Good Morning!
I hope you enjoyed your weekend. 🙂
Quote of the Day
“One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than a hundred teaching it.”
Knute Rockne
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Statler Brothers.
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QoD
What did you learn at church yesterday?
Wandering Views 
Seems like every week has to start with a Monday.
😦
It’s 22.3 degrees in Hendersonville. The weather man says it’s going to get worse.
It’s March guys!
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Yesterday we held a small (14 people) bridal shower for our son’s fiance and it turned out perfectly. We went to a small Italian restaurant called Portalli’s in Historic Ellicott City. We were seated in a private-but-not-secluded alcove with a large picture window facing Main Street, which is a nice view. We had a waiter who was dedicated to our party and he was incredible – attended to our every need before we even had to ask, quietly and efficiently (and yes, I tipped him VERY well). The food all came out at the same time and there were no complaints or issues with any of it. We took Emmy with us (she is going to be a flower girl in the wedding) and she was totally charming and cute and held up very well for a two-year-old who didn’t get her afternoon nap. It was a great day.
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http://www.inman.com/inmaninf/storyxml/news/191493
Good Ol’ Warren Buffett refuses to play by the rules. Yet he wants to tell everyone else what to do?
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I LOVE Ellicott City! It sounds wonderful.
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Linda,
Congratulations on the successful shower! It sounds like it was delightful.
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Solar, I have to see that movie, I just have to.
Donna, I watched “The Bible” last night. It was good, but as expected, they left a lot out, and included some things not there. Sarah was not involved in the sacrifice of Isaac. They went three days journey. She was nowhere around and likely didn’t know about it.
The Red Sea didn’t have to be as deep as they showed. Ten feet is plenty deep enough. I will probably continue watching it.
You can’t tell about the Bible in ten hours, especially if you have to show a fight in Sodom before it’s destruction.
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I want my two hours back.
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I gave up after Lot’s wife started arguing with Abram.
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As for the QoD. I can’t say I “learned” anything. But it was good that I was there.
Same for SS.
Did I tell you we had lunch with Mary?
We had lunch with Tom and Mary yesterday.
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I did not learn anything new, but it was good to be worshipping with other believers, partaking in communion and fellowship, and joining my prayers with theirs.
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I heard a sermon at our former church an hour from here about Simon the Cyrenion, who carried the cross for Jesus to Gethsemene. I’d never heard a sermon about him before, and our pastor pointed out his sons became well-known in the church after Jesus’ resurrection.
While Simon may have just been in the crowd that morning to celebrate Passover (and he had come from North Africa), he left changed. We, too, must respond to Jesus when we meet him and come away changed–or we’ll just be another member of the crowd when the time comes to meet Jesus again face-to-face.
Interesting in a lot of ways.
My launch party for my book is on Saturday and as I put together just a silly party full of fun (come dressed as if you were a SEAL or going to a massage; serving MREs and spa food, prize give aways and my husband and I reading from the book), I’m overwhelmed by the details.
I like to be loose and free when I throw a party and not care how it turns out as long as people have fun. My husband keeps telling me that’s going to happen here.
He’s right. But my brother is driving a long distance with his hurt child and many of these people have prayed for her. I’m scared, frankly, some well-meaning person will tell her they prayed for her and my relationship with my family will sever.
Got to love families. Particularly the ones who don’t know the Lord.
Even if it kills you, which brings me to a hard QOD, taken from my insights into Job:
How much suffering are you willing to endure to help someone else come to know Jesus?
Stop in if you’re in the area Saturday night. Wear your SEAL costume. 🙂
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We had a recording of John Piper preaching on the necessity of suffering in the Christian life – we lack a pastor here, so we use a lot of different preachers’ recorded messages.
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Ha! Michelle hadn’t posted when I started typing. But just because I recently heard a sermon on the QoD doesn’t mean I have a pat answer. I don’t know how much suffering I could endure, but I do know that God doesn’t ask anything of us above our strength – so my answer would be: As much suffering as the Lord required me to go through.
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Hard question, Michelle. I think I am willing to suffer the rejection of my childhood family, because I am about to write some letters with some hard truths and the gospel message with a challenge.
I was willing to put my marriage on the line for the sake of my husband and children. That was some tough rows to hoe, but it has worked out in a believing prodigal husband and children who know the Lord.
I think when push comes to shove, I know that I am probably not willing to travel to foreign lands to be a missionary. I am relieved to say that at this poine in my life I do not believe that I am being called to that kind of ministry. I am also ashamed to admit it.
I think I would also be hard pressed to be in Mumsee’s mission field.
I don’t know, except to say that I am willing to obey God no matter what the cost to me, but I know my flash is weak and in the end, I have had some tough obediences that were tough for me, but they might not be so tough for someone else. God usually has to force me out of my comfort zone.
Hard question, if I’m being totally honest.
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Michelle’s question is impossible to answer because it depends on the calling you have. The kind of suffering, the probability of that person really coming to know Jesus, the relationship of that person and lots of other unquantifiable factors enter into it.
I don’t see how Job affects this issue.
Paul wasn’t called to save people, he was called to preach the Gospel.
Billy Graham would say the same thing.
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We had a guest speaker for the sermon on Sunday. He always gives an interesting message with good food for thought. He was preaching because our pastor’s wife died a few days before. The pastor’s wife has been in a memory care center for over two years and had been afflicted with Alzheimer’s for several years. It was a long goodbye and everyone knows she is now in a far better place. Still, there is the grief for her family. She wrote a book about learning how to trust God when she had a son with Down’s Syndrome. My pastor could be easily retired for a couple of decades now. He had a late life conversion and his wife was surely a factor in that.
The sermon was on Psalm 73 and was perfect coming after a night spent with my extended family. It is interesting how God puts things together in such a way to bring even deeper understanding. I also think it is interesting how Psalm 37 has much the same message. Same numerals–different aspect of the same core problem of man: Envy of the rich and/or the wicked.
I find I can only deal with the next step in my day. God gives us grace as we need it. I realize more and more how faithful God is and how unreliable the riches and so-called wisdom of this world are. I think we all need to come to same revelation as
the disciples : “Lord to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life!”
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Opps! That was me and I am not anonymous or rather, I am.
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Michelle’s QoD, in all honesty, at this moment, not much. However, according to Corrie Ten Boom, the Lord will give me my ticket when I need it.
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Hard to answer Michelle’s question until one is faced with the call.
Our sermon was on Rom. 4:5-8 “Justifying the Ungodly” and included a quote our pastor had posed before on FB from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn … summing up, it’s about how the mess mankind/nations find themselves in is because “Men have forgotten God.”
Kim, I didn’t see a Warren Buffet reference in your link, but did he acquire Iowa Realty? (I think I’d actually read something about that somewhere a few weeks ago). By the context, I’m assuming that’s the case.
I have a colleague who would love it if Buffet bought our newspaper. I roll my eyes whenever he says that. Please. Things would only get worse, I’m convinced.
I’m real tired of him, actually, and just wish he’d send his money into the government already. 😉
I saw a very small portion of The Bible. I’m not crazy about “Bible movies” and our denomination actually discourages such a thing as being a violation of the 2nd commandment. I never saw “The Passion” (Was that the name of the Mel Gibson movie that had everyone in a frenzy just a few years ago?)
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KBells, Corrie had that right.
We are given what we need when we need it.
I can’t imagine going through all kinds of things — yet I believe that if I had to, God would then (and only then) somehow give me the strength to do it. Knowing me, I won’t go through whatever it is with much panache or grace, however. 😉
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I was disappointed in the movie, but not surprised. I know they had to condense things, but don’t believe you need to do that by putting in words or situations that are against what is actually written.
Having said that, my daughter, who said she watched (while talking back to the tv and rolling her eyes) with her two sons, said both were engrossed and her youngest (9yrs. old) took out his bible to check some things out. God can use all kinds of things. I pray this will cause discussion and people to look into the word.
kBells: I agree with Corrie, but we are also admonished to “work while the day is light.” Too often, we do not take advantage of what we already have and are not prepared as we need to be, when the dark times come.
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Roscuro, I don’t really think it’s the case that God doesn’t ask anything beyond our strength . . . but He doesn’t ask us for anything beyond His strength in us. That is, He knows that we are weak and He doesn’t test us only within our strength; part of the test is whether we will cling to Him and His strength, or merely try to “be strong” on our own.
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Donna J,
The Passion of the Christ. I didn’t see it either, for the same 2nd Commandment concerns you mention. Also, it almost certainly was produced by/from a Catholic perspective (for whatever that’s worth to people who distinguish among such things).
A woman at our church did watch the movie, more to “see what all the buzz was about” than for personal edification, or even just for entertainment reasons. She watched the actual “passion” scenes with the sound on, and did feel very moved by the sequence. Then she turned off the sound, and without the accompanying emotional music, experienced little of the dramatic effect. Not to sound all ‘Southern Baptist,’ 🙂 but I think such movies and Easter productions are more “appeal to flesh: than “worship acceptible to God.”
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Good morning or afternoon! I haven’t read the thread yet, but it looks like there is an interesting discussion going on here, as I rapidly skim the thread. I’m looking forward to reading it all (and perhaps joining in).
QoD: Maybe not the answer AJ had in mind, but yesterday at church I learned that my husband loves me. 🙂 Okay, I already knew that. 😉 He doesn’t often say the words, but he shows it to me in various ways. Yesterday during the last hymn, he took my hand and held/squeezed it for the rest of the service. He doesn’t often express himself that way, but it certainly speaks love to me when he does.
I feel very loved by my husband, and very loved by God Who gave me such a man.
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My reasons for not seeing “The Passion of the Christ” were multiple. One is, quite simply, I’m squeamish, and not interested in watching bloody battle scenes in movies, clips about surgery on PBS, or the removal of injured bodies in real life horrible car accidents.
Which leads to the next one: some Christians acted a bit like “well, this is different; there is a spiritual purpose to watching this.” And that’s my second reason: God didn’t actually give us a movie of the event, nor did He give us graphic, gory detail. He didn’t ask us to watch it and get all emotional over the pain; He told us to “remember” by means of the Lord’s supper and Scripture. So the idea of getting spiritual brownie points by some “extra” that is not commanded, not even suggested, in Scripture really began to bother me.
And, finally, we do have a tendency to equate things we’ve seen as more “real” than things we have not. So (for many people) a character in a book is equated with the actor who has played that role; the climax works itself out as the movie showed it. Even with a book, I would prefer to have the book’s images less affected in my memory than that. And when it’s the Word of God, no, I do not want the “movie version” influencing my thought at all! Theological error is probably doubly problematic when it influences you through having “seen” it.
In Nashville I got fairly regular mailings asking me to send contributions for sending out more copies of “the Jesus film.” The letter would tell some story about how some crowd of people who don’t have the Bible in their language would gather to watch the first movie they’d ever seen, with actors speaking (dubbed) in their own language! And the viewers would be in anguish when the one who played Jesus “died” and overjoyed when he “came back to life,” and for about one dollar per conversion you can get in on this. And my response was “ick.” These people viewing the film may think they’re watching the actual event! They don’t understand actors and acting and, more important, they haven’t been taught that we have a Creator, we sinned against that Creator, sin requires a blood sacrifice, God Himself came and died in our place to become that sacrifice. They have been shown images (falsified ones) and not given Truth.
That’s not to say that none of these conversions are real, or even that the film is never shown to people who do have the theological background to understand the truth behind the story–but it does mean that God sent His Word and preachers of His Word, not film reels, as His chosen means to spread the Gospel. We can use film to start conversations about the Gospel with our neighbors, but I think that’s a whole different thing from thinking that showing movies equals evangelism.
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I learned nothing in church yesterday!
CONTEST! CONTEST!
I don’t know what to offer as prizes. I could say I might become a convert to Christianity, but I don’t like to lie. (It’s probably a sin.) How about if I offer to donate $1 to the winner in each category to do with as he or she pleases? Perhaps they can buy a Bible to donate to a mission? Or perhaps help Pastor Roy?
Anyway, I need good religious jokes. Good in that they should be both funny and not offensive or insulting. I will choose the winner in each category. My decision is arbitrary and unfair. By “category” I mean “denomination,” “sect,” “religious belief,” etc.
I will start with ATHIESM As I am an atheist and a “Jew” (though I don’t know what “Jew” means), I can tell jokes about those denominations. Actually, I am not sure what “atheist” means, either. Anyway, just to kick things off, I will tell an atheist joke in the next comment box. Do you have a better atheist joke than mine. (I realize I have a conflict of interest in judging this category. So, sue me.)
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An atheist joke. Can you do better?
An atheist walks into a bar to meet his agnostic friend.
Agnostic, “Hey, bro, what you been doing?”
Atheist, “Talking to religionists. I was hanging out with a Catholic Priest, a Muslim imam, and a Jewish rabbi.”
Agnostic, “Yeah? Talking about what?”
Atheist: “I told them how they were responsible for the evil and madness in the world. I told them how stupid they are to believe all that crap.”
Agnostic: [sarcastically] “I bet they really liked hearing that.”
Atheist: [laughing]. “No, they didn’t like that one bit! But then I really put them in their place!”
Agnostic: “How did you do that?”
Atheist: “I said, ‘The worst thing about religious belief is how intolerant it is!”
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Regarding Cheryl’s comments that the “Passion’ film was considered somehow a sanctioned “spiritual experience” by many Christians: I remember listening to a Christian radio show as I was driving home (shortly after the film was released) and they were doing live interviews people in line, many of whom had seen it once already and were coming back again.
One woman actually described the film as akin to taking communion. I cringed.
Enough said.
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Good punch line, MP.
Religious jokes? How about this one, since we’re on the subject of garbled bible movies (NB: I didn’t write it):
‘A young seminary graduate was seeking to pastor his first church. “Young man, do you know your Bible?” The young man replied, “Yes sir. I know the Bible from front to back.” Another asked, “Do you know the stories and parables?” The candidate answered, “Oh yes! I know all the stories and parables.” Another committee member said, “Tell us one of the parables of Jesus—let’s say the parable of the Good Samaritan.”
And so he did. It went like this.
“There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, who went down to Jericho by night and he fell among stony ground. And the thorns rose up and choked him nearly half to death. The next day Solomon and his wife Gomorrah came by, and they carried him down to the ark for Moses to take care of him. And as he was going through the eastern gate into the ark, he caught his hair in a limb and he hung there for 40 days and 40 nights.
And afterwards, he hungered and the ravens came and fed him. The next day the three wise men came and carried him down to Nineveh. And when he got down there, he found Delilah sitting on the wall. He cried out, ‘Throw her down,” and they said, ‘How many times shall we throw her down, unto seven times?’ And he said, ‘Nay, but unto seventy times seven.’ So they threw her down, 490 times. Then she burst asunder in their midst, and they picked up twelve baskets of her fragments. And they asked him, ‘Lord, in the resurrection, whose wife will she be?’”
The pulpit committee chairman said, “Folks, I think we ought to call him. I know he’s young, but he sure knows his Bible.”’
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Cheryl – Re: QoD I agree wholeheartedly that it is God’s strength working in us and I had that in mind as I wrote. However, I was thinking of verses like II Corinthians 10:13, that He does not suffer us to be tempted and tested above what we are able to bear.
BTW, I used to think like you regarding showing films like the Jesus movie – from what I know from recent experience, I no longer hold to that opinion. Let’s just say, that people are people the world over and if North Americans are capable of understanding the message of such a movie, so can those from other cultures.
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Cheryl, Re: QoD – I agree wholeheartedly that it is God who gives us strength to endure – I had that in mind as I wrote. However, I was also thinking of verses like II Corinthians 10:13 or Psalm 103:14, which assure us that God will not let us be tempted and tested above our ability and He remembers that we are frail human beings.
BTW, I used to think like you about movies like the Jesus film (which I still think about glossy Hollywood productions like The Passion), but recent experience has drastically changed my opinion. People in other cultures are just as capable as North Americans of understanding a gospel message by film.
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Sorry Roscuro,
For some reason the SPAM filter grabbed the first one. 😦
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Well, Random. I will finally bite.
Why do you have to take two Baptists fishing with you?
Because if you just take one, he will drink all your beer.
The poor ol’ woman lived way back in the wood and didn’t have any running water. She had several children and was concerned that they all be Baptized. The circuit preacher was coming through and she had already made arrangements for him to Baptize her children so she got up early in the morning and went to the “crick” to fetch a pail of water.
As she headed up the hill home the children came out running to greet her, “Mama, mama, the preacher done been here and Baptized us!;” She asked, “What did he use for water?” They replied, “He used that water you keep under the bed!”. She almost fainted and said, “Lawd, I wanted you to be Methodists and here you is ‘Piscopailians!”
I’ll be back when I find my next favorite and can copy and paste. Some may find it offensive but I have always thought it was funny.
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Upon re-reading it just might be better if you google the joke about the Nervous Priest.
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MP, Baptist jokes. How do you tell the major religions apart? Jews don’t recognize the divinity of Christ, Protestants don’t recognize the authority of the Pope and Baptist don’t recognize each other in the liquor store.
How do you keep your Baptist fishing buddy from drinking all your beer. Bring another baptist fishing buddy.
I have a Baptist computer. You only have to save once.
You may not know enough about Baptist to get those but there they are. I also know a lot of Auburn Jokes.
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One more; A priest, a Rabbi and a Baptist preacher walked into a bar and the bartender said, “What is this, some kind of joke?”
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oops, Kim and I went for the same joke.
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Regarding willingness to suffer to help someone know Jesus:
I’ve had plenty of opportunities in extended-family situations where I could have (and still could) witness about Jesus, but I’ve allowed my introverted personality to get in the way of that. 😦
I do find it a bit easier to speak of Jesus when not face-to-face with someone, and if it’s someone I haven’t personally met (I’m thinking of online encounters).
I haven’t experienced any suffering talking about Jesus with my young Mormon friend to whom I have been witnessing (first online, and now by email). But I would really be stepping outside of my comfort zone to witness, for example, to a librarian at our local library who I know is Mormon. It is much more difficult for me to talk about Jesus (or any topic, really) with people I already know when I’m aware that their views are radically different than mine. I guess I’m too afraid of the possibility that our relationship may be drastically altered.
Essentially, I’m putting myself, and my own personal comfort, and human relationships above God’s desire for me to speak the truth in love whenever the opportunity arises. 😦
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A couple of these are the reason I am no longer an Episcopalian…
Robin Williams: 10 Reasons to be an Episcopalian
Comedian Robin Williams was raised by an Episcopalian father and a Christian Scientist mother. By choice, he is an Episcopalian. In a 2002 HBO special, he offered these 10 reasons to be an Episcopallian.
10. No snake handling.
9. You can believe in dinosaurs.
8. Male and female God created them; male and female we ordain them.
7. You don’t have to check your brains at the door.
6. Pew aerobics.
5. The church year is color-coded.
4. There’s free wine on Sunday.
3. All of the pageantry – none of the guilt.
2. You don’t have to know how to swim to get baptized.
An the Number One reason to be an Episcopalian?
1. No matter what you believe, there’s bound to be at least one other Episcopalian who agrees with you.
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Not what Stephen is looking for, but Rush came up with a good job for the female kicking for the NFL.
Use her for onside kicks.
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Roscuro, whether or not people “understand” the Jesus film isn’t really my biggest gripe, though it might have looked like it because I skimmed over it without a lot of detail. My biggest reason is that God gave a book and not a film; better evangelism would use Scripture. To use the movie in a group with whom you’re already in communication about Scripture might be good (I reserve judgment, having only seen part of that movie), but where I have the problem is pulling into a community that doesn’t know you, showing the film, and giving an “invitation.” I don’t think that is biblical evangelism. God sent His Word, the book version, for evangelism. Showing a movie instead risks all sorts of wrong “reasons” for a person to show interest, including emotional manipulation or misunderstanding the medium.
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It’s been a more rough day today than I thought it would be. My first mistake was reading something other than my Bible when I first woke up. The thing I read opened up an old wound that hadn’t completely healed and added a new dimension to it. When I tried reading the Bible after that, I was still seething and bristling, and I couldn’t keep my mind on the Word.
I settled down some later in the morning and tried again to read the Word, but my mind kept wandering. I really need to renew my commitment to being in the Word before doing anything else in the day. The day just goes better when my time with the Lord is first.
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BTW, it wasn’t anything I read here that caused my seething and bristling. 😉
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Whew, 6 Arrows. I was worried. 🙂
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I’m actually thinking of just not voting in our city election tomorrow.
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Cheryl, you cheer me right up! 🙂
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Nobody good running, Donna?
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I used to work with Al Tolley when he was with Campus Crusade for Christ. We often showed “Mr. Texas” and other evangelistic films. They were very effective evangelism tools. We used to invite soldiers off the street to the Victory Service Center to view them.
It worked.
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For those of you who are my FB friend you can see a new photo of The Cutest Boy in the World. Some might know him as Sweet Baby Boy.
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Chas, respectfully, I don’t think “effectiveness” is the primary question of what is the best form of evangelism, but what is God’s chosen method. “Christian” films (films with a Christian worldview) have their place, as do Christian novels and nonfiction books and Christian music. But the church is to present God’s Word and not packaged “products,” and I personally would never financially support a “puppet ministry” or a “film ministry” or something else that finds alternative approaches to “the foolishness of preaching.”
I have no problem at all with Christians watching movies with their neighbors, and viewing and discussing “Crime and Punishment” or one or two of the “Narnia” films or “Les Miz.” Or Christians loving their neighbor by giving him a new roof, and talking about the gospel while they work together. But churches finding more “creative” ways to present the Gospel, that seems like moving away from God’s ordained means of evangelism and discipleship.
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On a lighter note, would you want your church to look like this?
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/03/04/does-this-church-really-look-like-a-chicken-theres-an-actual-debate-about-it/
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LOL,, Cheryl.
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🙂 The chicken church. And it really does look like a chicken.
One of 2 people are sure to win the LA mayor’s race — both city insiders likely to do nothing different. Our councilperson is virtually unopposed so will win handily.
I’m just underwhelmed by it all, plus I’ve misplaced my sample ballot. So I may just sit this one out. I am hoping a 1/2-cent sales tax hike doesn’t win. But knowing us, it’ll pass.
What is wrong with us??
Got a long letter from my mom’s cousin up north. Lots of family genealogy notes but she’s also working on a glass etching family display she hopes to send to the president (her side of the family has a blood connection to Lincoln & was instrumental in the development of the city of Chicago).
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Actually it was our side of the family that was also rooted in Chicago. I remember accompanying my mom to a library outside the city (Oak Park) one year to do family research.
Probably almost time to walk the dogs. At least I don’t have to work the late-night election shift tomorrow, I’m one of 2 reporters coming in for the regular morning/afternoon shift. But there’s so few of us left, that means only a handful are working the night shift from 5 p.m. until ????. With the Internet, everyone now has to stay until the final-final numbers are in so we can post those to the web right away.
In the ‘old’ days, once the paper deadline passed, we were free to leave.
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Over on the prayer requests thread, I posted that “I inadvertently offended my SIL, who has now unfriended me from Facebook. I feel sick & sad about this, & too upset in my spirit. (Not that being friends on Facebook is all that important, but it means something when a relative unfriends you.)” There’s more to the request, but this is what I want to share here.
This is the Facebook post I made that resulted in her getting offended & unfriending me…
“So, I was looking at some of the stuff on a Facebook page that is supposedly anti-hate. (The name is made up of letters from a very bad word, which is why I’m not using it, but many of you may be aware of this page)
Some of the pictures were pithy & somewhat witty. But some of them made me wonder…
Is it okay to hate those whom (you think) hate you? If they hated you first, does that make your hate reasonable, allowable?
This “anti-hate” page has some things that strongly sound like they hate the ones they think hate them.
And, BTW, I really wish people would realize that disagreement – even strong disagreement – is not the same as hatred. Yes, some people take their disagreement over the line into hatred, but I would like to think that is not true of most.
Perhaps I’m naive?
Jesus told us to love our “enemies”, & to pray for them. What a radical! :-)”
Just so you know – the “anti-hate” Facebook page I mentioned is pro-same-sex marriage.
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Karen, I saw that post this morning, you absolutely said nothing that was offensive. You merely (and gently) called on people to take a different look at the way they approach disagreement. Can we not disagree without “hating”? Of course we can (and should) — how has the culture been blinded so completely?
It’s alarming to me that something like that would be seen (in ANY way) as being out of line or “hateful” or offensive. Unbelievable. And so very frustrating.
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Yes, indeed, Donna.
Part of SIL’s quite long reply…
“Karen, I, of course, like the f**h8t campaign and consider it to be an extremely important cog in the wheel of civil rights for Americans in the LGBT community. If someone hates one of my loved ones because they are gay, then I am not going to like that person or group. If someone does not believe the my gay loved ones should be granted their right to marry and be protected under the law the same way a white, anglo-saxon, heterosexual male would be, then I would be unlikely to associate with the person…
“… I do not enjoy seeing or being involved in debate about it because it reminds me of the limitations that the LBGT community are still challenged with and that makes me extremely sad, and scared for my loved ones…
“Am I tolerant? Not particularly. Do I have to be about the issue of gay marriage – I chose not to be because I consider this a fight for basic civil rights.”
This comes on the heels of the comment I made on Niece’s post, a couple or a few weeks ago, where I mentioned what I saw as a flaw in the quote she used (which happened to be from the above-mentioned “anti-hate” site). In neither that comment nor in my own post did I say anything negative about same-sex marriage in particular, but that’s the way they’ve read it.
Even so, I wish I had kept my mouth shut, so to speak. I know that this is a case of my words being twisted, or more being read into them than what was there, but that gives me no comfort. It grieves me that I may have ruined my witness to them.
When I say this makes me feel sick, I mean it literally – my stomach feels tight, & my hands shake. I don’t know how I’m going to get to sleep tonight. Already up later than I should be.
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Thank you for the jokes. I’m fairly sophisticated about atheism, so I choose myself as the winner. I was going to give myself a prize of one dollar (all I had in my wallet. My wife said, “Do you have a dollar?” I gave it to her. Every man married over 40 years (I am past 47) knows that the correct answer to all questions is “Yes, Dear.”
I didn’t go to church yesterday, so I am not very sophisticated about religion. I will have to study the jokes everyone posted. Maybe this will be the way You Know Who gets into my heart?
In the meantime . . .
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Although I knew I was straight as soon as I started having “xxx” dreams as a little boy, all my life I have been surrounded by gay people. My best joke about my granddaughter’s birth mother was “She’s my Daughter-Out of Law.” Unfortunately, now that my daughter and her partner are legally married in Washington state, my right to use that joke has been taken away. In states (still a majority) that are still struggling over homosexual marriage, this point may be a winning point for a peculiar voting demographic. Straight parents of gay boys and girls who imagine they are comedians. (Perhaps I am the only one who fits this profile?)
Anyway, sometimes people who have been co-habiting for years, sometimes with kids, finally get married, and then get divorced pretty quickly. My daughter and daughter-in-law have been together for twenty years; will there recent marriage mean the end of their relationship?
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Anyway, surrounded by so many gay people all my life, I should be able to tell some good gay jokes. Unfortunately, I was just looking over some gay and lesbian jokes, and most of them are not appropriate for a decent audience such as wandering views. I know from long contact with our two “girls” (as we call them even though they are now in their forties), that they are probably the most prissy, puritanical, prim, prudish, straight-laced lesbians you are ever likely to meet. So I had a lot of trouble finding jokes about homosexuals that would not make them sniff with disapproval. But I finally found a couple.
Finally, I found at least one homosexual joke that seems acceptable for “mixed company” (so to speak).
A guy came into a bar one day and said to the barman, “Give me six double vodkas.”
The barman said, “Wow! You must have had one heck of a day.”
“Yes, I’ve just found out my older brother is gay.”
The next day the same guy came into the bar and asked for the same drinks.
When the bartender asked what the problem was today, the answer came back, “I’ve just found out that my younger brother is gay, too!”
On the third day the guy came into the bar and ordered another six double vodkas.
The bartender said, “Good Grief! Doesn’t anybody in your family like women?”
“Yeah, my wife . . . “
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Good article I saw the other day on FB from the folks at the Aquila Report:
http://theaquilareport.com/on-the-difficulty-of-arguing-for-zero-grazing/
“As the broader culture becomes more and more post-Christian, conservative Christians will inevitably look increasingly strange. As my friend Ken Myers has put it, we will appear ‘more and more Amish.’ “
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And another interesting post, this one on the decline of liberal Protestantism (with a query about whether some corners of conservative Protestantism could be headed down the same wrong road):
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/geneveith/2013/03/a-milestone-in-the-decline-of-liberal-protestantism/
“So why are some evangelical/conservative Christians wanting to jettison doctrines and distinctions and tying themselves to American culture, modern secularism, and the latest social and political fads?”
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