A God-Awful Situation

Last week I had another local person send me a Facebook friend request. I recognized his last name, he's local, a couple years younger than me... nothing else to go on. Now, as you are about to see, the first post I see from this Einstein is indeed... disappointing. I had such high hopes for this guy... Facebook was going to connect me with another human being. I could have formed a real human connection thanks to the power of the social web!  That would be really awesome, actually... I feel that Facebook has let me down in this regard. In fact, I'm starting to suspect these guys are just in it for the money.

:-(

Anyway, this guy's post is only the initial madness which illustrates a deeper problem. Before we get to all of that, let me tell you about the Anti-Christ:

must see

Obama Mocks And Attacks Jesus Christ And The Bible/Video/Obama Is Not A Christian

I just thought everyone should know about this because it is so alarming. President Obama is a pretty twitchy guy in this video, but he's clearly taking Leviticus and Deuteronomy out of context. Fortunately the person responsible for this video was careful to take Obama's comments in their full context. "Fair and Balanced" I believe would be the words.

OK, so yeah, I'm an atheist. Let's see what we have here. I think my favorite part is the "Crime Stoppers"/"Unsolved Mysteries" 80s/90s soundtrack. A soundtrack that feels about 20 years out of date is a sure sign you are dealing with either an industrial or corporate training video or some shitty amateur scare-mongering bullshit. Not that this video makes these claims, but another fun religious conservative thing to watch is the whole... Muslim/Atheist/Radical Reverend Wright Christian mystery. I think that is the real Unsolved Mystery here, and I would like to see some hard hitting investigative journalist get to the bottom of it! Also, if you go to this video on YouTube, I would direct your attention to the related videos linked on the right...

Yeah baby! All of the Anti-Christ, Illuminati, and Prophecy information you need! Also, the Truth about Oprah Winfrey, as if you didn't already know. (Hint: Think 'Press Secretary for Satan')

Honestly, I would guess Obama is a liberal Christian, though I don't think it is impossible that he is basically a secular person. It would be kinda crazy to drag your children to attend Christian services regularly if you were really a big anti-christian, but hey, politician?  Also, yeah, writing laws based off the specific injunctions of Leviticus, etc., would be absolutely insane and most people on some level realize this.

I will have to ask my historian friend if, "Most historians agree that the Sermon on the Mount contains the most spiritually inspiring words ever uttered by Jesus Christ or any other religious figure". I've heard that historians have been doing a lot of work trying to determine if this is actually true.

So, sure. That Facebook post from this new "Friend" didn't particularly raise the level of national dialogue, but not everybody can be expected to. I wonder what this guy does for a living?

"Ministry Leader at Mount Hope Church"

A quick check of the rest of his feed shows me he is keenly interested in keeping his guns, bad things that happen to people who defy God (seriously scary "They defied God and died horrible deaths" stuff!), bringing children to God, supporting families, honoring policemen.

Here we have it. This is where it gets really depressing. I'm sure this guy is actually doing some good things for people. As a Ministry Leader... I'm sure there is a community of people who look to him for advice. In some sense, he is a leader... that people come to when they need guidance in their life.

That is so absolutely fucked.

Have you ever seen this scenario?: You know someone who could either be really cool, or he could just be a dumb-ass fuck-up. Whichever way he is, he's doing something in his life that is messing it all up, be it partying too hard with the drugs and all of that shit, or crazy relationship dramas. Eventually, he just drops out of contact, then when he returns he has been saved by some back woods, primitive old-timey authoritarian, xenophobic "God, Guns and Soldiers" bullshit? 

As much as this person sucks now, you are forced to admit to yourself, "Hey, I mean... I guess he isn't throwing up in an alley every Saturday night". If you remember times when he was cool before, you start to question the authenticity of all of your conversations. You look at them and it gives you an unsettled feeling like that part at the end of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".

Likewise, if you personally have your shit together, there are people that will assume it is because you've taken that step up the ladder from "Ridiculous youth with no impulse control" to this particular vision of a "Responsible, firm church going man/woman". They are wary of whatever the hell it is you actually are, and have a pretty strong suspicion that whatever it is... must be a more sophisticated version of "Ridiculous youth with no impulse control". I feel like I'm about to bullshit about some kind of moral/social development theory here, so I'll stop!

"I think you are a good influence on my son/husband".

"He is over 30 years old, for fuck's sake!"