We Assassinate Jesus Everyday, Yet We Want A Savior To Lead Us
By Debbie Daniel (01/07/04)
We don´t curse Mohammed, or blaspheme Buddha, but when it comes to Jesus ... we CRUCIFY Him. Everyday there´s another nail pierced through His hands, as if we´re afraid he might come down off that cross. We want to keep the nail gun shooting so that we can keep Him bleeding.
Our Lord is not on that cross anymore . . . He just isn´t there. And though we´ve cast Him out of most public arenas, He´s exactly the model of man we´re looking for in a president. But we don´t want to recognize Him in our lives. Hmmm.
I recently read an article by Cynthia Tucker, editorial page editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and I must say this lady lays the groundwork for my argument.
She purports that the presidential candidates, including Bush, do nothing but inspire disdain: “The entire field – President Bush and his would-be challengers – leaves me cold. I´m still looking for a candidate who draws us together rather than hardening the divide between us, a candidate who calls us to a cause greater than ourselves rather than appealing to our selfish interest, a candidate who inspires us to overcome our fears rather than give in to them. I haven´t found such a man or woman.”
She continues: “This country once produced great leaders – men who were not afraid to challenge Americans to be better than they were. The 40th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy reminded me why he is still revered.”
Excuse me, did I read “revered?” Are we looking for a “Savior?”
She was not through: “Kennedy also had raw courage – political courage. Just imagine a presidential candidate today saying, ‘Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.´”
Well, Miss Cynthia Tucker, where´ve you been, little lady? An editorial page editor, huh?
After reading on to the end of her article, I realized there will NEVER be a candidate that will please her or any of us – not in this lifetime. From what she describes, we´re looking for a man like Jesus Christ. We´ve been trying to cast God out of our lives for fear we would mix religion and government, but yet those are the characteristics of the kind of person we want to lead us.
But we´ve crossed “the” line -- and from here -- there is no return. We can´t possibly want someone like God to be our president.
Tucker concludes her article admonishing Bush for what he should have done after 9/11, so if you´d like to read it, be my guest. You can find it at ajc.com. It´s called: Candidates inspire disdain.
I felt only heartache in reading her account. The point I want to make is: “We´re all looking for the perfect man to lead us, but we´ve cast the most perfect man that ever lived out of our lives; out of our schools; away from our children; no sign of Him in any public arena, and yet we want a man or woman to lead us that´s just like Him. We expect a mortal man to do the things that only God himself can do.
The irony and similarities of what we want and what we want to get rid of are amazing. Jesus wants to unite us; He wants to draw us together, but we´re kicking Him out of our public discourse. We´ve been telling God to get lost . . . access denied.
When you say there is no candidate that would dare ask what you can do for your country, you're probably right, because what we want is a “Savior” who will protect us from all dangers and excuse us from all accountability.
It´s not possible folks – no man or woman alive can meet up to those expectations.
Then Cynthia Tucker says, “That´s what John Kennedy did.” I´m sorry, but John Kennedy did none of that. Many deluded themselves into believing He was a Saint, but he wasn't.
Sadly for John Kennedy, he had his head blown off and we raced to his death with praise. It was a national tragedy that brought us together, but we always come together in a tragedy. Even the most estranged family will come together when a loved one dies. There´s never more love poured out over an individual as there is in death. We don´t know how to praise people when they are alive, just when they die.
It was his wife Jackie who wrote the Camelot story. It was she who turned the memory of his life and service to us as a place and time of idealized beauty, peacefulness, and enlightenment. It was she who yearned for a place called Camelot.
Jackie was from a home torn apart by a father that couldn´t keep his hands off other women. He was a womanizer, but she, the adoring daughter, looked the other way. He was laid out in a drunken stupor on the floor of his hotel room as Jackie waited for her dear father to walk her down the aisle on her wedding day.
As she had done all her life, she retreated to a fairy tale land. Didn´t she always seem to float across the television screen? She was the image of an angel and on the occasion of her own husband´s death -- at the hand of an assassin´s bullet -- she again retreated to a place where she could look the other way and we went with her. We were more than willing participants to be part of her Camelot.
We were reeling from the pains of war; a war in which a very incompetent president had engaged us; a war that left literally thousands of our soldiers dead, and we all wanted to run away.
Upon his death, Jackie painted her husband´s picture in “Kingly” and “Savior-like” words and we dubbed him “Saint.” It was only in his death that he could be so canonized.
All the philandering . . . all the pill popping . . . all the doctor´s visits to administer amphetamines to Jack and Jackie just to get them through the day . . . the Cuban Missile crisis . . . the wrongful assassination of an ally, South Viet Nam´s president, Diem . . . the Viet Nam war itself . . . the Mafia . . . Marilyn Monroe . . . and giving Castro a pass were all swept under the rug the moment Kennedy was pronounced dead. We were on to Camelot.
And if you want to turn a deaf ear to any of these facts which have been documented by more than one journalist, more than one professor, more than one eye witness, and more than one historian, then I´ll believe George Bush concocted a war with Iraq while out riding his horse in Crawford, Texas.
JFK became “Savior” for many. If he brought the country together it was because he was struck down before our very eyes and we – being a noble people -- heralded him with great praise; not because he deserved it . . . but because some folks needed a Savior.
So, Miss Tucker, you might want to rethink your attributions to this man, but then again, go ahead and believe what you want. If it makes you feel better about the world, go ahead and throw yourself on the memory of this man who, you say, inspired us to overcome our fears.
Actually, I thought it was Franklin Roosevelt who tried to help calm our fears. Didn´t he say, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself?” But go ahead and credit Kennedy if you wish . . . you may need this more than the rest of us . . . and with therapy like this, you might be healed.
But I must tell you . . . John Kennedy wouldn´t last a minute in today´s political climate. We would have tarred and feathered him just for turning the White House into a bordello. Marilyn Monroe would be selling purses with Monica Lewinsky -- it was through her death that she became such a princess.
Bill Clinton was actually a naïve little school boy compared to the Kennedy clan. Those boys just knew how to deceive the public; they certainly would have sent the blue dress to the cleaners. Poor Bill.
We Americans have become so bold. We wouldn´t put up with Roosevelt´s crumbling legs . . . because now we don´t accept people unless they´re perfect.
We´ve all become so technologically sophisticated with our access to information that we know more than the candidates do. We are better informed, smarter, and we´re not going to give a pass to anyone. And that´s how it is today.
Instead of using Kennedy´s line: “What can you do for your country?” why not ask: Have you had any other Gods before Me? Have you honored your mother and father that your days may be long upon the earth? Have you committed adultery? Have you murdered? Have you stolen? Have you born false witness against your neighbor? Have you coveted all your neighbor´s goods? Have you taken the name of the Lord your God in vain? Have you remembered to keep the Sabbath holy? And are you worshipping false idols?
Miss Tucker, I don´t believe it was so much John Kennedy´s charge on that Inauguration Day as it was God´s ten rules for life that made us better people back then.
When you talk about what this country once produced, I´ll tell you what it was. It produced children who were reared in Christian homes; it was a time when we put our hand on the Bible to promise to tell the truth; a time when we had respect for one another and a time when our lives were lived according to the Ten Commandments.
And Miss Tucker, you thought it was Kennedy we revered? No, it was respect for human authority; it was trust in a higher being as we prayed for our presidents; it was people praying for our leadership. But now, with this basic law of our culture thrown out the window; with the deprivation of prayer; with the hostility invoked by the mention of God´s name . . . we are once again searching for a Savior and it´s not going to be found in a presidential candidate.
The frustrating end in all of this is that we´ve had a “Savior” all along who has tried to bring us together; who has tried to show us love; who has tried to bring peace and understanding, but we´re determined to find a mortal man to do this for us.
You may think John Kennedy was a good man, but he was no “Savior.”
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