God and America, killers of innocents, punishers of nations

[Inland]

Flipping around the channels, I came across the preacher on broadcast channel fifty, and his sermon was:
The US is the most blessed nation ever, but;
A nation that allows abortion, homosexuality and homosexual marriage is in deep sin;
God punishes nations;
Nine eleven was a "warning" from God;
No amount of efforts to security will help when God punishes a nation;
If you want to save the US for yourself and your grandchildren, you have to stop the sinning;

and

While some will suffer more than others, when God punishes a nation, the sinners and the innocent suffer.

Aside from artfully tying fear, nine eleven, God and a conservative agenda (nothing new there) I was struck by the explicit statement religious doctrine of a God that kills innocents to send a message to the guilty. When God punishes nations, the innocent individuals belonging to the nation also suffer--and the preacher was addressing those in his congregation, naturally, being both innocent of having abortions for their gay lovers AND scared to death.

That God would destroy and kill just to send a message is a new, evil God for us. Used to be God sent prophets. Used to be that God would not destroy a city if he could find ten good men. Used to be that God would die a horrific death just to save people who didn't deserve it. Now, God kills a few thousand innocents so that this preacher can connect it to a few specific sins--not the popular sins of adultery, sloth, avarice, or those others that his congregation was practicing that very day. Don't you wish God would just take out a full page ad in the Times rather than kill people in an ambiguous message that only this preacher can figure out is directed to sex conduct? Used to be the soldiers would say, let God sort them out. Now God says, I'll sort them out later.

But I also see why right wing Christians don't get upset when civilians are killed in Iraq. Nations are guilty, and the innocents of the nations are killed when the nation does wrong--heck, if God can do it, the US can do it without fear of sin. If God can kill a Christian, straight, churchgoing, antiabortion father of three who has no truck with gays just to send a message to a preacher, what's the problem with us killing, torturing Muslims whose compatriots are, well, heathens and terrorists and killers and keep girls out of school, etc.

God and the US are now justified when they kill of innocents, on purpose. The right wing Christians do not accept that there can be an innocent in this sinful world. The Christians in the government accept this unspoken truth as the bodies pile up.

[puddycat]

1. Liberal Christians must find a way to take back Christianity

Unfortunately there is a lot of hatred against Christians in general for the actions of these radical right-wingers who call themselves Christians. The constant media exposure of these dangerous people on TV and cable have done Christians much harm.

[SaintAnne]

2. true how true

christians should get back to their roots, literally, of the all loving god. if I were christian, I'd be very upset about all those RW christians, and wish someone would give them a good slap of reason.

[Inland]

3. Any suggestions? I mean, this guy was not on some obscure

cable channel. It was a UHF broadcast, probably the sixth or seventh largest TV broadcaster in Chicago.

[sam sarrha]

4. This guy is Schitzoprhenic... god sounds like Surranon in the Hobbit, maybe

he is reading the wrong book

[Inland]

7. This guy is not alone. Can't dismiss him as mental

When Robertson et al. can put 9/11 as a punishment from god...this guy made it part of an entire riff, and unlike Robertson isn't going to apologize...

[markomalley]

5. Those people are an embarassment to Christianity.

They are no better than the mullahs they despise. They disgust me.

For a synopsis of true Christian thought on war, please refer to this thread, Peace without Compromise, in the DU archives.

[salin]

6. Never occurs to them that perhaps God is angry

at the rel. right subversion of the teachings of Christ, at their constant self-promotion and greedy soliciting that uses Christ's name as a marketing tool...

[Inland]

8. No, he is sure God is killing Americans because of gays, abortion

I didn't get that clear a message from the incineration and pulverizing of thousands of Americans, but this preacher did.

And he can find divine will in the deaths of Americans, how can we expect him to give a shit about the deaths of muslims in Iraq?