Thursday, September 29, 2011

Quoting Morality

The other day, there was a quote from Dr. Robert Schuler, founder of one of the "most successful" mega-churches in the world. As I heard the quote, I was thinking, should we really be quoting from this man? Just because he is a leader of a church, he gets a pass on the hate he spews from the pulpit and we can cherry pick certain things he says? So let us analyze some quotes from the supposed moral Dr. Schuler.

1. "I'm very proud of who I am. I am innocent. I have not broken a single one of the Ten Commandments. I have not broken any of the teachings of Jesus Christ, and so I'm proud of my faith and message," (http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/exposes/schuller/general.htm)

Wow! Hmm, I thought pride/hubris was a deadly sin. The third sentence, not to break a single commandment is near impossible. How about #4? Remember the Sabbath day. Says you should do no work, I'll overlook the fact that it is your job to work every Sunday, you do get paid as a pastor don't you? But how about washing dishes, doing laundry, mowing the lawn, household chores, etc. Well, you are probably so rich you can afford people to do this for you...again, still breaking the Sabbath because you shouldn't hire workers to do thing for you as well. So, no shopping on Sunday, no restaurants, no purchasing gas. Are you saying you have done none of these in your life? Oops, that brings us to number two.

2. By virtue of number one, you have just broke #9 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Lying! The big one! Everyone lies, lying is necessary sometimes. Let me give you an example; you are hiding a Jewish family in your attic from the Nazi's during World War II. The SS comes by and asks you questions, "do you give up the family because the commandment says so? Or do you lie to keep them safe and out of harm’s way?" I know what I would do as a moral person, but is faith in the bible and god more important than the life of that family? So back to Schuler, is he being moral when he lies about not breaking any of the commandments? Is he being a good person? Yes, I believe that he believes he is doing something right...but continuing to preach lies, such as there is creationism instead of evolution. (http://www.christianpost.com/news/robert-a-schuller-godtube-co-founder-team-up-reveal-new-ministry-plans-38904/)

So now, should we be quoting morality from just anyone? From someone who themselves is not moral? How should we determine whether this person is moral or not? Here is an example of what I mean. The quote "As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice."
sounds like something that you may hear from any conservative, republican or Christian these days. Now, would you be surprised that this quote came from Adolf Hitler? So now, if even I could cherry pick a quote from Hitler about morality, would it be okay to use it in a public forum? I'm guessing there would be much outrage.

Truly, when I think that quotes are cherry picked and people do no research about the people making the quote. I also think that quotes from Christians are very dubious and really have no place in a public setting.

-SB

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