Sermon on the Mount blogging

I enjoyed Tea Party Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mall,” but then I would. I’m not sure how effective it may be with those it’s hoping to persuade.

Will Fermia traces the various American mutations of John Winthrop’s “city on a hill” allusion. In a remark much-quoted by politicians since then, Winthrop called for the Massachusetts Bay Colony to be like the city on a hill in Matthew 5:

You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Matthew just says “city built on a hill” and Winthrop just said “city on a hill.” So at what point in American rhetoric did this city on a hill get all shining?

And now, once again, I have that awesome bass-line from Godspell stuck in my head. (“You Are the Light of the World” is on my list of songs I’d learn first if ever I tried to learn to play the bass guitar which I probably never will but it’s still fun to keep a list. See also: “Blood and Roses,” “Please Do Not Go,” and the themes from Barney Miller and Night Court.)

Ken Hutcherson says he’s a pastor. Ken Hutcherson says he is, in fact, a Christian pastor. Ken Hutcherson — astonishingly, amazingly — has the audacity to say he is a Christian pastor who understands and follows the teachings of Jesus Christ.

This is simply unbelievable. I do not believe him. You should not believe him. He is not to be believed.

Here’s why — this is Ken Hutcherson’s version of the Sermon on the Mount:

The only way to make your enemy a friend is to defeat them or kill them.

This fraudulent, show-boating idiot, unsurprisingly, is the official spokesman for the religious coalition opposing marriage equality in Washington state.

Here is what Jesus actually said about enemies:

You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?

So, yeah, I guess that means I’m supposed to love even a lying, nasty, ignorant con-artist like Ken Hutcherson. Sigh.

God sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous, and sometimes even sends snow on Amman, Jordan.

See also: Gary G. Kohls on “the Sermon-on-the-Mount Christianity of Jesus.”

(Oh, and “Stand by Me,” and “Groove Is in the Heart.” And of course “Under Pressure.” And let’s say “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” because I think it’d be easier than all those other ones.)