Who suffers more - Jesus or wounded soliders? (political cartoon)

Submitted by stormbear on Fri, 01/26/2007 - 9:03am

Crossposted from Town Called Dobson

click to enlarge

Last night I watched HBO's Friends of God: A Road Trip With Alexandra Pelosi, a film exploring the Evangelical movement in America. I am unsure which is more shocking, Faces of Death or Friends of God.

Living in America it is hard not to notice the visibility of the Crucifix - from roadsides to political campaigns, Christianity is everywhere, but this film was not about Christianity, it was about Evangelicals. In the film, Evangelicals have every sort of activity and ministry to chat up Jesus and disparage liberals and scientists. The one group that seemed to most out place was the Christian Wrestling Federation, yes, "wrasslin for Jesus." The Founder of the CWF spoke of all his aches and pains - how he visited the chiropractor all the time for back pain yet it was all worth it because Jesus suffered on the cross, more than anyone.

Then I lost it.

I began to tally up the suffering of the Biblical Jesus Christ and then compared it to what some of our soldiers go through. Although I don't recall any solider suffering head injuries due to a crown of thorns, but I recall several who have had their faces burned off, limbs blown to bits and many many thousands that will endure years of painful physical therapy.

And those are the ones that lived.

Not to be too blunt or disrespectful, but Jesus spent three days in rehab and was done.

The other thing that got me was the amount of cash that flows into these mega churches. Some are the size of arenas - well, they are arenas. They spend they money on science bashing and political activism. All that money could have gone to help fight poverty - one of the true missions of Jesus Christ but one that seems to be ignored by the Evangelicals.

Here is an example, I run a soldier support charity called Books For Soldiers - any deployed soldier can request a book or DVD and we will send it to them free of charge. It is always a last minute rush to get together the money to pay for bandwidth never mind gently used copies of Stephen King novels. In the Evangelical movement I see tremendous waste that could go to helping people, instead they fund Ted Haggard - a meth addict.

It just pisses me off.

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All Evangelicals are not Fundamentalists

Submitted by chartreuse dog on Fri, 01/26/2007 - 9:21am.

I wish the MSM would recognize the difference. Jim Wallis, the author of God's Politics, is also an Evangelical, but he certainly doesn't share the views of the fundamentalists. On his blog last Tuesday, he said:

Tuesday evening, President Bush will deliver his State of the Union speech. He is expected to address challenges and policy proposals facing our country. Here is what I would like to hear the president say:

I have a vision for the United States of America this evening. It is an America safe and secure, at peace with our neighbors in the world community. An America where every person able to work is productively working and able to support a family while building assets for their future. An America where every person has access to affordable healthcare, a secure roof over their heads, adequate food to eat, and a quality education. An America where immigrants from other countries are welcomed in an orderly way that allows them to become productive members of our society. I also have a vision for our world. It is a world where no child dies for lack of food and medicine. A world where strong multinational institutions protect human rights and economic justice.

He is not alone. For example, a group of evangelical leaders joined in asking the government to address the issues around global climate change. The fundamentalists, who succeeded in defining liberals for the country as Godless heathens, are also trying to define themselves as the only legitimate followers of Christ. They are just as wrong on the second count as on the first.

My Uncle is one of these...

Submitted by stormbear on Fri, 01/26/2007 - 9:32am.

He is an all out Evangelical and supports climate change findings because it fits within his Biblical world view but disregards any science when is disagrees with his Biblical view. He only accepts the science because it agrees with him or rather, the preachers he listens to.

This is the same uncle I blogged about earlier who voted for Virginia Foxx just because she visited his church and claimed she was Christian.

There is a growing number of fundamentalist Evangelicals who are accepting global warming, not because it is fact, but because it somehow fits their Biblical beliefs and the Apocalypse. No matter how many times I have them explain their reasoning behind this, I can't resolve their conclusions. I am grateful that they are willing to clean up the mess they helped make however.

BTW, the film made no differentiation between fundamentalists and Evangelicals.

--
Town Called Dobson - Daily Political Cartoon: Not all is red in rural America!

StormBear...

Submitted by Thomas Brock on Fri, 01/26/2007 - 9:46am.

I'm with you.

I don't talk about what I do very much and for a lot of reasons. One thing I do every day is look at Marines and Sailors that have been injured in combat in Iraq. I've seen Marines with injuries as "little" as a missing finger or two to as "heavy" as traumatic brain injuries, burns and amputations.

I've seen these guys come back and get better and either go home or (literally) go back to Iraq.

There is no-one on this planet or that has ever been on this planet that I have more respect for than these Marines. No. One.

These Christian evangelical/fundamentalist folks should go to the military hospitals and tell those injured Marines and Sailors and soldiers and airmen that their injuries are less than those suffered by one man 2000 years ago. They should tell the families of the 3000 dead service-members that their sacrifice is less than that of one man 2000 years ago. I would like to see that.

Thomas S. Brock
www.brocknet.net
www.brocknet.net/WordPress/

OnslowCountyPolitics@gmail.com
http://onslowcountypolitics.brocknet.net

Evidently this is more controversal that I had thought.

Submitted by stormbear on Fri, 01/26/2007 - 9:53am.

At Books For Soldiers, we get tons of email from soldiers who have gotten a book when they were on the battlefield or in the hospital. Their stories are SOUL SHATTERING.

Some of the BFS volunteers have required counseling because they did not expect the detailed letter the received back from soldiers.

So when some Christians claim no one suffered more than Jesus, I read Mark 15-16 and read the letters I have received from Walter Reed and there is a clear difference who has suffered more.

Ok, back to reading today's hate mail.

--
Town Called Dobson - Daily Political Cartoon: Not all is red in rural America!