Things I Think…

1. I’m a fan of the ZDogg podcast on the pandemic…and he had some interesting things to say about our divisions:

“Like it’s religious, it’s religious. It’s religious thinking. Let’s unpack that for a second. Why do I think it’s religion? My friend, David Fuller, Rebel Wisdom, and I’ve been talking about this a lot. Because we have a God-shaped hole in the universe in modern secular society, we humans, who are actually deeply spiritual, wired creatures. That’s why I’ve really gone down the awakening meditation rabbit hole because it’s a calling. It’s like a pull to like what am I, who am I, where am I? What is this? Are we all connected? Why do I have these transient experiences during meditation of unconditional love for everything and everyone, and no sense of self? What is that? Hmm, oh, well, we used to call that God.

And then we kind of stripped that away, and now we have this need for this kind of tribal spiritualism in many circles. And so what’s the sort of Blue Church Covidian spirituality in COVID? What’s the religious fervor? It’s you are unclean if you’re unvaccinated. You are not baptized. You should be rejected from this church, not allowed to come into my restaurant, come into my hospital, come into my home because you are an impure thing. It’s sanctity versus degradation. They have that moral palette, too. So we will treat you as a religious outsider, as someone who is a heathen or an infidel, and they do.

They’ll shame you. They’ll say things like it’s okay if you die in the hospital, because you’re less than human. That’s the religiosity in the Covidian sort of thesis tribe.

So what’s the religiosity on the other side, on the antithesis tribe, the Covidiot tribe? By the way, I use these words because they are the pejorative words. They’re the demeaning words that each side uses on each other. Peter Limburg of the Stoa first really described this when he talked about Covidian, Covidiot, and thesis and antithesis tribe, while looking for synthesis, which I call Alt-Middle, the trying to find truth from all sides. Okay, so the antithesis tribe’s religiosity is an apocalyptic revelation-type religiosity. So it’s, hey, we have to show the devilry at work here that these guys are conspiring in an evil cult to basically keep this pandemic going forever. It’s a plandemic, and the holy sacraments of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine are being ignored by these devils. And they wanna destroy our church of freedom. And it’s then wrapped in conspiracy and Great Reset and Davos and Bill Gates and these devils. And it takes on the quality of religious fervor. Because if you say the wrong thing, boy, you’ll see your comment section light up. You’ll see friends and family disown you on social media because of something that happened on social media, ’cause you are outside the religion. We’ve seen this happen. We know what this is. Look at the Salem witch trial. Haigt, in his “Coddling of the American Mind,” talks about how modern cancel culture on both sides of the political spectrum is like a witch trial, it’s like a mob witch hunt type of deal. You have a moral panic. You have this group mob. You usually have a private beef somewhere that triggers the whole thing. It’s really fascinating. And I think it’s real. I do, I think it’s real.”

2. What the ZDogg missed is that both sides think God is on their side…and what is being waged is a holy war…

3. I have loved ones on both sides of this debate…and all the other debates we have…they remain loved ones…but until we drop the religious aspects of these matters we will continue in division..which is anti Christian, by the way…

4. When I speak on matters that do not pertain to theology, I speak from lack, because I have limited knowledge about medical and political issues. I do not speak as a pastor and I certainly don’t speak for God…the Holy Spirit doesn’t inform me about current events or what medication you should take…and any pastor that does baptize his lack as if it were from Sinai is a liar and potentially, a blasphemer…

5. I can speak as a Christian seeking understanding on how to apply my faith to a given issue…but to imply that my office gives me authority outside my calling is prideful lying…

6. As a pastor, I’m also aware of my limitations theologically. I’m not that smart to begin with…and no mind can fully understand the mysteries of God…

7. Those of you that think I emphasize the suffering part of the Christian walk too much need to get out more…

8. Contrary to popular Christian mythology…Jesus doesn’t want anyone to go to hell…and He went to great lengths to keep people out of it…Christians on the other hand…

9. If your “Gospel” doesn’t sound like the best news ever…it’s not the gospel…it’s just your way of dividing people you like from people you don’t…

10. I’m past wishing I had all the answers…I’m just trying to form good questions…