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Jan
8
I found out through Jesus Politics, about a well-done article surrounding the question of “Is Bush the Anti-Christ?” by Tim Appelo.
Of particular important notice for me was that,
Revelation was nearly banned from the Bible, and permitted strictly on condition it should never be used as it is by fundies today. Church father Augustine ordered Christians to quit reading apocalyptic Left Behind–style scenarios into scripture and think of the Antichrist as anyone who denies Christ—and he said the first place to hunt for him is in your own heart.
According to Rev. Rich Lang of Seattle’s Trinity United Methodist Church in Ballard,
Revelation is written to the churches in its time, not to the churches in the 21st century. It’s written to seven churches in Turkey.” As for the Antichrist warnings in John, he reads them not as a literal prediction of Bush but as a warning against the eternal danger of his hypocritical, Mammon-worshiping, proudly elitist, heartless, narrowly legalistic spirit. “1 John seems to be obsessed with language like this: ‘How can you say you love God, who you have not seen, if you do not love your brother and sister, who you have seen?’ Who are in need of food, clothing, shelter? The implication of the doctrine of the Antichrist is that there is an economic disparity in the community, and people are using their religion, not practicing it.
and Bush is an Anti-Christ because he subverts Jesus’ teachings to love the poor, claiming that their poverty is their own fault, and deceives people by putting a Christian stamp on what is basically a power-grab.
Dale Lature at Moveable Theoblogical has already posted on the article and makes the insightful comment that
the Religious Right is unable to recognize that the “lingo” of the Religious Right itself is a perfect cover for anyone who wishes to manipulate them; given that Religious Right persons tend to be easy prey for those using “key phrases” and “backing the right issues” such as Rove and Bush and the neocons have discovered.
What needs to be addeded is that among what is needed to stymie our tendency to be led astray is more of a commitment to the life of the mind and therein deeper habits of political deliberation. Our witnesses to others and ability to resist the evil one that seeks to lead us astray depend on it.
dlw
Comments
5 Responses to “We have Met the Anti-Christ and it is US!”
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I wonder, too, if our pastors don’t inculcate a certain dependence on the church “aristocracy” for guidance in both spiritual and worldly matters. People cease to think for themselves, maybe even begin to believe that thinking for themselves (rather than relying on the superior knowledge of their “leaders”) is somehow sinful or heretical. At least this may be common in Fundie churches.
I think that is what happens when we make pervasive ontotheological agreement the basis for Christian unity. We devalue questioning and set up barriers to learning from experience for the sake of maintaining unity.
dlw
I question the model of pastor/congregation, having been on both sides of the fence. It is not biblical; it is designed for wielding worldly rather than spiritual power.
Of course Fox questioned it 300 years ago– no hireling priests! You’ll find precious few Quakers voting with the fundies.
I think that it needs to be made clear and enforced that pastors are just members of the congregation that have specialized in the study of scripture and tradition and are meant to teach and advise other members, but not to have an undue leadership role in the congregation.
dlw
[...] ps, this does not justify calling Bush the devil, as Hugo Chavez has recently done. Chavez, to the extent he is a follower of false messiahs like Che Guevara, also is going very much against the politics of Jesus and merits the label AntiChrist as he subverts Jesus’ teachings to his own distinct interests… [...]