Redefining Words
“Friends” are people who you can call in the middle of the night to pick you up at the airport because you don’t have the cash for a cab and the buses aren’t running.
“Friends” are people who will let you sleep at their place when you have a major disagreement with your “significant other”.
“Friends” drop by unannounced.
“Friends” will take care of your pets.
“Friends” will still talk to you after you have made a complete fool of yourself.
“Friends” accept you for who you are, and don’t expect you to change, even when they might wish you would.
When Juan Cole says Rick Warren has gays and Muslim “friends”, he’s redefining the word. Warren may know some Muslims and people who are gay, but they are “acquaintances” or “business associates”, not “friends”.
Evangelicals by definition evangelize – they want you to believe what they believe. They believe that they have discovered the one true path to “heaven” and everyone else is on the road to “hell”. The main purpose of all of their missions is “religious colonization”, but they also accomplish many things worthy of recognition and praise in poorer areas of the world.
As for Rick Warren’s concern for AIDS and poverty in Africa, the fact that he has missions in South Africa, Rwanda, and soon in Uganda, is not accidental. Those areas are hard hit because the official government policy is in line with evangelical dogma, i.e. abstinence is the way to fight AIDS. EBW notes in his White Trash, that the Warren missions want to replace clinics with churches.
Paul Krugman remembered that Warren has stated publicly that he doesn’t believe in evolution. It is rather difficult to deal effectively with medical problems when you can’t accept the basic concept underlying the biosphere in this planet.
Rick Warren hates. When you back a proposal that takes rights away from a group of people, that is an act of hate. When you lie to justify what you are doing, that is hate. Rick Warren is not a nice person. Rick Warren is not someone who will compromise or accommodate others. The slogan “Hate the sin, but love the sinner” is marketing, not reality, as anyone who lives around evangelicals can tell you.
I hope Barack Obama never needs a ride.
13 comments
I agree with your definition of friends, and your comments.
I have 3 friends (I thought I had 4 until a year ago). I count myself very lucky.
People like Rick Warren see people as potential christians, not as friends.
If Rick Warren wanted a ride in my car, he would first need to understand that my car is not a convertible… and neither am I.
I am willing to lose supposed friends over the issue, as at least one former friend can tell you. I do not take kindly to being proselytized.
All very true and worthy of being said. Not much to add to that.
As soon as I hear the phrase “Some of my best friends are”, I know I’m dealing with a bigot.
Someone tried to witness at me during my trip to Wal-Mart today. Gah!
Exactly. “Some of my best friends” are what bigots have.
My friends have the class and self-awareness to know that “some of my friends” is just a cover. Just like “I don’t mean to be a jerk but…”
Actually, Scorpio, those are the people who get handed the copies of The Watchtower that get left in my screen door.
The preemptive apology, Map – it doesn’t work, but it’s nice to know that what ever follows is going to be a bucket of bigotry show you don’t have to waste your time being outraged.
Our council allows the local evangelical groups (of which there are a multitude, including some I’d never heard of before) to be out in force around the Plaza (shopping mall) and market on the weekend to accost and annoy as many people as possible.
I got so annoyed a couple weekends ago when a group tied to accost me, that instead of just saying “no, thanks.” and moving on as i normally do, I decided to let them have it, loud enough so that everyone nearby could hear. 🙂
“OK. Let’s get something straight here. I was raised a Christian and a Catholic for most of my youth. I was raised in Corpus Cristy parish; I attended a private catholic primary school and college, I went to bible studies and Sunday school, I was an Altar boy. I have read the bible many times and I’m certain I know and understand it far better than you. I know who I am, I know what I want and need, I have made my peace with God and he will judge me when the time comes. If you are unsure who you are or your place in the World or whether you are a sinner or not… That is entirely YOUR problem and doesn’t give you the right to project your insecurities and problems on us! Here’s a clue, why don’t you all go find a life and stop bothering people! If people want to find God, I am certain by now they know where to go to start looking. Looking inside is a good start and being honest with your self is the best way to find Him! Hypocrites will never find God, and I really hope I am there to see you all on judgment day! Then, that would make all this crap worth it! Have a nice day, and best of luck finding what you seek, just go seek somewhere else!
There were many stunned looks and even an angry face or three (some people really can’t handle truth or honesty you know 😉 ). But there were many smiles and even laughter from the crowd of suckers that had gathered. My work was done. LOL
I’ve had so many young fools trying to convince me that my only chance of redemption and salvation was to go to their master’s particular church as he was the only path to salvation! You know… with so many groups preaching that they are the *one true way*(tm) to God, that it proves to me that He has given up on us as a bad idea and turned His attention somewhere else. He’s probably decided that He’ll sort us all out on Judgment Day, which it appears may be fast approaching. That’s fine by me. 🙂
I reserve the right to ask Him one question (if I ever do meet Him): “What the hell was all that garbage about??” 😀
Oops! Should be: Corpus Christy
My first university was founded in 1819 to train Baptist ministers [not Southern Baptist] and chapel was required 3 times a week for first year students. Philosophy courses were part of the core, required curriculum and, if you were headed into the ministry, the Bible was taught, one book equals one course. My first philosophy course was taught by a professor, Charles Adams, who had an endowed chair, and who knew more about the Bible than the scribes who wrote it. Our dorm advisors were all theology students, and it was all male at the time.
Almost everyone I have encountered doing this ranting wouldn’t have lasted past the midterm in the most basic course at Colgate, because they parrot, they don’t understand.
I completely agree with John Locke’s observation: “The one only narrow way which leads to heaven is not better known to the magistrate than to private persons, and therefore I cannot safely take him for my guide, who may probably be as ignorant of the way as myself, and who certainly is less concerned for my salvation than I myself am.”
When irritated I have been known to remark: “If heaven includes you, I certainly don’t want to go there.” I have never claimed I’m a nice person, but really, who would want to hang out for all eternity with these simple-minded jerks?
The most horrifying thing to traditional Baptists (not Southern Baptists) is what they call Papistry — a human being putting himself into the place of God and stating that he, not the Bible, has the Truth. The whole point of the original Baptist schism from prior Protestant faiths was the notion that an understanding of God arose from study of the Bible, not from listening to the natterings of Man, and that there was no Man who had any more of a direct line to God than another. That is the whole reason why Baptists traditionally address themselves as “Brother Josh” and “Brother Jeb” and etc. in church, whether one of them is the minister or not. The notion is that the minister is there to lead the service as one amongst many who are seeking the Truth as divulged in the Bible, not as someone above anyone else in the congregation who similarly seeks Truth.
I think the early founders of the Baptist church would be spitting mad that today’s Southern Baptists spend so much time being, well, PAPISTS, following “leaders” rather than the Bible.
Not that it’s all anything but bunk, of course, whether you call your invisible friend “God” or “Yaweh” or “Allah” or whatever, he’s still invisible, and he’s still, well, imaginary. But folks do like having imaginary friends, because imaginary friends are always there for you, always have an open ear, and never criticize you. But that still doesn’t make imaginary friends real…
– Badtux the Baptist Catholic Penguin
That has been a major shift among the local churches down here, from discussion to doctrine. More and more, the Wednesday meeting is about being told what things mean, rather than finding the meaning by reading and exploring the possibilities.
It has gone from individual conscience to groupthink, which is not a good thing if you are a truly traditional Baptist. The whole point of delaying baptism was to wait until a person could make a reasoned choice.