Christian Pastor critizes Trump - Jerry Falwell, Jr. questions him in a Biblical way

[packman]

Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, tweeted:



Russell Moore
✔ @drmoore



The reports of the conditions for migrant children at the border should shock all of our consciences. Those created in the image of God should be treated with dignity and compassion, especially those seeking refuge from violence back home. We can do better than this.

And this is how ass-kissing Jerry Falwell, Jr. responded:




Jerry Falwell
✔ @JerryFalwellJr



Replying to @drmoore

Who are you @drmoore ? Have you ever made a payroll? Have you ever built an organization of any type from scratch? What gives you authority to speak on any issue? I’m being serious. You’re nothing but an employee- a bureaucrat.


.... Kinda ironic Jerry would say "Have you ever built an organization of any type from scratch" seeing how he inherited his father's work fleecing the flock and Trump's father giving him (Trump) a few million to start his business failures.

[jberryhill]

1. Falwell and his bag of silver

[ProudMNDemocrat]

2. Falwell Jr. is NO Christian, let alone a follower of Christ.....

Building an organization perverting the word of Christ for PROFIT, is a SIN!!!

Falwell Jr. is too stupid to see the obvious.

[Act_of_Reparation]

5. What is he, then?

[ProudMNDemocrat]

7. A HYPOCRITE!!!!!

[Act_of_Reparation]

9. Hypocrite and Christian are not mutually exclusive descriptors.

If he's not a Christian, then what is he?

[TexasProgresive]

13. He is not a Christian- he is a con man.

a huckster and flim-flam man. A Christian actually follows Christ. Zacchaeus the Tax Collector became a follower of Christ . He immediately gave half of his worth to the poor and repaid any he had cheated 4 times over.

[Act_of_Reparation]

16. False dichotomy

One term describes behavior, the other term describes belief. Christians and con men are not mutually exclusive.

[Crunchy Frog]

10. Someone who cynically uses religion to manipulate the rubes.

Milks it in order to get as much money and power for himself as possible.

I doubt that he believes a single word of the Gospels, which contain all the teachings attributed to Jesus.

A phony and a charlatan.

[Act_of_Reparation]

11. If he doesn't believe, that makes him what?

An atheist?

[Crunchy Frog]

14. A con man? A grifter?

I doubt that he's put much if any thought into his personal philosophical beliefs. Not everybody does.

If he believes in a god, it's most likely Power and Money.

[Act_of_Reparation]

15. Those are professions, not beliefs.

Power and money are not deities. No one worships them in the manner people tend to worship gods.

Look, I'm gonna cut to the chase:

Christianity is impossible to define except in the vaguest of terms. People who profess belief in Jesus are Christians. Even assholes like Franklin Graham.

Whenever you say these guys are "fakes" who don't actually believe in Jesus, you are reinforcing the perception that non-believers such as myself are inherently bad, or are incapable of moral behavior without the guiding hand of paternalistic theists.

[Crunchy Frog]

18. First of all, I'm not a theist either, and don't believe that I ever suggested

That non-believers are inherently bad or immoral.

I personally do not believe in the honesty of professional con men who will say absolutely anything to get what they want.

If a person gets piles of money and masses of power from saying they're a Christian, while they ignore or crap all over every teaching that's attributed to the person they profess to follow, I have reason to believe that they do not believe what they claim to believe.

In short, it's possible for someone to be lying when they claim to be a Christian. Or do you believe that con men are incapable of lying?

From one non-believer to another, I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one.

[Act_of_Reparation]

22. If people who are selective in their reading of scripture can't be "real" Christians...

...then you're going find there are no "real" Christians at all.

And, for what it is worth, your being a non-believer doesn't exempt you from holding the implicit biases of a predominantly theist society. And that's not a judgement call against you. Positive regard for theism is ingrained in our cultural upbringing.

[Crunchy Frog]

25. That wasn't what I was saying.

We're just going to have to agree to disagree because I'm done with this discussion, and I'm not going to be changing my views on this issue.

Edit to add, I'm not talking about people who are selective in their religious beliefs, I'm talking about people who lie about them.

Do you really believe that a professional con man is incapable of lying about something like that, because I think they are capable of lying about anything at all.

I'm done with this discussion now.

[Act_of_Reparation]

31. Fascinating.

Enjoy your day. I'm just gonna leave this here:

[Crunchy Frog]

33. Nope, not what I was saying at all, but nice attempt at being insulting.

So, do you actually believe that con men lack the capacity to lie?

[Act_of_Reparation]

42. I'd be happy to answer that.

Once you actually identify what it is you think they're lying about.

[Mariana]

17. Do you think he's an unbeliever - i.e. an atheist? nt.

[Crunchy Frog]

21. I think he probably hasn't thought out a personal philosophy.

Not everyone does.

[Mariana]

23. Then how can it be said he's no Christian?

I think it's probably better not to try to read his mind, or to try to divine who is and who isn't a True Christian. The reality is that he's a very popular and influential Christian leader, as was his father. Many, many Christians agree with his particular interpretation of Christianity, as they did with his father's.

If the Bible were the least bit clear about what it means to be a Christian, we wouldn't have 1000 denominations of Christianity, plus who knows how many "nondenominational" and "independent" churches, and probably millions of individual practitioners, all of them certain that they are right, and that everyone else is doing it wrong.

[Crunchy Frog]

26. I'm done with this discussion.

I've said my piece and at this point we'll have to agree to disagree.

[Raster]

30. Actually, the New Testament is quite clear...

Matthew 25:35-40 New International Version (NIV)

35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,

36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?

38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?

39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

[Act_of_Reparation]

32. It's also clear on divorce, premarital sex, and hell.

Adherence to scripture doesn't determine whether or not one qualifies as Christian.

[Raster]

35. The Old Testament "seems" to be clear...

...in the New Testament they are not. Christ does not mention divorce, premarital sex, homosexuality, etc. Those bon mots are dragged and dredged from the source material and repurposed according to which false prophet needs to fill their coffers.

[Mariana]

38. Seems like the source material could do with some editing, then.

Jesus did mention divorce:

Matthew 5 : 32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Matthew 19: 9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

Regarding the Old Testament Law, he is supposed to have said:

Matthew 5 : 17-18 Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

[Act_of_Reparation]

41. Not even remotely the case.

Matthew 3:10-12
Matthew 5:17
Matthew 5:29-30
Matthew 7:13-14
Matthew 7:19
Matthew 8:12
Matthew 10:14-15
Matthew 10:28
Matthew 11:20-24
Matthew 13:41-42
Matthew 24:50-51
Matthew 25: 46

And that's just one of the four Gospels.

[Mariana]

39. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."

According to the Scripture, no one adheres to Scripture.

[Mariana]

36. If that were the entirety of the text of the Bible, you'd have a point. nt.

[MissB]

3. So only the ruling class is allowed an opinion?

(The ruling class, of course, consists of the wealthy and not general peons/citizens.)

[Act_of_Reparation]

4. He explained it to them Biblically?

Fantastic. I'm sure they saw the errors of their interpretation and are fast on track to following the "real" Jesus.

[underpants]

6. Falwell Jr. and Joel Osteen are the same

Both were knee deep in blow and hookers when suddenly they both straightened out (sort of) for money.

Osteen’s father died unexpectedly and HOLY CRAP there’s not going to be any more money! He took over the business but doesn’t quite scripture because he still hasn’t studied it. I know many devout Christian types who see him as a fake.

Falwell Jr straightened out either through intervention or because he realized how much money was to be made. He can talk himself up but making money (real estate) within the closed network that is Thomas Road isn’t that tough. Members at Thomas Road don’t dare go outside the church for anything lest they be scorned and kicked out.

Both are PK’s - Preacher’s Kids

[True Blue American]

40. Franlin Graham did the same

Until he found easy money in Dad’s profession.

[Crunchy Frog]

8. On the other hand.

It seems as if there's at least one decent person left in the Southern Baptist Convention.

I'm actually impressed that Russell Moore is speaking out.

[jberryhill]

27. Uh, a blind squirrel sometimes finds an acorn

Looking into other pronouncements of Russell Moore will rapidly disabuse you of any illusion that he is at all a decent human being.

[Crunchy Frog]

34. I didn't know that. I don't pay much attention to what the Southern Baptists are doing.

I definitely shouldn't be surprised. The last truly decent one was probably Jimmy Carter, and he left some time ago.

[Bayard]

12. How does his answer have anything to do with migrant children?

A tRump-like deflection.

[Achilleaze]

19. What does Falwell's republican pool boy say about this?

Falwell's republican poolboy's opinion matters bigly to christo-republicans. Maybe? Or maybe not?

Whatever.

[Johonny]

20. I'm going to assume the Southern Baptist Convention who made him president of the ethics

commission gave him authority to speak on these subjects for Southern Baptists. I'm going to guess, he's helped build up the Southern Baptist convention because, you know, he's a fucking member of it and president of an organization within it. I'm going to assume the Southern Baptist like most organizations make "payroll". I mean, I'm going to assume all this because I'm not a complete fucking idiot. For the record, Jerry Jr. meets his own definition of just an employee, just a bureaucrat of a lousy president of a terrible college. Just saying.

[Retrograde]

24. Moore should ask Falwell

if he's ever read the Gospels - especially the parts where Jesus tells his followers to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, take in the stranger, visit the imprisoned. A lot of Evangelicals seem to focus on the parts of the Bible that they like - namely Leviticus - and ignore all the Christian parts of the New Testament.

[redstatebluegirl]

28. Fallwell did not fall far from the tree. He is a crazy ass as his father.

I have come to believe the evangelical christians have fallen off the edge of the earth.

[Raster]

29. Hey Jerry.... How's the new pool boy working out for you and the Mrs...

...

[lpbk2713]

37. Better watch out for the Lord's furious anger Junior.

The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of
the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of
charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness,
for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will
strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who
attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is
the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you.