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The Dumbing Down of Christianity
Last updated on: January 20, 2015 at 10:47 am by Michael Hardin
The Dumbing Down of Christianity 2015-01-20T10:47:26-04:00 Michael Hardin
Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.
A few days ago I posted my “God Can Go To Hell” blog. What has been interesting are not the comments on my Facebook page (although on Patheos there were a few weird ones), but what was fascinating and depressing, at the same time, was when people shared the link to the blog on their Facebook pages and their friends commented.
There seem to be an awful lot of people for whom the genres satire, irony and sarcasm are anathema. I wonder if they lack of sense of humor. At any rate I found myself having to teach ‘literature’ to all manner of clueless people. The dumbing down of Christianity is one of the worst things that has ever happened to it historically. It becomes religious sludge. The Church has done a piss-poor job of education in many respects.
The Gospel has always had its effects on the mind, the way we think, the way we see, what we see, how we see it and understand it. Significant forms of Contemporary Christianity have all but thrown out the crucial and important place of the mind in faith, life and theology. (Technically speaking these folks are Apollinarian, who taught that Jesus assumed everything human but his mind, Jesus’ mind was the Logos mind. THAT was quickly condemned as heresy).
It is time to take the ship. It is time to wrest control of this ark from the hands of a Sacrificial Hermeneutic, and his mates, Anti-Intellectualism, Gnosticism, Triumphalism, Supercessionism, Colonialism and those addicted to Religion (“the opiate of the people).
The message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the most powerful Word ever spoken. It has permeated human civilization for 2,000 years and at long last, we have seen and continue to see the effects of unmasking our victims. From the Holocaust to Boko Harem and IS, from CIA torture chambers to spousal bedrooms, from sex-trafficking to subjugation of people of color, all our victims and our victimizing is being unmasked. The ‘principalities and the powers’ are being overthrown. The Internet plays a huge unparalleled role in our global awareness.
Jesus is Victor. Don’t you worry.
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January 18, 2015
God Can Go To Hell
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