Increasingly, though, I see another variable at work here which feeds into, but is also fed by those three variables...
Matthew 25King James Version (KJV)
25 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
"Watch ye therefore, for ye know not when the master of the house cometh." to quote Andy Dufresne in the Shawshank Redemption, is my favorite short version of this. While the guards are conducting a shakedown of the cell block he lives in, the Warden asks Andy what his favorite Bible verse is. Of course as Red, narrating, goes on to explain; the Warden simply wanted to take the measure of Andy and see what he was made of, how he held up under pressure.
This parable is relevant to me in other ways, though. See, I spent the majority of the latter half of the 1990's as a member of the End Times Prophecy Movement. If there even IS a source that could be pinpointed as to why American Christianity has a lot of the problems that it currently does, I'd start there and for that matter, I'd start then, also. See, just to take one modern issue (which is particularly on my mind on this 60F February day) Climate Change; For a large percentage of the time I was in that movement the El Nino climate phenomenon in the Pacific and its potential effects were on everyone's mind. It bears the name that it does because it was so named by mostly-Catholic Peruvian fishermen, and it usually reaches its peak around Christmas. So, at that time with anxiety about the turn of the Millennium also being a thing...Climate Change was viewed as a sign of the End Times.
But, now that Climate Change is more coming into effect, and regulations to combat it threaten to put a small dent in the short-term profits of Oil companies...well let's just say if you weren't a member of the End Times movement at the same time that I was...you'd never know Climate Change was once seen as both a fact and a *Good* if only because climate changes form an integral part of the later Judgments of Revelation and those things starting to happen in the real world could point in that direction. But, a lot of right-wing Texas oil billionaires have extensive ties to Christian Fundamentalism and they give preachers money, You can do the math on how that one turned out. I have faith in you, the reader.
Nowadays, not only with Climate Change, but with damned near every other Environmental issue (Unless it happens to affect them directly) most conservative Christians of most stripes will say "But God promised He would not destroy the world." That's bullshit for quite a few reasons but it starts and ends with the fact that God never said that Man could not turn around and destroy it on his own, so I'm just going to leave it at that.
Like I've said for several years now, I really feel like if he were to arise tomorrow, all the AntiChrist of Revelations would have to do is go on FOX News and say a few vaguely Conservative and religious-sounding words and promise to "Get" Obama in some undefined way, and all too many American "Conservatives" would be ready, willing and able to listen to what he had to say. Throw in a little racism, maybe a cameo appearance in Donald Trump's carnival show with a golf outing at the "Winter White House" selfies with the rich and some vague talk about a war in the Middle East and these people would be lining up 'round the block to take the Mark of The Beast. No. Questions. Asked.
Not one single one. I'd literally bet my life on it.
The right-wing side of American Christianity has been so gas-lit by its Politicians and Professional Christians and its religion has become so intertwined with its politics and divorced from the actual teachings contained in the Bible that these people simply do not care. The End justifies the Means. Jesus could show up to do it all over again, and preach verbatim out of the King James Version and do exactly the same things the Bible says He did back in the day, and the result would be the exact same. If He hung out with the gays and immigrants and the liberals and the sinners, maybe helped some homeless people or used His skills in the building trades to install some solar panels on an old lady's roof, not to mention called them on their bullshit? These fucking people would not only make a hashtag of #CrucifyHim, they'd shout it in the streets and blow up the E-mail and voice-mail inboxes of their state governments and federal representatives and Senators and they'd call Jesus a terrorist and seek to have Crucifixion no longer considered cruel and unusual punishment in cases of Theological Terrorism. If you can't, for example, see John Roberts, Mitch McConnell or Paul Ryan asking Jesus "What is Truth?" at His trial, then you haven't been paying attention.
I say this with absolute certainty. If Jesus Himself asked these fucking people to go home and rethink their lives? They'd happily throw Him under the bus and make a new religion of Trumpism, Bigly.
Everybody wants change, seems like a lot of people don't want to change. But, that is what God asks of us. Every day we are supposed to die to Self, pick up our Cross and follow Jesus. That's what I was taught, anyway. Preach that straight up these days, and somebody will likely call you a Communist. Yes, We're talking about a threat that hasn't even existed for almost 28 years now. (Come on, even the Chinese and the Cubans and the Vietnamese aren't really Communists anymore.) That's how unwilling we as a nation are to give up a little, maybe evaluate some new information, think of others, and just maybe follow or be a part of something greater than ourselves. We'll hang on to something that's been dead longer than Ronald Reagan, just to justify our bullshit.
We're not watching to see if the Son of Man is coming, hell, we lost the plot on that when the whole Y2K thing fizzled out.
14 For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.
15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.
16 Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.
17 And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.
18 But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.
19 After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.
20 And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.
21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
22 He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.
23 His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
24 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:
25 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
27 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
30 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
This. If the guy with one Talent isn't Conservative America right now, I don't know how the hell to describe it.
If you really look at it, a hell of a lot of the things these people are against actually contribute more to our system than they take out, whether it be the Affordable Care Act, Food Stamps, Gay people (I mean, come on, what does someone loving who they want to really cost anybody else at all?)Immigrants (both legal and illegal, and if you don't believe me on that score read this) Medicare, Minorities, Muslims, National Parks, Refugees in general (and often, refugees from places like Iraq and Syria in particular, I know of a number of cases of Iraqi refugees joining the Army or the Marine Corps, for example. Syrian refugees have already had a small but notable positive effect in Canada) Social Security and all sorts of various other things Actually put one HELL of a lot more to the US economy than they take out. This isn't my opinion talking, SNAP, the Federal program that governs food stamps, generates $2 in the US economy for every $1 that is put into it. Medicare and Social Security don't just support old people, they put a hell of a lot of that money right back into Florida real estate, FOX News and the health care industry along with all sorts of other things that old people need or want to have.
But no, it costs each person a few dollars in tax money or exposes them to something new or forces them to deal with people they don't like or has some degree of inconvenience or threatens their personal "bubble" or somebody they don't like is responsible for it...so it can't be good and it has to go, right? RIGHT?!?! If we don't like it, it has to be banned! If somebody else gets more freedom, I have less, right? RIGHT!?!?!?!?!
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
Wrong. Either you believe in an All-powerful, eternal, infinite God who created an infinite Universe that even now stretches out into eternity, or you don't.
That is demonstrated in how we see the world, and right now to paraphrase Margaret Weis in the notes from the margins of the condensed volume of the first three Dragonlance books, the average American Conservative thinks that God is a blind man at the bottom of a very deep well who thinks the Universe is six feet wide.
...And, having Created god in Their own image, these people feel the same way.
Reality is a thing, people. Truth is a thing. We each will be judged someday, and the color of your skin or your politics or religion or social status won't have one damn thing to do with the results.
How you handle Truth, will.
Whether you act out of love or out of hate, will.
Whether you believed the Apocalypse was your Tribal revenge fantasy, or a great outpouring of justice where Judgment ran down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream, will.
Life is not a zero-sum game, death *Is* a part of life and so are other people.
After all, we wouldn't have all these diverse people with their many and varied beliefs and all this stuff that we have if God had not created it or given Man the scientific knowledge and the tools and somehow or other authored the physical laws that make them work, now would we? This stuff doesn't work by magic. God gave us the Sun, and gave Man the capability to make solar panels that turn sunlight into electricity, now why the hell aren't we taking full advantage of something that God gave us?
Well, you can't make as much money if you go by the Truth, now can you?
God had quite a few things to say about that very issue, and that is who these people are really afraid of. That is exactly why they believe life is a zero-sum game and fear death and fear having their beliefs challenged and fear other people.
That is exactly why these people act as if the Universe is six feet wide. They can't face the concept of Eternity, because their own mentality makes them small. It's drilled into everyone in Western Civilization, everyone who is influenced by the Abrahamic religions, that each of us will be given our eternal place in the afterlife based on how we have conducted ourselves in this one, and for most of us this starts before we are old enough to process it so it gets hard-wired in. All the evasions and technicalities don't get taught until later. They value this life, because they fear eternity.
They don't want to use their talents because the Master is a hard man. That's what Man will always come back to, fear.
But we're supposed to use the things we have been given, and when we can, use them to help other people. If everybody did that, all the time, then the government wouldn't have to step in and do it for us so that some could resent having to pay for it. That comes down to the fear that somebody else is getting something, and you're not.
We are supposed to be better than that. No one said it was easy, fuck easy.
How we treat other people, is how Christ will judge us.
...And at the end of the day, that is exactly what they are afraid of.
Luke 6:31King James Version (KJV)
31 And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
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