Tammy Faye Passes On
Strangely, I find that I am a bit sad to hear that Tammy Faye (Bakker, Messner) has died.
In appearance, she was more artificial than artificial, but there was something endearing about that to me.
I found her very likable, and I think she meant others well – especially as she got older.
I think she was a little pathological, and of course she had terrible taste in men. There was something so odd about her, but still… I liked her.
Her God seems to be about financial security. I never looked to her for spiritual guidance, but I used to watch every once in a while because she gave me a different perspective (…Lord, won’t you give me a Mercedes Benz).
I shop, therefore I am.
You can educate yourself right out of a relationship with God.
I always say shopping is cheaper than a psychiatrist.
I take Him shopping with me. I say, “OK, Jesus, help me find a bargain.”
You don’t have to be dowdy to be a Christian.
…and now we’re down to our last $37,000.
There’s times when I just have to quit thinking . . . and the only way I can quit thinking is by shopping.
I think the eyes are the windows to the soul. When my friends die, I often ask to have their eyeglasses. (San Francisco Chronicle, July 13, 2000)
There is also something that tickles me about the fact that the huge televangelist empire began as a puppet show for children.
Trip to the green marble bank in Heaven follows from thanking the Lord for her appliances:
I think she knew what promissory notes and collateral were… but what a sweet parable.
Her last appearance is rather shocking and sad. The poor woman. She was doing her very best.
Rest in peace, Tammy Faye.
I am going to have to try and get a loan on that collateral she was using myself! That sounds like quite a deal.
I just wrote an entry at my blog about Tammy Faye.
When I first came out of the closet as a gay man, my family ostracized me, wrote me out of their wills, even prayed for my death. I honestly believe that because of Tammy Faye’s support of the gay community, my family was able to follow her example overcome their narrow theology and re-establish a relationship with me.
I will always be grateful to Tammy Faye.
That’s a terrific comment and a great post too Darrell!
See? There was something there. However odd she might have seemed and however mangled her theology, she still embodied the christian virtues of kindness, caring, agape love… and because of that, she opened some eyes (a wee bit).
Darrell, my son says the same thing about Tammy Faye (although he was never ostracized, he and his friends were always fond of her, as was I). It was and still is rare for an evangelical to be as accepting and supportive as she.
Tammy Faye was a financial predator preying on the elderly, the gullible, the vulnerable, seeking their assets to support her own lavish lifestyle.