Or so one person would have you believe. I noticed on a discussion board related to Barack Obama, a conservative gentleman first declared that “so-called bible using liberals” are “nut jobs, liberals dont have religion.” To prove his point, he quoted Ecclesiastes 10:2: “The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left.”
Sometimes I am so immersed in academic biblical studies and am a part of such a vastly different Christian community than this gentleman, that I forget that this kind of Bible usage is out there and won’t ever go away. I don’t suppose there is anything I could ever say to someone who uses the Bible like this to convince them otherwise. Someday I’ll have to blog about some of my encounters with such “Bible-thumping” in public places.
I once a met a bible thumper on a bus…he seems to be turning out okay…
Oh dear, Pat. You really should get out more.
If you want to collect quotes of this kind, I suggest you ride a bus in the Bible belt wearing a T-shirt with some sort of religious statement on it. I made that mistake in Houston and ended up being the bemused audience to a spirited discussion between the driver and another passenger about whether the Catholic church is the Anti-Christ or the Whore of Babylon. At one point the bus driver whipped out a book to prove his point! And I was sooooo glad that I hadn’t told them why I was visiting Texas.
I hope so, Jemila! But it took a long time for me to change and I don’t think any “liberals” could have changed my mind in those days. For everyone else: my dear friend Jemila here is referring to me in my high school days when I (along with some friends) successfully evangelized Jemila into Christianity
Judy, you’re absolutely right. I have had plenty of uncomfortable moments on bus rides, book stores, and even selling my guitar in a small guitar shop. But I have been immersed in my church and seminary so much lately that I don’t get to see the more “colorful” side of the church. When I was a Bible major in college, I thought it would shut people up if I told them that I was a Bible major as soon as they started to evangelize me, but it just made things worse. Then they wanted to test me and see if I’d lost my faith being a Bible major. But you studying the Gospel of Thomas and all, well heck, let’s not even get started on that!