Epiphany About Something

I realised the other reason why Protestants like Jews so much isn’t just a matter of compatibility but that they’re the model minority, especially when you realise that so many of them distrust Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Hindus, Muslims and Taoists a lot. It’s like how so many Protestants, especially the ones I personally know, tend to be into Jews and Judaism a lot yet mistrust Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Taoism.

Even if they’re not any better either, I often see how Evangelicals routinely put down Catholics and Orthodox Christians a lot. They even put them in the same category as Hindus and Taoists, which says a lot about their racism when these denominations and faiths predominate anywhere east of Protestant (and Anglican) majority countries. Anywhere that’s east of Protestant-majority countries is ripe for missionary activity.

While it sounds like I’m against missionary activity, it’s kind of oddly coincidental that Evangelicals don’t seem to see Easterners as human the way they do with Jews. Because of Jews’ model minority status, it’s sometimes used as a wedge against anybody who aren’t Protestants yet aren’t Jewish either. Do you not realise how Zionism’s used to spite those who are commonly suspected of idolatry?

If Jews are really a model minority in Protestant circles, this has rather damning implications not just for Catholic, Orthodox, Taoist and Hindu communities but also for Jews themselves. It’s also possible Jews distrust Evangelicals because they don’t want to be pegged as the model minority for long, but that involves realising something. Jews have an elevated status in Protestantism that elides Africans and East Asians, the very people white Protestants have witnessed to.

It gets even more ironic when you realise that some aspects of Chinese culture are quite compatible with Christianity, such as respecting elders and female deference to male authority which are also central to Confucianism. It’s either a religion or a philosophy, but as a philosophy it lends itself well to Christian values and possibly why Christianity is exploding in numbers there. Same with South Korea when you think about it.

Meanwhile, Christianity has declined significantly in Israel since Jews returned and that Jews don’t see Messianic Jews as Jewish makes you wonder if the tendency to see Jews as honourary Protestants is linked to them being a model minority. If this is true, then it does explain a lot of things.

Evangelical Resentments

From my experience, it’s terribly not uncommon to see Evangelicals and Pentecostals rag on Catholics a lot, so much so that it’s their way of showing what they’re doing is superior, even though God says it’s still boasting to see yourself as better than others even sinners like them. They keep on ragging on Catholics for ‘worshipping’ Mary, even though some have made idols out of the unemployed housewife. Instead of doing away Marianismo, they recreated it in the form of complimentarianism.

Odder still is that for all their Biblical literalism, they seldom hold dogs and dog owners in the same regard they have for Catholics even if the Bible doesn’t have that high opinion of dogs either. The only Evangelicals who do so a lot tend to be Pentecostals from select countries like Cameroon, Ghana and Democratic Republic of Congo, where they associate them with witchcraft which makes them more biblically consistent since there’s a verse that mentions both dogs and sorcerers together.

I even have a nagging feeling why you don’t commonly see Evangelicals rag on dog owners that much is because Catholics constitute a very easy target for their resentment, even though dog owners should also be one of their targets especially when their love for dogs crosses over to idolatry. Maybe some of them do, but not enough to drown the rampant anti-Catholicism. Selective outrage much, to the point where it feels like hypocrisy despite their Biblical literalism.

Even stranger is that they should be good friends with Muslims, since they also don’t like the use of graven images in worship. But they also resent them a lot, not just that they worship a false god but they also remind them too much of themselves. Down to the fanatical obsession with women not showing skin or revealing clothes in any way, whereas this is relegated to a minority in Judaism. (Maybe that’s why Jews are wary of Evangelicals.)

Oddly enough, I feel geek culture might be a far better target for their resentment of idolatry. I have this feeling before, especially whenever geeks love the things they like without putting God first. Well most of them do, not that they’re autistic but that what they’re doing is idolatry refined into an art form or a science. Fan art can constitute a graven image far better than Catholic art of Jesus, since the latter at least honours God.

Everything they say about Catholics fits geek culture far better, especially since I had this revelation in life that the closer I get to God, the less I am involved in geek fandoms. Which’s a side effect of being this devoted to God, you can’t have any idols competing with God and this includes geek fandom idols. I feel if they did target fandom a lot the way they do with Catholicism, not just those suspected of witchcraft but anybody who gets in the way of God it would result in great controversy.

Like if they start targeting geek culture for idolatry, they’d have a better target for their resentment but one that would be far more controversial if they did this at all. I guess it really is selective outrage all the way, even though some prove better targets for their rage and anger than others.