Podcast #78: Patriotism or Christianity?

27 December 27, 2015 by

78_FinalWe begin this episode of Drunk Ex-Pastors with one final bit of blowback from our interview with Cash Peters—and this one’s priceless—which leads us into a reflection about the Fundamentalist’s pathological need to find a threat or demon lurking behind every tree (can’t an innocent erotic chakra massage be religiously neutral? Geez. Relax, people). We then banter a bit about the new Star Wars film and address a caller’s feedback about Princess Leia’s collagen-filled lips, after which we take another call about the personal and relational price of no longer towing the religious party line. Another listener’s question about Jerry Falwell Jr. and Liberty University’s open-carry gun policy leads to an in-depth discussion about Christianity and pacifism: Should believers be more American by arming themselves on the one hand, or try to, I don’t know, imitate Christ on the other? Our “Feeding Friendzy” segment addresses the problem of our president having such an easy time implementing his communist agenda (will the Right ever stand up to him and say “No”?). Christian is biebered by the lawless wilderness that is his daughter’s school parking lot, while Jason’s bieber involves The Force and its rape-implications.

Also, say hi to your mother for me, alright?

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27 Comments (click here to leave a comment)

  1. 1. I appreciate the Lost reference. I just watched through the whole show over the last two months or so and now that I’m done I feel a gaping hole in my life.
    2. I think that if more christians actually cared about what Jesus taught and not just about who he was a lot more would be pacifists.

  3. Eh, maybe, maybe not.

    Old Testament God likes him some murder, genocide, and death by bears, and a lot of Christians like the book of Revelations Turbo-Vengeance Jesus coming to kill so many people that the blood will flow five feet high, sort of missing that the imagery in the book was written by someone who was suffering from oppression by the powerful and was using apocalyptic language of the day to express a longing for the overthrow of that system of oppression by a perfect kingdom of justice, peace, and (perhaps ironically) love, and wasn’t so much about watching Jesus kill people that the Christian does not like or who failed to say the magic prayer.

    (Long tangent: Likewise people who look for a literal mark of the Beast or freak out about 666, like our Monster Energy Drink lady, miss that the mark of the Beast is about what banner a person chooses to carry. Every act of unkindness, selfishness, treating another as an object is an act of taking the mark. Every unloving word and deed. Every profane action, is one step closer to choosing the mark as your banner. Every time you fail to hear the cry of the oppressed, the bearers of injustice, the defrauded, you inch closer to taking the mark. And there are many ‘good’ people in church who are closer to taking the mark and many people outside of the church who are close to the kingdom of God.)

  4. How is that fundamentalist? I’m not saying no conservatives care and I’m not saying that if they all cared they would all agree with me. I’m just saying that it seems like a lot of Christians care more about their Christology then actually living like Jesus.

  5. Also, Jesus never condemned gay marriage and I’m pretty sure his concept of gehenna was a bit different then a lot of chistians’ f!#$%d up views of hell.

  6. I like that reading of revelation, it seems pretty spot on. Also, I love that you said “Turbo-Vengeance Jesus”.

  7. Also, I’m pretty sure I saw somwhere that 666 was code for the emperor Nero’s name. I think a lot of revelation is contrasting the christian’s view of the KIngdom of God with the corrupt kingdoms of the time.

  8. Thats because you are a selective fundamentalist. Teachings on hell can get stretched, bent, a contorted so that they are unrecognizable. Sermon on the mount is flawless dogma that must be read literally and applied to every situation universally. You are a fundamentalist with a different fundamental.

  9. Thats probably true. Its easier to discuss the abstract than to live up to the standard. But i dont want to see any crocodile tears over gun packing southerners until you have given every possession you own to the poor. Lets try it out right now. I need a small loan. Ill take whatever is in your bank account please. And lets remember to live like Jesus and not expect repayment. If you need my paypal info ill give you my email. If not, ease up on the double standard eh? 🙂

  10. I wasn’t in any way implying that I do a good job of following Jesus ,nor was I trying to give others shit for owning guns. I just think the Christians should put less of a focus on maintaining correct beliefes and more of it on atempting to live as Jesus taught his followers to live. I am deffinately not saying that I do any better at this than anyone else.

  11. That’s actually pretty fair. I actually don’t believe that Jesus taught the modern churches doctrine of hell, but your’e right, I do take certain passages of scripture that i think are the most importent and than use those to interpret everything else in th bible. However, I think what seperates me from the fundamentalist Christian is that I admit this and don’t pretend the whole Bible agrees with me.

  13. Most fundamentalists are aware of their own epistemic weaknesses. They are just passionate and zealous about their fundamental. Honestly fundamentalism isn’t the boogeyman people try to make it out to be. Everyone is a fundamentalist in one way or the other. My fundamental is “let divine teaching speak for itself.” I don’t feel any strong desire or need to square the Sacred with modern culture and philosophy. It’s just a fad. Here today, gone tomorrow. If something doesn’t sit quite right, dick move God, suffering, hell, mortal sin, whatever, I feel fine trusting Gods goodness without twisting and turning my exegesis to match with my own ideas. I feel strongly that once you lose that trust, you’re on apostate avenue. The proverbial highway to hell. What’s your fundamental?

  14. I think one of the problems with this sort of debate is that almoost everyone seems to mean something quite different by the word “fundamentalist”. The people I’m ctritiquing are the ones who seem to think all of the facts support their beliefs and that if something doesn’t it must not be a fact. When it comes to the Bible these folks seem to think that every verse supports their theology and that those who interpret a passage differently are somehow unenlightened. As long as you admit that there are many verses in the Bible that at least apparently contradict your’e own views I can have much more respect for you. In regards to what my fundamentals are I’d have to point out that there’s probabely a differrence between what I believe them to be and what they actually are. I’d like to say that my most fundemental beliefes are that God is Love and the ” all Knowladge and Prophesy pass away ,but these three remain faith, hope and love, but the greates of these is love. However, I do such a shitty job of acting on this that have to assume I don’t believe them quite as fully as I’d lik to think.

  15. Yes, I figured that would be what you said. The scriptures that I have the hardest time with are some of the old testament laws. I want to treat scripture seriously, but at the same time, I feel a strong urge to look the other way in the book of Deuteronomy, Leviticus, and certain Psalms. I don’t have a response that sits well with me….. so I basically just look the other way! Lol

  16. Yeah, Bryan Cross is a beast. Jason’s conversion drew my curiosity, leading me to called to communion’s website. Cross within a month had me meeting with my pastor weekly to talk about why I couldn’t believe in Sola Scriptura anymore.

  18. Another thing to consider is that the Bible itself sets certain ideas forth as actually fundamental to everything else. For example, the whole NT insists that love of God and neighbor are the summation of the Law and the prophets (L&P itself being the Bible’s own way of summarizing the entire OT). The age of the earth, end times details, and gifts of the Spirit, on the other hand, are so peripheral they’re not worth dividing over.

  19. That’s a large part of why I love first Corinthians 13 so much. Paul himself says that his knowledge and prophecy are limited and that they will pass away, but he insists that faith hope and love remain.

  20. Yeah, he has really taken Matt 10:16 to heart: “… so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”

  24. Does he write anymore? Seems like called to communion has become a graveyard. Is there a different blog now?

  25. When Christian asked Jason what he would do as a Christian if a man broke in to his house to anally rape him I was sure one of you would say “Turn the other cheek..” 😀

  27. Finally got around to catching up on this one.

    • Some people see devils everywhere. Which is more likely? Satan decided he was bored and decided to reveal secrets to an ex-journalist via handwriting for the purpose of…. Something something… or that Cash is a very perceptive guy who can make intuitive guesses about people based on observations.

    • OMG! SHERLOCK HOLMES IS A DEMON!

    • Benedict Cumberbatch is leading you all to HELLLLLLLLLLL!

    • I don’t think I was demon possessed, but I do feel a strong and sudden urge to vote for Trump to usher in the apocalypse and bathe in the blood of the innocent warmed by nuclear fire, so, eh… maybe.

    • Actresses whose movies I would take a chance on if I find out they were in it:

    o Emily Blunt

    o Helen Mirren

    o Anne Hathaway

    • The name of the movie is Great Expectations. The lead character is Pip, IIRC, he helps Robert DeNiro escape prison and DeNiro repays him later

    • Actors whose movies I’ll see if I find they’re in it: Robert Downey Jr, George Clooney, Edward Norton

    • You don’t kick people to the curb because they don’t agree with you about God. That’s not the way Christianity works.

    • Don’t be an asshole and we all can hang out.

    • It is funny that people who believe that God’s prophets could literally call down fire to destroy their enemies feel the need to carry a gun.

    • So I was living in an isolated, remote compound where I worked for free, surrounded by armed staff who talked about the coming end of the world and we all lived under strict religiously motivated moral rules?

    • Guys, I think I might have joined a cult after high school. 🙂

    • Bible interpretation all went wrong once we started letting everyone do it. Curse you, John Wycliff!

    • I’m going to be attending an Eastern Orthodox church within the year, aren’t I?

    • Of course you feel less safe when an armed man walks into the place where you are. You don’t know him. You don’t know his intent. But you do know that he has the capacity to kill you. And that’s exactly the way the NRA wants the world to be. So you’ll feel less safe and run out and buy a gun yourself to protect you from the potentially dangerous guy with a gun in Chipotle.

    • I took my six year old to see the movie and I held his hand at that part and had a talk with him before and after that what he sees isn’t real, it’s just a story, and while I think the part made him sad, he was okay with it.

    • I don’t think it’s bad to shelter your kids as long as it’s not taken to an extreme. I try and keep my kids from the shit of this world. Children should enjoy their childhood as long as possible. My little one says stuff some time about being a grown up and I keep telling him, “No, enjoy being a kid.”

    • The acting in that scene was just devastating. That was how it should have felt when Obi Wan Kenobi took down Anakin Skywalker.

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