Still, as I said in the other thread, I hope his belief in Christ was genuine and this interview with Flynt makes it sound as if it was.

Benaiah on May 17, 2007 at 10:43 AM

Indeed. Yet a belief in Christ does not make Jerry Falwell special, or peculiar in any way. What made him special are his filmed & broadcast propositions concerning AIDS and homosexuality, and the culpability for the events of 9/11. Those revealed him to be a peculiar fellow indeed. His mea culpas on the subject were about as convincing as, say, Mel Gibson’s.

His multi-year legal battle with Flynt add to his peculiarity, but do not define him in any distinguishing way. That battle accrues to Flynt’s benefit, and to Falwell’s detriment.

It’s good for posterity that Flynt got to know the man, apart from all of the reasons that made him unique to society and political culture, and it adds a personal interest dimension to the public figure. For that discussion, few if any are more suited than Larry King – he’s the master (though Charlie Rose has the gift as well).

How ironic that, of all Falwell’s critics, the pornographer emerges as the most decent.

Indeed

For some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: Two went up the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself, “God I thank you that I’m not like other men – the evil-doers, the robbers, adultures – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.”
But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, “God have mercy on me, a sinner.”
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exhalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14

Our current society is a curious one. The media fetes a pornographer such as Larry Flynt, while being embarassed to be in the company of Jerry Falwell, a pastor. Many pastors would be horrified to be in the company of a so public a sinner as Flynt, yet Falwell was so comfortable with people and his own self and his relationship with God, that he was able to make a connection to the man, even with the added stress of the legal struggle between them.
This is what Christ did and asked of his followers. How precious it is to have the chance to hear a man such as Flynt speak so deeply and sincerely of Falwell.

Hitchens who did not had only his own narcistic over inflated elitist ego to base his opinions of Jerry on, that and a deep seething hatred of anything Christian. Hence from a man deeply wounded by Jerry we get a compassionate and warm eulogy while from Hitchens we get a blistering hate filled rant.

If Hitchens represents the apex of pure intellectual development devoid of humanity he does a greater disservice to atheism them Jerry did to Christianity with his cruel and thoughtless suggestion that 9/11 was God’s punishment for America’s moral decay.

Larry came across as a warm compassionate human with a very big heart and a giant soul, Hitchens as a sick twisted soulless animal little different than the Islamofascist mullah teaching children to commit suicide to kill imaginary enemies in order to win favor with Allah.

Coulter’s column this week taken together with the interview above pretty clearly illustrates the worlds thought processes compared with those that God allows us to see of His, biblically speaking. For those who have eyes TO see it with anyway.

It did but you were apparently typing it at the same time I was replying. ;)

Benaiah on May 17, 2007 at 11:07 AM

I figured that had something to do with it.

I got what Esthier is saying (I think) Look at the 3 main biblical characters that God inspired to write his word:

You’re elaborating a tad, but yeah, that’s the gist. God never picks the people most of us would pick, and the best example I can think of is King Saul (who was picked by Israel) and King David (who would never have stood a chance in an election).

I mentioned this on another thread, but the thing that the portrayal of Falwell in “People vs. Larry Flynt” missed was Falwell’s personal warmth and sincerity, which seemed to come across to those who met him in spite of what they thought of his views.

Moses – Murderer
King David – Adulterer, liar and murderer
Paul – Persecutor of Christians

That coupled with the fact that Jesus kept punking out the hollier than thou Pharasies is evidence against what alot of critics attack christians for.

How is it that Larry “Hustler” Flynt can show more human decency and compassion than a nationally recognized columnist like Christopher Hitchens? Is the porn magazine industry the height of the print media’s sympathy and tenderheartedness?…

Did my clarification not clear anything up?

Esthier

It did but you were apparently typing it at the same time I was replying. ;)

I’m not exactly sure what she’s implying either.

Did my clarification not clear anything up?

Oh my…

Wade

Umm…yeah. I’m not exactly sure what she’s implying either. If it’s that Christianity included many of these people as a large portion of the initial believers, then I agree. Jesus took a special interest in people that the rest of society had labeled as cast offs or useless.

You can see that practice throughout the Old Testament and New Testament. I believe examples were made of such people because raising someone from the lowest point in society into being a prophet of God or having a position of power just shows God’s majesty and grace all the more.

But he actually preached against the religious of His time and chose instead those society (often rightly) attempts to segregate themselves from.

I can’t imagine that this was a mistake.

Esthier on May 17, 2007 at 10:40 AM

Oh my…

When he made comments like his ones about AIDS or homosexuality being the cause of 9/11, does anyone here believe he turned more hearts towards Christ than he turned away from Him? I sure don’t.

I’ve found that Falwell, Baker and the rest of these media appointed spokesman make my calling as a christian [i]much[/i] harder.

Still, as I said in the other thread, I hope his belief in Christ was genuine and this interview with Flynt makes it sound as if it was.

There’s a reason they consorted with prostitutes.

And maybe inclusion is a better word, but Christianity was born on the backs of these people following the resurrection of Christ. Were it not for some of the worst in society, Christianity may not even exist today.

t was one of the reasons he was on television so often. He was one of those rare people who called it like he saw it. You might not have liked it but there was no mistaking what he stood for.

As for the Moral Majority, some people said it was neither. But even more than Ronald Reagan, I think it was Falwell who re-energized the Republican Party.

Christianity began with prostitutes and tax collectors.

Esthier on May 17, 2007 at 9:41 AM

I hope you meant with the inclusion of prostitutes and tax collectors. Tax collectors, while not a fan, I don’t think that is a sin.

It’s actually sad that we seem to have gone away from that.