Non-Theologian Waxes Eloquent- Not So Much.
While perusing the news, I came across a brief article in Breitbart News.[1] Matthew Dowd, a former strategist for George Bush who also made a run for the governor’s office in Texas without the blessing of providence (i.e., he lost), unintentionally revealed his acuity or lack thereof in the sphere of theology. Like most non-theologian theologians and their multitude of followers, God or “god”[2] is all about “love.” Not much more and a whole lot less. Any idea of justice or righteousness is out of bounds or non-existent. Why, you might ask? Because these principles put boundaries on people’s freedom of expression. It also allows Dowd and others to add extra letters to the LGBT agenda at will.
I have boxed in Dowd’s words just below so that they are clearly identified. The grammar is poor for a man with his education. You will probably have to read it slowly or at least twice. As with last week’s article, the contents are shocking in that they come from the mouth of a person speaking poorly on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ. To be perfectly honest, it's heresy!
[We are in a culture war. This is a culture war launched by Republicans against the country and the Democrats. Something that I have tried to talk about, being a Christian and been an altar boy and all of that, how the faith is captured by the society who have tried to define it in a way that Jesus never defined it and actually the opposite. The message of the gospel of the Easter holidays was love one another. I have said this before. I’ll say it again, if Jesus Christ were alive today, he would be called a groomer, he would be called woke, and he would be called a socialist if alive today if he was speaking the message in the gospels today about treating everybody with dignity. He hung around with prostitutes and tax collectors. He spoke on behalf of the most marginalized people in the Middle East. The idea that a certain segment of the population is trying to corrupt that message that I’m a follower of…is something I think all of us, not just people of faith but whether Christian, Hindu, Buddhist or don’t have a faith, the message of love conquers hate is a message we should be pushing.] (bold print added)
Firstly, I do not recall Republicans being the impetus for the culture war or the sexual revolution in America. I remember Jane Fonda and the like in the ’60s. I am quite certain that she was not a Republican. I don’t recall Goldwater supporting the sexual revolution; certainly not Ronald Reagan. I don’t think Charlie Manson and his girls were Republicans. I will admit that the Republican Party of late has sadly and openly welcomed homosexuality into its “tent,” but they have not gone woke to this date; in fact, there has been open resistance to the woke agenda, especially its influence in elementary schools.
Secondly, The message of the Resurrection has nothing to do with Easter. Easter comes from the Babylonian queen Astarte, the queen of heaven. In Assyria, she was called Ishtar. The worship of Astarte was eventually introduced into Britain and as corruption goes, it melded its way through the Roman Catholic Church into Christianity. Hence, Easter Sunday. I’m confident that the Lord would be quite pleased if we simply called our remembrance of His glorious resurrection “Resurrection Sunday” and leave the “eggs” with the “Babylonian cross buns” of history.[3]
Thirdly, the message of Resurrection Sunday is NOT love. Yes, love is an outlier or better, an underlier. It is behind or the foundation of everything our Lord does. EVERYTHING! The primary message of the Resurrection of our Lord is LIFE, but not just life as everyone knows it, but LIFE ETERNAL, a life that doesn’t end in a grave, but a life that is full and without pain of any kind, lived in the presence of the triune God in a state without time. What Dowd reduces to perversion is the greatest gift God will give to each of His children, to those who accept His sacrifice and His amazing gift of grace.
Fourthly, Matthew Dowd reduces the Creator of all things, the Christ who died for the sins of the prostitutes and tax collectors and all others who have fallen way short of the glory of God, and the savior of all who will come to Him by faith to a groomer, a woke advocate, an LGBT+ supporter, a friend of prostitutes and corrupt tax collectors who steal from the public,[4] to include those who live under a prejudicial moralist in the Middle East. I want to make this very clear for Mr. Dowd. There is nothing inherently wrong or sinful with the profession of tax collecting. The apostle Matthew’s problem was that he was abusing his power by overtaxing the people, which is a sinful act. This said, our Lord did not hang around with prostitutes and tax collectors. He ministered to prostitutes and tax collectors, as well as many other types of sinful people in various and sundry professions, some of whom believed and repented of their sins and followed Him. His purpose was always to lead people from a fallen state (sinful) to a saved state (salvation). He wasn’t “hanging out;” He was evangelizing! Do you know the difference, Mr. Dowd?
Finally, love does not conquer hate; at least, not the love that Matthew Dowd is spewing. In fact, may I shock you? Where selfishness is innate to one’s soul, love cannot conquer hate. If it could, Jesus would never have been crucified. Love does not win out until Christ returns! Dowd’s concept of love allows people to do what they want to do, what they feel is best for them—there are no moral boundaries. This type of love is egotistic; it doesn’t think through consequences, even to oneself. It is temporarily shameless, guiltless, without conscience until the consequences have to be paid. And there are always consequences that come sooner or later. Sadly, the vast devastating (eventually divine) consequences are not limited to just the perpetrator(s) of the sin. The consequences of the 60s are coming home to roost! If the Churches continue to fall into apostasy (RC, UCC, PCUSA, ECA, LCA, SBC, UM, etc.) the Democrat Party stays in control, and the Republican Party continues its moral slide, there are no more land masses to which a free people can resettle.
Conclusion
While God wants to raise His children to the spiritual state of the risen Christ, Dowd, in his own words, prefers to reduce the risen Christ to the state of fallen men and women. In so doing, he sadly perverts the concept of love by justifying sinfulness. Paul’s words in Romans 6:1-6 remind each Christian that baptism pictures his/her cleansing from sin into the newness of life in Christ.
6 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 Far from it! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for the one who has died is freed from sin.
[1] https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2022/04/20/dowd-if-jesus-were-alive-today-he-would-be-called-a-woke-socialist-and-groomer-by-gop/ [2] The word “god” refers to whatever or whomever a person chooses to worship. [3] https://www.biblestudy.org/maturart/real-history-of-easter.html [4] He probably didn’t know he said this, but his ignorance of Scripture led to this conclusion.