When I posted the video the other day of Bryan Fischer calling for everyone to “be a Phinehas in our own world, and in our own generation,” I knew that if he responded, it would be to claim that his statement was being distorted.
And that is exactly what he is doing:
The left-wing blogosphere having a veritable tizzy fit over the monologue I did on Phinehas the other day. The video of that, which we have in our archives, has been picked up by some left-wing blogospheres [sic] and is now circulating out there with the headline that I am advocating the cold-blooded murder of people who are caught in flagrante engaging in sexual immorality.
Remember, that was the story about Phinehas, sexual immorality was out of control among the people and he took the step of actually pinning a couple who were in the middle of having sex to the ground with his spear. He was commended for this and turned away the wrath of God from the people.
Now the point that I had made was not the we need people to go out and do exactly what Phinehas did. My point is that we need people with that same kind of courage, the same kind of boldness, the same kind of decisiveness in whatever sphere they happen to be involved in. It’s the quality of character, the courage, the decisiveness, and the boldness and the willingness to take action. That was the parallel, of course, that I was drawing, so it’s humorous to see the left-wing blogosphere completely distort and misrepresent things that conservatives do, so they’re having a little bit of fun with that out in the left-wing blogosphere.
This response is entirely predictable, since this is what Religious Right leaders always say when this sort of issue comes up. Sure, they say, Christians should be like Elijah or Phinehas or Jephthah, but not in the sense that they kill their enemines or children for God; simply that they should have that same sort of dedication and commitment to God.
And this is exactly what Fischer says: people should not unilaterally murder the sexually immoral like Phinehas; they should simply have Phinehas’ sense of courage, conviction, and boldness.
But Phinehas displayed this courage, conviction, and boldness by murdering two people for violating God’s laws regarding sexual morality, winning God’s favor and saving Israel from his wrath. It was that very act which provided the evidence that Phinehas was dedicated to seeing God’s will carried out here on Earth … so much so that he was willing to personally kill two people with his spear to see it done.
And Fischer says that “God is obviously looking for is more Phinehases in our day” and that “each one of us [should] be a Phinehas our own world” … so what exactly does he think people should do in order to demonstrate their own Phinehas-like dedication to God, given that the one thing that set Phinehas apart from all the others was his willingness to murder for God?
Basically, Fischer is saying that Christians need to be bold and decisive and courageous enough that they are willing to kill for God … but that they should never actually kill for God.
