> JDG <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >At 03:16 PM 5/13/2004 -0700 Deborah Harrell wrote:
> >For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us
> >never mention the Beatitudes.
> Maybe you just don't hang around the right type of
> Christians?
First, *I* didn't write that -- it's a quote from the
KV essay/article.
Second, my Christian friends in fact *do* occasionally
use the Beatitudes and other sayings of Jesus -- I
have certainly mentioned on-list that among them are
devout members of Catholic, Lutheran and various other
denominations/flavors.
And the point (from my standpoint) was that the 'vocal
Christians' one sees on TV & streetcorners, and reads
about in the news, are overwhelmingly the
Bible-thumping, hellfire'n'brimstone,
selectively-Old-Testament-rule-spouting,
intolerant-of-any-other-POV-except-their-own-tunnel-visioned-'truth'
types. There are several reasons for that:
1) It's much more photogenic (arm-waving preacher
bouncing across the stage, congregants swooning under
the influence of 'the spirit' -- vs. calm discussion
of 'what does this parable mean to us in our everyday
lives?').
2) Americans aren't interested in watching 'good news'
programs (there was one on WGN IIRC that smothered
slowly despite having interesting, positive-focued
stories) -- except perhaps as minute-spot 'Channel 7
News' Hero of the Week Award recipients et. al..
[PBS does a little bit better WRT both 1 and 2, IMO.]
3) It appeals to rational folk in that they can say to
themselves "*I'm* not such a bigoted, intolerant
idiot!" -- rather akin to the role of the poor slobs
on 'Jerry Springer.'
Debbi
Sister Cindy And Brother Jeb At Free Speech Alley Maru
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