That's not how it works

[mme_hardy]

Doug Phillips, the head of one of the foremost Christian-patriarchy groups, Vision Forums, has just resigned after having had something that was almost, but not quite, like an affair.  That's not why I've called you here today.   It's this bit of his resignation letter that put a little extra starch in my amice:

  I am most sensitive to the fact that my actions have dishonored the living God and been shameful to the name of Jesus Christ, my only hope and Savior.

No.   That is not the way it works.   For all I know, the baby Jesus is indeed throwing His pacifier out of the manger, but it's not from shame.   You can't shame God.   You can't dishonor God.   God may be sorry for you, God may be embarrassed for you, God will probably forgive you.   But -- Problem of Evil notwithstanding -- your sins don't make God look bad.  That very sentence is a sign that you've gone way too far down the road of identifying God with yourself.

Comments

[staranise]

Oh, how I love a good theological takedown! Rock on.

His version of apology is far less humbling than admitting he is dishonoured and shamed.

[recessional]

It will never cease to astonish me how little these people think of their god.

[sara]

Ayep. He may have been disrespectful to God by not honoring his marital vows, but no, the only dude he's dishonored here is himself.

Also, if you're not fucking, it's not infidelity. It's maybe a friendship so close that your spouse may ask you some pointed questions, but being friends with an opposite-sex person is not infidelity.

[pashazade.livejournal.com]

You can't shame God.   You can't dishonor God.   God may be sorry for you, God may be embarrassed for you, God will probably forgive you.   But -- Problem of Evil notwithstanding -- your sins don't make God look bad.  That very sentence is a sign that you've gone way too far down the road of identifying God with yourself.

Tell it. I look at the evangelical fundamentalist wing and can only think that God to them really is a man sitting on a cloud and you know, just like a person *only more so*. (Herbert McCabe said that Creationism was wrong because it made God into a god, and I remember reading it and thinking "That is it exactly". The ludicrous arguments against the science always irritated me, but the theology of it always struck me as deeply wrong but I could never articulate it simply enough. Sorry, slightly off-topic there.)

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Of course he thinks he's God. He's been one of the biggest movers and shakers in the funagelical quiverfull fringe for ages, and he's the son of someone who was very high up in the conservative party. Hell, he PREACHES that his children and wife must submit to him as God!

I've been following this on the ex fundie blogs I read. The next bombshell is that the ministry itself has shut down. No him, no ministry.

HOWEVER he has not stepped down from the part of Vision Forum that sells books and toys and lectures on how to live the lifestyle he could not live up to.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Well said.