After hearing about author Anne Rice’s Facebook post yesterday, and reading the subsequent reactions which followed by a number of Christian bloggers, I made up my mind not to post about it.
But Truth Matters has posted an excerpt today from an interesting commentary on the subject which frankly ‘reads’ more like it comes from the heart of a Christian who actually possesses the heart of Christ, then other responses I’ve read elsewhere.
You know, we Christians can be a nasty-sort at times; actually, down right ugly in our snap judgments about others.
If you are unable to read Anne Rice’s Facebook post, the gist of it was;
For those who care, and I understand if you don’t: Today I quit being a Christian. I’m out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being “Christian” or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to “belong” to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.
If time allows, check out the commentary posted at Truth Matters: Russell Moore On Anne Rice
And then pray for the lady. For if her impression of Christianity is based solely upon what passes for it today, I can truly and honestly sympathize with her.
Yes, pray for the lady’s perseverance, but moreso pray for the Christians giving Christianity a bad name. They (we?) seem to be in desperate need of God’s touch.
Anne simply re-embraced her Roman Catholic roots after her husband passed away. The issue has more to do with her wanting to accept sin and perversion over Godly values and character and in the end, her love for the world gave out. Yes, we pray for her salvation, or, as I would like to suggest, pray she find the REAL Christ and not some mythical version of it in a false religion as Catholicism.
Russell Moore’s comments are interesting but here is what I read this morning on Comcast news. In her own words she says: “In the name of Christ I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian”. Apparently this can be found on her Facebook page.
In a telephone interview (interviewer not mentioned) Rice said she was troubled by the child abuse scandals in the church and by their defensive reactions, also by the excommunication of a nun who approved an abortion on a woman whose life was allegedly in danger (Ms. Rice was raised Catholic, left the church early and then sort of came back later). Even though she is no longer a part of any denomination, she remains a believer.
A believer in what? Certainly not the truth as divulged in God’s Holy Word. Just her first words mentioned in the article–”in the name of Christ, I refuse to be…”. She does not stand on the side of Christ because she cannot affirm what she believes is socially good with what God says is eternally good. If she looks at the Catholic church as being the go-to for what is considered Christian, no wonder she is confused.
Mr. Moore thinks perhaps she is having waves of doubt or rejection. According to her it is more than that. She says that, “I came to the conclusion that if I didn’t make this declaration, I was going to lose my mind.”.
If she would only embrace Jesus, dig herself into The Bible ( not a paraphrase) and pray to be saved and given a new heart, then Jesus, who will turn away no one, will grant her petition. And He will be able to unravel all the mess in her mind and heart. He will show her the truth and if she continues in Him, He will cause her to understand that He is a loving God, but some who profess His name do it for evil intentions in order to cause people who might come to Him to flee from Him.
She still reads theology and posts Biblical passages on her Facebook page. Stop it, Ms. Rice. If you cannot love and cherish the God of the Bible, please don’t quote Him. People might misunderstand you and therefore misunderstand Him.
She indeed needs prayer.
God Bless you all.
I disagree: my hope and prayer is she continues to read, study, knock, seek, and pursue Jesus. Even if she does so publicly at facebook. She is a writer so its logical for her to use that venue to express her thoughts.
The truth is, we don’t know if Anne Rice loves Christ or not…do we?
I have no inside information about her heart, spiritual fruit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control: gal5) or lack of it, in her life. But she sounds as though she herself has witnessed ‘rotten’ fruit in the lives and words of many who claim to follow Christ.
She also posted,
Could it be all she hears from Christians is what they are against, but nothing about “Who” they are for?
that’s something to think about…
That was my thought too, where is the true church and has she ever seen it in operation? If she had the opportunity to be pastored by such godly men as John Macarthur etc, this story would be different.
Another interesting, well written commentary on the subject, posted at Internet Monk:
Anne Rice Through With Christianity
Anne Rice’s statement above in and by itself is incomplete to make any judgment about her, I could say similar things myself worded a little differently. But looking on her facebook site leads me to think she has never had what I would consider a revelation of the Father. Just a quick browse and right away I see her endorsement of the Lutheran’s welcoming gay pastors! This is very insightful for shedding light on who she is and what see sees as “Christian”. I refuse to be anti-gay myself, it is very unbecoming for a believer to hate the gays and protest against them, but I will not compromise the gospel by endorsing a life style of “gay pastor” in the “christian church” that would condone such a practice as being acceptable before the Father. Giving any type of stamp of approval on gays leading in a Church setting is a detestable thing before our Father.
Revelation of the Father trumps religion any day of the week. She needs to see the Father!!
Solar, i read somewhere her son is a homosexual. If, and i say “if” this is true, it could shed light on her struggle with the open hostility toward homosexuals which comes from a segment of the Church….especially the most politically active and most vocal segment.
(course im only speculating)
Amen.
Perhaps its time we go back to being pro-Christ and stop allowing ourselves to be defined by what we’re against (anti).
Jeff Dunn made this point in his commentary at Internet Monk:
An article today at the Christian Post:
See; ‘Vampire’ Author Anne Rice ‘Quits’ Christianity
Another perspective from Pyomaniacs blog…….
http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2010/07/weekend-extra-our-enemies-can-be.html
teddy – you beat me to it! I thought Frank Turks response was excellent – not detrimental to Moore but rather adding another perspective. I thought he covered all issues well.
PJ Miller:
First of all, Anne Rice is Roman Catholic. Roman Catholics are not Christian. I know that Martin Luther stated that even before the Reformation, there were pockets of evangelicalism in the Roman Catholic Church. That is evidence that God’s promises that He would always have a remnant reserved for Himself and that the gates of hell would not prevail against the church were true. But the Reformation was 500 years ago. People since then who have had the opportunity to see that Catholic doctrine opposes the Bible have LONG had other places to go. Their refusal to do so shows that to them being Catholic is more important than honoring God’s special revelation to mankind.
Second, Anne Rice’s son is openly homosexual. So when Anne Rice says that she doesn’t want to be a Christian because of the homosexuality issue, how else are we supposed to interpret it other than the fact that she is upset that Christianity refuses to endorse her son’s choice to live in a sinful lifestyle?
And truthfully, I am tired of people like Internet Monk blaming the rejection of Christianity on the failure of Christians. First of all, Internet Monk knows that many people who claim to be Christian aren’t regenerate. Second, Internet Monk knows that even regenerate Christians aren’t perfect. People like Internet Monk LOVE to hold regenerate Christians responsible for the actions of unregenerate ones, and are far more willing to point out the flaws of regenerate Christians than the flaws of non-Christians. So, I don’t want to hear this “maybe she has only heard about what Christians are against but not what they are for” nonsense. Look, most people will NEVER accept Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ shows them that their ways are evil. Those are not my words, but the words of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Gospel of John. And the folks who claim “she has never heard about grace” … excuse me, but open a BIBLE and read it yourself. Read where Paul calls himself the chief of sinners. Read where Peter was restored after denying Christ three times. Read where the Corinthian involved in an incestuous relationship with his mother was restored. Read where David sinned and repented. And so on. It isn’t because this woman doesn’t know about grace. It is that she is less interested in grace than in her sins, and in the sins of her son. Now you know that I am no fan of the religious right, but even if every religious right preacher on the planet were to stop politicking from the pulpit tomorrow, it wouldn’t change that. It is just something that people use as an excuse because they want to remain in their sins.
So pray that this woman who has made millions peddling books about homosexual vampires (yes, I saw “Interview With The Vampire” and it was EXTREMELY homoerotic) finds actual Christianity. She isn’t leaving Christianity, because you can’t leave a place that you’ve never been just like you can’t lose something that you’ve never had.