A sermon by one of the saved is always a treat and an opportunity for me to amend my ways and hopefully avoid hell fire. But I especially enjoy fundamentalist discussions, which always drill down to the heart of a matter. Let us say that Pastor Joe and his fellow theologians are sitting around on living room sofas with a fire blazing in the background. The pattern of discussion is always the same.
Whatever comment Pastor Joe makes about this or that book of the Bible, or whatever judgement he makes on whatever topic, the others in the round table will say, “Right on, brother Joe” or “Amen! Praise Jesus!” It doesn’t matter if Pastor Joe has just done a line of coke and blown the words out of his backside, the response is always, “Amen, brother.” At which point the other theologians will add their own examples to bolster Pastor Joe’s point.
A week ago I listened to four Christian fundamentalists discussing the End Times. This topic has elicited excitement among evangelicals for hundreds of years but in recent decades it has gone full throttle. One of the preachers in this morning group brought up the covid-19 pandemic, an immensely significant sign from God, he said. The others nodded and gave assent.
But the preacher went further and said God sent this virus , this plague, to awaken lost souls and bring them to Jesus. The rest of the round table agreed with him. “Amen, brother!”
Here are four very sick, mentally disturbed men claiming that God has brought enormous pain to nearly four million people worldwide and death to hundreds of thousands, including innocent children. He is doing this, they all agreed, so that others may see that Jesus is their lord and savior. Jesus, as God manifest, scarified himself on the cross for us, but is now killing hundreds of thousands because he needs followers. I believe that this is the heart and soul of American fundamentalism: cruel and stupid.
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