Bumper Sticker Doctrine of Free Sin

In my visits to America I had seen a bumper sticker: “I am not Perfect, just Forgiven”. Do a search, it turns out to be a title of a song… probably one of those twangy Country Songs done in a thick Texarkana accent that bespeaks the urge to fight the Battle of Appomattox all over again, hoping for a different outcome. I think they all think that EVERY white man had his own Plantation.

I saw the bumper sticker while on Route 66, the famous Highway that coincidentally follows the Bible Belt from end to end, from East to West, from start to finish. What is the ‘Bible Belt’, you may ask. Well, I’ve heard it characterized as Bible Churches and Honkytonks, competing for every street corner… that is, the ones not already taken up by McDonalds. The Bible Belt is also known for a great deal of incest, which probably needs no further explanation than all the chronic drunkenness…to be charitable we must suppose that such behavior can only be explained by actions committed during dead-drunk blackouts. Oh, and Blackouts are quite common in that region. There are Cowboys who think it quite normal to never remember how they get home, or how they manage to wake up finding themselves in jail. Oh, the women also, if one looks at them closely, they do not seem to trail far behind the men in their drinking, or their smoking, or in every means of pursuing a steady decline. So, anyway, all the talk about Incest is just a big rumor. But that doesn’t mean they know where all the babies are coming from. They simply can’t remember.

They really could use more birth-control. In the American South every woman over the age of six should be on birth control. Incest or not, it might serve to slow down the babies having so many babies.

Now, it might be supposed that the Churches are there to turn around this deplorable situation of abysmal morality, that the Churches would exercise a positive moral influence. You would think so. But actually these little Bible Churches are probably a huge contributing factor. They’ve been there from the first. After a few hundred years one would think their beneficial influence would have kicked in by now. But I fear that The Free Sin Doctrine is not lost on these people. While they may nearly all be Brain Rotted Stupid, still, the constant repetition finally gets through. Tell an idiot a million times that God forgives his Sins and he might begin to eventually consider the matter as a given… and then crawl into bed with his… close relatives.

Yes, yes, yes, Young Christian People are always arguing with me that NOBODY understands Christian Doctrine to imply Free Sin. They mean ‘nobody they know’. Not in the Churches where they have come from! How can this be explained? Well, the Churches in the Northeast and West emphasize a different facet of Paulism – Predestination and Election – that God signals who is Saved or Not by who is Rich or not. So the Protestants of the Northeast have to work hard and earn earn earn, in order to prove to God and Themselves that they are part of the Saved Elect. Of course, they still have Forgiveness of Sins, but ONLY if they are members of the Elect. So they are likely to do ANYTHING to get rich. Their eternal Salvation depends on it. You see, if they end up Poor, it means that they are and always have been and always will be, damned – ‘reprobate’ is the Theological Term. It all tends toward stratifying a Class Society, where a Social and Economic Elite will dig in and defend their Special ‘Spiritual’ Status… their ‘election’ or having been chosen by God. Yes, this is all morally reprehensible, bigoted and snobbish, but at least they are frugal and watch how much time and money they waste on drink and drugs, prostitutes, etc. This is all Church of England Protestantism and Presbyterianism. Oh, and they think it is all wonderful proof of how great their Religion is that so many of their Members are Rich as God. They really do in their heart of hearts directly correlate Material Wealth with Divine Spiritual Preference.

One can hardly decide which is worst. Rich Sinners or Poor Sinners.

But in the Bible Belt, it is nearly all Baptist. The Baptist Churches came out of the same Society as Plantations and Slavery. There was only one Rich Man in every town. The Church couldn’t tell EVERYBODY they were reprobate… so in that particular Doctrine (Amoral Election and Predestination), Paul was allowed to be ignored. But the REST of the Bible was definitely the Word of God! Especially those parts about Sin All You Want. Yes, in the South, and the Wannabee South of that great sprawl of Red States, they know their Bible… the convenient parts, anyway. Born Again! Saved! It is drummed into them from their mother’s lap. Believe in the Lord Jesus and your sins will be forgiven. Forget about being Rich when you can be poor and happy (they mean drunk and laid).

Oh, I shouldn’t just be singling out the moral decadence of America’s rural whites. I suspect there is also a connection between all of the little Black Protestant Churches and high crime rates in the Black Communities. And then there is the astronomically high rate of unwed preganancies, which are probably not entirely a bad thing. The young Black ladies have enough sense to kick the young men out who would otherwise be a drain on their households. Rural White Women need their Men, even if it drags them down. Black Women manage to get on by themselves. But there are social drawbacks. While it is good for the women, it deprives the men of the civilizing influence that the company of women often imparts. The men, not living with women but only socializing with them in the worst places, begin to extrapolate from their experience that women are only creatures of the night, and they become dismissive of them. Listening to Modern Urban American Music, there is no very high regard expressed for Women. And this only exacerbates the tendency for the Women to further isolate their Homes away from the men who so little appreciate them.

The Black Community may have some positive influences flowing in from Islam. Muslim Theology pays a great deal more attention to Moral Responsibility. However, the Muslim propensity for Justifying Violence is troubling, especially as it is being introduced into a Community that has enough problems with Violence already.

I’ve been watching the Tyler Perry movies. They are great break from the typical Hollywood formulas where every movie is great deal like the one before. Tyler Perry deals with some very deep and complex problems in the Black Community and he portrays the Black Churches as a largely positive influence. The Churches are centers for Community Support, and that can hardly be minimized. However, unless the Books and Doctrines of Paul are ripped out and tossed away, it does a morally troubled community little good to hear the preachings that God has a policy for endorsing Free Sin. The Black People only need to look over at the White People, their Rural Neighbors or the City Snobs, and ask themselves if that is what they wish to turn into. The Black Community should consciously separate Jesus out from Paul and formulate what they believe are the correct Doctrines. A Christianity of Just Jesus would have all the advantages of a Morally Stringent Islam but without the flaws of Constant Jihad against everybody and everything. Thank God that Jesus never picked up that sword that Mohamed took up and that has been following around Islam ever since. Mohamed may have had his reasons, but today every Camel Jockey from Mongolia to Zanzibar thinks they have plenty of reason too and the Example of Mohamed only encourages them.

The one advantage Islam does have is that you can’t nail a Bumper Sticker to a camel’s ass.