The Lonely Goatherd Blog And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats - Matthew 25:32
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December 19, 2007
A Huckabee supporter responds An evangelical supporter of Mike Huckabee responds to my "vicious attack" on the Huckster:
Dear Sir,
You may think that you are not a believer, but you are. Unfortunately, in yourself.
I feel bad for you, because you attack Christianity at it's core without knowing Jesus Christ Himself. If Mitt Romney were a Pastor, would you attack him in the same vicious way that you wrote this article? I think not.
It is apparent by your writing that you have an axe to grind. Perhaps someday you may come to KNOW Jesus Christ personally, and then you will see the light. I didn't until I was 37 years old. I am now 61 years old. And I am in love with Him.
I will honestly pray for you to ask Him into your heart, and know the truth. You will be set free from the pain that drives you.
A person who used to hate like you do, but has been forgiven by our LORD, and now knows what it is to be loved by God. And now I know how to love others as well. But ONLY because He first loved me. I am still a sinner today, but I am saved by His grace, and mercy, and love through His One and Only Son, Jesus Christ.
The Bible says that if you have seen Jesus, you have seen the Father. Jesus said that " I and the Father are One."
And so it is. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. One God, three Persons of the Godhead.
Not fathonable by our finite minds, but by faith, the truth.
I will honestly pray that you ask Him into your heart.
In Christ Jesus Mitch *******************************
I will cop to believing in myself, at least partway - certainly more than I believe in ghost stories. I'm pretty certain that I at least exist. Also, I do have an axe to grind with William Jennings Bryan type religious demagogues such as the Huckster. They are bad for our nation's civic discourse, and bring dishonor on the Christian community - to which community I am substantially sympathetic much of the time.
Beyond that though, this is just exactly the kind of dishonest and self-righteous BS that would cause people to be contemptuous of Christians. Note that my essay is not critical of Christian beliefs at all, but rather a comparison as to which candidate looks like a better exemplar of basic Christian values. I find it difficult to believe that such as Mitch could honestly manage not to grasp the difference between denouncing Christianity and denouncing a demagogue politician wrapping himself in the cloak of religion. In fact, I intended that article partly as a defense of the better part of Christian teachings against a schmuck who makes Christians in general look bad.
Worst of all in this little reply though is Brother Mitch's obviously fake statement of concern for my soul. Many times, I've had good Christians express concern for my spiritual well being - which I appreciate. That agape, Christian brotherly love, is the best part of Christianity. But just as often, I've gotten stuff like this wherein the point doesn't seem to be any thought of empathy or concern for me, but rather to make a proclamation of their own superiority.
I'll also note in passing the utter fakeness of the supposed humility expressed here. The great truths of the universe are "unfathomable to our finite minds." I concur with that sentiment (which makes me agnostic), but Brother Mitch seems 100% confident that he knows The Truth. Yeah, right.
Perhaps I'm paranoid, but the tone of his hateful descriptions of my supposed hate suggest that his own emotions are closer to a sense of anticipatory satisfaction for the punishment he imagines me facing at the throne of justice for my heathen ways, and particularly for not buying his preferred snake oil salesman.
Finally, to answer Mitch's question in his second paragraph, pastor or layman, I would in fact attack Mitt Romney just the same - if he were using his religion to cynically stoke bigoted hatred against another sect like Huckabee clearly has in order to win votes in a political campaign.
