A Reading from the Epistle to the Hypocrites

[shadowlight]

1 And when the Bible-thumping internet troll found himself standing on the shore of a Lake of Fire, he cried upwards to God, saying, 2 "why, Lord?? Have I not spread Your pamphlets? Have I not made Your Chosen ones wealthy? I believed in Your Name! Why was I not saved??" 3 And the Lord answered him, in a voice that was loud yet far away, and said, 4 "You only believed in My name, not in My virtues, not in My teachings; 5 and every time you hated someone for their differences, because the flaws of 1st century Judea were mentioned in context in the graven idol you have made of My Holy Scriptures; 6 every time you have told those in mourning that their loved ones burn in Hell; 7 every time you presumed to speak My will, you instead dragged My name through the mud. 8 You have cost Me a thousand hearts that could have turned to Me, had they truly known Me; 9 And what servants you have found, have each done likewise. 10 You wanted a master that tortures and burns, so I have sent you to one. 11 May you serve him as poorly as you have served Me. 12 You reveled in the flames and the smell of brimstone. Now see it for yourself. 13 You hated your neighbors. You will not find them there. 14 This is your earned reward." and the voice was silent 15 and the waves sizzled as they lapped at the shore, and chains rattled in the sulfurous breeze.
(I'm not actually wishing or intending for anybody to be dammed to Hell. I take that too seriously to risk the misunderstanding. I have no intention of ceding any authority to what dark powers might exist. I'm only trying to make a point in language that will be understood by those who need to hear it.)

Comments

[siderea]

It seems to me there are two basic sorts of Christian: those who believe in Matthew 25 and those who do not.

I don't understand why there is not a #Matt25 movement among those of you in the first group. Making up new imaginary scripture seems superfluous and not actually speaking in the language the other side will understand. You already have the Bible on your side.

[shadowlight]

*sigh* You're probably right. (I wrote this post when I was angry, and while that seems to be a useful motivator for my writing, it doesn't seem to be a useful means of selecting what things I *should* be writing.) While it would be more effective and long-lasting to base my arguments solidly on scripture, it also invites a game of Dueling Bible Quotes (a sport they are more experienced at, despite being wrong), deflections like "I'm just not very convinced by that.", and generally a loss of the nuance that is truly needed to convince someone who falsely thinks themself an expert that they've been reading this book they love so much... wrong.
Sadly, they've had decades (ahem. some would say centuries) to come up with excuses for why Goat is Good. If they can misread the whole Bible, they can certainly hijack a hashtag (e.g. "I took away my daughter's bed. She can't sleep with boys if she can't sleep! Lol. #Matt25" or "Even Jesus says turn a profit or you're out. #Matt25")
We are working on the general problem of reclaiming the Bible, but the centrifuge-like nature of information age culture means we're preaching to our own choir much more than we are to theirs. We need some kind of delivery vector to get the idea past their defensiveness, something that can gently wash the scales from their eyes; instead of pouncing on them and shoving their heads into the Emergency EyeWash Station (e.g. my original post)

[siderea]

You don't really need to worry about convincing the other side yet. That comes later. Right now all-y'all need to find one another. Matt25 is an identity by which you can know each other.

You know, when we drive past a church that in some sense invites comment – interesting architecture, ongoing festivities, etc. – my sweetie will ask me, "Is that one of the okay ones?" Because he doesn't have any more explicit term to refer to churches that actually practice the love of one's neighbors and the pursuit of justice.

You need a term, a banner to fly under. It doesn't matter that the Goatworshipers can (and will) misconstrue Matthew 25. If you make it your own, if you declare yourselves for it, it will organize you.

And it will gild that scripture in holy fire.

If there were a movement of Christians – and churches – under that banner, it would become very hard to argue with. The other side would say that you had misunderstood it – but there you all would be, agreeing that you hadn't, and, in any event, acting on it anyways. The other side would say that you don't own it – but the very term Matt25 would rapidly be associated with the example of those who rally under it.

That's your reclaiming the Bible right there.

[shadowlight]

*nods* ok, I'll shop the idea to some of the other Sheep (with proper attribution, of course) and see what they say.