Jerry Falwell's Christianity

Nine years ago today, people lost the ones they loved most. Married mothers were suddenly faced with raising their children alone. Brothers lost beloved sisters. Husbands were forced to sleep that night without their wives, not yet knowing if they were still alive. America looked on in shock as news networks reported the loss of the World Trade Center towers, of the devastation to the Pentagon, and of the brave souls who brought a fourth plane violently to the ground in a Pennsylvania field.

And what do we Christians say to provide comfort for this terrible event?

"I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'"  -Jerry Falwell

I am speechless.

Falwell said he believes the ACLU and other organizations "which have attempted to secularize America, have removed our nation from its relationship with Christ on which it was founded." 

Let me just say here that this nation was not founded on any "relationship with Christ," or Christian principles at all. It was founded on the idea of freedom to pursue, or avoid, any religion. That means if you want to build a mosque, or not pray in school, you should be able to do so. Thomas Jefferson even created his own edited version of the Bible. Obviously we have a skewed and romanticized perception of how our nation was founded . The foundation certainly was not Christianity as we know it.

"I therefore believe that that created an environment which possibly has caused God to lift the veil of protection which has allowed no one to attack America on our soil since 1812," he said. 

What about Pearl Harbor, Mr. Falwell? December 7, 1941? And what of the genocides currently occurring in Darfur, Sudan? Did God also lift his "veil of protection" from them?

I believe if Christians wish to call themselves Christians-Christ followers-they should stop playing the blame game and start standing up to injustice. 9/11 happened, but it makes no logical sense to directly correlate it to the actions of lesbians in America. I'm yet to hear of a lesbian wounding another in the name of God, so let's stop bashing their heads with Bibles. Seek first the Kingdom of God - not everyone who chooses to not be involved with it.

In memory of the ones who lost their loved ones in the terrible attacks on 9/11, may God bring you peace.

market-able. bleh.

Notice the new blogger layout. It's not perfect, but it works for now at least. I change my blogger look so much, I think, because I find myself changing constantly. Never satisfied, I guess. It is the most fitting design I think I have used so far. 


I am skeptical
       searching
       wondering
       researching
       confused right now.


Not just with where my life should go, where I want my life to go, "who" I am, but "what" I am. I have become tired of the Christian community I am familiar with deciding who I am and what my purpose is. I love the people in that community, hate the things that supply and demand from it. In better terms, I hate the marketability of Christianity. 


Who are we calling ourselves Christians, anyway? There are no Christians in the Bible. They were all Jews. Jesus was a Jew, for goodness sake. But this is for another blog post. 


Anyway.


I am reading the book The Life You've Always Wanted by John Ortberg. (marketable?) Not by my own merit (ever), but because I am in a summer Bible study group reading this book. It is simplistic modern Christianity at best. And at worst? Marketable. 


What is Ortberg's intent in writing this book? I like to think it is a genuine, good intent. But how many "Christian self-help" books focused on white-collar Christianity have I read? Too many. Books that tell me exactly what I need to know to live a solid Christian life, assuring me that the Christian life is "difficult" (Do Americans even know what a truly difficult life is?), but God is out for our good so be thankful and surrender to Him.


I would like to think that the 'Christian' life is more than reading self-help books, hesitant tithing, praying to a ceiling, and listening to sermon podcasts on my iPod. I would like to think that God is so much bigger than churchy jargon and idealistic-but-not-utilized concepts we offer to ourselves, and to each other. 


I like to think that walking in nature, 
                           having a deep conversation with a friend, 
                           crying with my husband, 
                           eating a well-prepared meal, 
                           journaling my thoughts, 
                           smiling at a passerby, 
                           is dwelling in His presence. 

Where Marx and Christianity Meet

Don't scold me! I know I need to update my blog more. This summer I have a goal to keep up this blog (which I call my "personal" blog-the blog no one should really care about because I seem to just vent on here all the time!) and perhaps my book reviews blog that I started last year and never kept up. I love blogging, and I have so many ideas of what I could write about, but it's just the discipline that I lack. Isn't that true of anyone who goes into the world wishing to accomplish something, but comes to the end of his/her life finding it wasted? I don't want to be one of those people, and today I am having a rare moment of vigor and hope, in the midst of usually depressed, pessimist, as Cody likes to call it "negative self-talk" days. I like these days better. So here I am. Posted below, as I have wished to do for a little while, I have posted my Marx essay that I wrote for my Selected Authors philosophy class when we talked about-you guessed it-Marx. He was such an interesting man, with such a scary prophetic outlook on capitalism and how it would progress. I tried to write it in a simple manner that an average person who doesn't know anything about Marx's philosophy would understand. So-if you dare-enjoy, and give me feedback if you wish! I love to hear critiques and/or thoughts on your part.

Where Marx and Christianity Meet

Through the 20^th century, Christians have seen Communism take on a totalitarian form, more specifically in Vietnam, China, Cuba, and the Soviet Union. Many Christians confuse Communism with Fascism, thinking that the Communist Party is out to take over the world and rule over classes. They don’t know the truth behind the idea Karl Marx had in mind: a true liberation of the oppressed proletariat, a prophetic ushering in of Communism after capitalism fails, a world revolution of social justice, and a repossession of capital into the hands of the proletariat. He was not out for complete government control of the people, but ironically the people’s complete control of the government and economic system. So, considering the ideas Marx and Engels brought forth in the nineteenth century through their writings, how is the Christian to identify with communism? Perhaps a more concrete question an American Christian in a globalized society should consider is how we should understand and face capitalism in light of Marx’s critique. Should we ever participate as a part of the bourgeois, knowingly oppressing others as Marx’s predicted? Can Christians participate in a capitalist economy, own a plethora of private property, own capital, and not inevitably immerse oneself into oppressive forces? Confronting this political and economic reality as a Christian and reckoning with it from a Christian perspective may be one of the most difficult, but necessary, aspects of being a Christian. Today, Christians need to take seriously what they do and believe politically and economically, not sacrificing Christian beliefs for a different telos, but participating in the world’s struggles and living on earth for what is and will be the kingdom of God.

            The Bible has a lot to say concerning the oppression of the poor. Nehemiah 5:1-13 reads one specific instance that happened during a famine that is relevant to understanding what God thinks about the oppression of the poor and usury. Many families were starving; doing everything they could to work for grain, but still couldn’t make ends meet. Some were asking to gather grain from fields they didn’t own, some were mortgaging their fields, and others were borrowing money to pay for their fields. Some were even resorting to selling their children to slavery. As a result of these outcries, Nehemiah was enraged and the first thing he did was approach the nobles and officials and scolded them. He said,

“You are exacting interest from your own brothers! The thing you are doing is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies? Moreover, I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let us abandon this exacting of interest. Return to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses, and the percentage of money, grain, wine, and oil that you have been exacting from them. (Nehemiah 5:7-10)”

            In this situation, the Jews were being exploited by their nobles and officials. The officials were gaining profit from the Jewish citizens’ labor, living in prosperity, while the Jewish people paying the interest were being forced to sell all they had, even selling their daughters into slavery. God was praised when the officials gave the people their land back and the usury was stopped.

This situation sounds like the “class struggle” Marx spoke of in his works, the tension between the bourgeois agenda and proletariat struggle. Under capitalism, as Marx argues, the proletariat is inevitably exploited as the capitalist market’s law of supply and demand continually separates the worth of the work from the worth of the worker. Marx saw a problem in valuing labor as a means of production, since humans were behind that labor. He saw an inherent problem with the fact that the workers produced all the goods of a company and literally kept the company alive, but the owners of the company owned the all the profits of the workers’ labor. The working class owned nothing but their labor and even that was (and is) treated as a commodity under capitalism. Marx pointed this out clearly in Estranged Labor,

“Political economy conceals the estrangement inherent in the nature of labor by not considering the direct relationship between the worker (labor) and production. It is true that labor produces for the rich wonderful things – but for the worker it produces privation. It produces palaces – but for the worker, hovels. It produces beauty – but for the worker, deformity. It replaces labor by machines, but it throws one section of the workers back into barbarous types of labor and it turns the other section into a machine. It produces intelligence – but for the worker, stupidity, cretinism.”

            Christians cannot, or should not, deny the obvious truths found in Marx’s critique of capitalism. Whether or not they participate in capitalism is a moot point: everyone participates in capitalism in some way or another. One cannot go out for coffee, shop at Meijer, or even shop online without taking part in the exploitive capitalist system. Capitalism is what makes the United States the attractively disfigured country that it is. Capitalism means we have a monstrous variety of materials available to us for our consumption, but in this “freedom of choice” and excess amounts of goods, there is a cost. We turned the rich natural fields and forests of Indiana into corn field after corn field for profit. One might argue that this is necessary, because corn is also used to feed millions of people and livestock. But where is the line between necessity and greed? Where is the line between necessity and exploiting the land? Where is the line for a Christian between godly stewardship and ownership of goods and capitalist materialism that suggests there is no end to the need for more and more commodities and profit margin?

            The one critique Christians can have about Marx’s theory is that of dialectical materialism. He believed in a Hegelian sense that history moved in dialectic, but under a materialist dialectic rather than spiritual or idealist dialectic. He thought that history is driven by the conflict not of spiritual ideas, but rather through concrete compulsions. He thought the material realm, money and power, was the single driving force of the human race. As Christians, I believe there is a connection to be seen in the way Marx thinks about material impulses. There is a healthy way to view the material world; it is not evil in and of itself in a Gnostic sense. From the Christian worldview, though, there exist sins called envy, greed, and depravity, which have to do with material. The distinction between Marx and Christian thought about the material realm is that, for the Christian, the material is not the ultimate telos.  “Class struggle” is not the ultimate struggle, but for the Christian it is the struggle between human corruption and redemption in Christ. The problem with the Christian community is that many look toward the future redemption without responding now. As Tiran Nersoyan said in his book A Christian Approach to Communism,

“The reasoning of some Christians may have been vitiated during these last centuries by their reactionary mentality…Nevertheless, Christians as a whole will have to make their position clear; either with or against Capitalism as this word is commonly understood at present. They cannot stand aloof in a world faced with gigantic social problems. The choice is already imperative.”

Redemption and social action for Christians should begin here on earth, which requires Christians to be aware of world influences and powers, have political opinions, and face the struggles the world is facing. Being “in the world but not of the world”, as the Bible suggests, I do not believe means that we completely separate ourselves from the world’s situations and struggles. God created humans ultimately for this world and we are to live and grow as His followers and creations in it. I think Christians should take to heart, rather than combat and defame, Marx’s critique of religion, that it is the opium of the oppressed and a hindrance to social struggle. We should understand this and sympathize with what Marx was trying to say in context, that he saw the church as a reactionary force against the proletariat struggle. Not only were many religious people of that time a part of the bourgeois, but he also saw the church preaching to the oppressed a “hope for life beyond the grave.”  The people Marx envisioned should stand up against the bourgeois were comfortable living on as exploited people because “life would be better in heaven.” Historically, the Bible has been divorced from politics partly because of this reason and partly because of the Church’s alliance with power. The church has tried to use political power to further their own religion, which is also wrong because then we only become a part of the problem. We become an exploitive, not redemptive, force.  People should not use faith as a means for power.

In this world, I think it is clear that we are in a struggle against good and evil, against Christ’s redemptive power and human’s depraved mind. Marx saw in the material world alone and in observing the industrial revolution a continual ownership of the bourgeois of the means of production and continual use of humans as machinery. He saw a crisis in a progression of capitalism from feudalism, and saw communism as the ultimate end of capitalism. In the centuries leading up to the industrial revolution, merchants had emerged and instead of slaves owned by masters in a feudal society, the bourgeois owned the means of production and the proletariat only owned their labor and the ability to sell it.  Capitalism, as Marx saw it, was simply a different embodiment of feudalism, and perhaps more dangerous because the proletariat are disillusioned into thinking they are freer.

“The worker becomes all the poorer the more wealth he produces, the more his production increases in power and size. The worker becomes an ever cheaper commodity the more commodities he creates. The devaluation of the world of men is in direct proportion to the increasing value of the world of things. Labor produces not only commodities; it produces itself and the worker as a commodity – and this at the same rate at which it produces commodities in general. (Estranged Labor)”

                The Christian community needs to become more proactive instead of simply settling with capitalism “because that’s just the way things are”. We should be an active force in reconciling oppressive forces with the oppressed, like Nehemiah did when he saw a problem. He recognized the outcries of the oppressed and acted on them. Not only did he listen to them, but took initiative and advanced toward a positive solution.  Even if we can’t start a revolution and turn the world upside down in one generation; even if one Christian person cannot eliminate capitalism’s oppression altogether, Christians as a whole can become less of the problem and more of the solution by being aware of the issues of justice in the world, being stewards of their own money and possessions, caring for the weak and oppressed, and by recognizing and not defaming the critiques Marx made about capitalism, we can act, one step at a time,  as a redemptive force for the kingdom of God here on earth. 

 Works Cited

Cuninggim, Merrimon. Christianity and Communism: An Inquiry into Relationships. Dallas:

            Southern Methodist Univ. Press, 1958.

Lyon, David. Karl Marx: A Christian Assessment of His Life & Thought. Downers Grove, Ill:

            InterVarsity Press, 1981.

Miranda, José Porfirio. Marx and the Bible: A Critique of the Philosophy of Oppression.

            Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1974.

Nersoyan, Tiran. A Christian Approach to Communism; Ideological Similarities between

            Dialectical Materialism andChristian Philosophy. London: F. Muller ltd, 1943.

Vardys, Vytas Stanley. Karl Marx: Scientist? Revolutionary? Humanist? Lexington, Mass: Heath,

            1971.

Villa-Vicencio, Charles, and John W. De Gruchy. Doing Ethics in Context: South African

            Perspectives. Theology and praxis, v. 2. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1994.

stop and read the books.

What does it take to be a person who makes something of the world? Who changes things? Who gets things done?

Pretend your life is a room. I feel like Christians today feel so satisfied with rearranging the "furniture" of life (if you will) and maintaining the clutter that we do nothing to actually change anything about the room. We don't do anything drastic, like repaint the walls or lay down new carpet. We are satisfied with doing the very least just to get by in life. We are so busy putting the books in alphabetical order and don't take the time to read them. Maybe we should stop focusing so much on not doing the wrong things, and focus on doing more things right.

One verse I read a couple days ago sparked this train of thought.

"The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him." Romans 8:16-17 (emphasis mine)

Provided is the word that got me. Some versions say "if" or "if so be that". Does this mean that if I don't suffer, I am not an heir of God? It seems that Paul has emphasized that in order to share in God's glory, we must suffer in this life. I am still learning what this means, and it may take a lifetime and beyond for me to understand this. As Cody puts it, "If everything is going right, there must be something wrong." But I think that statement is too simple. It is okay for things to go right. Success is not wrong. But the great thing about Christianity is that neither is failure. Failure, the valley of the shadow of death (Ps. 23), hard times, depression, call it what you will, is a sign that you are trying. You can't fail if you haven't taken the risk of failure. And those risks, all that stretching we do, that bending over backwards in life, that suffering for Christ, will all be worth it when we reach the comfort the end brings. But if you don't feel the need to suffer for Christ like He did for you, the challenge is: What business do you have calling yourself a Christian? Are you a Christian only because of what God has done for you? What about the reason He came-to free us from the fact that we could never repay Him?

We need to be stepping up as Christians and taking the risk. We need to be uncomfortable because we realize we aren't doing enough, because God's mercy is too infinite for us to ever repay him. So paint the rooms of your life. Gut the whole frickin' house. Don't just organize your bookshelf-read the books.

temperance.

Sip The Lights, originally uploaded by NatashaP.

When in doubt, ask C.S. Lewis. :)

(defining a few words for you first:

temperance: moderation or self-restraint, esp. in eating or drinking.

teetotalism: choosing abstinence from alcohol.

Mohammedanism: The Islam religion.)

“Temperance is, unfortunately, one of those words that has changed its meaning. It now usually means teetotalism. But in the days when the second Cardinal virtue was christened “Temperance”, it meant nothing of the sort. Temperance referred not specially to drink, but to all pleasures; and it meant not abstaining, but going the right length and no further. It is a mistake to think that Christians ought all to be teetotalers; Mohammedanism, not Christianity, is the teetotal religion. Of course it may be the duty of a particular Christian, or of any Christian, at a particular time, to abstain from strong drink, either because he is the sort of man who cannot drink at all without drinking too much, or because he is with people who are inclined to drunkenness and must not encourage them by drinking himself. But the whole point is that he is abstaining, for a good reason, from something which he does not condemn and which he likes to see other people enjoying. One of the marks of a certain type of bad man is that he cannot give up a thing himself without wanting every one else to give it up. That is not the Christian way. An individual Christian may see fit to give up all sorts of things for special reasons-marriage, or meat, or beer, or the cinema; but the moment he starts saying the things are bad in themselves, or looking down his nose at other people who do use them, he has taken the wrong turning.
One great piece of mischief has been done by the modern restriction of the word Temperance to the question of drink. It helps people to forget that you can be just as intemperate about lots of other things. A man who makes his golf or his motor-bicycle the centre of his life, or a woman who devotes all her thoughts to clothes or bridge or her dog, is being just as ’intemperate’ as someone who gets drunk every evening. Of course, it does not show on the outside so easily: bridge-mania or golf-mania do not make you fall down the middle of the road. But God is not deceived by externals." -C. S. Lewis

My Response:

The meaning of “temperance” in the Christian world has turned from moderation to abstinence. This is the misunderstanding found in innumerable churches today. Even our stark founding fathers' Puritan lifestyle allowed drinking in moderation! And these people wouldn't go so far as to write poetry because it was too creative. They stuck to letters and documents so they wouldn't use strong terms to describe what could be personal 'sinful' emotions.

The Bible calls us to be ‘beyond reproach’. But the problem is that a person can always find something to reproach us for. It is only a matter of time, because we are all flawed. Maybe the way to help non-Christians understand Christianity is not to live a lifestyle of abstinence in order to show them a different life, but live the lifestyle of moderation to show them self-control, patience, goodness, and God. We do not live a different life than non-Christians: we are all humans breathing the same air. The difference is our actions, and there is nothing inherently wrong with alcohol. A non-Christian who drinks can better associate with the testimony of a young man who drinks with him and never gets out-of-hand more than a man who turns down a drink because he 'has never taken a sip'. How can a non-Christian drinker relate to that? The point is, God can use both the Christian who drinks and the Christian who has never taken a sip. But most of all, non-Christians don't need us to abstain from alcohol for proof that God is real. If they do, they have bigger problems than you can help them with. They need to understand that humans are humans; Christians are humans just like them. The only difference between me and a drunkard is that I am saved by grace.

“Temperate temperance is best; intemperate temperance injures the cause of temperance.”
–Martin Luther