Reverend Ref +

WTF???

You know, I'm a pretty easy going guy. I try not to let stuff get to me, try to stay on that even- keel-everything-in-moderation-this-too-will-pass kind of mentality. But every once in awhile, something pops up that makes me . . . . well, basically just pisses me off.

Like this morning. I jumped on the computer to check e-mail while I was up in VC, and was greeted with this headline about Pat Robertson calling for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Apparently Chavez' big crime is to openly criticize president bush.

So this guy Robertson -- president of the Christian Coalition of America, defender of the faith, voice of the martyrs, protector of the American Way and moral guide of paranoid heterosexuals everywhere -- has decided that the religious faith and gospel he follows mandates a responsibility to "take out" those people who a) are different from him, b) speak out against the U.S., and/or c) profess a non-Christian religion.

Not only that, but this is a guy whom -- I shudder to think about this -- millions of people look to for guidance. The familiar response of, "Lord have mercy," comes to mind.

I don't know what gospel he's reading, or what faith he's professing, but I'm pretty sure it's not Christianity; or at the least, Christianity as I've been taught.

Apostle John has a timely post on one's enemies. You'll need to scroll down a bit, but check out his post titled "Sunday School -- Am I a Child of God?" Praying for our enemies is just one aspect of this thing I call Christianity. And I'm positive I've never come across a scriptural passage telling us to take out our enemies. Okay, let me re-phrase that, I've never come across a passage in the New Testament advocating that position. There are several in the Hebrew Scriptures, such as when God demands the total destruction of Jericho, but even those are outnumbered by passages telling the Israelites to care for the widows, orphans and aliens.

So how are all of these good Christian conservatives going to react to this? They've saddled us with one of the most corrupt (if not the most corrupt) administrations in the history of our country -- in the name of God, of course. They've made a rallying point about moral issues, which involve nothing more than fighting about protecting the sanctity of marriage and right to life (which apparently means birthing all unborn children so they can go off to be killed in an illegal war), and now one of their leaders is advocating assassination.

How are they going to react to this? I'm guessing that they'll just figure he is a prophet for the ages and has a direct link to the mind of God.

God have mercy on us all.