I have heard your doctrine, and I loathe it.<\/div>\n
Take away your empty praise songs,<\/div>\n
your vacuous worshiptainment.<\/div>\n
Your mouth is full of religious words,<\/div>\n
but your proverbs are salted manure.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cThe sick deserve to be sick.<\/div>\n
The poor deserve to be poor.<\/div>\n
The rich deserve to be rich.<\/div>\n
The imprisoned deserve to be imprisoned.\u201d<\/div>\n
Because you never saw him sick, or poor, or in prison.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cIf he had followed police instructions,<\/div>\n
if he had minded the company he keeps,<\/div>\n
he would not have been killed,\u201d<\/div>\n
You say in the hearing<\/div>\n
of a man hanging on a cross<\/div>\n
between two thieves.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cPeople who live good lives<\/div>\n
do not have pre-existing conditions,\u201d you say,<\/div>\n
carving these words over the hospital door:<\/div>\n
\u201cWho sinned, this man or his parents,<\/div>\n
that he was born blind?\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cIt is the church\u2019s job, not the government\u2019s,\u201d<\/div>\n
say you fat sheep,<\/div>\n
defending your fat shepherds,<\/div>\n
shoving and butting with shoulders and horns,<\/div>\n
while you foul the water,<\/div>\n
grass,<\/div>\n
and air,<\/div>\n
and scatter the hungry sheep.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
You watch the melting glaciers and say to the waves of the sea,<\/div>\n
\u201cthis far shall you come, and no farther,\u201d<\/div>\n
as if your will could change the weather,<\/div>\n
as if your will could be done in the heavens as it is on this\u00a0earth,<\/div>\n
as if you could drill the sky the way you drill the soil.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
In your telling,<\/div>\n
in the story of the starving of the five thousand,<\/div>\n
there are not twelve baskets collected of left-over food;<\/div>\n
In your story, God\u2019s abundance becomes scarcity,<\/div>\n
and the crowds devour each other.<\/div>\n
\u201cSend them into the villages to buy food,\u201d<\/div>\n
and let the Invisible Hand\u2019s miracle of the free market sort them out,<\/div>\n
the worthy from the unworthy,<\/div>\n
while you eat the two fish\u00a0and five pieces of bread<\/div>\n
volunteered by a child.<\/div>\n
These ungrateful poor,<\/div>\n
the welfare queens<\/div>\n
with their anchor babies,<\/div>\n
stop before your disciples\u2019 raised palms;<\/div>\n
they hear you say,<\/div>\n
\u201cThe Master cannot be bothered to bless your<\/em> children.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
You see Hannah drunk,<\/div>\n
and you jail her for fetal endangerment.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Like Haman, you hide behind the skirts of the king;<\/div>\n
you make laws and pay bribes<\/div>\n
that allow vigilante violence<\/div>\n
and private discrimination<\/div>\n
against those you hate,<\/div>\n
sheltering underneath plausible deniability.<\/div>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a Muslim ban,\u201d you say one day.<\/div>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about religious liberty,\u201d you say another.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
This Bible you wave, this word you claim,<\/div>\n
it is sharper than any two-edged sword.<\/div>\n
You wield it poorly; it slices you on the backstroke.
\nYou know neither the scriptures nor the power of God.<\/div>\n
\nYou know neither the scriptures nor the power of God.<\/div>\n
You tie up heavy yokes for others<\/div>\n
whose burdens you do not bear,<\/div>\n
but you will not lift a finger to help them.<\/div>\n
To some you say, \u201cDo not marry, but burn.\u201d<\/div>\n
You lock them out of the kingdom of God.<\/div>\n
You cross sea and land for your missionary work,<\/div>\n
and teach others\u00a0to be as hateful as you.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Your kingdom is not the public park of Zechariah,<\/div>\n
where children play in the streets<\/div>\n
and old men and women lean on their canes for very age.<\/div>\n
It is not the land where every fearless household<\/div>\n
has its own vine and fig tree,<\/div>\n
their own means of production and shade for their rest.<\/div>\n
It is not the land where everyone has a home.<\/div>\n
Your kingdom is the one with gates,<\/div>\n
where homeless beggars have their sores licked by dogs,<\/div>\n
where people who have the audacity to grow old<\/div>\n
pay a premium for their insolence.<\/div>\n
Like Ahab, you covet all the vines, all the fig trees,<\/div>\n
letting your domain stretch as far as your eye can see,<\/div>\n
adding house to house and field to field<\/div>\n
until, in your gentrified land<\/div>\n
there is room for no one but you and yours.<\/div>\n
Like Pharaoh, you call those who refuse you \u201cLazy, lazy.\u201d<\/div>\n
You build walls, and walls, and walls, and walls,<\/div>\n
and you stuff your ears to the sound of protest songs<\/div>\n
that will shake those walls down.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I have seen your christ, and he is my antichrist.<\/div>\n
He is the herald of a violent god,<\/div>\n
a god of fertility but not fruitfulness,<\/div>\n
a god of embryos but not emancipation, pro-birth and\u00a0anti-life,<\/div>\n
a god of war and retribution but not of justice,<\/div>\n
a god of order but not of peace,<\/div>\n
a god of might but not of mercy,<\/div>\n
a god of marriage but not of love,<\/div>\n
a god of sex but not of pleasure,<\/div>\n
a god of platitudes but not of wisdom,<\/div>\n
a god of work but not of sabbath,<\/div>\n
a god who demands sacrifice from the poor but luxury and reward for Pharaoh.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Your religion is the religion of pyramids pointed heavenwards,<\/div>\n
towers built to reach the heavens.<\/div>\n
Supported by their flat base, built by slave labor,<\/div>\n
they are stable monuments to wealth and death.<\/div>\n
You fill their secret rooms with gold so that<\/div>\n
in the afterlife,<\/div>\n
you may cross to paradise<\/div>\n
on the backs of the oppressed,<\/div>\n
and live in forgetful pleasure for eternity.<\/div>\n
Your gilded gospel is rusty ruin.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
You are why the ancient Hebrews<\/div>\n
seldom talked about an afterlife,<\/div>\n
weary as they were of working<\/div>\n
for Egypt\u2019s dead heaven.<\/div>\n
Your idols and your religion<\/div>\n
are why those slaves left the yoke of heaven,<\/div>\n
the land of binding,<\/div>\n
for a wide\u00a0wilderness,<\/div>\n
for a nameless, faceless God<\/div>\n
who told them they\u2014even they\u2014<\/div>\n
were made in God\u2019s image.<\/div>\n
You are why your churches are empty<\/div>\n
of those who love and believe in freedom.<\/div>\n
You are why the Gentiles blaspheme the name of God.<\/div>\n
You are the reason for the Exodus.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
And if you pursue, may God throw you into the sea.<\/div>\n
And the horse you rode in on.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
References:<\/em><\/div>\n
Amos 5:21-24<\/em><\/div>\n
Luke 14:34-35<\/em><\/div>\n
Matthew 25:31-46<\/em><\/div>\n
Luke 23:33<\/em><\/div>\n
John 9:1-12<\/em><\/div>\n
Ezekiel 34<\/em><\/div>\n
Job 38:11<\/em><\/div>\n
Matthew 13:14-21<\/em><\/div>\n
Matthew 19:13-15<\/em><\/div>\n
1 Samuel 1:12-20<\/em><\/div>\n
Esther 3:8-11<\/em><\/div>\n
Hebrews 4:12<\/em><\/div>\n
Matthew 22:9<\/em><\/div>\n
Matthew 23:13-26<\/em><\/div>\n
1 Corinthians 7:9<\/em><\/div>\n
Zechariah 8:4<\/em><\/div>\n
Micah 4:4<\/em><\/div>\n
Isaiah 65:21-25<\/em><\/div>\n
Luke 16:19-31<\/em><\/div>\n
1 Kings 21<\/em><\/div>\n
Isaiah 5:8<\/em><\/div>\n
Exodus 5:17<\/em><\/div>\n
Joshua 6<\/em><\/div>\n
Genesis 11:1-9<\/em><\/div>\n
Exodus 15:21<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":""The Exodus" by Dave Barnhart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Exodus I have seen your religion, and I hate it. I have heard your doctrine, and I loathe it. Take away your empty praise songs, your vacuous\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/05\/exodus-dave-barnhart.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""The Exodus" by Dave Barnhart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Exodus I have seen your religion, and I hate it. I have heard your doctrine, and I loathe it. Take away your empty praise songs, your vacuous\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/05\/exodus-dave-barnhart.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic and Enjoying It!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-05-08T21:32:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/05\/exodus-dave-barnhart.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/05\/exodus-dave-barnhart.html\",\"name\":\"\\\"The Exodus\\\" by Dave Barnhart\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-05-08T21:32:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-05-08T21:32:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5\"},\"description\":\"The Exodus I have seen your religion, and I hate it. 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The Exodus I have seen your religion, and I hate it. I have heard your doctrine, and I loathe it. Take away your empty praise songs, your vacuous worshiptainment. Your mouth is full of religious words, but your proverbs are salted manure. \u201cThe sick deserve to be sick. The poor deserve to be poor. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[57],"class_list":["post-100126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-poetry"],"yoast_head":"\n