Religious Irony on Dallas Top 40
Zachary Moore Permalink
5 comments
"Kidd Kraddick in the Morning" is the morning show for KHKS 106.1 "KISS" FM, a popular Top-40 station here in Dallas that's also popular with my wife for their support of her favorite musician, Elliot Yamin. As such, it graces our clock radio and tends to wake me on a regular basis.
Although there's usually some ridiculous conversation in progress when the alarm trips, this morning's was especially interesting and ironic. The group was discussing the recent viral video of Tom Cruise blathering on about Scientology, which they had placed on their website. Show member "Kellie Rasberry" [sic] was defending his comments in the video, with the argument that all religious people think that they have the Answer, so she didn't think he should be criticized.
That alone tickled me awake, but then she offered the following case in point, which I'll paraphrase:"Everyone thinks Tom Cruise is crazy for thinking that aliens live inside each of us, but as Christians we believe that the Holy Spirit lives inside us, so is he really so crazy after all?"Oh, the irony, it is so delicious...
Post a Comment
5 Comments:
And AFAIK the "Holy Spirit" is not a human being, therefore...
I would agree except it just means that they're all damned crazy.
I was immediately reminded of Justin Martyr's words to the pagans:
"When we say that Jesus Christ was produced without sexual union, was crucified and died, and rose again, and ascended to heaven, we propound nothing new or different from what you believe regarding those whom you call the sons of Jupiter."
This quote, btw, is often mis-used by "Christ-Mythers". Justin is merely pointing out to the pagans why they ought not rule out Christ, and to the governor to be at least as tolerant to Christianity as to pagan religions.
Aside from that, I can hear Scientologist apologists using Kellie's point to Christians. My response would be to point out the difference between being indwelt by creatures as opposed to the Creator.
Secondly, it reminded me of my fellow Christian's bad habit of trotting out celebrities who have become Christians when evangelizing. Mostly among teenagers, the effect is "Famous X is a Christian so you should be too!". In that case, I guess we should become Scientologists because some very successful and dashing movie stars embrace it!
In fact, don't we all, when we discover someone famous holds our view, keep an eye on them to see if they "represent"?
I feel a blog coming on...
Kevin-
The problem with Justin Martyr's comparison is that... it's a comparison. It really doesn't matter at all what purpose he had intended it for, he still went on record as saying "Yahweh = Zeus."
Kellie Rasberry has walked right into the same situation as Justin, although she entered from the opposite side of the stage. Where Justin appealed to the striking similarity between Christian myths and Hellenistic myths in order to garner sympathy from the latter for the former, Kellie has appealed to the striking similarity between Christian metaphysics and Scientology metaphysics in order to garner sympathy from the former for the latter.
Again, although I enjoy the irony of her motivations for making the comparison, it's still a comparison. At a very real level, we're faced with the question of why believing that one immaterial entity inhabiting your body makes you crazy, but believing in another makes you holy.
"My response would be to point out the difference between being indwelt by creatures as opposed to the Creator."
Yea, that's a HUGE difference. The difference is that one is a Scientology concept and the other is a Christian concept.
Wait a second...
<< Home