Oct. 27, 2008
MANN TALK: Evangelical Faith Is Full of Implausible Assumptions
By Perry Mann
An Evangelical pastor takes issue with an editorial. My view is that the pastor’s response to the editorial is illogical, disingenuous, and premised primarily on the Bible, which he undoubtedly believes to be God’s words---an assumption that is rationally insupportable and implausible.
The pastor on abortion: “While the Bible does not specifically speak on abortion, it does speak of the sanctity of human life. From mankind bearing the image of God in Genesis, to the restoration of the human body with resurrection in 1 Corinthians, innocent life is important to God.”
Response: The pastor assumes that there is a God and that the Bible is God speaking, both of which premises have no basis in reason, logic or history. There is solid evidence and reason to believe that the Bible is a creation of man, who has attributed it to God to give it divine authority. Man is not made in the image of God. On the contrary, man’s God is made in the image of man. The resurrection is as improbable as is the account of Jesus walking on water. And where is innocent life in the Evangelical theology, which posits that Adam’s sin tainted everyone, even I suspect the zygote.
The pastor: “The New Testament, does, however, say that within the eyes of God, homosexuality is a sin, and it cannot be reconciled with the faithful life of a Christ-follower. Evangelicals don’t seek to kill anyone because we are all sinners saved by the grace of God.”
Response: Christ never condemns homosexuality or even mentions it. His life was full of men and limited of women. The pastor has reference to Paul, who was a homophobe and in one of his letters condemns homosexuality. But Paul wasn’t God and what he said was his words, not God’s words. He is in the New Testament by virtue of his heroics on behalf of the ecclesiastical establishment of his day. His view of woman’s place, her voice in matters and his view of sexuality are narrow and puritanical. Who has established that God was a male, a heterosexual and a homophobe? And if so by what evidence?
Pastor on taxes: “Evangelicals want tax breaks for all people of America because we are better stewards of our money than the government.”
Response: What evidence is there that people are better stewards of their money than the government? There are presently tens of thousands, nay, millions of citizens who have lost homes by virtue of bad handling of their money. Credit card debt is in the billions, money mostly spent for trifles and superfluities. The government spends for the military, police, roads, schools, health care and no ends of things that help people and provide an environment conducive to the general welfare.
Pastor on war: “Jesus said the peacemakers are blessed (this peacemaking was not directed at nations, but rather the audience of the Sermon on the Mount. This means Christ’s followers then and now are not to seek lawsuits but peace---not retribution, but peace---and not what is supposedly deserved but peace) but Jesus also said through His apostle Paul that God has ordained our governments to wield the sword.”
Response: The pastor diminishes Jesus for the sake of his own view of war. Christ told Peter to put away the sword, for he who lived by it dies by it. Paul was not Jesus and the only contact he had with God is evidenced only by his own claim and confession. It’s disingenuous of the pastor to say that the jurisdiction of Jesus’ Sermon was confined to those who were in audience. If that were the case, the Sermon would have died with those who listened instead of being the heart of a religion that embraces millions of Christians far and wide. When and in what manner did Jesus inform Paul that God ordained governments to wield the sword?
Pastor: “By the way, Jesus wasn’t railing against public prayer, because He prayed in public.”
Response: What would a preacher do if he had to pray in a closet and not in the church or on the corners of streets or everywhere else where the people could see and hear? It’s no wonder that the pastor has contrived a Jesuitical interpretation of Christ’s admonition in Matthew 6:6. How could Jesus have been more emphatic: “But thou when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut the door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”
What could be clearer than this admonition to pray in secret? If one is to take the Bible literally and believe its every word as inerrant, then for one to play with its words in order to conform them to one’s own view and to preach it is not only disingenuous but spiritually dishonest.
The pastor asserts that Baptists “are staunchly opposed to state sponsored religion.” I wholeheartedly join the Baptists in their opposition. My worry is not state-sponsored religion but a religion sponsored state, that is, a theocracy --- a worry that has been exacerbated by the spread of state-supported faith-based activities during the present administration. May Jefferson’s wall separating church and state ever endure.
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Perry Mann is a former teacher, a lawyer, a former prosecuting attorney of Summers County and a columnist for Huntington News Network. He lives in Hinton, WV.
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