Why Tammy Faye Over Falwell?

Your comments are what I am referring to. Hardly an "interesting topic"...but taking the opportunity to smear those who have recently departed who can't defend themselves against these accusations.

 

I see you are the authority on other people's salvation

 

Truth!!

If they weren't dead, would they be on this board defending themselves??

 

Wouldn't they at least have the opportunity?

 

Can anyone here channel them so they can step up to the plate?

(Just kidding...I'll go away now.)

 

Wrong thread. You meant to post on the ghost thread

 

I guess they would have that option, but would they take it.

I see nothing wrong about comparing the lives of two public figures who were the "faces of" Christianity for a long, long time. They are similar, in very few instances and extreme opposites more times that not.

But to be perfectly blunt and open, they were the picture of the Church today.

 

In a recent interview on The Colbert Report:

Kaiser: "You can't libel a dead person, Stephen."
Colbert: "What?"
Kaiser: "You can't libel a dead person."
Colbert: "Why not?"
Kaiser: "They can’t sue you. It's the law."
Colbert: "I'm big on slandering dead people."

Colbert's tongue-in-cheek remark says it all, IMO.

 

Falwell was right on many counts, but he was wrong on many too. And when he was wrong, he was wrong in a way that offended a great many Christians and non-Christians alike.

For instance, he said, "“AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals."

I take offense to that. No where in the Bible am I commanded to stop people from being homosexual (either by vote or by force). I am commanded to not practice it and to not let anyone in my church practice it obstinately. However, I"m am simply commanded to shine my light to the world... not to try to force them to act like a Christian. Good luck trying to make a brier bush sprout figs.

Of 9/11 he said, "I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'"

I take offense because all it does is repulse the lost from the church. Sin is going to be a part of this world until the Lord returns. That is just a fact. We all have sinned and we're all responsible for the fallen condition of this earth.

That being said, he said quite a number of good, truthful, and honest things as well... too many to even mention. His good outweighs his bad, but his bad was the kind of "bad" that offends a lot of people. I'm not talking about calling sin sin, but I'm talking about the non-biblical, inflamatory statements like the ones above.

With all that being said, I would rather sit on a plane with Falwell then Tammy any day.

 

Falwell happened to be more visible to the media, yes, but that excuses none of the statements he made that were wrong and offensive. Nor did any of the "thousands" of other Fundies who may have said the same things have an excuse.

In the Bible accounts you seem to be referring to I don't look at it as if God has punished "innocent people" as "casualties of war" (if you will) while he punished nations or communities for their sins. I look at it as though all have sinned, and we all suffer from the consequences. Sometimes even children suffer (in war, from child diseases, from violence, etc). Though I think children's deaths are viewed differently in God's judgment (they have much more innocence then many or most adults), even children are born "into sin" and are not completely "innocent" casualties. Besides, in God's eyes that transcend time and space, all children would eventually grow up and lose much of their "innocence".

So I don't think of any one nation (the U.S. or any nation that could be) as a nation deserving God's favor. All nations are fallen. Period. Even when there was a nation that God called his own (there isn't one now, but Israel used to be one) it wasn't because they deserved his favor... in fact, they showed many, many times that they did not deserve his favor).

Now if supposedly we could get a nation that consisted of only people in the Christian church, one could argue that would be a nation that deserved God's favor. But even that wouldn't be the case. Sometimes "Christians" sin in the same way a non-Christian might sin!

The fact is, there is no nation that deserves God's favor, and there never will be. The world is fallen, and we are all responsible. Those of us that have been redeemed should simply be grateful that except by the grace of God we would be just as sinful as the worst sinners alive.

 

I observe a lot of folks condemning these two for --- whatever.
I could accept someone saying they didn't agree with----, but to question a relationship with Christ over certain quotes seems to be what Christ meant when He said "--with what judgement you judge, ye shall be judged--". (dangerous ground here)

Don't remember Jesus being too sensitive when He confronted the Pharasees either. Maybe the church has become too "sensitive to the sinner's feelings". Think maybe?

This thread sure does show the character of a lot of the participants though!

 

Moderators, please close this thread.

 

there is your answer right there...