Practice What You Preach

I'm ending my week of serious issues by again mentioning my frenemy John Oberon.  On his website last month he poached a discussion of evolution, a "theory" which to him as a big shot Christian isn't true.  All those scientists and physical evidence are nothing compared to a story in a book!  We went back and forth on this for a little while.  When he mentioned gravity, I found it amusing he would accept gravity as real but not evolution.  Then he brought up "intelligent design" as a more rational alternative to evolution and I pointed out that intelligent design has as much validity as a oil company-sponsored study on fracking.  I mean "intelligent design" is just bullshit pseudoscience made up to make Creationism more palpable for those who aren't gullible enough to take the Bible literally.

Then apropos of nothing he mentions my tax problem.  What I found sadly amusing is he noticed my problem...and did absolutely nothing.  Someone who's supposed to be this devout Christian sees a person in need and uses it to try to "win" an argument on the Internet instead of actually doing anything to help. 

I chided him that that was not exactly what Jesus would do.  You know, Jesus who healed all those lepers and sick people and hung around with prostitutes and so on.  I don't think he'd essentially point and laugh because someone was having financial problems.  After that came one flimsy excuse after another that all added up to, "It's not my job to help you."  Not even with a lousy $5, which is the minimum you can give.

The problem with people like that is they can spout the Bible chapter and verse and yet when it comes to actually practicing what it teaches, they fall short.  They can't put their money where their mouth is.  As I told Oberon, what's funny to me is the right wing Conservative philosophy of "rugged individualism" is more akin to Darwin's "survival of the fittest" than anything Jesus taught.  They already believe in evolution--they just don't know it.

Memorial Day is on Monday and veterans are another group where we often don't put our money where our mouths are.  We love to have parades and tie yellow ribbons to trees and put "Support Our Troops" stickers on our cars, but so often we only support our troops until they get home.  Then like with the poor we tell them to suck it up and help themselves.  It's not my job to help you!  Which again is something I'm pretty sure Jesus wouldn't say.