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Edited on Wed May-16-07 05:49 PM by shadowknows69
I say this to you as I would to any departed soul Mr. Falwell. Good journey to you. I suspect you will find the next plane you encounter in your existence a bit different than the book you supposedly held so precious in life said it would be. This is probably to your advantage because your actions never quite matched the letters of the allegedly holy text did it Jerry?
Jerry Falwell and his ilk represent one of the major reasons I no longer consider myself a christian and also, and this one will kill you, the reason I've seriously considered rejoining the christian church in some capacity.
I've been a faithful and fanatic disciple of Jerry Falwell. Not him directly but to his ideals through any number of proxies who work hard to make us believe that they have the only true version of the word and intent of the incomprehensible concept of an omnipotent God. They do their job well. Whether through fear of your soul's damnation or good old fashioned peer pressure from fellow parishioners in some bizarre competition to see who can be more holy. They do their job well.
So I actually thank extremists like Jerry Falwell for existing and reminding me that self righteousness, like power, eventually corrupts, and absolutely in the case of Mr Falwell.
Hopefully Jerry shuffling loose the mortal coil will serve to remind the remaining Swaggarts, Hinns, Robertsons and even the Pope that they are still mortal men despite the fact they have assigned themselves divine privilege. Dust and ash they too will someday become. The end to my fanaticism for the christian church began when the hypocrisies started to become evident. I'm not sure what woke me up to it, I was pretty deep. Imagine a high school junior that would preach to his classmates in study hall and tell them they were going to hell. I'm amazed I didn't get beat up more.
To be fair, the churches I went to never got to the incredible level of hate toward certain groups that has seemed to escalate since many of these guys have been given more television time. We were simply told to testify and save souls by any means necessary. No overt fear of gays, surprising almost because it was at the height of the AIDS is a "Gay" disease hysteria of the late 80's. Along with our morning prayer group in school, testifying openly and burning our rock albums (What I'd give for my Kiss "Double Platinum" album back.) and generally being so self righteous about everything that no one could stand us.
I guess I saw where it was going so I got out. When it seemed like there was a constant competition to be the best christian, and then judging the ones who weren't up to snuff, I started to see how we were straying from the words of Jesus. Less and less sermons about the beatitudes and more about God's wrath and Revelations. End times scripture started becoming an obsession and the rapture is all you live for.
I guess I have to blame sex or drugs on waking me out of my stupor. I had a steady girlfriend in high school and we were pretty active with the godless fornication so the question arose of course, "how can this be a sin if it is being done out of love?". I was encouraged to break up with her during a stint at summer church camp for this reason. I didn't. Instead I converted her and we continued to risk Hell together.
Soon after we broke up I got stoned for the first time and that opened me up to the usual cultural experiences and questions. Heads know what I'm talking about. Many of these didn't gel with the holier than all expectations of the church. There was no room for imperfection or infidelity to God's desires. Funny, I thought we had free will? BULLSHIT! Your life is mine and preordained said the church.
I became a Witch. How do you like that apple God of Abraham? Now people like the dearly departed Mr. Falwell who would have once called me a brother in Christ would have me killed. Would have my soul ripped and rendered in a Hell of their, and mostly Dante's and Milton's, creation for all eternity for simply embracing my humanity which apparently is God's greatest gift to us.
I was once blind but now I see and it is thanks to people like Jerry Falwell for shocking and being awful to anyone who doesn't subscribe to their issue of "Messiah Monthly"
Now on to the irony of the fact that I've considered rejoining the christian church of late. Y'all need another, kinder gentler Martin Luther. I think Jesus was one of the greatest teachers this world has known and the people who claim to follow him seem to know him no longer. This world has become the complete antithesis of the one he was trying to plead with us to build. The bible needs another version of it written. Boil it down to the Beatitudes and a few of the parables and go from there and keep writing it. If there is an all loving and all powerful God then he wouldn't want his people to sit idle and live their entire lives serving the interpretations of him from thousands of years ago. Keep learning about your God. Keep talking to your God. Don't let other people interpret him for you. These are the lessons I've learned from Jerry Falwell's adherence to the opposite of this philosophy. I could become a christian again because I love the teachings of Jesus. Whether he was a divine being or not? It isn't even for us to know or consider in my opinion. Spirituality is the relationship you have with your Gods. Religion is the attempt to commune with others with similar beliefs. It should never be to dominate or judge people of other beliefs and Jesus knew and preached this with his every breath.
So good journey Jerry Falwell. I hate the hatred you bred but if that hatred wakes up one person to the fact that it is not the way to be. Not the way a real God would want it, then you've done some good. May the angels you believe in fly you to the heaven of your choice but I suspect you may need to come back here for a few more rounds until you get it right.
Shadow out.
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