Hi Arlo, great post: but your: In "the old view" (of Christianity), you were tasked to help the poor, feed the hungry and shelter the homeless. Do you think that is our responsibility?
If so, where do you draw the line? How come you are not out there helping the poor now, instead of reading all this self-indulgent philosophizing? -Peter 2008/9/24 Arlo Bensinger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > [Krimel] > The alternative is the inerrancy crowd that turns scripture into tea > leaves, tarot cards and goat entrails. > > [Arlo] > The rise of the so-called "Assembly of God" churches, and the ascension to > power of people like Rick Warren, should be of grave concern to us all. > Sadly, to counter the movement from "theologic" towards "evangelical" the > mainstream denominations are "dumbing down" their ministry to meet the > demand for aggressively anti-intellectual, anti-spirtual, superiorist, > xenophobic doctrine. Frankly, I am appalled, embarrassed and dismayed that > our country has fallen so low as to give people like Warren legitimate power > and access to our candidates. > > A friend of mine summed up the difference this way. In "the old view" (of > Christianity), you were tasked to help the poor, feed the hungry and shelter > the homeless. The downtroden and suffering around were your brothers and > sisters, and your "purpose in Christ" was to alleviate their suffering. Now, > "the new view" of the AoG crowd is that those who suffer do so because God > is punishing them. They are unworthy and deserving in their suffering. YOU, > on the other hand, have every right to that shiny new Lexus because God > loves you. But that hungry, homeless man sleeping on the vent this winter? > God does not love him. So you can sleep easy and comfortable in your bed, > and not worry at all about these unfortunate wretches. Maybe toss a buck or > two in the collection plate Sunday. That's all God really expects. Go hit > the back nine at your country club. Jesus would want it that way. > > This is the tail-end of the slow usurption of doctrine by the capistocracy, > that has found in Christianity a population more than happy to "speak the > word", and always happy to condescend to (and fear when appropriate) those > horrible pagans and barbarians, while the only real God they actively > worship is money and wealth, a wealth that accrues BECAUSE OF God's love NOT > in opposition to God's commands. > > Manly Hall, a "theosophist" I enjoy and someone I find astonishingly > informed of the mystic traditions, bothers me at times because he says > outright that the vast majority of people will always be sheep, always need > the "exoteric" dogma to believe in, always flock to the simplistic, > pandering, and anti-intellectual words of children's readings of the > mysteries. Part of me cringes at this, mostly because I want to believe that > all people can achieve the "esoteric" understandings he goes on to write > about, but as time goes on I am more and more wondering if Hall was right, > if the majority of the world's population will always be aggressive sheep > following authoritarian dogma. That Western religion is moving away from > esoteric-enlightened "theology" (you can make a good argument it never got > there, but as you say, the path was there) and towards this aggressive > authoritarian dogma just further confirms Hall's words. That we are now > electing politicians who see our army as "God's Army" and actively believe > that Armageddon is coming IN OUR TIME, pushes my ability to dismiss Hall to > the limit. That people continue to send money to preachers who described > Hurricane Katrina as God punishing gays and infidels, to preachers who see > those who perished as the damned laid waste by God's Mighty Wrath finalizes > it for me. > > While we continue to lament Islam's inability to latch a Reformation > Enlightenment, we are slowly but surely regressing from our own. > > > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/ > Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
