Calling Christians of Good Will

[catsittingstill]

I just read a horrible post in Pharyngula.

Those of you who follow the news may recall hearing about the crash of a small plane carrying 14 people in Montana; all aboard were killed. This was obviously a tragedy, made more poignant by the fact that seven of them were children. To make the tragedy particularly bitter, nine of them were from a single family, two children, two spouses-of-children, and five grandchildren of one Irving Feldkamp, who lost a shocking swath of his family in a single appalling event.

Irving Feldkamp owns a chain of clincs called Family Planning Associates. They do real Family Planning, meaning they provide both birth control, and abortions for when birth control fails.

I bet you can see this coming. I bet some of you are cringing, seeing this coming. It is, I'm afraid, just as bad as you think.

One "Gingi Edmonds" wrote a story on Christian Newswire, gloating over his loss.

We warned him, for his children's sake, to wash his hands of the innocent blood he assisted in spilling because, as Scripture warns, if "you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you". (Ezekiel 35:6)

A news source states that Bud Feldkamp visited the site of the crash with his wife and their two surviving children on Monday. As they stood near the twisted and charred debris talking with investigators, light snow fell on the tarps that covered the remains of their children.

I don't want to turn this tragic event into some creepy spiritual 'I told you so' moment, but I think of the time spent outside of Feldkamp's - Pam Feldkamp laughing at the fetal development signs, Bud Feldkamp trying not to make eye contact as he got into his car with a small child in tow - and I think of the haunting words, 'Think of your children.' I wonder if those words were haunting Feldkamp as well as he stood in the snow among the remains of loved ones, just feet from the 'Tomb of the Unborn'?

I particularly like the "I don't want to turn this tragic event into some creepy spiritual "I told you so" moment. Because, of course, that's precisely what she wants to do.

So now is the time for Christians of good will, Christians who don't think a good God would even contemplate an evil act like murdering five children for the "sins" of their grandfather, Christians who are revolted by anyone gloating over someone else's pain, Christans who are appalled by the idea that anyone would deliberately try to make a grieving old man's suffering even worse, to speak up!

Don't tell me; I have it on good authority you exist, and I believe it. Tell Gingi. Her e-mail is gingi@gingiedmonds.com. Tell the world: write your local paper; write your state paper; put a post on your blog. Speak out against this evil; do it boldly and unashamed and without apology.  Even if you disagree with abortion you can still make the point that you are revolted by Gingi's heartless attempt to profit from  Feldkamp's tragedy.

Go forth and show the world that Christians are not intolerant evil jerks who increase suffering.  And pass it on.

Comments

[min0taur.livejournal.com]

You've framed it right, by my lights. As ever. I do indeed know and share friendship with Christians of good will, folks who know what "caritas" and "agape" are, and seek every day to grow in the light of their master's teachings and spirit. They have done me the honor of living-and-letting-live-with-best-wishes; I do my best to return the honor and the favor.

Alas, too many people in the world, especially some loud and bellicose factions who claim to belong to the "great" religious traditions, prefer to oversimplify existence as some proprietary-supernatural analog of a bad war movie driven by a rationalized ferocity they persist in associating with the divine (perhaps because that seems to justify their own ferocity). They believe they are the majority. (They wish.)

I see such folks as more of a threat to their own deepest truth (and their religions' viability) than any of the rest of us. I'm guessing they will never see that.

You know what will also happen, don't you?

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

those odorous vermin in Topeka will send their "representatives" out to the funeral to protest saying that this was His judgment on the people involved.

[tfabris.livejournal.com]

It is sometimes hard to imagine that there's such a thing as a truly tolerant Christian. As you said, such people must exist, but bad apples like Gingi make it hard to see.

There are bad people in all walks of life, of course. The difference between the religious ones and everyone else is that the religious ones do their evil in the name of God, and in fact will go out of their way to tell you that their righteousness comes from their church. You never see people being assholes "in the name of atheism".

God's fan club members keep making him look bad. Is it any wonder that some people look upon that club with derision?

[smallship1.livejournal.com]

I've sent her this:

Dear Ms Edmonds,

I was appalled to read your piece on Christian Newswire. I found it deeply upsetting that a Christian could entertain the idea that such a terrible tragedy could--let alone should--be viewed as God's vengeance. Anything more totally foreign to the message that Jesus delivered to the world would be hard to imagine. I also found it hypocritical in the extreme that you claimed not to be trying to say "I told you so" when that is the entire subtext of your piece. "We warned you, and now God has taken your family: let that be a lesson to you." Did you really mean to say that, Ms Edmonds? Do you think God would look kindly on you for saying that to someone who has just suffered a horrible bereavement? Who is your God, that he would countenance gloating over someone in misery?

God does not deliver revenge in this life, Ms Edmonds. That is not the way of Christianity, but of some dark and primitive cult from the dawn of time. Re-read your Bible, please, and re-learn the true message of Christ, for your own sake and for your readers who may well see you as some kind of authority.

Love your enemy. Do good to them that wish ill to you. Forgive those who trespass against you, and commiserate with them whole-heartedly in their sorrow, and leave no room in your heart for meanness and smugness, for they are hateful to God. And do not use someone else's grief to make points for your cause, because then you are truly turning away from Christ and towards the darkness.

I hope I will be one of many who write to you to say this...one of many who see the cause of Christ misused and perverted to serve all too human ends. I hope you will find it in your heart to listen.
____________________________________

I'm not a Christian, of course, but I hope I can be counted as someone of good will...

[braider.livejournal.com]

Hah! Her email box is full.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

Um, let's not e-mail bomb her. That's a questionable act at best. (Though I see it's too late.) Other than that, resist!

[impossibleway.livejournal.com]

It is very unfortunate that the most vocal people of my faith represent it and the lessons of Jesus so poorly. She needs just as many prayers as anyone else. :-(

God would even contemplate an evil act like murdering five

[(Anonymous)]

Oh no. i believe God would not contemplate an evil as such. But, we bring evil upon ourselves by the choices we make! And sometimes, the innocents suffer.

Just like abortion, the innocents suffer because of the mother's choice.

[kittyguitar.livejournal.com]

As regards the whole "punishing one for the sins of another" thing, I've come to the conclusion that the only moral response to a sacrifice like the one Jesus is purported to have made would be to reject it. "What? All my sins will be forgiven if this Jewish carpenter is tortured to death? I guess I'll just have to do without forgiveness, then!"

I often thank Whomever May Be Listening that I'm not one of those people who believes in an angry and spiteful God. It can be oddly comforting to understand that sometimes bad things just happen and it's nobody's fault.