{"id":10031,"date":"2006-09-20T10:29:44","date_gmt":"2006-09-20T17:29:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2006\/09\/20\/why-some-folks-think-christians-are-nuts.html"},"modified":"2006-09-20T10:29:44","modified_gmt":"2006-09-20T17:29:44","slug":"why_some_folks_think_chri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/09\/20\/why_some_folks_think_chri.html","title":{"rendered":"Why some folks think Christians are nuts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/div>\n

Well, because of guys like Pastor John Hagee<\/a>, interviewed at length<\/a> (and with extraordinary politeness) by Terri Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air. While much of the discussion is on Hagee<\/a>‘s beliefs (Biblical “facts”) about how the Rapture is coming Any Moment Now, and how therefore the imminent Russian\/Arab
\nInvasion of Israel, as clearly<\/em> prophesied in Revelations and the Old Testament, is also just around the corner (and how, therefore, any sort of Land for Peace deal is both evil and futile), the topics range from how all Moslems are called upon to kill Christians and Jews, and how Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, pre-emptive punishment from God (around minute 23 of the clip, transcribed by me).<\/p>\n

\n

HAGEE: All hurricanes are Acts of God, because God controls the Heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they are … were recipients of the Judgment of God for that. The newspaper carried the story — in our local area, it was not carried nationally — that there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the … Katrina came. And the promise of that parade was that it was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before
\nin any of the other Gay Pride parades. So I believe that the Judgment of God is a very real thing. I know that there are people who … demur from that. But I believe that the Bible teaches that when you violate the Law of God, that God brings punishment sometimes before the Day of Judgment. And I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was in fact the Judgment of God against the City of New Orleans.<\/p>\n

GROSS: So I know you’re very opposed to homosexuality, but you think that the whole city was punished because of things like the forthcoming Gay Pride parade.<\/p>\n

HAGEE: Ah … this is true. All of the city was punished because of the sin that happened there in that city.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Which would all be sad but, well, there are folks out there with odd personal opinions about the world and the way it works — if he weren’t hobnobbing with movers and shakers in government and the Republican Party leadership (either out of faith or as shameless vote pandering).<\/p>\n

For what it’s worth, my<\/em> own opinion is that God’s punishment of sin in this world, if it happens at all (as opposed to being simply a consequence of bad behavior), is rarely if ever directly attributable or so simply discernable. And, frankly, why God would intervene in New Orleans, versus, say, Darfur today, or Yugoslavia or Rwanda in the 90s, or Germany in the 40s, or the Ukraine in the 20s-30s, or … the list of sin<\/em>, of violations of the purported Law of God, in so many places
\nhas been so much greater than in New Orleans, it renders the whole assertion nearly meaningless. Of course, you could chalk it up to God Working in Mysterious Ways, but, then, that would argue against being able to figure out when God actually is<\/em> acting in the world. <\/p>\n

And, of course, if you’re going to say that God directs hurricanes (and presumably, other natural disasters) with a purpose, what sins do you attribute to the victims of other hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, etc., that have ravaged other cities, that made them such a target vs. other “bigger” dens of iniquity? If God punishes people via hurricane, is the rain that causes a slick street and an auto crash also a punishment from God? Or the heat wave or cold snap that kills some elderly or homeless
\nfolks? And what are the lessons in repentance and judgment those <\/em>are supposed to teach others, except to not live in places with bad weather or natural disasters, ’cause otherwise God’ll getcha<\/em>, or at least might just take you out collaterally with some real sinners out there?<\/p>\n

Feh.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

(via DOF<\/a>)<\/p>\n

<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, because of guys like Pastor John Hagee, interviewed at length (and with extraordinary politeness) by Terri Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air. While much of the discussion is on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10,27,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-geopolitical-brouhaha","category-religion","category-zt-pc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":51439,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/12\/the-politeness-of-rudeness-the-rudeness-of-politeness.html","url_meta":{"origin":10031,"position":0},"title":"The politeness of rudeness, the rudeness of politeness","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 12-Jun-15 7:26pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The most artificial thing in the world is social custom, yet nothing is considered more \"natural\" and \"obvious\" and fundamental. 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