Gnats And Camels

[poliphilo]

Judy sent me an article about Pat Robertson's mining interests and how his charities stand to make money out of Katrina. I understand that the man's sailed pretty close to the wind in the past, mixing God's business with his own.

When I was studying the Bible the thing that really stood out for me (and made me feel extremely uncomfortable) was the bit about how hard it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I wasn't exactly rich back then, but I was comfortably middle-class and it gnawed at me that I wasn't poor enough to satisfy God. It was reading the Bible that made me a socialist (of sorts.) I didn't (and don't) see how a serious Christian can jump any other way.

You have to go through the Bible with a fine tooth-comb to find (debatable)texts condemning homosexuality, but the ones condemning the rich are lying about on the surface in plain view. The New Testament says that people who concentrate on obscure, fiddly bits of doctrine and miss the bleeding obvious, are "straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel." If Pat read the Bible as closely as he says he does he wouldn't be mining diamonds. He really wouldn't. A wealthy evangelist- it's a contradiction in terms.

Comments

[solar-diablo.livejournal.com]

I ws just thinking of that camel-needle allegory yesterday, listening to a conservative talk radio pundit go on and on about how Bush's obscenely low approval rating in the States was the result of a liberal media campaign out to smear him. Last time I checked, this was the same media that spent weeks, months examining every sordid detail of Clinton's sexual escapades and Hillary bemoaned her every misfortune as the result of a right-wing conspiracy.

Conservative, liberal...both sides are bedfellows with the rich and powerful. Both sides would nod at that verse in affirmation, before hopping into their luxury cars and driving back to their mansions. Both sides are clueless.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

As I remember, even though the media did everything in its power to pull Clinton down his approval ratings remained high and constant.

It's a problem with politics in the USA that the way things stand only the very rich need bother to run for high office.