christianity

Any “Weird Christians” Out There?

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When I was a kid a buddy of mine would occasionally drag me along to a Catholic church service with him, seeing how misery loves company, especially as a child. Even though I hadn’t a clue what was going on — being raised Protestant — I was always mesmerized by the outlandish garb, the thick incense, and especially the incomprehensible Latin that still kind of seemed to make sense. It all seemed so surreal, so magical.

I’m not m much of a church-goer, but I’ve never had that wondrous feeling at a Protestant service and I guess deep down I’ve always wished I had.

Perhaps if I had, I would have gone more to church.

Perhaps not.

More and more young Christians, disillusioned by the political binaries, economic uncertainties and spiritual emptiness that have come to define modern America, are finding solace in a decidedly anti-modern vision of faith. As the coronavirus and the subsequent lockdowns throw the failures of the current social order into stark relief, old forms of religiosity offer a glimpse of the transcendent beyond the present.

From The Future of Christianity Is Punk, New York Times, May 8, 2020
Courtesy the New York Times

#alonetogetherbeingweird

Screwed

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Did thine Savior truly say,
Blessed are those who do not doubt me,
Ere His mounting upon that skull-shaped hill?

If so, then needs must be to Him I pray
On a bended and shaky knee
Begging for Him to bless me, still.

For, while I have no doubt today
That the Son of God is He,
Tomorrow, without a doubt, I will.
 

#ofthejournals

The Extreme Costs of Extremities

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Yes, as a nation, we love our freedom.

I love my freedom.

Freedom is so completely fundamental to the essence of who we are, of who I am, that I cannot even begin to imagine living in a country where I couldn’t speak my mind, or where I couldn’t dress the way I wanted to dress, or where I couldn’t love whomever I wanted to love regardless of his or her race, religion, sex, gender, height, blood type, shoe size, whatever, or where I couldn’t worship the God(s) I wanted to worship.

I simply cannot imagine living a life without the freedom to live exactly as who I want to be, not as just who I am born to be.

In my view, to maintain our freedom means we have to be able to tolerate a lot of ignorant bullshit, even if it’s as ignorant and disgusting as that of the Westboro Baptist Church.

The Supreme Court agrees with me.

If tolerating the non-violent, First Amendment-sanctioned views and expressions of the Westboro Baptist Church, or the KKK, or the Nation of Islam, or any other hate group is the price we have to pay for our uncompromised freedom, then it must be paid.

It’s worth every penny.

There are higher prices to pay.

People around the world are paying them on a daily basis.

Shahbaz Bhatti just paid the highest price anyone could pay.

Shahbaz Bhatti was the only Christian minister of parliament in Pakistan.

He recently was assasinated by muslim extremists because of his faith.

Muslim extremists hate freedom even more than Westboro Baptist Church extremists do.

As far as I know, no Westboro Baptist Church extremist has murdered over his or her extremist views.

They have stayed with the boundaries that our Rule of Law has set.

As messy and distasteful as the Rule of Law sometimes is, Americans should be ever so thankful to live in a country that abides by it.

Many countries don’t.

Pakistan is trying to but it’s a difficult and dangerous struggle for them.

MP Bhatti lost his life over this struggle.

He was a very courageous man.

He knew that his life was in constant danger because of his beliefs.

He testifies as such in this video.

It is a very powerful testimony of faith and courage.

 

Shahbaz Bhatti did not shy away from the struggle for freedom.

He embraced it.

He embraced it because he understood how rare and valuable freedom is.

He was even willing to pay the ultimate price for it.

And sadly, he ultimately did.

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