According to Joseph Parker, director of outreach and intercession for the American Family Association and host of the “Hour of Intercession” radio program, the Bible is the answer to E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G. Not just questions about God, Christianity, or faith, but E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G. Parker, like every Fundamentalist who spouts such nonsense, doesn’t really believe this, but it is a great slogan to rally the troops around. In Parker’s Bible-saturated mind, secularists, atheists, humanists, evolutionists, homosexuals, abortionists, socialists, communists, Democrats, liberals, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Bernie Sanders, and Joe Biden work day and night to destroy Christian America, and the only way to combat this onslaught is to return to a steadfast, ignorant belief that the Bible is some sort of divine answer book. All we need to do is check page 34 or some other page and we will know exactly how the Christian God wants us to live.
Parker writes (link no longer active):
Who decides what is right and what is wrong? The Government? Men? Women? White people? Black people? Hispanic people? Asian people? Wise people? Rich people? The majority? The minority? Who?
Who decides what is true and what is not true? Would it be any of the above mentioned people? What do you think? Well, does truth vary from one person to another? Does it vary from one group of people to another? Is it relative to the situation and the group involved?
Truth is not relative. Truth is God. Truth is Jesus Christ. Truth flows from the mind and heart of God. And truth does not change. Truth is what it is. Truth is right and good and fruitful. Truth is good for us. Truth sets people free.
The Word of God is truth. It teaches us what is right and what is wrong. It teaches us what is good and what is evil. It teaches us about reality. It teaches us about life, people, and human nature. The Word of God teaches us and helps us understand the laws of nature, the laws of the universe, what is correct and what is false. The Word of God is our instruction manual for life.
When people or governments or societies try to ignore God and the Word of God, they get in trouble. When men and governments avoid the wisdom of God’s Word and try to make up their own rules, it will lead to disaster one hundred percent of the time. We as human beings, often think we know what is good for us, what is in our best interest, and what will “make us happy”. Often, we think that behavior that we want to carry out, though it may go against the Word of God and the wisdom of God, should be okay. Behavior that goes against and violates God’s Word is sin. And, the truth is that sin, sooner or later, will lead to death.
The Word of God is good for you. The Word of God is good for your marriage, and it is good for your family. It’s good for your children’. It’s good for you physically, mentally, spiritually, etc. The Word of God is full of grace and truth. The Word of God is anointed. God’s Word is PREGNANT with the ability to bless.
So, because God’s Word is all of this, we must be very serious about reading and meditating on and studying God’s Word. God’s Word has wisdom, counsel and insight, in direct statement or in principle, about everything, every situation and every matter…
…there are many other topics and issues anyone could look at and find out what the Word of God has to say about them. But , basically, there is simply a great need for us to read the Word of God and listen to its wisdom and counsel. Once, again, we should be mindful that in direct statement or principle, God’s Word speaks to every issue, every topic, and every concern in life.
We are wise to make a habit of reading the Word of God daily. Reading at least three or more chapters a day is a good spiritual “diet” to help us grow in our understanding of God’s Word consistently. And the fact is, we NEED to be faithful students of God’s Word. It is a guide book for life and it is a source of spiritual nourishment that we desperately need every day of our lives.
Equip yourself daily by spending time reading the Word of God. Parents, help to equip your children daily by having them to read the Word aloud to you every day. Encourage others you know to make it a habit to spend time reading God’s Word every day. Nothing will prepare and equip you better for the challenges and issues of life than – the Word of God.
There is absolutely no way to reach people who think like this. Their minds are walled off from reason and reality, in bondage to the ancient ramblings of unknown authors from the era of Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble. If this belief is taken to its logical conclusion, it can result in emotional and psychological harm, and in some cases child abuse, spousal abuse, rape, and murder. Think I am being hyperbolic? Consider this news report about Rob and Marie Johnson:
21-year-old Indiana woman has accused a couple who she lived with in Port St. Lucie, FL of physically and sexually abusing her for five years and using scripture from the Christian Bible’s Old Testament to justify it.
WPTV News reported that the accuser says that she was sent to live with Rob and Marie Johnson after the death of her mother nine years ago. The then-13-year-old was sexually abused by Rob Johnson virtually from the day she arrived in the home.
Detective Daniel Herrington of the Port St. Lucie Police Department told WPTV that the woman first went to the police in Indiana where she lives now.
“She ended up hearing stories of other women who had come forward, hearing also the stories of women who did not come forward, to tell about their abuse,” said Herrington.
Rob and Marie Johnson reportedly believe in Old Testament law regarding marriage, under which a man can have many wives who are ultimately his property. The girl was ordered to call Jeff “Master” and to submit to his and Marie’s sexual advances whenever they ordered her to.
The Johnsons reportedly preyed on the young girl’s fear of being abandoned by telling her that if she wanted to be part of their family, she had to have sex with them…
While I certainly think the Bible can provide *some* spiritual value and moral instruction, it is filled with behaviors and practices most of us consider barbaric and immoral, and when in the hands of a literalist it can be deadly. While many Christians do their best to perfume the manure pile, a shovel and five minutes quickly reveals God-approved immorality and abuse. From incest to polygamy and from rape to genocide, God’s answer book rightly deserves every bit of the scorn we skeptics heap upon its God-inspired, inerrant pages.
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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Thank you for your writings. Subjective viewpoint is something I wish fundementalists of all kinds would understand.
I agree 100% but for Fundamentalists to do that they would have to 1). Abandon belief that the bible is the inspired word of God which would then lead to questioning their faith. Since they hold on to outdated ideas, rarely will this happen. Hopefully Fundamentalism is on it’s way out.
Bruce:
This is so good! Sorry if you have already had this on your blog.
I just posted on this today. Thanks!
I find it interesting that when someone does something that is justifiable Biblically, but is not approved of in one of my Christian relatives’ understanding of how Christians are supposed to behave, the response is always “They aren’t true Christians.” A good example is the behavior of that odious Phelps tribe, who disrupt funerals to shout anti-gay slurs and other obnoxious things, but I’ve heard many others.
I ask why aren’t they true Christians, when they can quote the Bible verses to justify that behavior? And my Christian relative in that particular conversation will quote or paraphrase other Bible verses. Then they say something dismissive and change the subject. Or maybe they just say, “well, it’s obvious that they’re [ableist slur],” and change the subject.
When I can, I throw in something like, “I figure anyone who claims to be a Christian really is a Christian,” but that’s just to let them exercise their dirty looks at me before the subject change. I’m one of those disgusting unbelievers.
The Bible really is the answer to everything. I mean, it contains so many contradictory verses and can be interpreted in so many ways that you can use it to answer, well, anything. Amirite?
MJ, you summed it up nicely.