OPINION
Things are nowhere near the same in the world of Christian Belief here in The United States as they were just only a few short years ago. The whole thing seems to have been up-ended and today is totally Topsy-turvy from what it once was.
When I was a kid, for example, I knew people who would have totally refused to listen to the News and many of whom would absolutely refuse to read any of “That- there Worldly stuff” in magazines and newspapers.
I remember one of my baby sitters telling me, “I get all I need to know to get through this Life on by reading my Bible every day and I ain’t about to fill my head with all that useless worldly knowledge.”
There were a lot of people like her back in those days of a “Smaller” America – - – a “Mom and Pop” kind of America – - – The kind of America where neighbors brought hot soup to their sick friends and where people actually hung clothes out to dry and visited on front porches and over fences in back yards.
My own Dad was a simple and ordinary common everyday grave digger at a local cemetery. He made very little in wages and never had any kind of other benefits or perks such as health insurance but he seemed happy enough.
The thing about my Dad was that his idea of what God was about included Divine Intervention to make sure that Dad and Mom and I were kept safe from whatever “Cussedness” those “Rich (Expletive Deleted) could contrive to “Make it hard on the poor man.” (Meaning himself, of course.)
Dad, unlike a lot of idiot Right Wing Extremists that I could name, never once believed – - – as far as I could ever tell – - – that either God or Jesus Christ were the least bit interested in whether he voted Democrat or Republican and I never heard the words, “Abortion” or “Homosexuality” mentioned either privately or publicly. . . from parents, teachers or friends . . .until after I got pretty well past my Twenty-First birthday.
When I was a kid, “Christians” were warm and friendly, kind and helpful and always seemed to have a smile on their faces. There was none of the up-tight scowling, argumentative, hate-laced attitudes back then among “Christian” folks that I sometimes hear spewing out of the mouths of some of today’s pretenders to the title.
There was a popular saying among Christian folks back then that went something like this . . . and I believe this is found in the King James Bible somewhere if I am not mistaken:
“There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus…”
Christians were very careful not to condemn or to judge others back then and I don’t think I ever heard anyone who claimed to be Christian speaking a word in public or anywhere else about how “Evil” our Government has become or how “Abortion” and “Gay Rights” would someday become the center of the American Political dialogue.
Now I am one of those people who believe that we really shouldn’t be trying to put everyone who calls themselves “Christian” in some kind of stereotypical mold because, as I have discovered in my 74 years, there are really two basic kinds of “Christian.”
There are the “Religious” Christians who are more interested in the details of their belief system than in the results of acting upon it and there are the “Christian Christians” who actually say and do Christian things and react to circumstances and situations in a definably “Christian” manner. (i.e., with compassion and love in their hearts for everyone. . . friend and foe alike.)
So I try not to confuse those who “Have A Spirit of Religion” (Those I call “The Feel Gooders”) with the other kind – - – the kind that can be depended on to act like tradition says they should act – - – caring for neighbors, seeing to one another’s needs, healing the sick, visiting those in prison . . . everyone should know the drill by now.
The “Faithful” who I grew up with actually were more concerned about Eternal Verities than they were about who sat in The White House.
Everyone – - – Republican, Democrat and Independent alike respected the Flag, The President and The United States. There was no such thing as “Red States and Blue States.” That kind of crap had been tried before in the period between 1861 and 1865 and it didn’t work out very well.
What bothers me sometimes about some of today’s “Christians” – - – especially some on the Far Right Extreme Side of things – - – is how quickly they decide that all Liberals, Democrats and Progressives must be in league with Demonic Forces – - – and some of the less courteous and less sensitive among them will tell you about it in no uncertain terms. Instant judgement! Instant condemnation! No argument; no discussion! They “Know what they know” and nobody is going to tell them otherwise. The stubbornness is sometimes breath taking!
- – - as is the idiocy!
Even with all that going for them, “Christians” are – - – as they often love to very defensively say, “Not all the same.”
This is true!
I have discovered that they are indeed not all the same!
As I see it, some are crazier than others and some are meaner-spirited than others.
But, like everything else – - – I am sure there are still a few out there somewhere . . . hidden away in some quiet little corner of the world. . . reading their Bibles and doing things much the same as their Christian ancestors did – - – without all the noise and thunder of today’s far -too- politicized world.
These are the kinder ones, the ones who care, the ones who could be counted on to help in time of need – - – These are the silent and unassuming and humble ones – - -These are the “Real” ones.
There is a lot more information under the following link for anyone who desires to prolong the misery of such a discussion as this one. I personally do not believe there will ever be a resolution to the problems of modern “Christianity” until the end of all things.
Read More:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2012_07/the_lost_progressive_tradition038789.php
Posted by John Liming as part of his continuing Diaries of Political Opinion, Viewpoints and Insights.
Picture Credit - Public Domain Image
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