Just the Facts . . .

It sounds like the stump speech a conservative, Tea Party type might give on campaign trail. It would certainly be based upon the kind of “scripture” the “civic Jesus” we have created might bless. It rants and rails about high taxes, lazy people taking our hard earned money through unfair taxes, militant Muslims, drug addiction, redistribution, global warming, and too much tolerance of other cultures.

But, it isn’t a campaign speech or civic Jesus scriptures. It claims to be the rant of a “76 year old and tired” or an “83 year old and tired” Bill Cosby. It first appeared on the internet in September 2011 (according to Urban Legends) when Cosby was 74, not 76 or 83 and he has repeatedly said he had nothing to do with it. Yet, as recently as this past week, I saw it posted on Facebook by people who claim to worship a God who is, in His own Son’s words, “Truth.”

Any of us and probably all of us at some point in life, have been victimized by falling for something that isn’t true. The local weekly newspaper in my county recently had a front page story about a so-called Christian investment advisor who had swindled millions from otherwise trusting believers. Sunday’s AJC had a big story about how Georgia seems to be at the center of the universe when it comes to swindlers and investments – Christian or otherwise. There’s no telling how much money is in the hands of some internet pirate claiming to be the heir of a Nigerian estate who needs help getting millions (some of which can be mine) into the United States if only I give him my account number and PIN.

But those things, as horrible as they are, pale in comparison to the bad rap the body of Christ gets in our culture when people who claim to follow Jesus post vitriol on the internet, claiming it to be from a respected cultural icon, when one simple Google search would have made it clear that it wasn’t. And, quite frankly, even if it was Bill Cosby who said that – it still sounds foreign to the vocabulary of the Jesus revealed in Scripture – who may be the great unknown Person among many believers.

Perhaps it is the result of some sort of reaction formation issue in life, where we rant and rail about the things that frighten us or the things that we are afraid might be true of us. I’m certainly no psychologist, but I’m pretty confident that has to be a part of the answer as to why people put stuff up that not only is clearly not true, but even if it were, clearly not reflective of the kind of life Jesus lived.

But it might also be a somewhat latent form of racism, where we finally have found an African-American cultural icon saying what all the conservatives have been saying for years. Somehow in getting Bill Cosby to say the nasty stuff we’ve been saying – it makes it ok. I don’t know what the psychological term for that might be, but do know that the spiritual vocabulary to describe it would be embarrassing and the stuff from which confession should be born.

I agree the world in general – and our Western culture in particular – is in a mess. The salty language of my saintly grandfather that contained the phrase “hell in a hand basket” comes to mind when I look at the daily paper. And, more than ever, I believe that the only fix to the mess is Jesus. If we believers don’t find a way to get our culture to listen to the Jesus story – there is no fix.

But if the only image of believers that pagans have is the kind of religious, pseud-Christian crap* that gets posted on Facebook so often, I wonder if they will ever listen.

*I realize “crap” is not the politest of terms, but note that Paul used it in Philippians 3:8 and in the spirit of “if it’s good enough for Paul . . .” I chose to use it! In case you're in need of an edgy Greek word to use in moments of frustration - it's skubalon in English.