I grew up in the deep south. Very few people said “Amen.” It was Aman, Hayman, or Amaaaan, but seldom amen (and certainly not the dignified Ah-men). But things have clearly gotten worse over time.
This week Missouri Congressman (or congresswoman) Emanuel Clever opened the 117th Congress with a mask-muffled “prayer” which closed with the already infamous words, “Now may the God who created the world and everything in it bless us and keep us. May the Lord make his face to shine upon us and be gracious unto us. May the Lord lift up the light of… [blah, blah, blah - more vain repetition inserted here]… We ask in the name of the monotheistic God, Brahma, and God known by many names by many different faiths, Aman and Awoman.” According to the article I read, Rep. Cleaver is a “United Methodist paster…” Yes, “pastor” was misspelled that way in the article. Or, maybe not. You never know. In this day of inclusive nonsense, in which we think it is inclusive to exclude, perhaps now all things are proper except proper things.
It’s infuriating, bewildering, and hilarious all at the same time. On SO MANY LEVELS.
But this is my thought today. The outcry (and abundance of relevant gender jokes) that has/have resulted from this mockery has been centered on the etymology of the word “amen” and the apparent ignorance of the congress-person-who-doesn’t-menstruate. He’s “woke” alright, but apparently worse at English than I am, and THAT is saying something.
But his amen/awoman shenanigan is the smallest of the violations here. Before he made a political and intellectual fool out of himself with his mispronunciation of the word “amen” and then his self proclaimed “pun wielding” misconception of that word in order to make it some kind of gender statement, note that He said (or read) this, “We ask in the name of the monotheistic God, Brahma, and God known by many names by many different faiths…”
When a “minister” doesn’t even know the difference between Jesus and Brahma, how can we expect him to know the difference between an exclamation of affirmation and a female pronoun? Of course, his (or her) type of individual isn’t quite sure whether men are men and women are women or not anyway. Or if there is even such a thing as a man and a woman. After all, it’s all a social construct, right?
And that’s the thing really, isn’t it? We’re all just a bunch of highly evolved apes anyway. It’s just random mutations and blind chance. Religion is just a crutch for the weak… or is it for the week. Right! Maybe that’s it?! Religion is just a crutch for the weekend. The Rev. Rep. Clever (or Clevim or Clevem or Clevum) is just a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed about by every fad and pragmatic idea of the hour (Ephesians 4:14 & Jude 12 & 13). Clowns like him/her/it don’t deal with truth, they deal with factoids. Wait a while and the narrative will change. And, as it changes, they will change with it. Why is the Rev. Rep. Emanuel (how ironic that this is his/her/it’s name) even praying to a monotheistic God anyway? Who gives him/her/it the right to exclude those who are polytheistic?
This is all ridiculous. I want to stick my head out the door and spit. I want to chew nails and breathe fire. But you know what, I’m wrong too. No, seriously! Jesus died for liars, thieves, perverts, false teachers, mislead and misleading politicians, “enlightened” college professors, overconfident talk show hosts, annoying journalists, patriotic traditionalists, humiliated peons, cooperative clones, ignorant sheep, and violent activists. The solution is not my perturbed sensibilities, the solution is the gospel. If Rep. Clever comes to know the true Messiah (Jesus of Nazareth) as his Lord and Savior, he won’t keep praying to the imaginary god of Hinduism or to any other demonic avatar
…or avataress.
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