Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Southern Baptists and the LDS Church

When I was a seminary student, I use to listen to Dr  Criswell of the First Baptist Church in Dallas  I was a farm boy "called," as we said in those days, to the ministry.  Our world was very narrow and simple.  Dr Criswell (every preacher of a big church is a "Dr" of something) had a megachurch before we knew what a megachurch was. His only real rival in Southern Baptists' circles, in those days was Robert G Lee who also had a megachurch, can't remember where.  Dr Lee preached a firery brand of Christianity and his famous sermon was "Payday Someday,"  a very fundamentalist view of hell.  "You were a sinner hanging over the fires of hell by a string. If you dod't repent and give your life to Jesus, 'your ass is grass.' "  I would get fired up.  The big difference in then and now is politics. It is very hard to really equate the differences. During Dr Criswell and Lee's time, they didn't have all the media. Now, most of these preaches are media stars with egos as big as the outdoors. They are about as far removed from what Jesis taught and how He lived as they can possibly be. By in large, they are f..king hypocrites. An example, Robert Jeffress, the senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Dallas ( Dr Criswell's old church) was introducing Rick  Perry as "a committed follower of Christ." Perry thanked him, and said Jeffress had "hit it out of the park." Afterwards, Jeffress told reporters that Perry's rival for the Repub presidential nomination, Mitt Romney, was "not a Christian" and that Mormonism is a "cult." Now, does he really believe that bullshit. Probably not. He's trying to continue to take care of his ego needs by being controversial. My view anyway. What is it about Mormonism that sparks such concern among evangelical Christians, a critical bloc of voters in the Republican party.  Mormons rely on the Book of Mormon as a text and give it equal weight with the Bible. So do the Catholics rely on Canon Law as they call it. Why don't Jeffress and his crowd nail their ass. Both Catholics and Mormons  deviate from the Jesus Christ who is portrayed in the Bible. I think that the Mormons (LDS, Latter Day Saints) are an easy target and it is all politics anyway. The people who are going to pay those like Jeffress any attention anyway are the crowd he already has. So, he's preaching to the choir but my opinion which no one gives a s..t about,"pastor J, f..k you very much." 

No comments: