Tuesday, July 11, 2006
The Reactionary
I was thinking today as I read the 'BC Christian News' how touchy I am about anything "Christian" and how easily angered or disgusted I grow with things that I read. There were some excellent and provocative articles about what people of faith are achieving both here and abroad, but then there was an advertisement for a 5 day event with a "Prophetic Evangelist" that immediately got my dander up. Supposedly, according to the ad, "signs, wonders, and miraculous healings occur consistently in his meetings." Is that the reason for faith in God? Because if we believe, there might be some cool "miracles", some circus-like attractions to keep us occupied and distracted from the real work of spiritual discipline, loving our neighbours, and being authentic people? I get so tired of this religious huckster bullshit! This is equivalent to that tele-evangelist crap and when I have friends out there who aren't believers, the last thing I want them to think of as authentic faith are these supposed "miracle healers" and tele-evangelists who try to sell God, or worse yet, ask for money in the name of religion. Do I believe God can heal? Absolutely, because I have experienced it. But I never saw Jesus using miracles to sell the Father and the Gospel to people and I figure if he didn't need to, why should anyone else? If I have offended anyone with this rant, I apologize, but I needed to get this off my chest. I'm out...
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4 comments:
Wow, as one of your friends that is not a believer can i get that "Prophetic Evangelists" name and time that he is performing because of all the reasons that you gave me in the past, I never knew that you guys could perform "cool miracles". I'm in! Sign me up and heal me.
Mike Lambert
(For all of you that don't know me, this is a joke)
... maybe you are a 'necessary reactionary' ... ?
Whoa,
I think you can cool it a little there, Buddy. As a non-Christian I still firmly believe in the integrity of Christians on the whole and it'll take a lot more than the occasional evangelical swindler to sway my thinking. That's like assuming that every kid who discovers the hoax of Santa Claus will believe that every adult he meets thereafter is a lying bastard! Perhaps you can stop focussing so much on your perception of what others think and start giving people more credit. Having faith shouldn't be about trying to convince others to think like you do. The beauty of your faith in practice will inspired that on its own.
I am not a hater of "circus-like attractions" because they have a place. What is the difference between John the Baptist performing the wonders of Baptism and a contemporary Christian facilitator?
Just a thought!
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