Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Slithering, Hissing Seeds


Every now and then, I find a Christian evangelizing on the internet that I like.* They're nice, likable and seem so kind. I start thinking, "They're certainly bent on spreading their religion, but they don't have bizarre, hateful ideas about people not like them." And then they do this:



In my endeavor to sow salvation action seeds somebody always comes along and
tries to uproot and snatch away that which was planted. As if that weren't bad
enough, they try to sow a rotting seed in its place. Seeds of doubt. Seeds of
confusion. Seeds of deception. Seeds that manipulate and twist the truth.
Slithering, hissing seeds that strangle away good seeds. Its purpose is to
devastate a garden. Its motive is to keep one down in the weighty muck and the
mire. In the cold and darkness, in a dry and weary land.


So, an atheist's viewpoint, and atheist's rational questions are rotting seeds, deceptive, manipulative, slithering and hissing*. Wow! Atheists must be really bad people. We strangle good things. Our purpose is to devastate. Our motives are muck and mire. We are cold, dark, dry and dreary. Lock away the children and watch the animals carefully, the atheists are coming! Just what I needed to see first thing in the morning.


But what is a Christian to the garden of man?



A tilled and fertile ground in the heart of man.** A garden awaiting the diligent
work of the harvesters. Sowing seeds of love and salvation action. Thirsting for
water and sunshine for growth. Its increase brought about by the very hand of
God. Budding seedlings of knowledge and understanding of the truth. Flowering,
stretching, growing toward the heavens. Its purpose is to lift one out of the
sinking sand and set the foot upon a solid rock. A rock that doesn't shift or
slide. Its motive is to shine and expose the deeds of darkness. Offering
forgiveness, redemption, salvation, reconciliation, hope, help, and every
single, solitary thing that you will ever need to make it through this life and
the life ever after.


Fertile. Diligent. Love and salvation. Water and sunshine. Knowledge and truth. Forgiveness, redemption, salvation, blah, blah, blah. The good words are for me, the bad words are for thee.


She never seems to consider that our motives may be the same. She seeks to spread truth and hope- and so do I. I find only subjugation and fear in her message. I find hope in reason and logic. I do not do what I do in order to manipulate or devastate. Thanks for attributing the worst of motivations to people, dearheart. It makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.





*I get that snake imagery is par for the course for Christians (though the "snake" in Genesis is clearly described as a lizard), but seeds that move and make sounds?


**Sentence fragments in the post.

6 comments:

  1. Hey I found your blog through slacktivist. I'm a Christian, but I enjoy reading what you have to say and generally agree with what you say, because the Christians you tend to criticize in my opinion, don't really reflect what Christ taught. I personally don't have a problem with atheism at all and it bothers me that it doesn't get any respect as a valid worldview. I don't particularly appreciate it when atheists are rude to me or mock me for my beliefs, but I don't see much of that here. Not much reason for posting this other than to say "We aren't all like this."

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  2. I adore the Slacktivist. He is the Jesus I tried so hard to maintain a belief in- so genuinely concerned for all the people in the world, so genuinely appalled at those who lie and hurt and take advantage of others. I'd try worshipping Fred, but that would likely upset him (idolatry and all that), so I'll stick with atheism.

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  3. Hey, Jason. I'm sure I don't speak for everyone, but a fair chunk of the Regular Readers here know full well that all Christians aren't like that.

    Also... Slithering, hissing seeds? Where can I get some of those? (I presume, of course, that if you keep them out of the light, they eventually hatch into the Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath.) Slithering, hissing seeds would totally rock.

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  4. ^^ What they said. ^^

    Part of the reason I like Fred Clark is that he holds an in-between position, but he doesn't express himself as an apologist for the extremists. Too many moderates stay quiet, or try to make a compromise. He tears into them for their absurdities.

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  5. Mr Boganette is constantly trying to get me to enjoy gardening. If hissing seeds actually existed I would be far more interested in gardening.

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  6. [...]the "snake" in Genesis is clearly described as a lizard

    Laurie Anderson says so too:

    "that's right- a snake with legs".

    ReplyDelete

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