I Just Told off a Reverend!
Well, not to his face.
I read an editorial in our local free paper where a nearby Reverend wrote the following tripe:
Man is born a sinner away from God. Man’s problem is not his surroundings; it’s within
his heart. That’s why reformation will not do. That’s why cleaning up your act will not do. That’s why saving whales and saving the white-tail spotted owl will not do. That’s why building houses for Habitat of Humanity will not do. That’s why donating to the Salvation Army will not do. For man’s problem will still be that he is poor, blind, wretched, dirty, ungodly and sinful. But wait a minute, does that mean that man does not have any hope? Does that mean that we are going to hell? No, what that means is all our works are a pile of dung."
I read on, waiting for him to come back to a point where he said that it was still necessary to do these "works", but no, he didn't. To sum up his article succinctly: Man is shit, no amount of 'works' will give you salvation, you just have to depend on God. Leaving of course, the general impression that "works" don't mean shit and are a waste of time.
What a dick.
I left him a very polite voicemail, as the newspaper handily posted his church's address and phone number. I suppose they think this kind of useless tripe will help drive people to their church.
I gave him my name and said that as a local reader of the paper I was disappointed to see that he did not remember God's words in the Bible that, "Faith without works is dead." (An actual verse that is apparently stuck in my mind forever.) I went on to say that the Bible wouldn't encourage works as a foundation for faith if they weren't necessary and that I was very "disappointed" (in my best schoolmarmish voice) to find he, a local pastor, contradicting the very spirit of the Bible. I rambled on for a few minutes (I was nervous, I've never told a minister off, even in voicemail) about how I felt his comments were more damaging than good and how no matter how all of us "sinners" must depend on "God's grace for salvation", morally it is wrong to ignore what the Bible tells us all about our "works".
And given that I was not immediately set into flames for daring to tell off a minister about God, I hung up. Just another chapter in the long book about why I hate living amongst bigoted, hateful, closed-minded Christians. Fuck him. I'm working for Habitat for Humanity this weekend, and not because I want God's "grace" but because I'm a decent person. Which these days, by default seems to mean that I'm not a "Christian".
I read an editorial in our local free paper where a nearby Reverend wrote the following tripe:
Man is born a sinner away from God. Man’s problem is not his surroundings; it’s within
his heart. That’s why reformation will not do. That’s why cleaning up your act will not do. That’s why saving whales and saving the white-tail spotted owl will not do. That’s why building houses for Habitat of Humanity will not do. That’s why donating to the Salvation Army will not do. For man’s problem will still be that he is poor, blind, wretched, dirty, ungodly and sinful. But wait a minute, does that mean that man does not have any hope? Does that mean that we are going to hell? No, what that means is all our works are a pile of dung."
I read on, waiting for him to come back to a point where he said that it was still necessary to do these "works", but no, he didn't. To sum up his article succinctly: Man is shit, no amount of 'works' will give you salvation, you just have to depend on God. Leaving of course, the general impression that "works" don't mean shit and are a waste of time.
What a dick.
I left him a very polite voicemail, as the newspaper handily posted his church's address and phone number. I suppose they think this kind of useless tripe will help drive people to their church.
I gave him my name and said that as a local reader of the paper I was disappointed to see that he did not remember God's words in the Bible that, "Faith without works is dead." (An actual verse that is apparently stuck in my mind forever.) I went on to say that the Bible wouldn't encourage works as a foundation for faith if they weren't necessary and that I was very "disappointed" (in my best schoolmarmish voice) to find he, a local pastor, contradicting the very spirit of the Bible. I rambled on for a few minutes (I was nervous, I've never told a minister off, even in voicemail) about how I felt his comments were more damaging than good and how no matter how all of us "sinners" must depend on "God's grace for salvation", morally it is wrong to ignore what the Bible tells us all about our "works".
And given that I was not immediately set into flames for daring to tell off a minister about God, I hung up. Just another chapter in the long book about why I hate living amongst bigoted, hateful, closed-minded Christians. Fuck him. I'm working for Habitat for Humanity this weekend, and not because I want God's "grace" but because I'm a decent person. Which these days, by default seems to mean that I'm not a "Christian".