The Judeo-Christian Tradition, Or How To Go To Hell
The rant started calmly enough. I was reading a Lutheran group on MySpace (not an LCMS Lutheran group, but a no-holds-barred Lutheran group that even includes ELCA people - the horror!), and ran across this statement in this thread:
Capitalism, at its core, is fundamentally at odds with the historical Judeo-Christian ethic.
Without going into detail, I had to reply:
Don't forget that the historical Judeo-Christian ethic is fundamentally at odds with Christianity.
After some other reading, the rant got into a higher rant mode. First, let me set the stage by posting selected excerpts from something that Hot Librarian wrote a few days ago:
...prude...slut...puberty...inbox...kitchen...
OK, that is very selective. In the actual article, THL talks about various people calling her a slut for various reasons - for hating to wear bras as a nine-year old, for competing in the "how many hickeys can I get" contest as a thirteen-year old, and for authoring a blog with the word "Hot" in the title today.
And, in the actual article, her language was at times...Nixonian. Yeah, that's the way to put it. Sounds elevated.
Well, fatwalker (a 10,000 steps participant?), another librarian, wrote the following from Idaho:
The Hot Librarian is in need of prayer. Less anger and profanity.
I suggest Heartcall: The Call to Prayer.365 daily devotionals from women that will encourage, teach, and unite women to pray evangelistically for lost women.
I thought that perhaps fatwalker had received an incomplete picture of THL, so I pointed him to this post (the one about the kid in THL's Sunday School class who thought Jesus had been eaten by bears).
Then I read fatwalker's blog a little more, and ran across this:
Good column today by Cal Thomas on the possible presidential candidacy of Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who is a Mormon.
He is also against Gay marriage.
fatwalker is a conservative (because he's probably never read my blog, I will refrain from using my usual terms for conservatives and liberals at the moment), and he presumably agrees with Cal Thomas in decrying anti-Mormon bias among voters.
Yet at the same time fatwalker believes that this is a Christian nation:
Church services at the Library. Give me an Amen. The Alliance Defense Fund comes to the aid of the Christians of our Christian nation. Glory!
Or does he?
Kickback Mountain
So, ha, ha, ha. Some stupid left-wing blogger thinks this is funny. Well, Mr. DeLay is a good Christian and Mr. Abramoff is an orthodox Jew and they are men of God so this insult cheapens the person who made it, not them.
I think it's more accurate to say that fatwalker believes that this is a nation that believes in the "Judeo-Christian tradition," which is something very different. When you are including people (Adams, Abramoff) who believe that Jesus Christ was no God, and when you are including people (Romney) who believe that Donny Osmond will become a god someday, you have ceased to talk about a Christian nation.
And what's important in the Judeo-Christian tradition? Is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit important? Is the necessity of faith, rather than works without faith, emphasized? Let's ask Deacon Tim:
Falwell was never really out of the political scene. He couldn’t stand being away from attention that he got from the media and the politicians he helped elect. Then, like Lazarus rising from his grave, the Moral Majority was resurrected as “The Moral Majority Coalition.” According to its website, “the group’s central premise is to utilize the momentum of the November 2 elections to maintain an evangelical revolution of voters who will continue to go to the polls to ‘vote Christian.’”
Since The Reverend Falwell is making the claim, and since the Bible says “do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world,” (I John 4:1) I’d like to apply some simple tests to the claim that the Moral Majority Coalition is Christian.
Test #1: Is the Platform Christian?
The MMC’s four-fold platform is:
1)TMMC will conduct an intensive four-year "Voter Registration Campaign" through America's conservative churches, para-church ministries, pro-life and pro-family organizations.
2)TMMC will conduct well organized "Get-Out-The-Vote Campaigns" in 2006 and 2008.
3)TMMC will engage in the massive recruitment and mobilization of social conservatives through television, radio, direct mail (U.S.P.S. and Internet) and public rallies.
4)TMMC will encourage the promotion of continuous private and corporate prayer for America's moral renaissance based on 2 Chronicles 7:14.
What is either explicitly or implicitly Christian here? No mention of Jesus. No mention of the Creeds, no reference to the Christian Scriptures. There is a clearly defined marketing strategy here, but basing an American moral renaissance on Israel’s King Solomon would appear to be pretty dubious. If I recall, Solomon was a religious syncretist, and following his death, the country was rent by civil war and eventual destruction, due to his failed policies.
Test #1: Failed....
Test #3: Does salvation come from grace by faith or works?
“The Bible tells us salvation is a free gift and it cannot be earned (Ephesians 2:8, 9; II Timothy 1:9; Romans 4:16). The entire book of Galatians was written to warn us that you cannot mix faith and works as the grounds for justification. Galatians 2:16 tells us: Man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ . . . The last portion of this verse also tells us: . . . for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Galatians 2:21 tells us: I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Forgiveness of sins and justification come from Jesus to all who believe (Acts 13:37-39).” That’s from Liberty University’s theological questions site.
But Falwell writes: “Everyone now knows that the stage is set for the church of Jesus Christ to turn this nation back to the faith of our fathers and the Judeo-Christian ethic. New Supreme Court justices can overturn Roe vs. Wade. The Federal Marriage Amendment to the U.S. Constitution can forever define the family as one man married to one woman. Any senator who opposes this FMA could face the same fate Sen. Tom Daschle experienced. I truly believe we can bring 40 million “faith and values” voters to the polls in 2008 to assure that Sen. Hillary Clinton, or someone of her ilk, will never be president of this nation.” In other words, grace has nothing to do with it. Overturning Roe vs. Wade, banning gay marriage and keeping Hillary Clinton out of the White House will save America. No Jesus. No cross. No grace. Just Republicans working very hard to stay in power.
Salvation by works? Yep.
Test #3: Failed.
Let me repeat - the Judeo Christian works-based tradition is a false Satanic religion, and is the antithesis of Christianity.
End of rant.
Maybe.
Comments
I do wish that instead of using catch phrases, people who claim to be Christians would stick with the bottom line message of sin, grace, salvation through Jesus Christ, and repentance.
But that's just what I think.