Christian Group a "Front Group for Democrats"?

On 9/26/06, Rev. Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition saw fit to inform me that I should watch out for some terrible wolves in sheep's clothing, the "Red Letter Christians" (RLCs).

Sheldon apparently deems it downright heretical that Christians should actually try to apply themselves to doing what Jesus said. That is absolutely priceless.

I actually don't care a whit about what the "Red Letter Christians" hope to achieve--what's really annoying about this item was Sheldon's assertion that the RLC's are "a front group for Democrats"... as if to suggest, in contrast, that the Traditional Values Coalition and other Christian political activist groups are not front groups for Republicans. ROTFLMAO!

Sheldon pronounces the RLCs to be "pseudo-evangelical" posers, and offers us his own personal definition of the word evangelical: "True Evangelicals believe that the Bible -- each word, each sentence -- is the Word of God. This is how you can tell the difference between these pseudo-evangelicals and true Evangelicals."

However, when I looked up the word evangelical, I actually found information that showing that Sheldon's personal definition is almost the exact oppositeof what the dictionary says the word means.

The only listed definition that I might argue cleaves to Sheldon's idea of what "evangelical" means is this one, and it was fourth in a list of four definitions: "marked by ardent or zealous enthusiasm for a cause." (Courtesy WordNet.com... note, don't confuse it with WorldNet!)

What Sheldon calls an "evangelical," I call a "fundamentalist." In my personal experience, fundamentalists describe themselves as being the Christians who take the Bible completely literally--that is, "each word, each sentence [of the Bible] -- is the word of God." I have no argument with Sheldon there--I suspect he'd call a fundamentalist the same thing. But a fundamentalist and an evangelical are not the same thing, by dictionary definition. Rev. Sheldon needs to get himself in line with the dictionary. Words already do have established meanings, after all. (But oh, I forgot... to the fundamentalists among us, education is a "liberal" pursuit. Horrors!)

Clearly, Rev. Sheldon doesn't think liberal Christians are capable of being zealous for Christ, or sold out for Christ... but if you want to do what your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ says by paying special attention to the "red letter" parts of the Bible, doesn't that argue that the RLCs are *more* zealous *for Christ* than folks like Sheldon? What I've observed is that Christian fundamentalists are far more zealous about the *Old* Testament than they are about the New Testament. And if you're going to be a *Christian*--i.e., someone who follows *Christ*--it seems to me the RLCs, not the Lou Sheldons of this world, are the ones who've got it right!

Does Jehovah give you golden points if you're zealous for the wrong thing(s)??? I suspect not. If Sheldon really loves Jesus, he'd better fall in line behind the RLCs.

Christians have spent most of their time since the first century fighting with each other about who among themselves is for real and who is a fake. The last church I attended before leaving Christianity altogether in the mid-1990s was real big on that--they believed that if someone didn't belong to *their denomination*, those others weren't real Christians. And my last denomination was small--it had around 90,000 members worldwide, at the height of its popularity. (Well, Jesus did say--in red letters--that the way is narrow, didn't he?!)

Sheldon's assertion would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic and desperate.

But LOL, I welcome *anything* that gets conservative activist Christians to take their eyes off the political ball.