The Polemical Polemicist

One of my regular readers (at least I assume he is; I've seen his name more than once in the comments) made this comment on this post.

You often seem to tack on a "so-called" or a "pseudo-" before the word Christian when discussing those with whom you are in disagreement. This seems to me to be a very tacky and intellectually lazy thing to do and mars your good writing. I think it would be best to leave that sort of polemical tactic to the Right.

The post in question discussed pro-lifers forcing their views about abortion on others, specifically by attempting to ban the practice for all women, no matter their personal belief system or lack thereof. I used those terms deliberately, and I do not apologize for them. Put simply, I believe people who do such things are not Christian, despite any claims to the contrary.

Is this judgmental? Yes. Nowadays, it seems being judgmental is one of the worst sins one can commit. Nevertheless, being judgmental of those who profess to be Christian but who disprove it by their actions has a long and glorious tradition, going all the way back to Christ and his habit of ripping the Pharisees new ones.

A few quotes from Matthew chapter 23 will illustrate this quite nicely, I think.

"Woe to you, Pharisees, and you other religious leaders. Hypocrites! For you won't let others enter the Kingdom of Heaven, and won't go in yourselves. And you pretend to be holy, with all your long, public prayers in the streets, while you are evicting widows from their homes. Hypocrites!

"Yes, woe upon you hypocrites. For you go to all lengths to make one convert, and then turn him into twice the son of hell you are yourselves.

"Yes, woe upon you, Pharisees, and you other religious leaders--hypocrites! For you tithe down to the last mint leaf in your garden, but ignore the important things--justice and mercy and faith. Yes, you should tithe, but you shouldn't leave the more important things undone. Blind guides! You strain out a gnat and swallow a camel.

"Woe to you, Pharisees, and you religious leaders--hypocrites! You are so careful to polish the outside of the cup, but the inside is foul with extortion and greed. Blind Pharisees! First cleanse the inside of the cup, and then the whole cup will be clean.

"Woe to you, Pharisees, and you religious leaders! You are like beautiful mausoleums--full of dead men's bones, and of foulness and corruption. You try to look like saintly men, but underneath those pious robes of yours are hearts besmirched with every sort of hypocrisy and sin." (Matthew 23:13-15, 23-28, The Living Bible)

Yeah, I think Jesus disagreed with those people, to put it mildly.

Certainly, my feeble little recriminations are nothing compared to that. But I think if Jesus existed in this time (and escaped being locked up in some government lab by Homeland Security zealots) he would resume calling out hypocrites with equal fervor. Unfortunately, Jesus is not here (or at least not yet); but in his absence, we have a measuring stick we can use with a fair amount of reliability--at least in my opinion--as to whether someone is a true Christian or not.

This, of course, would be his words as recorded in the Gospels, along with the rest of the New Testament, and the entire Bible for that matter.

James expresses this wonderfully.

"And remember, it is a message to obey, not just to listen to. So don't fool yourselves. For if a person just listens and doesn't obey, he is like a man looking at his face in a mirror; as soon as he walks away, he can't see himself anymore or remember what he looks like. But if anyone keeps looking steadily into God's law for free men, he will not only remember it but he will do what it says, and God will greatly bless him in everything he does.

Anyone who says he is a Christian but doesn't control his sharp tongue is just fooling himself, and his religion isn't worth much. The Christian who is pure and without fault, from God the Father's point of view, is the one who takes care of orphans and widows, and who remains true to the Lord--not soiled and dirtied by his contacts with the world." (James 1:26-27, The Living Bible)

Look, people, I can read the Bible as well as anyone else. If people like Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris can point out the hypocrisy in much of "so-called" (there's that phrase again) Christianity, then I can certainly take that horse and run with it. To put it bluntly, if you don't do what Jesus calls Christians to do, you ain't no frakking Christian.

If saying that is "polemic"--defined by my dictionary as: 1. A controversial argument, especially one refuting or attacking a specific opinion or doctrine. 2. A person engaged in or inclined to controversy, argument, or refutation.--then that's the way it is.

I'm in good company, after all.

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Obedience Learned

Our discussion today concerned being loyal to Christ the King. However, a cited scripture sent me off on an entirely new train of thought, and I decided I'd post my ramblings here.

What inspired me was reading Hebrews 5:7-9. Here it is, from the Living Bible.

"Yet while Christ was here on Earth he pleaded with God, praying with tears and agony of soul to the only one who would save him from death. And God heard his prayers because of his strong desire to obey God at all times. And even though Jesus was God's Son, he had to learn from experience what it was like to obey, when obeying meant suffering. It was after he had proved himself perfect in this experience that Jesus became the Giver of eternal salvation to all those who obey him."

To my mind, "praying with tears and agony" refers to the moment in the garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus asked that "this cup" (referring to his imminent death as a blasphemer) be taken from him. We can see how distressed he was by what Luke reported. (Luke, being a physician, recorded the medical details. Modern medical knowledge has revealed that while bloody sweat is very rare, it can happen.)

"Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him, for he was in such agony of spirit that he broke into a sweat of blood, with great drops falling to the ground as he prayed more and more earnestly."

But God denied his request, and it was at this moment that Jesus "learned obedience." In submission to his Father's will, he acquiesed to the manner of his death.

This was remarkable. Consider for a moment all the billions of years Jesus and God had spent together. Of course, Jesus was always obedient. So why did Paul say that he 'learned obedience'? Simply put, because his obedience came under test and in adversity. This is a little bit different from obeying when it isn't hard, and when everyone applauds you for doing so.

With this in mind, this scripture (also in Hebrews) packs a lot more punch.

"This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, since he had the same temptations we do, though he never once gave way to them and sinned." (Hebrews 4:15)

No, Jesus never sinned...but I would wager that moment in Gethsemane was a pretty close thing. After all, he could have refused to die as a blasphemer, or die at all for that matter. Yet, as much as he hated what was about to happen, he submitted himself to it.

I also think these verses dispute the idiocy of the Trinity. If Jesus was part of a Godhead, why would he have to learn anything at all, much less obedience? Wouldn't he already know everything, if he was omnipotent? Also, if he was coequal and coeternal, who would he have to be obedient to? It's only if Jesus, as the Son, is inferior to the Father (i.e., not the same person) that obedience is needed.

At any rate, there's my ideas, for better or worse. Do with them what you will.