My Response to the FCF and Kurt Warner

See Kurt Warner's Testimonial Here First.

It never ceases to amaze me how Christians will jump on any
situation (from trivial to grandiose) to try and convince you of the "truth" of "their" particular religion, to the exclusion of all other "true" religions extant in the world, using emotional personal testimonials--as if they have some inside track over every other religious (or non-religious) person in the world!  The most interesting aspect of this phenomenon is the fact that they are eager to jump on the bandwagon singing "hallelujah" about how so-and-so overcame such-and-such tragedy (and giving credit to Jesus of course), but they will never contemplate the reverse side of the issue, a much more disturbing scenario--that it was precisely because of their chosen God (i.e.,  Jesus) that such-and-such tragedy occurred in the first place! 

For example, Tom Winters is happy to tell you about Kurt Warner's conversion to Christianity following a tragedy (a tragedy that was not directly his own, incidentally; it was his girlfriend's tragedy--her parents died in a tornado because, we are told, they stayed home instead of going to church to be baptized, like they had planned.  We're told the people at church survived.  I guess her parents are in Hell now?), and he credits his subsequent success as a football player to the strength he received from that conversion (as if no one else could possibly be a great football player who wasn't a Christian). 

We also hear about how Kurt Warner's wife, Brenda, ("a Christian" we are told) has a son (Zachary), now 8, who is brain damaged and legally blind after having been dropped on his head as an infant, and how she "prayed to God for a miracle" (and the "miracle" was that he didn't die, evidently).  Of course, considering that the child is still brain damaged and legally blind seems to be of secondary nature when she was praying for a miracle--personally, I would have found his vision being restored and brain damage being repaired to be a better indicator of "a miracle," but that's just me (and Jesus's as well if we are to believe the Gospels)!  But because of Kurt Warner's new found "strength through Christianity," he did something no other non-Christian man would ever do... he married Brenda and adopted Zachary!  Gee, it's a good thing he wasn't a Hindu, a Buddhist or <gasp> an atheist, or else Kurt just wouldn't have had the moral backbone to do such a nice thing as this--give me a break! 

Furthermore, there are far worse "tragedies" among a few other NFL quarterbacks that eclipse Kurt Warner's situation.  Jim Kelly comes to mind.  His baby son is going to be dead soon (if he is not already) due to a degenerative muscle disease.  Kelly and his wife are also Christians, as I understand, and yet all of their "prayers" for a "miracle" seem to have gone unanswered by Jesus.  One can only contemplate what possible benefit is coming to the Kelly's for Jesus to see fit to inflict such a disease on their baby and then making them further suffer through the emotional degenerative death process.  Maybe Jim Kelly is not part of the "right" sect of Christianity and that is why his child is dying; maybe that's also why he is 0- 4 in Superbowls while Kurt Warner is the MVP?  Maybe the Kansas City Chief's Derek Thomas, who was also a Christian (and one of the most charitable people there was for helping underprivileged children), would still be alive today (even if paralyzed) if he had only been part of the "real" sect of Christianity that Kurt Warner and Isaac Bruce are a part of?   

You know what I think about such suggestions, don't you?  It's a bunch of bull and it's cruel!  To realize just how silly, arrogant, elitist, and even dangerous, such suggestions are one need only take a moment to contemplate what kind of message you're actually portraying!  I wonder if Tom can see the forest for the trees?  I don't think he can, but maybe others are not so closed-minded to reality? 

The problem for Christians is that people in ALL religions, in ALL countries, in ALL the world, have similar "religious" personal experiences that cause them to feel strong emotions of pain, sorrow, and joy.  Some people have more than their share of heartache while others are overflowing with joyful experiences, which can be extremely emotional as well.  There is nothing unusual about tragedy and emotion--it's a fact of life!  But when one starts sermonizing about how such events, and subsequent reactions to those events, are the result of direct interactions from the personal god of a particular religion, then passing it off to the public through a dripping testimonial as being some incontrovertible truth which should cause everyone (including those of different religions) to just drop everything and convert on the spot ... well, here they've stepped over the line!   

Child dies in house fire set by 5-year-old brother

If Jesus is so active in people's lives, and answers their prayers, then I would like to have a little talk with him and ask why he didn't answer the frantic plea for help from the young mother who lost her two-year-old daughter in our recent apartment fire?  Where was Jesus when this little girl's five- year-old brother was playing with a lighter in bed?  He couldn't have given a little divine nudge to wake up the mother who was asleep in the next room?  I guess that family will be better off without that little girl, huh?  Maybe if they had just been part of the same Christian sect as Kurt Warner, that little
girl would be alive today? 

Toddler dies in woods after wandering away from church group on hiking trip

Where was Jesus when that toddler wandered away from that church group hiking up in the Colorado mountains last year?  That little boy died, most likely in horrible fashion, terrified and alone.  I guess Jesus wasn't walking with those Christians that day, otherwise he would have "inspired" one of them to take notice that the boy had wandered off from the group.  In the days the search went on to find this boy churches across the country were sending out millions of prayers to Jesus to have him found alive.  But I guess it was just his time to go, huh?  I wonder if the boy's parents would agree? 

Yours in Truth,

Bruce Monson