... at least as I'm learning from the Godly on the Religious Left.
I recently made the mistake of stopping by Fearfully Human. You regular readers remember King David? He's the self described Christ follower (and comic... seriously) who, with the help of some of his commenters, has strung together, over the course of a couple of weeks, quite the collection of adjectives, nouns and cute phrases to describe yours truly.
Here's the list thus far, probably less than complete:
Hate-mongerer, bar-fighter, black knight, petty a**hole, war-mongerer (in Jesus' name), filled with sound and fury signifying nothing, born to fight, crusader, filled with misaligned acrimony, stuck in a hurtful mind, one of the stupid people in blog-dom, someone who hides behind computers and picks fights with people, cruel, harsh and crude, spineless coward who sits in the safety of his own dimly-lit basement suite and spews cyber sh*t at others with no real danger of being hurt in battle (one of my favorites), and yappy dog.
I feel the love from the Christ followers... how about you?
Never mind that all of that was the by-product of this post over at Mike's. Never mind that I'm far from anonymous on this blog and that Brutally Honest is a diary of sorts that I think proves that these Christ followers are filled with... well... hate-induced excrement, as to my person and what I'm about.
As one who's been at the forefront, for nearly a decade now (and especially since my ordination exploration in the ECUSA in '98 and '99), of convincing people that there's not a dime's worth of difference between the rabid religious right and the looney religious left, I enjoy adding to my collection of anecdotal evidence that tends to prove the point.
David, for example, has recently spouted, with appropriate piety, on the plight of America's abandoned poor (joining the others who were slinging mud at the USA for not doing enough) while later complaining, after splitting his pants during a comedic performance, that he couldn't find a local tailor and will have to wait for a new pair he ordered from Hong Kong. I'm unable to decide whether there's sweet irony or blatant hypocrisy there. I mean how many poor people might be helped if David sewed his own pants and gave the money destined for Hong Kong to one of the locals abandoned by mean rich people? All this while looking for benevolent rich people (who I suppose would not be mean) to fund a junket to Ethiopia. Sigh. But hey, at least he's not a hate-mongering, bar-fighting, black knight war-mongering, crusadingly cruel, harsh and crude yappy dog like... well... me.
No... he's a Christ follower.
Setting all that aside (which frankly is very difficult for me to do), I continue to believe that there are aspects to liberal Christianity that must be heard and heeded. Just as I believe (probably more so admittedly) that conservative Christianity contains nuggets of digestible truth.
To underscore that point, I recently had an e-mail exchange with Mike where I tried to convince him that people like me pull people like him (and vice versa) toward the truth. This after he wanted me to read the red letters of Scripture (Christ's words) so that I could better understand what the kingdom of God was about (social justice for the poor). Although neither of us had the time to pursue this further in e-mail, I tend to think that those same red letters tend to stress Christ's divinity and the salvific work of redemption He alone offers. The truth is probably somewhere in between (although I think closer to my position... naturally).
The bottom line to this post is probably merely the echoing of something PresbyPoet wrote in an earlier comment. We need to listen to what those we disagree with have to say. And I'm a willing listener... usually. But not if what you have to say gets lost in the cacophony of the kind of spittle I began this post with.
And to bring this post to what by now might be a merciful close, allow me to state that the largest reason for bringing this rant to my readers is that David has done what seems common to most on the religious left. He's not allowed me to comment on his blog. You know, where I might be allowed to defend myself to his loyal minions and where we might then better be able to undestand, tolerate and learn from each other.
That is the goal... right?
UPDATE: Rick from NewLifeEmerging, a bonafide member of the Religious Left, participated in the smearing of yours truly, contributing twice to the tar and feather party. Today, he advanced his audience by writing about grace:
Repentance, not proper behavior or even holiness, is the doorway to grace. And the opposite of sin is grace, not virtue... the proof of spiritual maturity is not how pure you are but an awareness of your impurity."
I, of course, am grateful to Rick that he is doing his part in helping me, along with Dave's readers, become aware of my impurities. I look forward to Rick providing us all with the proof of his own maturity since it's more than obvious that he is full of... grace...
MORE: I would be remiss in not acknowledging that there are some on the religious left who have been most graceful, most caring, most seriously... Christ-followers. Thanks to each of them.

















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