Time for a Little Amateur Research on Christian Propaganda
To pass the days of this crisis here is an opportunity. Look at Christian websites and read posts by authors who are promoting Christianity. Then, add up the number of articles which say, "This is not God's fault (even though God is all powerful and all loving) but you need to believe in God anyway. So, believe God is helping you in some way during this time of anxiety." Then compare that with articles, again written by Christians, which say, "Yes, God could have prevented this so it has to be his fault it is here. I don't know why he is doing such a terrible thing so lets just move on."
The idea is to compare the two approaches, the propaganda one and the honest one. I've found one of the latter and now around 100 of the former. This is just in a couple of days.
I realize Christian pundits are caught in a trap set two thousand years ago and there is no escape. Christians have been told they are caught without a defense since day one but have found they can successfully dodge the bullet called the "inconsistent triade" by changing the subject. The inconsistent triade points out that God cannot be all loving and all powerful but not protect those he "loves" from being killed. Since this is unresolveable best to talk about something else, like "God did all this to you but now he wants to help."
So, the constant and unrelenting message that God is here to help, not kill, keeps coming at us 24/7. The message that none of this makes sense is downed out, smothered.
After storm destruction there are scammers cruising neighborhoods offering to quickly fix property for a low price. Pay some money down and they disappear. When a child goes missing there are dishonest people offering information for money. Now, when we are nervous about the corona virus Christian pundits are everywhere offering the old message God cares about you.
Everyone needs to ask why God sent the corona virus.
Funny; Job's friends posed the same questions, but he kept the faith in spite of it all. With friends like that - - - - -
ReplyDeleteIt could be a global chastisement to draw souls closer to his love and mercy. God's ways are above our ways. Death will come to everyone, whether its through the coronavirus or not, it's never to late to accept his mercy, even if it doesnt happen until before your last breath, he will accept you, he wants you to turn to him; while satan will be trying to draw you to him as well at your moment of death. Jesus I trust in you.
ReplyDeleteChastisement is not necessarily a punishment; it could be to discipline, to teach, to instruct, to guide people back towards God. His ways are above ours, his ways are mysterious. Faith and trust in Jesus. And if you can't bring yourself to that point now because of unbelief or whatever reason: keep it in the back of your mind for when your moment of death comes.
ReplyDeleteJoseph "Keep in the back of your mind for when you moment of death comes."
ReplyDeleteIn theory, it seems like it would be pleasant to believe in a god or some concept like heaven if one knew he/she were terminally ill. From what I have come to understand, however, Christian have the same fear or dread of death that non Christians including atheists have.
Then, there is the old saying, "There are no atheists in foxholes." That turns out not to be true. There have always been atheists in fox holes and so far as anyone knows those that died never changed.
And yes I agree even some Christians fear death or dread it just as much as non Christians or atheists just because of the unknown mystery of it in many aspects, but there are many Christians who do not fear death at all too.
DeleteAll I am saying is that God wants to pour his unfathomable mercy upon everyone. "The greater the sinner the greater right he has to my mercy" so this goes towards everyone including non-Christians and atheists, even if they only repent for seconds before they die, that's what I was meaning when I said keep it in the back of your mind for when your moment of death comes.
ReplyDeleteJon;
ReplyDeleteFrom a link, the inconsistent triad, “is called the “problem of suffering,” “the mystery of evil” or the “theodicy,” and it’s a question that saints and theologians have grappled with for millenniums.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/22/opinion/coronavirus-religion.html
Jon described one approach to the issue, “This is not God's fault (even though God is all powerful and all loving) but you need to believe in God anyway.” I read that this approach kind of describes a theological solution called “kenosis” whereby God the Father empties his power into Jesus and the crucifixion of Jesus expresses His love through a divine weakness of sorts. The “problems with divine omnipotence [in] these theologies [is to] completely fold power into love. God's "power" simply is God's self-giving love, and love doesn't force, bully, boss, or coerce. Love isn't control or force but presence and solidarity.” Immanence is favored over transcendence.
What then of omni-causality where God’s omnipotence is the cause of all worldly events. “He does not merely see, but also brings about; does not merely hear, but speaks in royal Judgment; is not merely a powerful Agent but is rather Power itself...All at once and in all eternity, He is this, the Lord.” He did the deed, you don’t really know why, but you believe it is part of a divine plan and He will see those that deserve it through hell or high water. Divine immanence and transcendence. Perhaps the attribute of omni-causality can be scrapped as superfluous. Live the mystery if you will. http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/2020/04/gods-omnipotence-part-2-hyperkenoticists.html
“A God you understood would be less than yourself.”, Flannery O'Connor.
Ardy: re Flannery O'Connor " A God you understood would be less than yourself."
DeleteGood post. In my long life I've read so often that happiness lies in reaching for something just beyond our grasp. I heard an account decades ago about a hugely successful man who was deep in depression. His friend asked him what was wrong. The depressed man said, "My world is this big" and he made an "o" with his thumb and index finger. In other words, he had mastered everything in his life and needed something to reach for.
Perhaps that is the intent of promoting "gods" and, in Christianity, some of the imagery that goes with the god rituals, incense, drinking blood, invisible spirits, etc. It may also be why there is resistance to looking at the Bible through the eyes of social history. If the Bible turns out to be merely the result local experiences and circumstances in some small community of the ancient past, all the mystery evaporates.
Jon, April 8, 2020 at 7:41 AM
DeleteTo paraphrase: “Perhaps the need for something to reach for is the intent of promoting "gods".
For some reaching for the brass ring among the many iron rings on life’s carousel, once in hand, is only surpassed by the promise, in the alchemy of religious ritual, of life eternal and the symbolic transmutation of that brass ring to gold. That’s a whole other merry-go-round.
I’ve been fortunate to find plenty of satisfaction just on the earthly ride, a wedding ring, a loving wife, two wonderful children, and a bright beautiful grandson. After this, silence is golden.
Ardy B "in the alchemy of religious ritual..."
DeleteI've never seen that expressed so perfectly, at least to those of us who see it this way.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/appeals-court-allows-texas-ban-most-abortions-during-coronavirus-pandemic
ReplyDeletehttps://www.huffpost.com/entry/abortion-at-home-medication-abortion_n_5e8cd4e6c5b62459a9304428
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