Two Friends' Testimonials

On the Passing Of Rev. Falwell:

At one time in my life, over twenty years ago I, too, was like these DU'ers. I hated Jerry Falwell. I hated him because, as the drunken/drug addled raving lib I was, he represented ''repression''. I was helped along in this by the leftist, ex-hippie/radical woman I was living with-- somewhat older than myself--who was exposing me to it for the first time.

It was heady and ''liberating'' to revile a ''reactionary religious bigot flunkie of the ruling class''. Yes sir, my old girlfriend had all that leftie lingo down. A bona fide card-carrying, anti-Vietnam war marching, bra-burner--she didn't even shave her armpits leftie that she was. And for me, raised by two strict Catholics, it was a soul-relieving exercise to rail at Rev. Falwell and his Moral Majority.

What right did he have to be ''judgemental'' and force his religion and views on other people? Only we enlightened libs and lefties could do that. And how I loved to be so self-righteous--libs love self-righteousness--(but self-righteousness is just a phony form of respectabilty) and crow about how he was ''raking in the dough'' while talking about God and Jesus to a bunch of ''toothless hillbillies and suckers''.

I realize now, and I probably had an inkling then, that what I feared most was not the man but what he represented. Goodness, right and wrong, morality, protection of the unborn and, most of all, that which I didn't have at the time and had also abandoned: the love of the Lord Jesus and the knowledge that Jesus truly did love ME. The knowledge that I was a creation of God, not the State, that I was above the creatures of the Earth because He had made me that way. That, rather than be a creature of the Earth--a base and self-indulgent hedonist and fornicator--I should honor myself and try, as much as I could to ask His will for me, to live usefully and walk humbly under the grace of God.

Only some twenty years later, having been relieved of the obsession to destroy myself, and having asked for and found the woman He meant for me to love and be loved by, I have come to understand and admire and respect the Reverend Jerry Falwell. I know he did pray for, and still will in Heaven, for those who hated him. "Pray for your enemies, do good works unto to them. For does He not maketh the rain to fall on the wicked and on the just as well''? God Bless Reverend Jerry Falwell and may He comfort his surviving loved ones.

What He Meant To Me:

I remember hating Jerry Falwell. In the 80's, when I was a teenager, I was a liberal, raised with those liberal values. We were patriots in our family, but we chafed at religious types like Jerry Falwell who had a bible-based value system. I was once proud to pipe up and claim that I was a "secular humanist."

I was one of those idiot kids who loved to poke fun at Rev. Falwell and the "Immoral Minority." This gave me cart blanche to be promiscuous and do drugs. My parents told me not to smoke pot, but Jerry Falwell made me the maddest because I always viewed him as being too judgemental. That's what I really hated about him, he publically called for a return to traditional values and I knew I was an old-fashioned sinner!

His bold conservative vision was a terrible thorn in the side to snot-nosed young people like myself back then, so I understand the mind set of the vicious pig posters at DU, but NOT the behavior. No matter how you feel about someone like the good Reverend, you should NEVER say those things!

Jerry Falwell was a fine man of the Lord G-d and a tremendous patriot. The foul little pigs at DU who insult him in such a manner diminish themselves with their disgusting little insults. Shame on you! Go with G-d Jerry!