Christian Leftist

Oh, will the trail of underqualified, overly righteous, neo-conservative appointees from Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell’s colleges who commit political suicide never end?

As for Randall Tobias, the Boston Globe article that describes his past controversial positions on AIDS treatment programs really says it all in the first sentence:

“Randall L. Tobias , the Bush administration official responsible for foreign assistance who resigned late Friday because of his use of an escort service allegedly involved in prostitution, was ridiculed as a hypocrite yesterday because he supported US policies that forced overseas organizations not to help prostitutes.”

This is what happens when people try to play the moral police. Whatever happened to loving the least of one’s brethren? People are going to have sex whether you think it’s right for them to do so or not. Why did the Bush administration assume that they themselves were infallible pillars of morality?

I really couldn’t care less if Tobias received ‘massages’ in a house not his own from the fingers of a woman not his wife, or what specific types of therapy those massages entailed. That’s his problem and God’s. It probably throws his personal character into doubt, but the fact is that as long as he didn’t use government property to do it, it’s solicitation at worst, because morals aren’t the same as ethics.

At least, they’re not supposed to be. Now, because Tobias has injected his personal religious beliefs (and those of the Bush administration) into policy, he has made himself look like a dogmatic imbecile and a fraud. Deservedly so, in my opinion, but the point remains that no one can or should judge another’s private sex life. Abstinence education is an oxymoron because it presumes that using unfounded conclusions from biased think tanks to tell people to control their biological urges is more sensible than teachingthem how to use condoms.

Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins are
back to make another buck off of their megahit Left Behind series, a collection of eleven (and counting) books that chronicle the events in “Revelations” from the Bible. Left Behind Games, a startup multimedia company devoted solely to the series, will soon releasse the first video game translation of the plot in the first book.

The game is an apocalyptic adventure with black and white portrayals of good and evil. Players must convert neutral groups of non-believers before the Antichrist’s followers do. The violence is supposed to be gore-free, and sexuality is minimal or non-existent. In other words, it’s Grand Theft Auto without the blood, prostitutes, and profanity, instead injected with more ambiguous morality.

Some fundamentalist groups think the game is too much of a compromise and that LaHaye’s company is conforming to the world rather than forcing the world to conform to its views. They want to advocate quitting video games entirely, I suspect. LaHaye’s associates believe they are providing a Christian alternative to the mindless bloodshed of popular entertainment.

Lock and load!

Speaking of games, basketball players from high schools like Lutheran Christian Academy were informed that the National Collegiate Athletic Association will no longer accept their transcripts for consideration towards the fourteen-course requirement necessary to win a scholarship.

I can just hear the religious right drawing in breath to scream! Hold on just a second! What’s that? All the schools offering up courses for credit have to pass a three-part requirement test? Who’da thunk it?

It turns out that the male basketball players at Lutheran Christian, for example, didn’t attend classes at all. They received credit for them anyway, though. Maybe that’s why the College Board removed LCA as an ACT and SAT test site, and why LCA lacked accredation, state oversight, and membership from a state high school athletic association.
Redemption Christian Academy in Troy, NY is facing the same problems and its principal is considering shutting down the basketball program.

Why is Bush an apostate (and what the heck is an apostate, anyway)? I’ll attempt to answer that in 1000 words or less… 

An apostate, by definition, is one who has abandoned or renounced his/her religion, faith, moral principles, political party or cause. Juliana Apostata, the Roman Emperor Julian The Apostate, abandoned Christianity to follow Paganism. Some of the standard free online dictionaries have a bit more fun with it, adding the Medieval Latin and Greek roots of the modern word as apostates and aphistanai (to revolt). In some ways, this is conducive to the understanding of what Bush and other neo-cons have done, i.e. hijacked the Christian faith. More about that in a second.

The first time I heard the word apostate used in church was when my youth pastor mentioned “false prophets” in concurrence with the sections in Timothy that deal with a man called Alexander. I paid attention at the time because the name is the male version of my own–silly, I know–but the memory of 1 Tim. 1:20 and 2 Tim. 4:14 stuck in my head. They may or may not be the same Alexander, but they are both apostates. The second line says, “Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works.” In context, the chapter refers to a man who Paul told Timothy had betrayed him by pretending to serve God but who secretly worked evil instead.

Bush gives lip service to Christ, but he has himself admitted that his act of becoming a Christian was to stop drinking for his wife Laura. He’s not an evangelical; his family is Methodist, and he apparently felt no compunction to follow the five steps that evangelicals regard as critical to salvation: 1. Admittance of being a sinner, 2. Believing in the Holy Trinity, 3. Understanding that Jesus Christ died on the Cross for everyone’s sins, was buried and rose the third day, 4. Repentance, and 5. Combining all of these things into a prayer asking God to save him.

While evangelicals differ in their beliefs from Catholics in that they don’t think it’s necessary to prove one’s self through works (thus earning one’s way into Heaven) because the quantity and quality of works will always be in question, works are a good indicator of one’s character. There are numerous Biblical quotations on this subject, but I’ll just list a few here:

John 10:37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.
John 10:38 But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.

Matthew 5: 14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Galatians 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

It seems like James 2 contradicts this by saying that “faith without works is dead,” but in context, the lesson is reminding Christians that if they ARE truly saved/redeemed/faithful to God, they shouldn’t treat people differently based on their wealth or influence.

1 My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.
2 For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;
3 And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:
4 Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?
5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?
6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?
7 Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?
8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
11 For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
12 So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.
13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

Juxtapose this with the tax cuts for the rich, the extravagant parties in Hawaii for the DHS administrators, the cutting of aid to Medicare and Medicaid, education programs, equity groups and veterans, the overwhelming economic disparity between those who are fighting and dying in Iraq versus those who do not have to serve in the military to pay for college, the oppostion to equal rights for women,minorities and the like, the defeat of a raise in the minimum wage, and all of the rich, billionaire contributors funding Bush’s election campaigns (the biggest of whom was Ken Lay, CEO of Enron, who robbed Californians of power, investors of millions and employees of their bread and butter) ad nauseam, and it’s really quite funny, in retrospect.

Of course, no one but Bush knows whether he’s actually said that prayer, but even if he has, he’s hardly done anything worthy of the tolerance and compassion that Christ emphasizes over and over again in the New Testament.

“As God As His Witness.” The American Prospect.
http://www.prospect.org/web/printfriendly-view.ww?id=8790
“Bush And The Seven Deadly Sins.” Dissident Voice.
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Articles5/Hamilton_Bush-7Sins.htm
Capitol Hill Blue’s report on Bush’s erratic behavior in July 2004. Granted, I can’t confirm this article with backup sources, but Bush has been known for swearing and losing his temper when reporters ask him the “wrong questions.”
http://www.betterworld.com/getreallist/article.php?story=20040804174956161
One of my two favorites by far is an Analysis by a leftwing Christian, Jitske Hart, over at BartCop.com. The grammar isn’t as perfect as the New York Times, but it’s definitely worth a read.
http://www.bartcop.com/022504bushx.htm

The most telling evidence, in my opinion, of Bush’s apostasy is the utter hatred of everything remotely connected to Christianity that he has inspired at home and abroad. How can one teach about Christ’s love when the first example of Christianity they see is a selfish, arrogant, spiteful president who lies and manipulates anything and anyone he can to serve his own ends? He gives Christians a bad name, and so do his followers. I only hope they realize this before it’s too late to mend the wounds he’s inflicted on our world.

24:7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
24:8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
24:10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Take from this what you will.