Whenever I read about how we humans are as low as worms, I think of the enormous uber-destructive sandworms from the fictional universe of the Dune novels. Then I think about how my father, who grew a fantastic garden, prized ordinary garden worms for their work in aerating the soil. Humans can be both these things. Personally, I don’t mind being the latter: someone who lets life-giving air at the roots of others. I fail too often, but keep trying.
The problem with the Christian doctrine of the utter ghastliness of humans is that there’s no path for us to ever get better. We must have salvation through an external source (Jesus) and then the internal residence of external motivation to be better people (Holy Spirit). That is not a growth trajectory, that’s a form of possession. It’s a complete denial of the preciousness of the HUMAN spirit, and profoundly destructive.
— Karen the Rock Whisperer, comment on the post titled How God Reminds Us Every Day That We Are Little More Than Worms and Slugs.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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If human parents berated their children as being worthless most people would be aghast at such lousy parenting yet Christians give their so called loving father in heaven a pass for telling them over and over how useless and worthless they are? Christians seem to delight in telling others how they are sinful, wicked worms ! It can’t be healthy to go through life announcing cheerfully to one and all how awful they are. Thank you for the clarity your blog provides!
It seems like ancient Judaism was obsessive about describing how worthless and vile humans are. Multiple writers talk about how awful humans are and as an offshoot of Judaism, Christianity carries on that tradition.
Every Sunday I used to kneel and with the rest of flock confess that I was “by nature sinful and unclean and worthy of eternal punishment.” Eventually I started to see the damage that this was doing to me. How unhealthy to see yourself as unclean and what could I could have possibly done to deserve to be punished forever? This is the insidious nature of Christian doctrine
Thank you, Bruce.
Well and truly said, thank-you Karen.
Watching TV live CBS at my roommate’s apartment, reporting the White House is under seige right at this moment. I’m put in mind of Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch and the Reichstag Fire just before he did his power grab in 1933. It relates to the term ” worm”, in the way the Christian elites and Corporate heads see average citizens. We are bugs to them. In 40 years of Reaganomics this is what it’s come to. In case there is a run on the banks, you may want to make certain that you have operating cash on hand. I’m thinking of the Wall Street crooks, and the stock markets. I’m going to to do exactly that myself. And here we are in CA. with the lockdown until the fall months, so be careful out there. Fascists are running amok.
Watching TV live CBS at my roommate’s apartment, reporting the White House is under seige right at this moment. I’m put in mind of Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch and the Reichstag 🔥 Fire, just before he did his power grab in 1933. The Red Cap tRump Fascists are trying to overrun the Capitol Hill area where the debates with the Electoral College were underway– it looks like their strategy is to halt the meeting, and now people are being evacuated, it’s 12:05 pm Pacific Time. It relates to the term ” worm”, in the way the Christian elites and Corporate heads see average citizens. We are bugs to them. In 40 years of Reaganomics this is what it’s come to. In case there is a run on the banks, you may want to make certain that you have operating cash on hand. I’m thinking of the Wall Street crooks, and the stock markets. I’m going to to do exactly that myself. And here we are in CA. with the lockdown until the fall months, so be careful out there. Fascists are running amok.