Agape, pronounced ah-gah-pay´, is from the Greek; it means, according to dictionary.com, “Love as revealed in Jesus, seen as spiritual and selfless and a model for humanity.” Pronounced
a-gayp´, it means, according to the same source, “In a state of wonder or amazement, as with the mouth wide open.”
It is in that latter sense that one is forced to read the latest from Agape Press, labeling itself “Reliable News from a Christian Source”. The post, titled “New Orleans Residents: God’s Mercy Evident in Katrina’s Wake”, quotes two ministers from New Orleans. The first, Chuck Kelley, President of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, considers it evidence of God’s mercy that He did not hit New Orleans head on with Katrina. “Had the levee given way during the hurricane, he says, ‘untold thousands of people’ would have been killed.”
OK. But the prize goes to the Reverend Bill Shanks, pastor of New Covenant Fellowship of New Orleans, who sees the evidence of God’s mercy in the fact that He has, via the convenient mechanism of Katrina, wiped out much of the “rampant sin common to the city”. He warned us and warned us, complains the Rev. Shanks, but did we listen? Noooo. And now this.
“New Orleans now is abortion free. New Orleans now is Mardi Gras free. New Orleans now is free of Southern Decadence and the sodomites, the witchcraft workers, false religion — it’s free of all of those things now,” Shanks says. “God simply, I believe, in His mercy purged all of that stuff out of there — and now we’re going to start over again.”
Agape. From the Greek
(Or is that hubris?)
Zebrality.com | 03-Sep-05 at 4:00 pm | Permalink
For the Love of God
For the Love of God
Mary Miller | 03-Sep-05 at 4:08 pm | Permalink
Those minis-”turds” should be locked in a cell with the arbitors of hate from other religious organizations and belief systems….they better hope God doesn’t go “gunnin’ for them”. So much for what they know about the Bible…as I recall after THE FLOOD (remember the one with the BIG boat and TWO of everything?) God said he wouldn’t destroy the world with water again…didn’t hee…well, I seem to remember something like that.
God Bless you gentlemen and God Bless the flock you’re fleecing
Ruth Rich | 03-Sep-05 at 4:32 pm | Permalink
I’m ashamed to say as a Christian that I had the same initial reaction - that the tragedy in New Orleans was God’s judgement. In fact, I was dumb enough to mention that idea to my son who reminded me (we had just come back from a youth church summer camp) that we had spent a week telling teenagers that God is a God of mercy. That no matter what you have done, God is not there to “zap” you. He always has his arms wide open.
I was also reminded that people tried to corner Jesus into making judgements. They asked him why a tower fell on a bunch of unfortunate individuals back in the day. Jesus response was - ok - bad things happen to good people and bad people. It’s just life. The real test is what you do when the bad things happen. Do you cross over to the other side of the road and point the finger at the person who has suffered the tragedy or do you get in there and help?
I hope I can become the latter.