Bill O'Reilly's "Tip of the Day," is more than just a nightly nugget of Bill's sagacity that Bill, in his benevolence, shares for the education and edification of his "folks." It is also a platform from which Bill can scold his critics by presenting their criticism as, in the words of an SNL comedic character done by Bill's hated nemesis, Senator Al Franken, "stinking thinking." Last week, Bill interviewed the producers of the History Channel's "The Bible." Given that Bill once claimed that he was a creationist and said that "Judeo-Christian myth is not a myth," his comments to his guests were shocking. After they expressed belief in a literal interpretation of Genesis, he opined that the Bible is allegorical. (Talk about evolution!) Not surprisingly, he got blowback from bible literalists whom he took to task in a subsequent "Tip" segment during which he - ready for it - preached about not being judgmental. Looks like O'Reilly can give it - but he can't take it!
Wednesday night, he interviewed actress Roma Downey and her husband, Mark Burnett, about their new production. After Downey spoke about her faith in scripture, Bill said this: "When you say you’re a believer, do you believe in the Bible literally? I mean you believe that Adam and Eve were out there, and the snake and the apple and all of that business?" She responded in the affirmative. Bill then lectured Burnett: “Look, a lot of the Bible, Mr. Burnett, is allegorical, and we know that in creationism and things like that,” O’Reilly claimed. “So what you’re doing here, I assume, is just telling the story the way that the prophets put forth, without any commentary in it. Is that correct?” Burnett said that the bible treatment is "telling the bible as written." O'Reilly continued his lecture: "Are you telling people that they should believe in Adam and Eve? That they should believe in Noah’s Ark? Jonah and the whale? Are you telling people that this is the way to go?" Burnett retorted that "people will believe what they want to believe."
Bill then used the conversation to pimp his book and further impugn the faith of his guests. He told them that he is writing a "history" book about the execution of Jesus and that because of "contradictions" in the gospels, it's his "job" to "cut through the contradictions" to provide a narrative. He asked his guests if they took biblical allegories into account when they were producing their series. At the end of the conversation, Bill, after casting negative aspersions on his guests' production, threw in a perfunctory negative reference to the "secular" media whom he predicted would criticize it!
Bill quickly received blowback from Christians with differing views. One website asked Bill if he could "please stop teaching the Bible." Another website accused him of being a "practical atheist." But in responding to a viewer who "took issue" with Bill's biblical exegesis, Bill - ready for it - said he based his comments on "science" and "indisputable facts on how the earth developed." Yes folks, the same Bill who said that the tides can't be explained and that Jesus guided evolution is going all scientific! To another critic he snarked that she was "entitled to her opinion" but not "entitled to impune...my Christian status." He "assured" the viewer that "there are millions of Christians who don't take parts of the Bible literally." In a mocking tone he said, "If you want to believe that Jonah was swallowed by the whale, but don't demand that I believe it, too."
He presented his not so deep thought: "A strong belief system is a very good thing, if your faith helps you and others. But if you're judgmental and demand people believe the way that you do, that's a very bad thing as we see with the jihad movement."
Once again, Bill demonstrates the dichotomy between practice and preaching. As far as being judgmental, he's king of them all, y'all! He takes umbrage over those who dare criticize his version of Christianity, yet he has no problem attacking atheists for their belief systems. His idiotic and bogus "War on Christmas" jihad is all about attacking others who don't believe in an exclusively Christian version of Christmas. His anti-abortion jihad is all about demanding people to believe as he does. And while he constantly rails about an anti-Catholic media, he seems to have no problem impugning the views of bible literalists - a position that he held not that long ago. People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones - and that's my tip of the day!
And, as far as BOR telling others not to be judgmental, oh good grief. BOR is one of the most judgmental pundits out there. Pot, kettle, black, BOR. Geez.
What a fucking asshole.
Will there be a chapter explaining the roughly 34 gosples that were omitted from the scripture?
I bet if I looked hard enough I would discover that the word “allegorical” is probably secular in origin!
PROV. 14:15 “The simple believeth every word; but the prudent man looketh well to his going.”