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Or fundamentalists. Contrary to popular belief, the problem with the worst christians is not that they don’t read the Bible enough, they read it too much. The Bible is full of self-contradictions, so for any interpretive framework to be at least self-coherent, the interpreter has to “add to the Word of God”.

In the case of fundamentalism, they’re organized much like cults. Highly isolated social structures, all aimed at insulating their children from outside perspectives, so they can groom them more effectively for the next generation of authoritarianism. The Bible is central to this process because it’s the nucleus of their authority over each other, and they regard it as actual law that even takes precedence over societal laws.

This is also why companies like Chick-fil-A and Hobby Lobby exist. They allow these youths to have jobs and be participants in the economy while playing a role in reinforcing these isolated social structures.

If anything, you can read Matthew chapter 23, replacing “Pharisee” with “fundamentalist”, and it turns out to be a perfect description.

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AnimalsDream@slrpnk.net ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Just for fun I decided to make my own modifications of Matthew 23. The changes are actually pretty extensive because I took liberties on a variety of parts that annoyed me, as well as trying to make it at least somewhat more relevant for our time.

Then Yeshua spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, Saying, “The Bible translation committees and the Fundamentalists have seated themselves upon the seat of Moses. Therefore, all the things they might tell you, whatever they are, do and observe, but do not act in accord with their deeds; for they speak and do not do. And they tie up heavy loads and place them on people’s shoulders, but they are not willing to apply a finger of their own to move them. And they perform all their deeds so as to be seen by men; for they widen the ash crosses on their foreheads and wear the most luxurious suits in the churches, And they cherish the chief couch at meals and the front seats in the churches, And the deferential greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called Pastor by all. But do not let yourselves be called Pastor; for there is one who is your teacher, and you are all siblings.

And do not call someone on earth ‘Father,’ for there is one who is your heavenly Father. Neither let yourself be called instructors, because your one instructor is the Anointed. And the greater among you shall live in service to others. And whoever will exalt themself will be humbled, and whoever will humble themself will be exalted. But alas for you, translators and Fundamentalists, charlatans, because you shut the Kingdom of the heavens in people’s faces; for you do not enter, nor do you allow those going in to enter. [Alas for you, translators and Fundamentalists, charlatans, because you devour the homes of those in poverty and declaim at great length when praying, for which you shall receive condemnation in greater abundance.]

Alas for you, translators and Fundamentalists, charlatans, because you travel all about the sea and the dry land to make one missionary, and when it is done you make him twice as much a son of Hell as you yourselves. Alas for you blind guides who say, ‘Whoever swears by the community, it means nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of Capitalism, he is under obligation.’ Fools and blind men! For what is greater, the gold of Capitalism or the community that makes the gold holy? And: ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it means nothing; but whoever swears by the offering upon it, he is under obligation.’ Blind men! For what is greater, the offering or the altar that makes the offering holy? Hence the one who swears by the altar swears by it and by all the things upon it; And the one who swears by their community swears by the sanctuary and by they who dwell in it. And the one who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by them who sit upon it.

Alas for you, translators and Fundamentalists, charlatans, because you tithe a tenth of the mint and the dill and the cumin, and have neglected the weightier things of the law, the love and the mercy and the faith; yet these things you ought to have done, while also not neglecting those others. Blind guides, who strain out the gnat but drink down the camel.

Alas for you, translators and Fundamentalists, charlatans, because you clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are filled up with plunder and dissoluteness. Blind Fundamentalist, first clean the inside of the cup, so that its outside may also be clean. Alas for you, translators and fundamentalists, charlatans, because you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly indeed appear lovely, but within are filled with the bones of the dead and with all uncleanliness. Thus you also outwardly indeed appear upright, but within you are full of dissimulation and lawlessness.

Alas for you, translators and Fundamentalists, charlatans, because you build the tombs of the liberators and adorn the monuments of the upright, And say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we should not have had a part with them in the blood of the liberators.’ Thus you bear witness regarding yourselves that you are the sons of the liberators’ murderers. And you—you fully measure up to your fathers.

Serpents, brood of vipers, how may you escape the verdict of Hell? So look: I send liberators and wise people and scribes to you; some of them you will kill and shoot, and some of them you will beat in public, detain and deport and drive from city to city; Thus accrues to you all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of Abel the upright up to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.

Amen, I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation. Bible Belt, Bible Belt, you who kill the liberators and stone those who have been sent to you, how often I have wished to gather your children, the way a bird gathers chicks under her wings, and you did not wish it. See: For you, your house is abandoned [to desolation]. For I tell you, henceforth you most assuredly will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed are they who come in the spirit of the Lord.’”

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- anugeshtu@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Hm, I don’t want to sound all negative about that, “but”: maybe that’s the thing all of those transcribers in history thought about that “original” text (and before and before, etc.). I’m sure you do it with much more good intentions than transcribers working for regimes in power etc., but still it changes the message. Think about animal farm and the rules which are changed over time. That’s the problem with sticking to ancient texts which may not be well translated for the current Zeitgeist.
  
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  - AnimalsDream@slrpnk.net ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    Not really sure what you’re trying to get at. My rendition makes no claim to any kind of authority, nor do I have any interest in the exegetical model of conventional christians in our age, nor am I a christian for that matter. As far as I’m concerned, they are all just worshiping Tom Riddle in their bibliolatry.
    
    I only posted my remixed version to highlight how the general pattern of what Jesus/Yeshua said about Pharisees fits a description of modern fundamentalists quite well. Here is a version of the same chapter from a well respected translation.
    
    And a side-note about Bible translation - that area of study is actually very sophisticated, and modern translations are remarkably accurate within the limits of source materials we have to work with.
    
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    anugeshtu@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    I’m only saying that once you have a copy copied and at some point it just blurred out or if somebody (or some political regime) says “that needs adaptation”, we can’t be sure if that outcome is the same as the originating script. If it can be 100% verified, that that’s the original text, sure. But maybe we should all take more than 2 millennia old scriptures with some kind of skepticism if that’s really the message its supposed to be. I’m not a Christian myself either. I’m just somebody trying to figure out the whole meaning and what it’s all about. I have my flaws and imperfections. I just don’t try to be an ahole (though even sometimes I certainly am). But I get the feeling that there is some meaning in these ancient texts. At least in some parts which aren’t translated incorrectly. I think what the authors of those ancient texts wanted to tell us, was to not live in hate or harm, but to connect with each other. The overlapping message within many different religious texts is probably the same. And yet, to this point, it got so distorted that people are divided by all these translations, all these misguiding sentences. They’re used for justification to just do the opposite of the intended (e.g., war against another religion, war against a specific subgroup, etc.). But well, maybe I’m just fantasizing that and the world is supposed to be a war room shithole. It was nothing against your attempt to make something of it. I really think, that that attempt is noble. I just wanted to comment on the history of that.
    
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GhostedIC@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Look theres good enough reasons to hate Chick-Fil-A but you are not telling me your brain lives in a world where the teenagers who work there are all (or even a lot of them) isolated religious fundamentalist nuts who just got let off the cult compound to interact with society???

They hire normal people with interviews??? Teenagers go to fucking public school???

The leadership isnt even close to “westboro baptist church” levels of extreme???

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- AnimalsDream@slrpnk.net ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Dude, I dated a fundamentalist once. This enraged her parents, who immediately forced her to quit her current job where we met, then they shipped her off to a church camp - by which point all forms of contact were supposed to already be cut off from me - then she was herded into joining a Bible college halfway across the country, where she also ended up literally working at a Chick-Fil-A to pay for that schooling before meeting and then soon marrying a guy who was a part of their system.
  
  Yes, technically these businesses are open to the public. But that doesn’t stop them from being led by christian nationalists, having biases in favor of others like themselves, creating environments more amenable to their own kind, and playing side-rolls in supporting the relative isolation of these networks.
  
  The thing you’re underestimating is how widespread and pervasive these groups are. Why do you think law enforcement organizations so readily support Trump and his policies? It’s because these groups outright worship power and authority, and part of their grooming is to train every generation to actively seek out every position of power they can - including military and police.
  
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  - GhostedIC@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    I can believe you knew someone like that once. But no. Religious fundamentalists are not widespread and pervasive. They dont make up the majority of a fucking fast food chain to the point where you would say it’s only “technically” open to the public. They dont make up much if any of the police force. What on earth led you to think that is the case. Did you live in a town with a population of 124 that was like that?
    
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    AnimalsDream@slrpnk.net ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    I could waste my time assembling links to articles about the rise of fundamentalism in the US, the infiltration of law enforcement by white supremacist groups, and the roots and connections between white supremacy and christianity; but given your determination to deny, and that you’re already misrepresenting my own words, I am not going to bother.
    
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