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| What's great is that he's very calmly flipping the bird. |
Geert Wilders was put on trial for insulting Islam. Could you imagine we Christians bringing you up on similar charges for your picture of Jesus flipping the bird?Now, of course Silverfiddle was not suggesting that I should be put on trial, as he is a staunch believer in the freedom of speech, but I detected a hint of displeasure in his writing. I wanted to explain myself, but doing so would have been horribly off-topic on that particular thread, and I'm not in the habit of doing that on other people's blogs.
I don't like that picture, but it's your blog, I believe in free speech, and I am advanced enough to know that no human work can demean my Lord and Savior.
When I put up that picture of Jesus flipping the bird, I knew that I was being completely inflammatory. In fact, I think I put it up there for that expressed purpose. I'm not a troll or anything, but one of the purposes of Christian Fearing God-Man is to get people to look at life a little differently than perhaps they are used to looking at life. I want to achieve this on all levels whether it be someone's sentiments on politics, society, music, movies, and even religion.
Politics and religion are two things that people generally shouldn't discuss openly in public with people you don't know personally, because discussions often turn into a steaming pile of horseshit: most people get all offended and indignant, and it's hard to keep the discussion within the realm of rationality and civility. It's also generally not a good idea to question people's beliefs, as we should all know the fate of Socrates for doing so.
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| Somehow I missed that part in the Bible that tells us we should be fishers of men by acting like giant, bigoted asshats. |
But I'm not going to offer an apology because that would be contrary to my whole purpose. I'm not here to coddle people and tell them that it's all going to be alright. I'm here to get them to see the absurdity of it all. What is absurd about Christianity?
Well, for starters it's supposed to be a religion of peace and pacifism, yet there are an awful lot of Christians who foam at the mouth whenever war is afoot. It's supposed to be a religion of compassion, yet there are many Christians who have the "what's mine is mine," mentality, and they reject and spurn the notion of social justice. Christianity is supposed to be a religion of inclusion and egalitarianism, yet many Christians want to shit allover gays for being "sinful," as if every other Christian is as pure as Mother fucking Theresa. And others also like to shit allover cultures that are different than theirs.
So how is my picture of Jesus flipping the bird contrary to him and his message? Sure, it's more irreverant than he likely was, but everything Jesus did was a big middle finger to the society he lived in. He saw that people were living hypocritical lives, and he sought to end that. Did Jesus want to create a new religion? No. He simply wanted people to stop acting like retards and fucking up Judaism.
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| Call me crazy, but I doubt this is what Jesus had in mind as he was hanging from the cross, suffering a brutal death because of his rabble-rousing ideas. |
Jesus might be disappointed with me because of the stylistic choices I make here, but my guess is that he would be proud to have someone like me doing the work that I'm doing. I want the same things he did: peace, compassion, and togetherness. Those Christians that would spurn me, the ones that would probably love to put me on trial for demeaning their Lord and Savior, should actually thank me for carrying on his ministry, as bizarre as that might sound. Jesus' message wasn't "be a Christian or go to hell."
His message was to love one another and help eachother get in touch with your own humanity. If anything, my work serves as an exaltation of his message rather than to demean him. Oh, and remember: I'm a Christian, too.
9 comments:
"Social justice" Jack? Really you're spouting that?
As far as the "gays go to hell" Christians I would have to say they're not being very Christian.
I did not like the pic but it is your right to show it and you made a point with it as well.
What appeals to me in your blog is that you simply tell things in a great black and white manner and much of what you say I agree.
Recently I have been on some blogs (that Silver is also on) and I think you would have a field day on them, as they cannot tolerate me at all pointing out what is logical and what is imaginary or bigoted.
Keep the great work up and I think Jesus would not only keep a blind eye to your tactic, he would pat you on your back for at the minimum being honest to yourself.
It's actually a very clever and funny pic, Jack.
People say I'm an "athiest," and to that I say, "Yeah, sure, fine." In reality, I am actually pretty close to a Jeffersonian Christian - that is to say, I try to live my life the way Jesus preached, as best I can muster, but have no interest in being "saved," "miracles," heaven and hell, etc, let alone having someone else cleanse me of my "sins." I'll carry my own cross, thank you.
That picture - that very funny, clever picture - reminds me of the scene in Monty Python's Holy Grail movie, when God appears in the sky and lambasts Arthur and his entourage for prostrating themselves before Him. I just can't imagine Jesus wanting that sort of nonsense.
And that gets to your point about "style." People who argue from the standpoint of style are behaving like vaccuous assholes who have no valuable argument to make at all. Style is just aesthetics. Life is life. Jesus cared about real life, not style.
Thanks Jack.
JMJ
Not to go all Black and White on you,
2 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments.
Picture that for style.
I certainly wasn't asking for an apology, and no explanation was necessary.
I almost regret using your picture as an example now, but I hope you have a greater appreciation for Geert Wilders.
You have quite an anti-Christian litany there, but the fact that critics are forced to rely solely on stock footage and reportage of the Phred Phelps gang says much.
I'd still rather be a gay blasphemer here in America than anywhere else in the world.
Silver,
It's okay. It gave me something to write about it, and like I said this was not done out of ill will. I love people questioning my beliefs and motives, truly I do.
This post is not anti-Christian at all. Well, let's make a distinction: this post might be anti-Christian, in the sense that it is adversarial towards some people who happen to call themselves Christians, but it is *not* anti-Christianity.
I do greatly appreciate the gravity of what Wilders had to go through, and I thank God every day that I live in a country that allows me to say whatever I want without fear of reprisal
I just can't stand it when some Christians talk about God's love and his eternal forgiveness for all of our sins, how Jesus supposedly died for all of our sins and saved us from the impurity of our temporal human form, yet have so much hatred in their hearts and presume to know the mind of God. It's completely anti-thetical to the entirety of Jesus' ministry.
And Silver, you should know by now that I don't think that every Christian is like Fred Phelps or the Westboro Baptist nuts. I know that those types are a minority in the entirety of Christianity across the world. However, though many Christians in America may be way less radical than them, I know that many Christians bear similar sentiments.
My dad's side of my family is all Protestant. I grew up going to a Baptist church a lot, and I can say with some degree of certainty that they are almost just as bigoted as the Westboro nuts. And the church that my dad goes to is not some isolated podunk church, it's actually one of the bigger Baptist congregations in Central Ohio.
Granted, they don't go protesting funerals and crazy things like that, but God help you if you're gay or not a Protestant. My father always tells me that he's worried for my soul because I'm Catholic and haven't yet been saved.
amanofwonder: The graven image commandment is two fold. First, graven images were forbidden because during that time making an image of a deity was seen as a sign of possession, or some sort of propriety over that deity's powers.
Secondly, the fear was, of course, that people would begin to worship the image itself rather than what the image represents. Such laws and commandments were made during a time where people were not educated and more apt to believe that the images of their deities actually held some sort of power to it.
Nowadays, I think people are generally educated enough to know that an image of a deity means nothing beyond expressing what the human brain conceives said deity to look like.
I'm definitely not worshipping my Jesus flipping the bird picture.
Jersey: Style DOES matter. I know you and I have had this discussion before, but style is the difference between being heard and being ignored. A good writer understands how to use style to his advantage. I curse a lot in my writing, but it's not uncontrolled angst. I curse for a reason, and all the "fucks" and "shits" are calculated.
It's all good, Jack. I do appreciate the explanation.
Humans have a hard time living up to our ideals, don't we?
Absolutely. For most people, we're only as good as the world allows us to be.
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