An open letter Esther and the Strong City cult

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Hello Esther

I write this letter as a way of drawing a line underneath our interaction – I got the impression that your last reply was a final one unless I entertained the notion of Wayne Bent being the actual incarnation of god. As with all fundamentalists the issue is all or nothing and I’m afraid in this case, it’s nothing.

I am undecided about your living man-god, as I can’t decide if he is delusional or a balls-out charlatan. I have been offered no proof of his divinity apart from reported personal experience and mostly the experiences of the emotionally venerable such as yourself. Hearsay is not proof, thousands of people feel gods touch and some kill each other arguing about the specifics of worship, thousands more ingest chemicals which show god to be a giant green laser that descends over sweaty dance floors every weekend.

Wayne isn’t the only person to have god speak to him and tell him to do things that our so-called corrupt society would blanch at. Peter Sutcliffe, for instance, heard Jesus’ voice through some gravestones, this time the big J told him to brutally murder prostitutes. I may sound factious but I do it to make a point. What makes Wayne different from anyone else with a Messiah complex?
or any of these other crazy cats?

Wayne’s actions are compared to Abraham’s, both as tests of faith. I have a couple of problems with this, mainly the contradictory notion that an all powerful, all knowing god needs to test people, god offers no proof of his existence but we are supposed to prove ourselves to him? Especially as we have to assume he knows the outcome already being so all knowing and all. Secondly Abraham was stopped from sacrificing his son at the last minute; so he sent an angel down to stop Abraham but couldn’t stop Wayne from shagging his friend’s wives or acting inappropriately with underage girls.

So no I don’t believe in your god or even the bibles god and if I did I still wouldn’t want to worship an insecure god that has an almost pathetic need for worship, or throws wrathful tantrums when someone doesn’t follow his oblique and often contradictory orders, or only manifests himself through indifference, cruelty or inflammatory actions. Maybe your god needs a new book, the old one basically being Chinese whispers of folk stories and hearsay written hundreds of years after the fact, cynically edited by nonbelievers and poorly translated from several near dead languages. Even if by some “miracle” god’s flavour can be tasted through years of human dilution like cheap cordial it seems that his worshippers seem to interpret the words however they see fit anyway.

Your god gave man a basic desire and respect for freedom but expects blind obedience with the only other alternative being eternity in hell. It seems that the people that I see that really appreciate gods gift of life are the one that do not follow his guidebook.

But these are my problems with Christianity as a whole, views I didn’t want to involve but felt I had to due to the all or nothing nature of dealing with zealots. By now, I imagine none of these words are being engaged with, probably dismissed as the quarrels of a dammed soul much in same way the whole of society is dismissed by you guys.

Contacting me was part of a slick Web-wide PR campaign, and that is understandable as to prevent another David Koresh style siege. It seems the American government (headed, incidentally, by a follower of a slightly different Christ cult) doesn’t like religious dissent. Seeing as your web site and media blitz were just a way of stopping the FBI shooting fire through your windows I don’t feel bad about ending our communication.

If you find my words insulting, tough, I find your views patronizing at best and basically inhuman at worst. But despite my vitriol so far you are still a victim in this, one that can still find help.

“Christina - …There is no delicate way to ask this question, but is there any direction from God that you would find so heinously offensive that you would not agree to carry it out? If God put it on your heart to physically harm others or to commit suicide, would you feel that you had to do it?

Micheal - Just as with Jesus, I always follow the Father’s instructions in everything…”

Yours Danny