Thoughts and Prayers: The Religion Thread

More on the Moores and Rick Warren vs. the SBC.

The Southern Baptist Church Is Going to Hell in a Handbasket

 

Lordy there are tapes.

Southern Baptist Convention secret recordings reveal dispute over handling of sex abuse

 

This one is good too - but you have to read beyond the headline. It's good all the way through.

Editorial: Why we support the bishops' plan to deny Communion to Biden

Sen. Tim Kaine's thoughts...

A Catholic senator's view on Biden and the bishops


One of the reasons I finally came to my senses and no longer allow my Capital C Church to interfere with my faith.

 

Me reading that as a recovering Southern Baptist:

 

A lot of things are about to come together next week for the Southern Baptist Convention, which was founded with slavery, segregation and white supremacy in its heart.

The Fight for the Heart of the Southern Baptist Convention — The New Yorker

 

A conversation I've been having recently with some faithful folks - most of whom are progressive.

Who is Donald Trump most like in the Gospels?

He's especially not Jesus, of course. I don't ask for that reason. He's a villain in the story. But which villain?

Is a Pharisee? Herod? Pilate? Judas? The rich man who walks away from Jesus?

(Note: It's not hard to locate a Trump-type in OT. He's the fool metaphorically in Proverbs or one of the more corrupt kings or judges.)

 

The rich man who walks away. That’s as close as I can get.

He’s irreligious, so that excludes the Pharisees. Judas was a religious extremist who sold Jesus out because he thought Jesus was going to overthrow the Romans and was crushed when he realized that wasn’t going to happen. Pilate and Herod … they probably meant well, but the Pharisees whipped the Israelites into a frenzy.

One of the things Matthew 19 teaches is that being saved doesn’t require great sacrifice. If the rich man had in fact kept the law’s requirements, he had nothing to fear. However, he wanted to be “perfect” and was not ready to pay that price. Jesus never asked him to be “perfect;” he set a fairly easy baseline for the man to meet. The man thought he could somehow easily grasp more; there’s a lesson there about pride, greed, falling, and so on.

 

There was some real Pilate energy among certain cabinet members though.

 

Good question. Narrowing to the Gospels is difficult.

King Ahab. But surely even he had talents.

 

Easy Barabbas. Pilate says "well, we've got Jesus over here, and Barabbas, a thief, a scumbag and a creep - which one do you want me to let off scott-free"

"Give us Barabbas!" the crowd cheers.

 

‘Our Lord Isn’t Woke.’ Southern Baptists Clash Over Their Future.