For the life of me, I can’t understand why someone like Rush Limbaugh enjoys such strong support throughout the Bible Belt.
He represents just about everything Jesus wasn’t.
He possesses not an ounce of humility.
He exhibits no personal discipline.
He disparages the poor as harshly as Jesus compassionately protected them.
He doesn’t mind lying or relying upon distortion to make a point.
He is a walking, talking bundle of overindulgence.
He’s a hypocrite, preaching about values and principles that he has clearly not followed.
That’s his perogative. If it keeps his pockets fat and his audiences large, then he has every right to continue doing just that.
My question isn’t really about him; it’s about all the people who swear by Jesus in one breath and Limbaugh in the next.
It’s akin to swearing up and down that your favorite color is white … before saying it’s black.
The kneejerk response is to say that people on the left do the same, because some of them pledge allegiance to cads such as Keith Olbermann who can be just as deceitful and acerbic.
Limbaugh’s defenders say there is a double standard, that it isn’t fair to point to his foibles without doing the same for those who are championed by Limbaugh’s main opponents.
That’s a fair concern and a spot-on criticism, and that’s why it was right that hyper-liberal and too-often ugly and divisive talk show host Ed Schultz was taken off the air for a week by MSNBC after he called a conservative woman commentator a slut.
But to get bogged down in the he-said-she-said-worse paradigm is to miss the larger point, because I’m not talking about just anyone in the political arena. I’m not just talking about people who are primarily about politics.
They live by a different set of rules, in which they skirt as close as possible to untruths about the other side and only pull back when they are called on it, and sometimes not even then. Both sides play that game.
I’m talking about people of faith, those who say family values are paramount and claim that living a life that is, in their view, pleasing to God is sacrosanct.
I’m talking about the people of faith who say they are striving to be more Christ-like.
I’m talking about the people who prayed and worshiped on Sunday morning but by afternoon were quick to defend or excuse Limbaugh’s comments directed toward a law student at Georgetown University. He called her a slut and prostitute for having the temerity to weigh in on the debate about where the line should be drawn between the religious freedom of faith organizations and upholding medically necessary coverage and treatment.
I can’t, for the life of me, see how absorbing the vitriol spewed daily by Limbaugh corresponds to a desire to be more like Jesus.
This is not a conservative vs. liberal argument. There are plenty of conservatives who make solid, reasonable arguments about their positions without resorting to the nastiness that is a hallmark of Limbaugh’s career – and without backing down.
There are plenty of conservatives who walk out their principles, and that’s probably why Rick Santorum is giving Mitt Romney more of a run for his money than anyone expected.
Whether you agree with Santorum or not, he is no Limbaugh. He is not preaching one thing in public and living another way in private, even if he does dip his toe into the pool of political distortion as most politicians – Republican and Democrat – at his level do.
I’m talking about the people of faith who are quick to quote the old saw, “You may be the only Bible someone reads.”
What if Limbaugh was the only Bible someone read. Is he a good standard bearer for the Christian faith? If not, then why do some many Christians along the Grand Strand and the rest of the Bible Belt treat him like a god?
I hesitated before writing this piece, wondering if I was holding people of faith to too high a standard.
But maybe too many of the faithful have allowed their standards to fall too low.
By Issac J.By Bailey–The Sun News
He represents just about everything Jesus wasn’t.
He possesses not an ounce of humility.
He exhibits no personal discipline.
He disparages the poor as harshly as Jesus compassionately protected them.
He doesn’t mind lying or relying upon distortion to make a point.
He is a walking, talking bundle of overindulgence.
He’s a hypocrite, preaching about values and principles that he has clearly not followed.
That’s his perogative. If it keeps his pockets fat and his audiences large, then he has every right to continue doing just that.
My question isn’t really about him; it’s about all the people who swear by Jesus in one breath and Limbaugh in the next.
It’s akin to swearing up and down that your favorite color is white … before saying it’s black.
The kneejerk response is to say that people on the left do the same, because some of them pledge allegiance to cads such as Keith Olbermann who can be just as deceitful and acerbic.
Limbaugh’s defenders say there is a double standard, that it isn’t fair to point to his foibles without doing the same for those who are championed by Limbaugh’s main opponents.
That’s a fair concern and a spot-on criticism, and that’s why it was right that hyper-liberal and too-often ugly and divisive talk show host Ed Schultz was taken off the air for a week by MSNBC after he called a conservative woman commentator a slut.
But to get bogged down in the he-said-she-said-worse paradigm is to miss the larger point, because I’m not talking about just anyone in the political arena. I’m not just talking about people who are primarily about politics.
They live by a different set of rules, in which they skirt as close as possible to untruths about the other side and only pull back when they are called on it, and sometimes not even then. Both sides play that game.
I’m talking about people of faith, those who say family values are paramount and claim that living a life that is, in their view, pleasing to God is sacrosanct.
I’m talking about the people of faith who say they are striving to be more Christ-like.
I’m talking about the people who prayed and worshiped on Sunday morning but by afternoon were quick to defend or excuse Limbaugh’s comments directed toward a law student at Georgetown University. He called her a slut and prostitute for having the temerity to weigh in on the debate about where the line should be drawn between the religious freedom of faith organizations and upholding medically necessary coverage and treatment.
I can’t, for the life of me, see how absorbing the vitriol spewed daily by Limbaugh corresponds to a desire to be more like Jesus.
This is not a conservative vs. liberal argument. There are plenty of conservatives who make solid, reasonable arguments about their positions without resorting to the nastiness that is a hallmark of Limbaugh’s career – and without backing down.
There are plenty of conservatives who walk out their principles, and that’s probably why Rick Santorum is giving Mitt Romney more of a run for his money than anyone expected.
Whether you agree with Santorum or not, he is no Limbaugh. He is not preaching one thing in public and living another way in private, even if he does dip his toe into the pool of political distortion as most politicians – Republican and Democrat – at his level do.
I’m talking about the people of faith who are quick to quote the old saw, “You may be the only Bible someone reads.”
What if Limbaugh was the only Bible someone read. Is he a good standard bearer for the Christian faith? If not, then why do some many Christians along the Grand Strand and the rest of the Bible Belt treat him like a god?
I hesitated before writing this piece, wondering if I was holding people of faith to too high a standard.
But maybe too many of the faithful have allowed their standards to fall too low.
By Issac J.By Bailey–The Sun News
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