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Randal Rauser

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Conservative evangelicals, environmental hatred, and bad language

April 23, 2011 by Randal

Occasionally I still cross-post some of my articles at “The Christian Post”. A couple days ago I posted my review of the documentary “Gasland”. Do you think they loved it? Wanna take a guess? The comments speak for themselves. Some anonymous individual code-named “jrmd32” commented as follows:

“If you are so concerned about the environment, then why don’t you stop the massive pollution created by this very Internet article, which requires all the electricity utilized to get your eco-fascist views out to the planet. Please go live in a cave for the rest of your life, live off the land, and send your words out by the oral method. Stop pretending to be an environmentalist.”

Wow! Now I myself have mused at the apparent incongruity of a tree hugger who drives a beat-up Volkswagen breadloaf minivan that belches out clouds of black smoke. But suddenly posting something on the internet is inconsistent with positively reviewing a film on a destructive environmental practice? What “massive pollution” was created by posting this article? And now to the real question: what is the source of the blind hatred of “jrmd32”?

Marginally more reasonable perhaps was the second commenter named “Jesus fan”. Remember I said marginally. Unfortunately when you read again the irrational bile of jrmd32, that ain’t saying much. So here is “Jesus fan”:

“Christian Theologian? What church- the church of the Liberal, foul-mouthed Environmentalists? What part of Eph. 5:4 do you not think that is God’s word? Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. Yet your post has several curse words but I guess that’s ok for a Christian to talk like that?”

Here was my response to “Jesus fan”:

“Your comments remember me of the time when Tony Campolo was speaking to a crowd of evangelicals and he said “Thirty thousand children die every day of preventable illness and starvation and you don’t give a shit. And the really sad thing is that you’re more concerned that I said ‘shit’ than that thirty thousand children are dying every day.” My guess is, dear “Jesus fan”, that you probably don’t know koine Greek. Well you might be interested to know that Paul (yes the Paul in the New Testament) uses the word “skubalon” which translates into English somewhere between “crap” and “shit”. Yes “Jesus fan”, the Greek equivalent of a four letter word made it into the New Testament. Now why don’t you start worrying about something that actually matters, like what it means to be a good steward of God’s green earth.”

Foolish talk and coarse joking is what the two morons that host the morning show on the classic rock radio station do. Saying “What the hell are we doing to the environment?” is a well chosen and morally serious declaration of protest against a business culture driven by short term profit, a society with an ever growing demand for energy, and a Christian community more concerned with four letter words than the despoliation of God’s handiwork.

What a tragic and reprehensible witness for the cause of Christ.

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: environmentalism, evangelicalism, evangelicals, hypocrisy

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