Here is the next edition of “Dear Preacher, You Stink And I Hate You.” Below is another email I received concerning my column on “A Pistol-Packin’ Good Samaritan” and the responses that then went back and forth. I will call the writer Frank Lee Madeer.
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Preacher:

You seem to miss the point of the Good Samaritan parable. It is a lesson on who your neighbor is. It has nothing to do with guns or the Old Testament verses you use out of context to justify the worship of deadly idols of steel.

Frank Lee Madeer
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Frank,

I did not miss it at all. He did not just love his neighbor in the vague, warm and fuzzy Hallmark manner of the modern left; he loved him by saving his life. Nor did I use a single verse out of context. Nor do I worship any “deadly idols of steel,” any more than Jesus Himself did when He told His men to purchase some of those “deadly idols of steel.” I also, though, do not worship the mythological, hand-crafted psuedo-Jesus born out of the ivory towers of self-absorbed and Biblically illiterate academia, a Jesus who would never dream of making and using a whip on people (John 2:15) or of coming back to slay multitudes of His enemies (Revelation 19:11-21).

I asked a question in my column, “Would we still call him the Good Samaritan if he came up on a bunch of men raping a woman and patiently waited for them to finish, then tenderly treated her wounds?” Would you care to answer that question? I would love to know how you view that one.

Pastor Bo Wagner
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What language are you speaking, gobbledygook? I don’t have a clue what you are talking about.

Frank Lee Madeer
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Frank,

123 of the 177 words I responded with are single-syllable words that everyone learns before they finish first grade, Frank. All 177 words are English and commonly used. I read the entire response to my 19-year-old daughter, and she had no trouble understanding any of it. Kudos, though, for deftly dodging and avoiding uncomfortable questions. But, since I am rather persistent, I will try exactly once more, with a very direct question. If your wife or a daughter were being raped or violently attacked, would you do anything about it, and if so, exactly what would you do?

Pastor Bo Wagner
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Oh please, just acknowledge that the Good Samaritan parable is not about that. Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and then was asked, “Who is my neighbor.” Jesus responded with the parable. Your hypotheticals only “complicate the simplicity that is in Christ.” If you can’t see how deadly weapons have become an idol to many in society, including in many who use the name of Christ, I can’t cure your blindness.

Frank Lee Madeer
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So, suddenly you can understand English again? Excellent. Yes, Jesus gave a parable, a parable about a man who put his own life at risk in a dangerous place to help others, while a Levite and a Priest, very religious, respectable people, did nothing to help. Where do you fit into that, Frank? And “Hypotheticals?” The people saved in that mall were real people, not hypotheticals. The wife and daughter that you will not even agree to help in their greatest need are not hypotheticals. The Jews slaughtered under Hitler were not hypotheticals.
But by all means, lament my “blindness” while I and others lament your willingness to let the innocent be destroyed while you do nothing about it.

Pastor Bo Wagner
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That, dear reader, is how the exchange went. But please allow me to give a few words of commentary as I bring this to a close.

First of all, let’s talk about the standard old canard, “out of context.” What you need to know about that is, while some people do take Scripture out of context, others, like Frank, use that line on anything you point out from Scripture that they do not like. They expect it to make them sound smart, and shut off debate.

Secondly, let’s talk about pacifism because that is, in fact, what Frank and others like him are advocating for. They do so by painting Jesus as a person who literally would watch others be raped, abused, and murdered while silently standing by and observing, doing nothing to stop it. In short, they know nothing of Jesus at all. They will learn when He returns “clothed with a vesture dipped in blood,” but by that point, they will have bypassed every opportunity to defend the weak in His name.

Thirdly, parents, before you give your daughters away, make sure you are not giving them to a Frank Lee Madeer kind of guy. You have protected them all of their lives; do not give them to someone who will piously pray while they and your future grandchildren are raped and abused.

God help our weak, wicked society, steeped in cowardice while claiming Christ-likeness.

Pastor Bo Wagner can be reached by email at 2knowhim@cbc-web.org, and his books are available by clicking the “Store” link above.

Feature photo by Pastor Bo Wagner