it – and demeaning to thousands of survivors of abuse in all churches. It’s the ‘one bad apple in every barrel’ argument, only we’ve learned there are thousands and thousands of rotten ‘men of god’ in many countries. Ugh!
Matilda, holy cow. If all the “planes” that are representative of the Catholic priest scandal fell from the sky – not just the protests that were publicly reported – many parts of the earth would be scorched and littered with wreckage. Add to the Catholic “planes” the evangelicals, Mormons, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, etc…. and where in the world would be safe?
My father in law was raised Catholic – Catholic school, seminary (was planning to become a priest) – but they didn’t raise their kids to be very religious. One is a semi-devout Catholic, one is an atheist, and who knows what the other is. Anyway, FIL reminds me of an evangelical Christian, right wing politics and all.
I said to an elderly fundy relative who has had casual misogyny in his veins for decades, that I have the perfect solution to abuse scandals, forbid men from becoming clergy, only allow women to be pastors/priests/ministers etc! He….Did….Not …..Like…That….Suggestion…One…Bit!
Matilda, I can imagine the look on that man’s face!