Posted on 01/27/2007 12:07:05 AM PST by JohnHuang2
Liberals in America despise Christians of true faith.
They do this because in doing so their own guilt is appeased, their anger is justified, and they can finally lay blame for their own misery at someone else's feet.
Last night, Alexandra Pelosi's newest documentary, "Friends of God," aired on HBO. In that Alexandra is the daughter of the nation's first feminist, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, it was all too easy to pre-judge where Alexandra's work would land. An expose to uncover the hidden secrets of evangelicals in America, produced by the leftist daughter of the most prominent liberal feminist in America – hmm, what would she say?
In fairness, the first 50 minutes of the hour-long presentation take us behind the scenes of some varied examples of Christians living out their faith – in bold ways. From the "Cruisers for Christ" car club to a family whom the producers attempted to cast as an off-shoot of "Big Love" (HBO's series surrounding a polygamist "family"), from a truck stop featuring a chapel service for weary drivers to a man who is attempting to place five giant crosses in every state of the union (to the cost of $25,000 per cross) – Pelosi's work is largely un-narrated. Yet even in the selection of the cuts used, Pelosi's point is clear: Cause Christians to appear as goofy, somewhat odd and backwards as possible. The fish-eye effect of the camera angles alone accomplish this without Pelosi having to comment over the footage.
At roughly minute 51, Pelosi turns even more sinister:
Off camera she asks, "So do you realize in places that I'm from, like San Francisco and New York, they think evangelicals are all haters. Like your truth is the only truth and everyone should believe the way you believe?" She asks this of the now disgraced Ted Haggard, former president of the National Association of Evangelicals.
His response, "If you believe anything, then some people feel bad about that. We say marriage is a heterosexual relationship between a man and a woman. We say that moral purity is better than immorality. We say telling the truth is better than telling a lie. And anytime we say anything, and we've got 1,500 pages of those things we say – the Bible – there are groups of people that are going to get nervous about that."
Pelosi then cuts to a graphic: "One year after this interview, Pastor Haggard was accused of having homosexual encounters with a male prostitute. He admitted this to his congregation: 'There is a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I've been warring against it all of my life.'"
Pelosi then turns the camera over to the most dishonest voice in the entire presentation. Mel White, a former ghostwriter for Jerry Falwell and now a gay activist, states, "Gay people love God and are in every church and have been since the beginning of recorded history."
He reads some of Falwell's fund-raising letters for the camera. Pelosi then follows him to a worship service at Falwell's church, which shows him weeping during the singing of God Bless America.
The message could not be clearer. Evangelicals are bizarre, odd, hypocritical and, yes, they hate gays.
Pelosi knows she's telling a lie. She even reveals it in one of the earlier cuts in dialogue with the man who is spending money out of his own pocket to place the crosses in different states. She comments to the soft-spoken man how amazed she is that "everyone" she has talked to has asked her to sit in their cars and try to win her to Christ. In one of the scenes with the homeschool family of 10, even though she remarks about how different her friends would view motherhood, she cannot help but laugh and coo a bit over the kids.
Pelosi knows that for the one voice of hypocrisy she documented in Haggard, she visited 100 pastors and churches that are committed to their calling, their families and their God.
The conviction she documents of younger Christians is striking in the episode. And she is even to be commended for allowing several strong points to at least be verbalized by her subjects, who were doing so ad lib and as the fish-eye lens distorted their facial features across the screen.
But for liberals, the resentment that will rise from her film toward Christians will be based in part on her out-of-context use of Haggard and White to make her point about homosexuality.
Though Haggard's life did not live up to his own words, the words are true nonetheless.
Saying that I believe in something and that what I believe is, in fact, authoritative and exclusive is offensive to those who do not believe. Moral purity (abstinence before marriage and fidelity in marriage, for life) is, in fact, a better life than one of multiple random partners. And telling the truth is better than telling a lie – even when it may embarrass some people.
Pelosi's real anger should not be directed at Christians, who are at best broken examples of what God is and is about. But rather, she should be angry with God Himself. It is He who says, "I am THE way, THE truth and THE life."
The saddest part of all of this is that while Pelosi sees the true peace, earnest conviction and real-life change in the Christians across the nation, she most likely believes herself to be beyond the reach of Christ or of acceptance by his people. What she and every liberal reading this would find instead is just the opposite.
While they may think that evangelicals are filled with hate, if they were but to ask, they would find instead the wellspring of grace, mercy and love.
Evangelicals know that we are all sinners, none righteous but Him. He calls us to follow Him. We are expected to, and in doing so we will see that life's economy runs best when following His plan. We do not behead those who choose not to; we simply want them to know the joy, peace, contentment and purpose we find in Him.
And it is the reality in seeing the joy, peace and contentment that we have and that they do not that drives liberals to draw angry conclusions.
Conclusions that will send them to a Godless eternity ...
Kevin McCullough is heard daily in New York City, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware on WMCA 570 at 2 p.m.
Well said.
Like mother, like child - both are Bow-Wows.
I don't think so.
How many curses include such things as:
Buddha d*mn?
Oh Shiva!?
Bull Mohammad?
Why is Jesus virtually exclusively used as a curse word amongst deities?
Why? Because His Name is the only name by which one can be saved. Satan knows this, so he tries to besmirch that name whenever he can using whomever he can.
But I am sure you knew this already.
I think the point missed by those who make such an argument is that people need to be responsible for their own actions. It's also just a shuck and jive - when pro aborts can't defend abortion as a matter of convenience and choice, they defend it as a matter of finance. "What - you expect me to actually PAY for the kid after I've made a conscious decision to have unprotected sex"?
Why? Because His Name is the only name by which one can be saved. Satan knows this, so he tries to besmirch that name whenever he can using whomever he can.
But I am sure you knew this already.
= = =
INDEED.
Quite correct on all counts.
Thanks.
BTTT
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