Comments on: Brother Jed’s Fire & Brimstone

By: Attack of the Seattle Megachurches - Pop Occulture

Attack of the Seattle Megachurches - Pop Occulture — Sat, 06 May 2006 19:08:15 +0000

[...] Much like other conservative Christian firebrands though, apparently he intentionally is trying to piss people off: That brutal honesty, that aggressively confrontational style, is deliberate. “One of the most important things I can do is agitate people to the point where they start to investigate,” he says. “Otherwise, they’re indifferent.” [...]

By: charlie's horse

charlie's horse — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 21:54:39 +0000

I dunno, though, Tim, about the efficiency of this as some wacky viral marketing scheme. I feel like these guys just make non-Christians more likely to view Christians as ignorant, backwards, hypocritical sacks of tripe. Reinforcing stereotypes with regard to Christians, and further laying down the association between ‘anger’ and ‘Christianity.’ Thusly continuing to divide us up into our little boxes, walling our hearts off from one another. Which is not good.

Not to say it isn’t amusing. It is, if you have the right eyes and ears for it - if you keep the smoke and mirrors firmly in conscious view. And it is good to know that he isn’t just saying the shit he says because he genuinely beliefs it.

By: charlie's horse

charlie's horse — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 21:47:55 +0000

“Itï¿½s entirely possible that these people thrive on you being riled up and attacking them.”

“Of course they do. It reassures them that theyâ€™re right.”

It also gives ‘em a sense of persecution, something that’s hard to get when you’re one of the biggest religions in the world. They really miss the good old ’secret Christian’ days. Or, as a fortune cookie would put it: everybody wants to be Rebel Alliance, no one wants to be Empire.

And everyone loves a good show. I remember someone like this coming out to UGA, and asking the crowd “Do you know how to stop the sin of masturbation?”

As one, we yell “Get LAID!”

Couldn’t have scripted it better.

By: rev max

rev max — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 17:52:42 +0000

I totally rememeber this dude - he used to come to my college all the time too. I still have an autographed copy of his tell-all biography at my mom’s house somewhere, i’ll post scans of teh funny parts if i find it next time i go home.

By: Kylark

Kylark — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 17:45:43 +0000

This brings back memories. I remember a warm sunny day on the U of Minnesota campus standing with a group of atheists (the militant kind that have weekly meetings. It’s a total substitute for church), watching Brother Jed. I had a go at him, but he was not interested in reasoned discourse. It’s performance art. He must thrive on the adrenaline of it, as does his audience. Having a religious argument in front of a crowd does give one quite a rush.

I met a very cute atheist boy that day.

By: hebrides

hebrides — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 15:39:49 +0000

Brother Jed rules! He used to come to m’eye college campus every year. He’d definitely rile people up, get them all emotional (a good way to put people in an altered state of consciousness and make them suggestible) and combative. He had to stay on the sidewalk so as not to be officially on school property since it was a private school. He’s a great performance artist, even if he doesn’t gno it. He does the same kind of shit with his Christian evangelicalism that Andy Kauffman used to do with his “I’m from Hollywood” and wrestling women shtick. Those who become Ã¼ber angry to the point of spitting on him, screaming at him or hitting him (which has happened), end up confirming lots of the stuff he’s saying about them, despite themselves. A lonely and impressionable college kid looking on at the circus is then more easily primed for a (short-lived) conversion. If you gno what he’s doing and why/how it works, you can just sit back and enjoy the theater of it. (I’d used to go talk to him when he was taking a break and letting one of his sidekicks keep up the emotion baiting and he’d be very soft-spoken and reasonable, insofar as his fundamentalism allowed it. So that was one clue to kmee…) Seeing him in and out of action and then reading posts from some Jedheads back in college, along with some books on altered states, made for one of those pivotal “Ah-ha!” moments in m’eye life.

Eye still have some sound collages eye made in college using some of the more hilariously ridiculous things he said on campus. One example: equating anal sex with someone’s friend sticking a slice of pizza up their nostril. Followed by a “Wrong hole, friend!” It’s just ridiculous! If you don’t approach it with a sense of the absurd, you’re apt to fall into pretty predictable emotional responses and end up lost in the circus.

By: Lynn

Lynn — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 15:29:46 +0000

This sounds like Bill O’Reilly.

By: James Russell

James Russell — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 12:01:16 +0000

It’s entirely possible that these people thrive on you being riled up and attacking them.

Of course they do. It reassures them that they’re right.