Note: Please keep in mind that I am writing this as one who has studied sociology, comparative religions, theology and history (almost as much as Glenn Beck) and does not look kindly on people who try to press stupidity on the uneducated for the sake of socio-political ideals.
Christmas
cards are not supposed to come with a hidden agenda. These missives are
supposed to uplift humanity, not degrade it. But the Grand High Mystic
Ruler of the Family Research Council, Tony Perkins, wants to stuff your
holliday greeting with as much politicizing as possble, damn the
outcome.
And
what a cobbled-together crock it is! I expected Perkins to pull out all
the stops when it came to his Christmas message, but this one barely
makes sense: Perkins pastes together all the greeting-card images of
the Matthew and Luke Gospels while taking vague jabs at Obama,
Afghanistan, same-sex marriage and abortion. The buzz words that fly
around are certainly more numerous than the Heavenly Hosts. And it all
smacks of the dictum "keep 'em stupid." So here it is - in Tony Perkins
own self-righteous words (with some commentary to keep things on solid
ground).
God with UsAs we retreat into the peace of this Christmas season , it's a relief to feel the distractions of this world fall away.
Retreat: as in military retreat. Let's talk war from the get-go.
For a few quiet days, Christians everywhere can humbly reflect on the greatest miracle in the history of mankind . In no other religion does the Creator of the universe come down to earth and live among us, His own creatures.
Huh? Perkins
ignores a lot of religions here. Of course, he's never been one to
quote scholars accurately. In ancient times there were over twenty
dying-and-rising gods to which people prayed, several having virgin
births! His revisionist historian, David Barton, must have been
feverishly hard at work here.
Yet Jesus came -- not as a king or conqueror -- but as a babe. What greater way could God express His approachability than by coming to earth, His earth, in the form of the most vulnerable creature on the planet?
Vulnerable? Here our beloved but deluded Tony is taking a swipe at the EPA, saying we're not responsible for things like global warming or the extinction of thousands of species of the more powerful creatures. An image comes to mind: back in the 1800s, people shot buffalo from trains for sport, letting the carcasses rot miles away from Native Americans to make use of. Vulnerable? Gimme a break!
He who would be the King of Kings was sent to us -- not in a royal palace or great Temple -- but in a lowly stable, surrounded by animals.
He's going
for the holostic approach to the Nativity scene here. A trip to
Bethlehem will reveal the site: a cave. Not as picturesque as a stable,
I grant you, but a big hole in a big rock. Of course, he has to stay
with the traditional script in keeping 'em stupid or else he'd seem
wierd to his readers, so it has to be magi, shepherds, sheep, stable
crowded into one tiny card.
He may not have been a child of wealth or privilege, but Jesus possessed something much more important: a family.
Perkins goes
for the main point early and then hammers away at it: every child needs
a family which consistists of: a mother and a human stepfather.
He'sobviously nervous about DOMA being repealed. And after the demise
of DADT...
He grew up -- not in brokenness of this world, but in the loving care of his mother and her husband.
According to
scripture, poor Joseph almost didn't go through with marriage to a
pregnant woman: "When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before
they came together, she was found with the child of the Holy Ghost.
Then Jospeph her husband, being just a man, and not willing to make her
a publick example, was minded to put her away privily." (Matthew 1;
18-20) He certainly didn't want to parade Mary around (so obviously
pregnant) too soon. In a way, Joseph was bucking the Christian Right of
his day.
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