r.i.p. tammy faye
Odd that I would find it sad that a televangelist has died. I grew up in the 80s finding the whole Bakker PLT debacle gross and despicable. In fact I couldn't get past the crazy eyelashes and terrible makeup and her freakish god worshiping ways. Realize now that I think it pretty sick when anyone gets filthy rich off of people looking for religion and I get very very sad when millions of poor (often literally poor) deluded people help those people get richer and richer.
But when I saw the Surreal Life in 2004, I changed my mind about her. I never really watch that show but for some reason I saw a lot of it that season. She was on there with Erik Estrada, Ron Jeremy and Vanilla Ice. Overall it was a very strange crowd, with the oddest pairing of all being Ron Jeremy, probably one of the most famous porn stars around. And no, I have not seen the "hedgehog" performance thank god.
Tammy totally changed my mind about her. Seeing her in that sort of very charged and highly dramatic atmosphere, she behaved just like I believe someone that considers themselves a true Christian should behave. She didn't judge. She accepted. She accepted Ron Jeremy despite her feelings about the life he has led and continues to lead. She loved him as a person and as a friend--one of the people she said she became closest to while she was there. She accepted Vanilla Ice despite his anger. She was the kindest and most caring person on that entire cast. She loved them all. She didn't push God on them. She lived a life of example and through that I believe that many of those people became more willing to think about God overall. When the episode with the nudist camp came on she refused on principle. She didn't fault anyone else for going but believed it was wrong in the eyes of God for her to go. Again, instead of preaching, she led by example. Her friends supported her. Traci Bingham, Baywatch Babe, described her experience on Surreal Life with Tammy as life-altering.
She accepted and loved all the people around her regardless of race, regardless of sexual prefererence. The Wikipedia entry talks about her speech during the Surreal Life: "She made a plea for all people to grant themselves permission to cast
off the things that are holding them back, to forgive themselves and
others, to be happy with themselves whoever they are, to persevere in
the face of opposition, and to show each other unconditional love."
That last bit is something that I just don't see many Christians doing these days. Not all, but the neo-cons, the right right wingers. They judge, they blame, they persecute. If you are gay it's bad. If you make a very hard choice as a woman to not bring a baby into the world, it's bad. If you are the wrong color it could be bad. If you are a different religion, it's bad (don't get me started on a recent conversation I had with a relative about "not letting the Muslims get into our government" in reference to Barack Obama...sigh). I don't understand how this is ok if you call yourself a Christian. The Bible I've read has Jesus spending his time among the poor, the prostitutes, the people that society has cast off. Tammy Faye got that...she understood that God will be the judge and it is her duty on earth to lead by example and to love and accept people. All people. To find their soul and appreciate that soul which God gave them, regardless of whether or not they themselves are doing what the Bible says they should be.
If there are, as the Bible literally states (and we, as a society only began believing in the Bible literally (rather than allegorically) around the late 1800s, again sigh) a finite number of people that will make it into heaven, I think Tammy Faye probably made the list.
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