Brutal Beaters

Last updated on: August 27, 2007 at 3:49 pm by David Hayward

Brutal Beaters 2007-08-27T15:49:51-04:00 David Hayward

LOGO 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.

Yesterday did me in. I tried to teach clearly, but what was coming out of my mouth wasn’t making sense. I felt frustrated and wanted to walk away. It wasn’t that the message was a difficult subject, but that so much is going through my mind right now. I know several pastors who are seriously struggling deeply with the church and as a result their faith. I know even more people who are just walking away from the whole church and Christian enterprise. Sometimes I feel like I’m trying to inflate a balloon with a huge hole in it. Often I feel like we’re still putting on a poor show, a tragedy. Scratch it all and start over. That’s what I think.

I recently received a thoughtful comment from another blogger. I checked out her blog and discovered that she had begun as a devout Christian, but through a series of attempts at running a kind of chat-room for Christians, she decided that she just couldn’t be a part of all that crap and eventually became agnostic and now a kind of universalist. Whatever she is doesn’t matter to me. What matters is how she got there: beaten and wounded by the church and the people in it. I’ve been thinking about the story of the Good Samaritan: in sermons we hear different angles on who represents us in the story. Sometimes we are the different people who pass the wounded man by. Sometimes we represent the inn-keeper who will take care of the wounded man. Sometimes we identify with the wounded man himself. Sometimes we are compared to the Samaritan who actually helps the man. I have an idea: how about we compare ourselves with the people who beat him up and robbed him and left him for dead? I’m seeing it all over the map. Not just strangers, but friends and family of mine. I know more people wounded and damaged by the church than those who have benefited from it. And the people who seem to benefit from it are mostly the brutal beaters.

I think we are in danger. Few seem to notice or care. The righteous are eating us up! LOOK HERE! And because it’s done in the name of Jesus we all say Go ahead, rape me if God so wills! Abuse is rampant and like a seriously dysfunctional family nobody’s willing to say anything. I got some heat over saying that we are all on the same sinking ship. I still say so. All have gone astray. All have been imprisoned in disobedience! The least we can do is admit it and have mercy on our way down together.

The fine art photograph is the creation of my friend Howard Nowlan.

Previous Post

August 27, 2007

Read a Review of My Chapter on Authenticity

Next Post

August 28, 2007 GIMME! Ministries #7: Unanimous Agreement

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category art cartoons cartoons 2 freebie music one minute message podcast Sophia teaching technology thought

Select a Month February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 March 2006 February 2006

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who led the animals onto the ark?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jacob Moses Isaac Noah