9.16.2005

How can a faithful nation get Jesus so wrong?

There was a great piece in Harper's last month, "The Christian Paradox: How a Faithful Nation Gets Jesus Wrong" by Bill McKibben. It's about how three out of four Americans believe the Bible teaches "God helps those who help themselves." Is this the Gospel according to Mark? Luke? Nope. Actually, it was Benjamin Franklin.

The thing is, McKibben writes, "not only is Franklin's wisdom not biblical; it's counterbiblical. Few ideas could be further from the gospel message, with its radical summons to love oour neighbor. On this essential matter, most Americans—most American Christians—are simply wrong, as if 75 percent of American scientists believed that Newton proved gravity causes apples to fly up."

1 comment:

Tom said...

Want to see a bat-shit crazy person's head explode? First, explain what a "deist" is, then tell them that 7 (of 9 LOL) of the men who are considered the "founding father's" of this country were diests, and denied the divinity of Christ.. I add in a little flavor by saying that the 7 made fun of the other 2..

I make baby jebus cry.. waaaaaaa