Revelations
Disclaimer: I am a practicing Lutheran, and have some disdain for that which came before, the then corrupt Roman Catholic Church, and after literalist Baptists so take my thoughts with a large grain of salt.
So I was sitting here reading this huge Newsweek piece about the Left Behind books and Revelations and all that, and thought I would write down some thoughts. Revelations was written at the end of the first century, after many of the other books in the bible and not accepted as part of the bible by the church body (such as it was then) until the fourth century. Many at the time disagreed with its inclusion. Twelve hundred years later Martin Luther called it “neither apostolic nor prophetic” The Eastern Orthodox Church does not read from it. And yet somehow it is currently the driving force behind most of the evangelical churches in the US. Fundamentalist Baptists are who I am thinking of here. Have things gotten as bad now as they were in the 1st century BC that we need to go back to Revelations in our religion? Do we still need that assurance of what is going to happen and how to order our lives? Does faith no longer suffice? Even the arch conservative Missouri Synod of the Lutheran church blasts the Left Behind books as an “unbiblical flight of fancy”. But the fact of the matter is the Baptists far outnumber the rest of us and they have sold a whole heck of a lot of those books. I think I’ll stick to “love thy neighbor as thyself”.
For another view the slactivist (thanks mike) rips apart both the article and the books. Though I think he misses a lot of the Newsweek author’s subtlety. In particular the fact that he asks both of them about giving all their money to the poor, where LaHaye answers, “You should see my taxes!”. I wonder if he counts that towards his tithing?
I don’t tithe, but I can see an argument being made that, since the government has assumed so many charitable funcitons once performed by private organizations, and since they force you to pay donations (try not paying your taxes and see if I’m wrong), you’ve already fulfilled your obligation, albeit unwillingly.
Dude, we’re using D&D rules here. That 10% has to go to the temple of your chosen deity or you lose your Paladin powers and become a regular fighter. You can’t just pay your taxes to the local baron and expect that to be enough, even if he worships the same deity as you.
Besides it is supposed to be more about deeds than cash, I have a feeling these are the kind of guys who would have been in the convert then kill so they can’t convert again camp with my ancestors way back when. The complete disdain for other points of view they have is amazing. One of my favorite quotes from the article was about giving everything away and following Jesus. The point was that if you were concerned about material wealth, then you forgot what was important. From the article LaHaye at least seems to have become so focused on is success that he has started to use it as a measure of truth. What a self-righteous git. I wonder when the last time he worked a soup kitchen was?
Unfortunately I also feel the same thing happening to me. As I become more concerned about money and family and whatnot, I find I have less time to hang out with the homeless people and tend to pass them more brusquely on the street. It really is true, the more you have the less willing you are to part with it. Admittedly, smaller percentages are worth more, but still. *sigh*