GOD DAMN GUNS by Katherine Willis Pershey

"Jerome was a Counselor-in-Training after years of coming to camp as a camper. He was fifteen and always smiling, bright white teeth standing out against his dark skin. He laughed a lot, too.

He laughed the day I yelled at him for diving headfirst from the dock into the shallow lake. At twenty years old, I was the head lifeguard. I felt a wave of panic as I waited for him to resurface. As soon as he did my panic was replaced with fury; the last thing I needed was a CiT modeling dangerous behavior. I started to holler but couldn’t sustain my anger. He laughed and laughed and laughed as he apologized profusely and swore he wouldn’t do it again.

He was so joyous, so young, so beautiful, so classically invincible."

READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE HERE>

Almighty God Action Figure

Because your kids are never too young to learn God wants to smite you.

When one raises an eyebrow at the interpretation of the violent passages in the Old Testament, many will label you a heretic. Yet, I hope this depiction of "God Almighty" puts a pit in our stomach.

However, as the Peace Pastor comments, this is a "Sick. Twisted. Unbiblical. Repulsive. Completely American Protestant expression of how to 'reach' our kids for 'Christ.'"

New marketing ploy for Evangelical America: Appeal to our hankering for military-grade weapons and "a commitment to make someone bleed." Paint God as that.

And let's not even get into the fact that "God Almighty" is depicted as a white man.

So, do we chalk this up to: A clever joke, or another example of Fashioning God in Our Image?

[As the saying goes: "God created man in his own image. And man, being a gentleman...  returned the favor."]

To which are we more likely prone in America?

To quote Keith Giles' new prophetically written post, "America is an Empire, and like all Empires, America rules by death and fear and the sword. All while pretending she is for freedom and truth and democracy." Read the rest of America, Not Beautiful here, and then make up your mind on your own.

In the mean time, Benjamin Corey (of Formally Fundie) responds to "God Almighty" Action Figure with this reminder of who God is:

“The Lord is compassionate and gracious,

slow to anger, abounding in love.

 He will not always accuse,

nor will he harbor his anger forever;

 he does not treat us as our sins deserve

or repay us according to our iniquities.”

-Psalm 103

BRAINWASHING AN ENTIRE GENERATION WITH VIOLENCE