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 Is this a vampire from Stephen King’s “Salem’s Lot” movie or a character from one of the author’s "sermons"? Both, pastors say.
June 2nd, 2012
10:00 PM ET
The Gospel of Stephen KingBy John Blake, CNN (CNN) - When the horror novelist Stephen King was once asked why he wrote such gross stories, he said he did it because he had the heart of a small boy - which he kept in a jar on his desk. With his beady eyes and I-just-killed-the-cat grin, King looks and sounds like a horror novelist. But when the Rev. Paul F.M. Zahl read several of King’s novels, he learned something new about the author: There’s a lot of faith behind his fright. Zahl says some of the most stirring affirmations of Christian faith can be found in the chilling stories of King. The horror master has been preaching sermons to millions of readers for years, only most of King’s fans don’t know it, he says. “People tend to think that Stephen King is anti-religious because he is a horror writer, but that’s completely mistaken,” says Zahl, a retired Episcopal priest who has written about King’s religious sensibility for Christianity Today magazine. “Several of his books are parables of grace in action.”
Want to read a powerful meditation on Jesus’ sacrificial love? Check out how King links the death of the mammoth death row inmate John Coffey (note the initials, J.C.) to Jesus’ crucifixion in “The Green Mile.” King’s “Storm of the Century” is a creepy retelling of Jesus’ eerie encounter with the demon called “Legion” in the Gospel of Mark’s fifth chapter. And King’s epic apocalyptic novel, “The Stand,” reads like a contemporary retelling of the Book of Revelation, with a little Exodus thrown in, Zahl says. Zahl’s claim about King's faith may sound ludicrous. King, who just released his latest novel, “The Wind Through the Keyhole,” has written at least 50 horror novels such as “Carrie” and “Misery.” Yet there is an actual body of literature devoted to King’s religious sensibility. Several pastors and authors say King displays a sophisticated grasp of theology in his books, and his stories are stuffed with biblical references and story lines taken straight from the Bible. “If God brought lawsuits, Stephen King would face a charge of plagiarism,” says J.M. Rawbone, an English horror novelist who has written an essay about the Christian themes in “The Stand.” King, whose publicist did not answer a request for an interview, has talked about his faith before. He describes himself as a Christian on his website and elsewhere has said he was raised as a “hard-nosed” Methodist taught to believe in the Antichrist. Some of his literary influences are Christian authors. In one interview, King said he was shaped by C.S. Lewis, author of “The Chronicles of Narnia,” and J.R.R. Tolkien, author of “The Lord of the Rings.” Both Lewis and Tolkien were devout Christians who layered their fiction with Christian themes. “I’ve always tried to contrast that bright, white light of real goodness or Godliness against evil,” he said in a 1988 interview. “I’m not a proselytizer, and I hate organized religion. I think it’s one of the roots of real evil that’s in the world. If you really unmask Satan, you’ll probably find that he’s wearing a turnaround collar.” The best way, though, to understand King’s faith is not through his words, but through his stories. There are at least three biblical themes that run through them. A child shall lead them Every horror writer seems to write a vampire story eventually, and King is no exception. “Salem’s Lot” is one of King’s most popular novels. It depicts a vampire’s attempt to colonize a modern-day New England town. Traditional vampire stories are loaded with Christian symbolism, but King inserts another biblical theme into “Salem’s Lot” that would reoccur in many of his books. It comes in a scene showing a standoff between a priest and vampire. Father Callahan tries to protect a teenage boy with him by brandishing a cross. The vampire dares the priest to toss the cross away and face him on faith alone. Father Callahan hesitates, his faith long diluted by alcohol and skepticism. The vampire wrenches the cross from the priest’s hands, while the boy escapes and becomes one of the vampire’s most formidable enemies. When the Rev. David Squyres read this passage from “Salem’s Lot,” one of Jesus’ most popular sayings flashed before him: “… Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” In the moral universe of King, children get God better than the adults, Squyres says. “The vampire humiliates the priest because the priest doesn’t have real faith, but the kid has real faith,” says Squyres, pastor of the Palms Baptist Church near Palm Springs, California. “The priest represents the Pharisees. They believe in relics. But the children, and the teenager, have a simple faith. They don’t put their trust in institutions. They trust in the Lord,” says Squyres, who has written about King’s Christian sensibility at his website, "talkstephenking." Many of King’s most popular novels are filled with young heroines driven by faith. It’s a reflection of a famous passage from the Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament: “And a little child shall lead them.” In “The Talisman” and “It,” King features adolescent heroes who risk their lives battling evil, according to Marylaine Block, who wrote about King’s religious sensibility in an essay called "Something Wicked This Way Comes." “In both novels, the adults are incapable of understanding the evil that is about to envelop and destroy their world. They see the signs, but choose not to understand them. Only the children know what is happening, and know that it is up to them to save the people they care about,” she wrote. God can be cruel King’s most explicit Christian novel is “Desperation,” which features another adolescent hero driven by faith. The boy, David, is converted by a miracle and prays to God for help. King depicts his faith without irony and with reverence. “Desperation,” though, contains an unusual description of God that reveals some heavy theology from King, several pastors say. During the bloody climax of the story, a character tells the boy that God is “cruel.” That line caught the attention of Zahl, the Episcopal priest. It speaks to what he calls “the answerable sovereignty of God.” Zahl says King is depicting a side of God that’s woven into the Bible. It is not the God whose eye is on the sparrow, but the Holy Other, incomprehensible, the one who allowed Job to suffer. It’s the same side of God that the narrator in “The Green Mile” reflects on when he reminisces about the death of the innocent John Coffey, the Christ-like figure who never hurt anyone, but perished while a villainous guard lived on. Zahl points to this passage from ”The Green Mile”: “Yet this same God sacrificed John Coffey, who tried only to do good in his blind way, as savagely as an Old Testament prophet ever sacrificed a defenseless lamb. ... If it happens, God lets it happen, and when we say, ‘I don’t understand,’ God replies, ‘I don’t care.’ ” Zahl says King can say things about God in books that pastors can’t say in the pulpit. In King’s novels, people often suffer while doing good. “Americans generally want to hear that everything is really terrific all the time,” Zahl says. “Americans want to control and manage everything, and they’re eager for anything that pumps them up. When you preach a message from the Bible that life is much more difficult, and there’s a huge amount of suffering, those messages don’t always go down well.” 'God chose the weak things' As a teenager, King used to collect scrapbooks filled with newspaper clippings detailing the crimes of serial killers, says Stanley Wiater, co-author of “The Complete Stephen King Universe: A Guide to the Worlds of Stephen King.” King's mother grew so concerned that one day she asked him why he kept the scrapbook. Wiater says King answered with: “I think there’s evil out there. I want to know what it is, so when it comes, I can recognize it and get out of the way.” In King’s books, characters can’t avoid evil. They have to confront it, but they often don’t fit the conventional definition of heroes. “The Stand,” another explicitly Christian novel, illustrates this pattern. A plague has wiped out mankind, and a group of unarmed survivors are dispatched via a vision from God to confront a satanic figure called the Darkman. The group seems to have no chance. One is an elderly, genial professor; another a deaf mute, and a third figure is a genial man with the mental capacity of a child. Against them: the Darkman’s ruthless army, which literally crucified its foes. The makeup of the group underscores another popular religious theme in King’s work that’s reflected in this line from the apostle Paul in the first Book of Corinthians: “God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” Zahl, the Episcopal priest, says so many heroes in King’s books are broken people: physically frail, alcoholic, disabled and lonely. Even the evil people are rendered with compassion. “King understands grace at a deep level,” says Zahl, author of "Grace in Practice." “He typically concentrates on the marginalized and the outsiders who ultimately carry the day. God often does his work where people are the most messed up.” King may have converted Zahl, but the priest and others admit there’s a risk invoking the horror novelist in the pulpit. When Zahl mentions King in church, he says many listeners think first of books they want to keep away from teenagers. Still, there are secret converts. “Half of the other people in the congregation have read Stephen King, though they may not want to shout it out to the world,” he says. “They know what I’m talking about. They come up later and they say I’m really thrilled that you know about him.” The doubters shouldn’t be surprised that King’s stories contain religious themes, says Rawbone, the English horror novelist and author of "Bunker." The Bible is filled with terror: demons, ghosts, floods wiping out mankind and the rising of the dead. “Good horror examines the struggle between good and evil,” he says. “The Bible is the history of that struggle. “The Bible is in many ways the ultimate horror novel.” |
  About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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I'M EATING A WHOLE BAG OF BARBEQUE FLAVORED POTATO CHIPS.
Yes, Stephen King enjoys fiction.
Rev Zahl has taken all the fun out of horror books.
AND I'M A BIG, FAT STUPID IDIOT.
I JUST SMOKED THE BIGGEST, FATTEST DOOBER IN THE WORLD AND I AM STONED OUT OF MY GORD.
I WILL BE ON MY MOM'S LAP TOP UNTIL SHE COMES HOME FROM WORK.
HA HA HA .
'm a loser
I'm a loser
And I'm not what I appear to be
Of all the love I have won or have lost
there is one love I should never have crossed
She was a girl in a million, my friend
I should have known she would win in the end
I'm a loser
And I lost someone who's near to me
I'm a loser
And I'm not what I appear to be
Although I laugh and I act like a clown
Beneath this mask I am wearing a frown
My tears are falling like rain from the sky
Is it for her or myself that I cry
I'm a loser
And I lost someone who's near to me
I'm a loser
And I'm not what I appear to be
What have I done to deserve such a fate
I realize I have left it too late
And so it's true, pride comes before a fall
I'm telling you so that you won't lose all
I'm a loser
And I lost someone who's near to me
I'm a loser
The OT condones r@ping virgin girls as spoils of war. I don't know if Stephen King ever wrote such a scenario into any of his books (I don't remember any), but if he or any other author DID happen to write such a tale into his/her book, would he/she be then incontrovertibly referencing the bible? History does tend to repeat itself and get boring after a while, you know.
Numbers 31:17-18
17 Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, 18 but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.
@ Mrs. Kartz,
Thanks! Where do you teach Mrs. Katz? my second question is,Is that Mr Katz's image?. sorry i didn't know that.May God or whatever you believe rest him in peace. BMEN
I WILL CALL OUT THE U.S. GOVERNMENT !!! AFTER WHITNEY HOUSTON'S DEATH, THEY HAD AN OBLIGATION TO THE BLACK COMMUNITY.IT WAS THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO ENFORCE AND MAKE LIFE JACKETS MANDATORY FOR BLACKS WHEN THEY SHOWER OR TAKE A BATH.THEY HAVE FAILED TO DO SO.IS IT NOT EVIDENT THEY CAN'T SWIM ? HOW MANY MORE BLACK PEOPLE WILL PERISH IN THEIR BATHROOMS FROM NOT KNOWING HOW TO SWIM ? HOW MANY GOVERNMENT, HOW MANY ???
DOOD... I AM SO FCKUING STONED!
PEOPLE WHO DRIVE SMART CARS LOVE HUGE THROBBERS IN THEIR MOUTH.
I CAN SEE INSIDE MY HAND. IT IS SOOOO COOL.
MARIJUANA ES MUI BUENO. MAKE YOU LOCO IN LA CABESA!
YAAR YAAR YARRRRR!
One of mankind's strengths – the ability to recognize patterns in everything – is also its weakness. It's fine if it leads to the development of advanced calculus, the theory of relativity, etc., but it sure is a drag when every author allegedly has to have been - MUST HAVE BEEN - referencing Jeezus in his work!
It's even worse when the pattern is "look, a survivor amongst the tornado victims! There must be a God!"
Faith, Hope and Love are good things. If you think Jesus too harsh then you are obviously doing some horrible things and should seek His forgiveness. God knows I need it.
Jesus endorsed slavery and killing gays Matthew 5:17-78 and was anti peace and family Matthew 10:34-36
I haven't done any "horrible things". I simply don't believe in some fairy that demands worship from its creation and punishes all who doubt it exists with an eternity of torture, all the while claiming it is love incarnate.
Jesus speaking about the fools (aka non-believers)
So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust: [and] they walked in their own counsels.
Psalms 81:12
And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2 Thessalonians 2:10
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2 Thessalonians 2:11
Amen.
Understanding what you place here is key. Matthew 10:34-36 is not saying the Jesus divides the family just by being there. The gospel of Jesus Christ unifies people, it brings together a tax collector and a Zelote, but the gospel of Jesus Christ also divides them into two categories: those who are apart of the kingdom of God, and those who are apart of the kingdom of darkness. But Jesus divides people as well as unifies people and many times Jesus divides those within a household. A child comes into the kingdom of light, but the father continues to rebel in the kingdom of darkness, and so division comes, and a difference comes.
So before YOU try to throw out scripture, make sure you include the context and completely understand what is being said.
I just ate 6 sloppy joes.Now I must make giant duke in toilet.
Prayer changes things .
Led Zeppelin mentions prayer, heaven and Jesus in some of their songs. Hmmmm.....I wonder if party animals like these are a Christian band. What thinkest thou Zahl?
I thought they were Druid Viking Mysticists in really tight pants.
Really, really tight pants.
Why else do you think Robert Plante's voice was so high?
As some of you have mentioned, King is quoted as saying “I’m not a proselytizer, and I hate organized religion. I think it’s one of the roots of real evil that’s in the world. If you really unmask Satan, you’ll probably find that he’s wearing a turnaround collar.”
You seem to think that this statement is ignored by the author when they continue to discuss the religious overtones in his books, however you are missing a simple point. Organized religion is different from spirituality or being religious.
I would have to at least partially agree with King on the matter of organized religion. Too many times organized religions have been perverted by power and done very un-religious things. The inquisition, the Salem Witch Trials, the Crusades, the recent perversion of of Islam by "fundamentalists", the fundamentalists take-over of the SBC, the use of isolated/missunderstood religious ideals to influence political messages and the masses. All of these are occur at the larger level of organized religion, but that doesn't mean that the religious experience/belief/and hope of the individual is wrong or baseless or false. To condemn the individual for the sins of the masses or the organization is to use a false logic and and generalizations to prematurely discard the possibility of truth.
If you have read any of the Stephen King novels then you cannot deny that there are religious overtones, the meaning of those overtones can be left up to the reader, which I believe is the way that King intended it. But to deny their existence is paramount to the same absurd decision making that you so hastily accuse others of doing.
In "The Stand", King literally references Good and Evil, Light and Dark, Faith and Hope vs. Fear and Evil. In Salem's Lot, King addresses the issue of faith several times and even sends the Priest on a journey of redemption and Faith that leads him into King's Epic Series "The Gunslinger". King's novels are full of other references about God/Hope/Faith/Organized Religion/Religious Experience/ and Evil. The inferences and meaning are left for you to decide, however it doesn't mean those topics arent there.
I really hate it when religious people see their religion in everything. If you look hard enough you're bound to find a biblical allegory anywhere. Wall-E? That's Noah's ark. Tron Legacy? Flynn and Clu are God and Satan. When you're closed minded everything seems to reinforce your world view. It's like the old saying goes, if all you have is a hammer, every task looks like a nail.
Sounds like you're describing yourself, TAK.
To all the unbelievers. I want you to explain the intelligent design behind creation. Explain how our bodies are designed to cool itself down when we're overheating. Explain, how come the Earth is the right distance from the Earth to sustain life. You Atheist have lost your way and you really know there is an intelligent BEING that created the Heavens and the Earth. The only way you can serve your true purpose on this earth is to seek God's truth. Be like his son Jesus Christ!
Earth is the right distance from the Sun.
I suspect I would have better luck explaining Special Relativity to my dog than answering your nonsensical questions. Even the way you frame your questions displays your fundamental lack of understanding. Why is the Earth the right distance from the sun? Really? People still ask this? If it wasn't you wouldn't be here to ask such a question and life would have formed on a suitable planet in another solar system. No one put the Earth where it is for any reason whatsoever. It's called chance. And when you have 400 billion solar system in our galaxy alone, there are bound to be a few with hospitable planets. As for why we are capable of self regulating body temperature, what's your point? You do realize that the vast majority of species are not warm blooded and yet someone get by just fine.
Face His truth TAK, if it weren't for God creating all, scientists wouldn't exist, never mind have their jobs to uncover Him.
There is life here BECAUSE the earth is the right distance from the sun and we have a necessary chemicals.
I don't know the answers so there must be an invisible guy in the sky doing it.
Just as soon as you explain how the mass slaughter of the last two tsunamis means there is a loving god.
I really hate it when I post under the wrong handle after I have claimed that I don't do that.
Honestly, what is so hard to grasp about the fact that WE adapted to survive in this atmosphere? Organisms that couldn't cool themselves became extinct.
Do you people live in caves?
TAK, I will pray for you to come to knowledge.
How will you know if anyone "comes to knowledge", you witless wonder? You've never been there.
Tony, God doesn't want us to die. He wants us to live by Faith. Faith which is seen isn't Faith. It's not until you have built up enough Faith God chooses to reveal himself to you. I didn't see God until a year into my walk with him. There were signs in my dreams but I actually encountered God in my dream. This is why he said if you seek him with all your heart, he will manifest himself to you. The prince of this world is the devil, God wants us to live by giving our lives to him. Life in this world isn't Eternal, it's the after life that's Eternal.
If everything in the human "design" has "purpose" then YOU explain why so many of us are myopic, why so many of us have to get braces for our teeth to be straight, why so many of us have to get our wisdom teeth removed because there is not enough room in the jaw to support that many teeth, why there are so many birth defects, why there is an appendix, why men have boobs, etc. Why do women have facial hair?!?!
And didn't you know that earth is not special? There are millions upon billions of starts just in our galaxy, the Milky Way. There are millions upon billions of galaxies just like (and also not so much like) ours all over the universe. The odds of there being another earth-like planet that could support life are getting larger and larger the more we discover, chief!
1word: No you're wrong. It's the eternal BEFORE-life that you should have been worried about. But you probably didn't know Jeezus before you were born, so I guess you're doomed!
G. Zeus Kreiszchte
Human life and the creation of this world proves that GOD created it. When you cook something, if you don't use the same ingredients the dish you cook can taste different every time you cook it. I also believe that there are other planets with life because of the fact that God never said Earth was the only planet he created with life. If I had an Entire Universe at my disposal I would utilize it, it just makes sense. It's like building a 8000 square foot home and furnishing only 4000 and leaving the other 4000 totally uninhabitable.
Psalm 147:4
Amen.
G. Zeus Kreiszchte
Arguing with someone that's Blind about something I can visually see is crazy. I didn't know Jesus before I was born but after being BORN AGAIN I know him. God created this world for a stepping stone to the eternal life. Is it possible that God can place someone whoe has lived a Righteous life on Earth as a God over another Galaxy? I believe this is possible, because with God all THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!
You know just as much about the beforelife as you do about the afterlife. Both are eternal, immeasurable and yet equal. How do you know the part where you get punished was before this life? How do you know the part where you get punished isn't IN this life? It's ridiculous to keep harping on about something that you have absolutely NO evidence of!
G. Zeus Kreiszchte
Here's the main point, and I hope you get this. YOUR NAME DEFINES YOU. When you die God will call you by YOUR NAME. What's the chance of you being Born again in another life and having the same name? A lot of people are named after their Dad or someone in their family. All you should focus on is what's happening in your little life today, you can't worry about what happened in your past because JESUS Christ Blood washes away the Sins of your past. You seem to be someone who is willing to listen, I pray you find God for the Loving person he is because he does love all men and doesn't want 1 to be lost.
1word: You CAN'T be serious! Names can be changed or didn't you know? And also names are completely arbitrary...or didn't you know?
G. Zeus Kreiszchte
Who can change your name but God. When you answer to God he will call you by the name he gave you. God changed Jacobs name to Israel when he changed his walk in Gods will. You call change your name to Satan but when you stand before God he will call you by your original name or the one he gave you!
1word: You are a hopeless fvkkin retard! My parents gave me the name I most went by when I was born because that's what THEY felt like naming me, INDEPENDENTLY of any imaginary fairy sky god. RETARD!!!!
G. Zeus Kreiszchte
The light will reveal the darkness, I thought you were someone who was willing to listen. It's the good of me that caused you to result to name calling. I pray that you will eventually come to the light. When it does happen, you will remember this conversation and call yourself a idiot. lol
"Who can change your name but God?"
What kind of idiot are you? Anyone can change his/her name anytime. It doesn't require any sky daddy's permission, you nut job.
Oh, what a laugh. Someone who claims to have some sort of inside info using "lol". Totally lame.
Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son
Yes you legally change your name for man to refer to you, but God will call you by the name you originally was given. I want to see you ignore God while YOU'RE on your knees before him crying and pleading to be let into Heaven because he called you by your first name the one that was given to you by your parents. That'll be the day.
2 Timothy 3:1-4
King James Version (KJV)
3 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
Does this scripture describe the people of this world? This was written over 1900 years ago.
You idiot. Do you really think a god who can't or won't stop hundreds of children from being slaughtered is watching to see what names people give their children? You moron, if you were any dumber you'd be a plant.
I have to laugh when some noob like 1word says crap like this: "by the name you originally was given."
It's WERE GIVEN, you idiot. Why, if there's a God, doesn't he give you a leg up on your literacy, honey? Why does he allow you to continue to make Him look bad? Why does he allow his servants to be stupid?
Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son
How do you feel the same God you talk bad about is the same God that will be Merciful to you when you go to him on your hands and knees begging for his forgiveness? I wish I could be a fly on the wall when that day happens.
Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son
My Knowledge of this world means nothing, that includes the English classes I attended, but really counts is my study of Gods word. The knowledge that you gain from your college studies of this world will DIE with you, I will live forever because of the Knowledge I possess. THANK YOU HONEY!
Not surprising. You're nothing but a hypocrite, 1braincell, just like all your idiot pals. You aren't in the slightest concerned for the welfare of my soul or myself. What you are slobbering over is the opportunity you imagine you'll have to rub your little paws together while watching those you despise writhe on a spit.
Nice job, fundie. You're a real tribute to Jesus.
You'll "live forever"? Oh sure. I wonder, does anyone but you even remember what your great-grandmother did? Or recall her name?
You moron. You're not even memorable NOW.
Tom I care about your soul, if I didn't I wouldn't be ministering to you. God said not to cast our pearls before SWINE. Meaning, don't waste the Good Word of unworthy people. At the moment you aren't worthy because of your belief, but there will come a time you will come to the truth. I pray for you to come to the truth.
The day YOU possess a pearl rather than a turd, alert the media, you fvcktard.
Jeezus FVCK!! 1word is ministering to Tom, Tom! Via the internet! How convenient, noncommittal and anonymous for you 1word! Go to!
Yah, and it's been oh, so effective, too!!
Why does every article that touches on faith bring out scads of smug, bitter, uber-defensive, atheist posters????
It's only fair. Every scientific article brings out the weak-minded, brain-washed, religious nuts who refuse to reason.
And those are just the few among the so many reasonable honest and wanting to help you get your mind cleansed of rubbish atheists who try to explain obvious facts to you so you can become sane, realistic and happy with your lot.
Sometimes it's a bigotry based on some bad experiences with religion or spirituality. Sometimes it's because of their anger at themselves as well as an inability to truly be vulnerable to anyone. A real belief in God requires true openness and, frankly, that's pretty scary. There are others who have never moved beyond the "Human Having" or "Human Doing" stage of development. Stuck in childhood and or adolescence, they only see life in a material way. In addition, God calls us all to personal responsibility and many of us, agnostic, atheist AND believer, find that difficult.
What a bunch of tripe and bunk! Stephen King wouldn't even talk to the writer of this article. So this is NOTHING but opinion and should not be considered journalism. If you'd like to learn more about Stephen King, read his autobiography. He's not a fan of you silly christians...usually in his stories you guys are the ones that get killed first....
more horror (all condoned by Jehovah and Jesus) in the bible than King ever could write
I think think the pastor does have it wrong. God does care. To be honest, the parable of that Jesus gives of the shepard trying to find his missing sheep is most telling. God really does care for those who believe in him. Also, I have to point out in regards, to Stephan King. In the novel, The Stand, God is always sending dreams to those who are chosen to meet the Mother Abigail. That analogy really does show that God is good and he really does care for those who are faithful. That's just my opinion.
Dick, when you look at what the Christian collection of horror stories AKA the bible says, apparently god wants some pretty horrible things to happen to us. It's really not like you describe. Christian god must be quite the jerk to be wanting stuff like this to occur. This is very "telling" content:
Numbers 31:17-18
17 Now kiII all the boys. And kiII every woman who has slept with a man,
18 but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.
Deuteronomy 13:6 – “If your brother, your mother’s son or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul entice you secretly, saying, let us go and serve other gods … you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death”
Note that the bible is also very clear that you should sacrifice and burn an animal today because the smell makes sicko Christian sky fairy happy. No, you don't get to use the parts for food. You burn them, a complete waste of the poor animal.
Yes, the bible really says that, everyone. Yes, it's in Leviticus, look it up. Yes, Jesus purportedly said that the OT commands still apply. No exceptions. But even if you think the OT was god's mistaken first go around, you have to ask why a perfect, loving enti-ty would ever put such horrid instructions in there. If you think rationally at all, that is.
And then, if you disagree with my interpretation, ask yourself how it is that your "god" couldn't come up with a better way to communicate than a book that is so readily subject to so many interpretations and to being taken "out of context", and has so many mistakes in it. Pretty pathetic god that you've made for yourself.
So get out your sacrificial knife or your nasty sky creature will torture you eternally. Or just take a closer look at your foolish supersti-tions, understand that they are just silly, and toss them into the dustbin with all the rest of the gods that man has created.
Ask the questions. Break the chains. Join the movement. Be free of Christianity and other superstitions.
http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/