BUSH'S JESUS - Real Christians Think For Themselves
Dr. Gerry Lower, Keystone, South Dakota - bushwatch

A few years ago, eastern South Dakotans experienced a devastating tornado which virtually destroyed a small ranch town on the prairie. After the storm subsided, one woman and her young son emerged from the debris of their basement quite safe and sound. The mother told how she had grabbed her son and carried him to the basement. There she laid him on the floor, she laid down on top of him, and she grabbed a firm hold of the water pipes anchored to the basement wall.

Overjoyed at being alive, the mother was, of course, asked by reporters how she had ever managed to survive. The mother's response was, "Jesus saved us. We prayed and Jesus saved us." And the people did rejoice that Jesus, once again, had come through for the few, nevermind the many. Thank god almighty.

There are several points to make about this story in terms of religious and Christian content.

Jesus had nothing to do with it, all right? If we examine the woman's actions, heading to the basement and hanging on for dear life, her program falls into the category of common sense precautions, the likes of which most people have heard about at some time or another, especially people living on the open prairies. This sort of knowledge and a little luck always go further than anything else we currently can summon up to help. There is no need to thank Jesus, and here is why He wouldn't appreciate the applause.

Without realizing it, the woman's statement (coming, no doubt, from a warm-hearted Christian lady) is admirably anti-Christian and religiously self-righteous. She did not intend for this at all, but that is what comes out when Christian values are compromised by those of the Old Testament Roman world. If we must applaud Jesus for saving this mother and her son's lives, then we must condemn Jesus for allowing so many others to perish in the tornado. In other words, by assigning her survival to Jesus instead of to her own common sense and good luck, she has placed herself into a self-righteous position in which an ethereal Jesus has presumably employed supernatural powers to show her preferential favoritism over others. Praise the lord.

Nowhere in New Testament scripture is there an indication that Jesus wanted credit for every wonderful and lucky thing that happens on this planet. He just wanted people to be honest with and caring of each other. He just wanted people to do as He did, think for themselves. That is all, and that is everything. Indeed, it was precisely because the woman in South Dakota thought for herself, with knowledge provided by others with experience, that she and her son survived the storm. Bravo! Christianity (the real thing) works.

Constrast this with the approaches promoted by right wing "compassionate" conservatives in America who urge our national leaders to rely not at all on their own knowledge or any human knowledge, who urge our national leaders to not think for themselves. Rather, they urge pursuit of a self-righteous, belligerent stance in the world in the name of America's rich and the the religion they use to justify their cause, which embraces no one but themselves.
In other words, "compassionate" conservatives use the nascent Christian concept of compassion as a justification for a conservative political philosophy that bears no relationship whatsoever to Christianity.

No, I am afraid that Jesus does not directly save us from anything. He died nearly two millennia ago, you may recall. By Jefferson's time, it was clear that nascent Christian values were a rejection of traditional religious values.

In Jefferson's mind, Jesus saves us from ourselves by promoting a little honest introspection and cogitation as to what causes what in the world, this knowledge providing the path to wisdom. Jesus saves us from ourselves by exposing the dark side of vengeance-based moralism, absolute legalism and penalism, and marketplace pragmatism. These are the cultural beliefs which now dominate America at the expense of nascent Christian and American values, compliments of the Bush administration and the Texas Southern Baptist political party.

The American Temple has fallen at the hands of the very same men whom the first Christian threw out of the Temple, men who would wrap their self-styled agenda up in spiritual and nationalistic attire in order to leverage their way with the people.

So, next time you hear someone praising Jesus for saving lives, please remind these people that Jesus only saves us by teaching us to think for ourselves. That is all, and that is everything. Be devoutly honest, be compassionate, and think for yourselves, my friends. It is all the more Christian you need to be, it is all the more Christian you can be. Just think for yourself, and you will end up not talking about Christ but thinking like Him. That's all He ever asked, so sure He was that you would find Him inside yourself.