Saturday, March 22, 2008

I Bet That They Don't Read These Verses at the Brentwood Baptist CEO Rationalization Fellowship

Got to love it when "Christian" businessmen (and it's usually mostly men doing this) ignore the weightier matters of the law. Cue Jesus:
"If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." But when the young man heard the saying, he went away sad, for he was one who had great possessions. Jesus said to his disciples, "Most certainly I say to you, a rich man will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven with difficulty. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God."
For the biblical literalists out there: would it be easier for a rich woman to get into Heaven? Did Jesus literally just mean to exclude men from wealth? (I digress, but I cannot miss the chance to throw a jab at the fundamentalists among us).

I bet that the Brentwood boys club also ignored this little gem in the survey of the Hebrew scriptures:
If you lend money to any of my people, even to the poor, you should not be to him as a creditor; neither shall you lay upon him interest.
Christians have been practicing usury and rationalizing it against their own teachings since Henry VIII, so why stop now when there is so much more money to be made and God to be used as justification for wealth?

It would have been nice if the Tennessean had reported the whole story that these men "apply" some Christian principles to the workplace, while ignoring others.

2 comments:

  1. Careful Byrdie, your class envy is showing. Had this been someplace other than Brentwood, Im sure your venom wouldnt have been so forthcoming.

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  2. Guess again, Anony.

    My criticism of pharisaic, success-gospel theology is equal opportunity; regardless of class or neighborhood. It's just that it's the upwardly mobile who tend to rely on that blind approach to the Bible. The poor tend to rely on the apocalyptic stuff, which includes Jesus' teachings about the mighty being brought low.

    And your venom wouldn't have been forthcoming had you had to identify yourself. I'm sure life is good in the chicken coop. Crow with abandon, without accountability.

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