Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Farewell Jerry

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On May 15th, the day after my birthday, Jerry Falwell dropped dead from a heart condition. I admit that I have no love for this man. I will say, though, that he was a true believer in the Christian bible and stuck to his literalist guns. This is in stark contrast to the buffet style Christianity that leads most of the flock. As a result, Jerry Falwell established a public persona that was often seen as sensationalist, incendiary and quite frankly a first class asshole. For instance, when Falwell remarked that AIDS is “God’s punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals,” many may have thought him uncompassionate. I don’t think this is a fair assessment. The bible is full of occasions when God has unleashed horrific actions onto human societies, so why would AIDS be any different. Falwell also believed that the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001 were another one of God’s punishments for the sins of this country.

"I really believe that the Pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians, ...the ACLU, People for the American Way - all of them who have tried to secularize America - I point the finger in their face and say ‘you helped this [terrorist attack] happen.”

He truly saw the hand of God acting everyday in the lives of people, whether for blessings or punishment. I just have to wonder what Jerry did that was so wrong that God took his life is such a horrible way. For years Jerry has suffered from severe obesity which no doubt contributed significantly to his slow and painful death. At what point did God intervened in his disease. Did God simply punish Jerry at the end with a big thump on his already sick and tired ticker? Or did God bestow his punishment much earlier. Perhaps God was responsible for fatting up Jerry full of adipose tissue thus cursing him with the life of those obese Americans we keep hearing so much about. Or maybe it was God that continually tempted Jerry with all those southern culinary delights that no doubt lead to his bulging waistline and disappearing neck. Or is Jerry’s disease somehow different from HIV/AIDS which has taken so many lives before their time? Does God only use terrorist attacks and communicable diseases to teach sinners a lesson? Or maybe God’s punishments are only for those “other” people who deserve it. We could always count on Jerry to let us know who those deserving people were. For that he will be sorely missed.

R.I.P. Jerry Falwell. I hope your devotion to that vengeful God you so publicly worshiped landed you in the afterlife you deserve.

Posted by RiOtPoOf on 05/16 at 11:10 AM
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