Sunday, January 8, 2012

The Antithesis of Christ?

I came across an article today: "True Believer Rick Santorum Is The Antithesis of Christ's Teachings" http://www.politicususa.com/en/rick-santorum-christ  It made me stop and think: could this guy be THE Anti-Christ? It would be easy to understand why one would be tempted to think so - everything Santorum says and does seems, at best, to misrepresent the teachings of Jesus.  The problem is, he is not alone - far from it. He represents many fundamentalist people who call themselves Christians. They are the people who, as I said the other day, base their beliefs on individually selected verses from the Bible, many from the Law. The problem with that kind of approach to Scripture is that it tends to twist and pervert the meaning of the whole. I have heard it said, "Even the Devil can quote Scripture." And it is true. Santorum, if he thinks through what he believes at all, probably bases most of it in the Old Testament. I doubt that he has much room in his theology for "Love God and Love your neighbor as yourself." I doubt that he reads the Old Testament Prophets who were all about social justice for the sick and the poor, the widowed and the prisoners. They were all about condemnation for the wealthy and powerful who oppressed the poor. And Jesus followed very much in the tradition of the Prophets. No where does Jesus EVER say, "God loves everyone - unless you're gay." No where does Jesus say, "Blessed are the rich for they inherit great wealth." So, yes, Rick Santorum does, indeed, seem to have it backwards. The question though is whether he, himself, if the Anti-Christ. I don't think so because he is far from alone in his heresy. So much of Fundamentalism, the Tea Party and Corporate America hold similar twisted and perverted views of Christianity. I would suggest that the Anti-Christ IS among us, but not as one individual. Rather, the Anti-thesis of Christ is to be found wherever Jesus' teachings are twisted to benefit the rich at the expense of the sick, the elderly, the poor.

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