Why were so many Christians so dedicated to the Republican agenda? What makes the fundamentalist mega-church such a draw? Where have the servant pastors gone? Why do people want to be told what to do and do it with such passion?
I have been asking myself these questions for years. With an eye to the Bible and modern psychology, I think I have some answers.
The first answer is FEAR. Whenever people feel threatened they tend to look for something, real or imagined, to cling to. In the same way a drowning person will grab a small twig or drown the person attempting a rescue him, people have a psychological disposition to look for something to grab in trying times. Jesus saw it in his day when he said, “Fear not,” in so many circumstances.
Jesus saw this tendency and warned against it. The Pharisees saw it and offered burnt offering for a high price in temple money. As religious leaders in Jesus’ day sought power and prestige demanding absolute obedience, so the fundamentalist preacher declares himself the king of the church. No longer are most Baptist schools training servant pastors. Instead students are taught to be preachers of the word commanding others to do the dirty work of ministry. Even in the counseling mode they want to tell the distressed person simplistic steps rather than admit life has hazards and uncertainties. According to them, “the word” has it all and Bible verses (often taken out of context) give the answer.
Jesus would answer: “Fear not, I hold the keys to the kingdom. Trust me as savior. Follow me as a servant to your brothers. Love one another as I have loved you.”
My second answer is HOSTILITY. The natural reaction to frustration is either aggression or regression. In other words, a child who stubs his toe, sinks to a fetal position and cries has gone backwards. One who sniffs a little and gets back up to play and run is attacking the hurts and learning to keep on in spite of frustration.
A parent who fondles a hurt child and tells him not to play again with rough children does the child no favors. Such actions make the child dependent to a fault. A wise parent tells the child what he needs to correct and solve the problem.
Some years ago when my son was small, a bully picked on him every day at school. He almost hated to go and it took some time for him to tell me the truth. My response could have been: “Just stay home or tell your teacher on him.” He told me the teacher knew, but would not control the bully. I gave him this advice since he was the only one who could help himself: “The next time he approaches, don’t cower. Give him a smile and then a punch as hard as you can throw it just under his breast bone. He will go down and he won’t be able to breath for a little while. If he tries to get up, then kick him right where boys can’t stand the kick. Whatever you do, don’t let him get up!”
My son returned that afternoon from school with a confident smile on his face. “I did it, daddy, just like you said. He went down to the ground and started to cry. I won’t have any more trouble from him anytime soon!” Instead of throwing up his hands and quit at every one of life’s frustrations, my son learned to figure out a solution.
Anymore, the fundamentalist leads people to hate things and people defined as “sin.” They use simplistic definitions, usually based on the old Baptist adage: “We don’t dance and we don’t chew, and we don’t go with the girls that do!” People are encouraged to associate only with church members. Some, such as Houston Second, have a “God Mall” where Christians can go to Christian stores, eat in Christian restaurants, and even enjoy a Christian hot tub only with fellow Christians.
Where has Jesus’ word to be “in the world, but not of the world” gone? Jesus saw a world filled with frustration and people tending to hostility (racial, cultural, intellectual) against anything defined as “unclean.” Into that world he spoke the word of love and forgiveness. He dared to associate with and tell stories of Samaritans being helped by one of a Jewish background.
If you give a hostile person filled with frustration, something to hate (abortion, homosexuality, liberals, etc.), you do him no favors. Fundamentalism appeals to the lower human emotion of hate rather than the higher form of aggression, active love of one’s enemy. The current popular religious bent is bowing to aggression and turning it in horrible ways of righteous indignation.
My third observation is our tendency today to desire GROUP IDENTITY. Where Jesus called for individuals to decide for themselves if he were the Christ, today’s religious fanatic insists all who call themselves Christian do it in a certain narrow way. Some years ago they castigated a missionary in Las Vegas who gave up his pastorate, put on a sports coat, and dared to minister to topless dancers, bartenders, and card dealers. His theory was, “I tell them of Christ. I encourage them to trust him and read the Bible for themselves about his way. Then I leave it up to their conscience to decide what they will do in the work world.” The conservative ministers among Baptists couldn’t stand that he could witness to women who were topless having just done an exotic floor show.
North Carolina Baptists, a few years ago, refused to receive funds and thereby prevent participation of the McGill Baptist Church in Concord. Their reason: the church allowed two men to join who live together in the same house and appear to be homosexual. No one yet can prove what goes on behind closed doors. They are not pushing any agenda of homosexuality. They just accepted people who desired a relationship to Christ. A few members left the church assuming they must be gay. Upon their complaint to the new church they joined, the local association and then the state convention, without any real investigation, kicked them out. Is this hostility or not? A righteous crusader who wields a sword against “infidels” is hardly what Jesus had in mind when he said, “Love one another and forgive one another as God has forgiven you.”
Why this bent to social conformity? I believe it is the “kindergarten mentality.” By this I mean today most children are reared in a communal environment known as Preschool. In that situation everyone must grab the rope and fall in line to go to the bathroom, play-ground, or dining hall. When children have the image of total conformity drummed into them, they lose the ability to think for themselves.
Even our toys thwart individuality. Barbie has, not only her clothes and cars, but she now has a CD which tells the child the story and a voice module speaking the same canned talk each time you pull the string! Video games force the child’s mind to guide the little figure through the same mazes and moves. Everything in the game is preset in the circuit board and total conformity to the program assisted by eye-hand coordination gets a win. Where is there room for imagination and individuality in the life of children today?
This same child becomes a 30-40 year old adult expecting the church and preacher to tell him what to do. God help the one who says, “I think there is another way to look at things.” Our old insistence that each church operate without interference from others and each member make up his own mind before he votes, is all but lost. Thanks to the mob mentality constantly enforced on the child’s mind since the late 50’s.
What I am saying is life is hard, but not really any harder than it was in Jesus’ day. Human basic emotions and responses are the same as 2,000 years ago. The basic responses have a common core in survival. The fundamentalist, like the Pharisee, uses these imprisoning emotions to add weight and chains to an already frustrated soul.
Jesus, on the other hand, offers freedom and love as the alternative. The Jesus way brings freedom and a willingness to “live and let live” in a world prone to conformity.
At one time Baptists were gaining ground from their segregationist and ignorance-of-the-Biblest chains. Now these handcuffs go on again for the sake of having the biggest church in town with the biggest congregation and the most highly paid, firm and sincere (narrow) preacher. Jesus offered the keys to the Kingdom to those who would follow. Today those Baptist keys go to heavy ball-and-chain imprisoning systems rather than doors that let in fresh air and give the captive a light and joyful recess where the child’s mind can run wild and dream the impossible dream again! Think about it!
May the spirit of Christ set us free once more. May our ability to see through the surface of modern religion enable us to see the truth. May that truth set us free to love again!
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Sexual Confusion in a Confusing Age
This is one of the most cufusing times I have ever seen when it comes to sexuality!
I guess by not knowing GLB (Gay-Lesbian-Bisexual) and being from Atlanta, it shows I was raised a preacher's kid. In a few words above is an expose of how man wants to play with what God gave us and manipulate a body made female into one with broad shoulders and a telephone pole!
Such stuff is hardly the kind of conversation we have at the Bath Store!!
Years ago I was doing research in the Medical School Library at Emory. Having tired of the statistical research on psychosomatic illness, I picked up the "Anals of Plastic Surgery." In it was contained step-by-step procedures to alter the human body with case studies and pictures. Being 21, my research was immediately drawn to breast augmentation. A magic surgeon could take oversize ones and make them smaller. Through the magic of silicone, they could now take tiny ones and make them into basketballs. Most interesting!!!
They had to excise the nipple and place it into a nutrient bowl for a while. They would remove fatty tissue or borrow some from the butt and insert it pre-silicone. Put rulers and surgical markings on it so that when sewn back together with ever so fine micro-stitching the viewer could not detect it was man-made. HOWEVER, they had problems with that beautiful new boob having its nerves cut and never quite being as sensitive as it was before. There was also a problem that it could not now nourish a baby because the milk ducts had been cut as well! Complications could also occur where it could become hard or tissue did not heal properly and the downward cut became a valley instead of the rounded curves of the pre-surgical breast! God made it right, but man can't quite get the same result!
There was a segment on Androgyny as well. That is the situation where the baby has 3 chromosomes instead of 2. "It" is both male and female or female / male (so the ladies don't think I always put men first). This situation was a great mystery of which I had never heard. In fact, even medicine keeps it hush-hush. How do you tell a parent they have a he/she????
Did God mess things up in his creation of something odd? We must now rush to make a "gender assignment" because we can't have a male-female. According to the fundies, we are either male or female, but never both. Life must be just as the Bible describes and homosexuals are an "abomination." Sodom and Gomorra prove it! REALLY????
This single oddity of sexuality blows away a simple view that one is either male or female, but cannot make it both or "the opposite" of how I was born. "God made them male or female created He them!" In a way, it is the same as it saying: created in 6 days (24X6) hours / having 2 accounts of creation few want to admit / a cracker floating beneath the heavens and beneath it water off of which one will fall into nothingness.
If we grow up and face facts, we discover that "yam" translates "indefinite period of time" / earth revolves around the sun and is not the center the Bible depicts nor a cracker / the 2 accounts of creation are not identical = the Bible is a witness to "why things are as they are with the leap of faith that 'God did it!'"
The account of mankind eating fruit from the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is another important one. Satan tempted Eve with the statement that "God is just fooling you and wanting to keep his special knowledge to himself---if you just eat, you will know what God knows!"
REALLY?????
When micro-biology and endocrinology are added to the picture, we discover that all humans have both estrogen and testosterone balancing one another in the system. All humans have both. Further, embryology show us step-by-step how the sperm and egg unite in a single cell. Depending on the X (male) and Y (female) chromosome combination (XX / YY / XY / YX) that chemical combination directs that cell to form a being where the genitals either become an indention for the female or an extrusion for a male. The same tissue with forms testicles producing sperm---form ovaries producing eggs. At one stage of fetus development there is a tail and gills which give us an evolutionary clue as to our origins--none of these mentioned in the Bible!
So here we are arguing about sexuality and whether homos are going to hell when we hardly understand God's creative process. What we know for sure is that religious people seldom can handle complexity nor can they admit God does things we don't understand. We would rather destroy a queer or gender-assign a new baby which is androgynous by the hand of the Creator. We have a hard time with things not simple as we think the Bible is.
Now, in Baptistland, NC, we have decided that a church ministering to homosexuals is not worthy of having its money accepted. In GA a female-pastored church must be excluded from fellowship because BF&M 2000 (Baptist Faith and Message = a creedal statement) states women must be submissive to men and are not worthy of ordination. Other denominations do it different, but the majority rules among Baptists---now taken over by the Fundamentalist Mindset. Something in this reminds me of "Planet of the Apes."
In current politics, the same seems to be the case = "Don't ask / don't tell." It is the next reason for Democrats to hate Republicans. It is just another diversion from the fact that non-enforcement of financial policies has led us to economic ruin. We are spending $10 for every $1 taken in with taxes. Every citizen has the right to plenty of food / work as they please / live in a fancy house with 2 cars / 2-5 TV's / go on exotic vacations paid by a credit card charging 18-23% interest / having the most exotic military destruction toys costing billions just to produce in Texas / etc.
Diversions are good. They keep us fighting which translates to billions spent on election campaigns producing a media-sensitive candidate who never tells us anything about his real position of taxation / honesty / service to his electorate / producing more laws so lawyers can fight and the judicial system can set OJ (and others like him) free to kill again!
This one thing I can safely conclude: We love being stupid / prejudiced / simple so we can bask in the sun on a desert isle and sip our beers in comfort without having to work.
Sound anything like the Garden of Eden from which we were cast for eating of the fruit of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil???
I guess by not knowing GLB (Gay-Lesbian-Bisexual) and being from Atlanta, it shows I was raised a preacher's kid. In a few words above is an expose of how man wants to play with what God gave us and manipulate a body made female into one with broad shoulders and a telephone pole!
Such stuff is hardly the kind of conversation we have at the Bath Store!!
Years ago I was doing research in the Medical School Library at Emory. Having tired of the statistical research on psychosomatic illness, I picked up the "Anals of Plastic Surgery." In it was contained step-by-step procedures to alter the human body with case studies and pictures. Being 21, my research was immediately drawn to breast augmentation. A magic surgeon could take oversize ones and make them smaller. Through the magic of silicone, they could now take tiny ones and make them into basketballs. Most interesting!!!
They had to excise the nipple and place it into a nutrient bowl for a while. They would remove fatty tissue or borrow some from the butt and insert it pre-silicone. Put rulers and surgical markings on it so that when sewn back together with ever so fine micro-stitching the viewer could not detect it was man-made. HOWEVER, they had problems with that beautiful new boob having its nerves cut and never quite being as sensitive as it was before. There was also a problem that it could not now nourish a baby because the milk ducts had been cut as well! Complications could also occur where it could become hard or tissue did not heal properly and the downward cut became a valley instead of the rounded curves of the pre-surgical breast! God made it right, but man can't quite get the same result!
There was a segment on Androgyny as well. That is the situation where the baby has 3 chromosomes instead of 2. "It" is both male and female or female / male (so the ladies don't think I always put men first). This situation was a great mystery of which I had never heard. In fact, even medicine keeps it hush-hush. How do you tell a parent they have a he/she????
Did God mess things up in his creation of something odd? We must now rush to make a "gender assignment" because we can't have a male-female. According to the fundies, we are either male or female, but never both. Life must be just as the Bible describes and homosexuals are an "abomination." Sodom and Gomorra prove it! REALLY????
This single oddity of sexuality blows away a simple view that one is either male or female, but cannot make it both or "the opposite" of how I was born. "God made them male or female created He them!" In a way, it is the same as it saying: created in 6 days (24X6) hours / having 2 accounts of creation few want to admit / a cracker floating beneath the heavens and beneath it water off of which one will fall into nothingness.
If we grow up and face facts, we discover that "yam" translates "indefinite period of time" / earth revolves around the sun and is not the center the Bible depicts nor a cracker / the 2 accounts of creation are not identical = the Bible is a witness to "why things are as they are with the leap of faith that 'God did it!'"
The account of mankind eating fruit from the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is another important one. Satan tempted Eve with the statement that "God is just fooling you and wanting to keep his special knowledge to himself---if you just eat, you will know what God knows!"
REALLY?????
When micro-biology and endocrinology are added to the picture, we discover that all humans have both estrogen and testosterone balancing one another in the system. All humans have both. Further, embryology show us step-by-step how the sperm and egg unite in a single cell. Depending on the X (male) and Y (female) chromosome combination (XX / YY / XY / YX) that chemical combination directs that cell to form a being where the genitals either become an indention for the female or an extrusion for a male. The same tissue with forms testicles producing sperm---form ovaries producing eggs. At one stage of fetus development there is a tail and gills which give us an evolutionary clue as to our origins--none of these mentioned in the Bible!
So here we are arguing about sexuality and whether homos are going to hell when we hardly understand God's creative process. What we know for sure is that religious people seldom can handle complexity nor can they admit God does things we don't understand. We would rather destroy a queer or gender-assign a new baby which is androgynous by the hand of the Creator. We have a hard time with things not simple as we think the Bible is.
Now, in Baptistland, NC, we have decided that a church ministering to homosexuals is not worthy of having its money accepted. In GA a female-pastored church must be excluded from fellowship because BF&M 2000 (Baptist Faith and Message = a creedal statement) states women must be submissive to men and are not worthy of ordination. Other denominations do it different, but the majority rules among Baptists---now taken over by the Fundamentalist Mindset. Something in this reminds me of "Planet of the Apes."
In current politics, the same seems to be the case = "Don't ask / don't tell." It is the next reason for Democrats to hate Republicans. It is just another diversion from the fact that non-enforcement of financial policies has led us to economic ruin. We are spending $10 for every $1 taken in with taxes. Every citizen has the right to plenty of food / work as they please / live in a fancy house with 2 cars / 2-5 TV's / go on exotic vacations paid by a credit card charging 18-23% interest / having the most exotic military destruction toys costing billions just to produce in Texas / etc.
Diversions are good. They keep us fighting which translates to billions spent on election campaigns producing a media-sensitive candidate who never tells us anything about his real position of taxation / honesty / service to his electorate / producing more laws so lawyers can fight and the judicial system can set OJ (and others like him) free to kill again!
This one thing I can safely conclude: We love being stupid / prejudiced / simple so we can bask in the sun on a desert isle and sip our beers in comfort without having to work.
Sound anything like the Garden of Eden from which we were cast for eating of the fruit of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil???
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Christmas--a tough time to be a closet gay
Probably Christmas is one of the most difficult times of the year when most seek family times, if that family member happens to be Gay. It is made even more difficult in the sunny South where we still pretend such does not exist. Churches and preachers rage, but one of the requirements of being a good Southern town is to have a few gays around!! Just read William Faulkner, if you doubt me. Quentin Compson, III, is the classic hidden gay (The Sound and the Fury).
They are publicly derided. Movies like "Midnight in The Garden of Good and Evil," a reality based Savannah story, tell it like it is. The prominent wealthy businessman who mixes with the high and mighty has a secret! My own Senior Minister ended up at Charleston in similar circumstances. Rocky Mount, NC, where I work is the same story. We even had a former Director of Mission picked up at the riverside park--cops say he was a part / he claims it was a mistake. Who really knows anything other than we have Preachers and churches yelling---while some are raging to cover up their inner demons!
Can you imagine a greater Hell on earth than to have to pretend something you are not because family is so arrogant and judgmental you dare not be honest with them? As more and more children are raised by mother because daddy refused to do his part of parenting, we will have more and more. Every boy needs a role model. It is best if it is dad. However, good relatives can help, and should, if daddy is not doing the job.
Those who have read about my daughter and boys know I will have to now be a "father figure." It is no problem for me because I had a father who was the best. I knew from day 1 he loved me. My earliest childhood memories are of him coming in, smelling of hospital, to kiss me and make sure I was ready for sleep. He was tired. He could have gone to his home office, but, instead, he came to my little bed to kiss me on the cheek. My saddest day so far in this life was when he went to "higher ground."
He had liver cancer which had come from a missed colon cancer. Despite him complaining for months of mid-section pain, it was attributed to gall stones. By the time they did exploratory surgery, it was too late and there is nothing yet to stop liver cancer. Instead of taking treatments that would make life hell, daddy wisely decided to love his family, enjoy what he had left, and "go gently into the night." He did!! He had only about 2 weeks of serious discomfort, which is a miracle in itself. He had been faithful to his family and God in his ministry and God took royal care of him in a, sometimes, awful and painful kind of cancer. Amazingly, it was at Easter!
I am who I am as a man partly because I knew a man's man in my father. I was born with normal brain and glands which developed to maturity in a normal fashion. I went from the "girl-haters" club to the stupid adolescent club drooling over what miracle happened to the girls between grade 6 and grade 7. I was fortunate. Many young males are not, especially in the last 30 years .
Please read below an article I was given permission to print from one of the finest sex educators in Canada, Sue Johanson (2005) these days:
Homosexuality: Did you know that most people, male and female, have some homosexual (same sex) fantasies?
This is common and does not indicate you are homosexual. It is a fantasy, safe and harmless. Most females simply accept their fantasies, but males, who may be homophobic, react with fear or get into "gay bashing" to prove they are "hetero". Females are generally more comfortable with homosexuality.
Homosexuality just "is".
Being homosexual is NOT a choice. Guys, think back - at what stage of your life did you consciously decide, "Well I think I will like girls?" You didn't. You just knew, you got horny just thinking about the opposite sex - it was not a choice, you just knew. There is NO cure for homosexuality because it is not a disease and most homosexuals do not want to be "cured". They simply want what everybody else wants, the THREE BIG "A's" - Acceptance, Approval and Appreciation.
Current research indicates that people are born homosexual. Parents may deny it, try to control kids behavior, their choice of toys or friends. Kids at about age 7 know they are different; by age 10, they are aware that they fantasize about people of the same sex; by age 14, although most are not ready to "come out of the closet", they are aware that they are homosexual. Gay males like females as "best friends" and straight females really enjoy socializing with gay males. This does not go over well with straight Macho males.
Lesbians may identify as homosexual at a young age, but many, many more get into heterosexual relationships, maybe have kids, and then accept that they are lesbian at a later age.
Here's some typical MYTHS ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY:
Gay males are promiscuous.
Gay males have a higher than normal sex drive. HIV/AIDS is a Gay disease.
Gay males assault little boys.
If a male has a same sex experience, he must be Gay.
Lesbians just have not found the right man.
Lesbians are "butch".
No, some are very feminine and call themselves "lipstick dykes".
Females who socialize with Gay males are "Fag Hags".
Most religions regard homosexuality as a sin. Here's a great book I recommend for anyone having trouble dealing with homosexuality - "IS IT A CHOICE?" by Eric Marcus. You can check our book list on this site for many other books dealing with the topic.
Randy, who granted permission for my use of this article further says this, " Frankly, it's a pretty scant article and you could find far better if you
looked around. Try the PFLAG site."
They are publicly derided. Movies like "Midnight in The Garden of Good and Evil," a reality based Savannah story, tell it like it is. The prominent wealthy businessman who mixes with the high and mighty has a secret! My own Senior Minister ended up at Charleston in similar circumstances. Rocky Mount, NC, where I work is the same story. We even had a former Director of Mission picked up at the riverside park--cops say he was a part / he claims it was a mistake. Who really knows anything other than we have Preachers and churches yelling---while some are raging to cover up their inner demons!
Can you imagine a greater Hell on earth than to have to pretend something you are not because family is so arrogant and judgmental you dare not be honest with them? As more and more children are raised by mother because daddy refused to do his part of parenting, we will have more and more. Every boy needs a role model. It is best if it is dad. However, good relatives can help, and should, if daddy is not doing the job.
Those who have read about my daughter and boys know I will have to now be a "father figure." It is no problem for me because I had a father who was the best. I knew from day 1 he loved me. My earliest childhood memories are of him coming in, smelling of hospital, to kiss me and make sure I was ready for sleep. He was tired. He could have gone to his home office, but, instead, he came to my little bed to kiss me on the cheek. My saddest day so far in this life was when he went to "higher ground."
He had liver cancer which had come from a missed colon cancer. Despite him complaining for months of mid-section pain, it was attributed to gall stones. By the time they did exploratory surgery, it was too late and there is nothing yet to stop liver cancer. Instead of taking treatments that would make life hell, daddy wisely decided to love his family, enjoy what he had left, and "go gently into the night." He did!! He had only about 2 weeks of serious discomfort, which is a miracle in itself. He had been faithful to his family and God in his ministry and God took royal care of him in a, sometimes, awful and painful kind of cancer. Amazingly, it was at Easter!
I am who I am as a man partly because I knew a man's man in my father. I was born with normal brain and glands which developed to maturity in a normal fashion. I went from the "girl-haters" club to the stupid adolescent club drooling over what miracle happened to the girls between grade 6 and grade 7. I was fortunate. Many young males are not, especially in the last 30 years .
Please read below an article I was given permission to print from one of the finest sex educators in Canada, Sue Johanson (2005) these days:
Homosexuality: Did you know that most people, male and female, have some homosexual (same sex) fantasies?
This is common and does not indicate you are homosexual. It is a fantasy, safe and harmless. Most females simply accept their fantasies, but males, who may be homophobic, react with fear or get into "gay bashing" to prove they are "hetero". Females are generally more comfortable with homosexuality.
Homosexuality just "is".
Being homosexual is NOT a choice. Guys, think back - at what stage of your life did you consciously decide, "Well I think I will like girls?" You didn't. You just knew, you got horny just thinking about the opposite sex - it was not a choice, you just knew. There is NO cure for homosexuality because it is not a disease and most homosexuals do not want to be "cured". They simply want what everybody else wants, the THREE BIG "A's" - Acceptance, Approval and Appreciation.
Current research indicates that people are born homosexual. Parents may deny it, try to control kids behavior, their choice of toys or friends. Kids at about age 7 know they are different; by age 10, they are aware that they fantasize about people of the same sex; by age 14, although most are not ready to "come out of the closet", they are aware that they are homosexual. Gay males like females as "best friends" and straight females really enjoy socializing with gay males. This does not go over well with straight Macho males.
Lesbians may identify as homosexual at a young age, but many, many more get into heterosexual relationships, maybe have kids, and then accept that they are lesbian at a later age.
Here's some typical MYTHS ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY:
Gay males are promiscuous.
Gay males have a higher than normal sex drive. HIV/AIDS is a Gay disease.
Gay males assault little boys.
If a male has a same sex experience, he must be Gay.
Lesbians just have not found the right man.
Lesbians are "butch".
No, some are very feminine and call themselves "lipstick dykes".
Females who socialize with Gay males are "Fag Hags".
Most religions regard homosexuality as a sin. Here's a great book I recommend for anyone having trouble dealing with homosexuality - "IS IT A CHOICE?" by Eric Marcus. You can check our book list on this site for many other books dealing with the topic.
Randy, who granted permission for my use of this article further says this, " Frankly, it's a pretty scant article and you could find far better if you
looked around. Try the PFLAG site."
Should anyone have a child come home this year and say, "I need to talk about something serious with you." I encourage you as a parent to listen and love as you never have before. It is the most important gift, the gift of acceptance, that you can give this year!
God bless you all as I go to be with my wife, daughter, and grandsons this afternoon for a Christmas without abuse lurking in the corner of the room!
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Some Thoughts on Biblical Inspiration
I participate in a blog by Wade Burleson which has come to be known for trying to tell the truth about Southern Baptist behind-the-scenes shenanigans. It has drawn some highly intelligent and articulate participants. Of course I would be called one of the rebellious and questioning ones. Here is my response over the nature of an "Inspired" Bible vs. an "Inerrant" one:
Frank--I am honored that you would take your time and energy to share your views in such a clear fashion. If only our SBC leadership would be so forthright and kind to those of us who share most of your views, we would still be together!!!Remember the Conference on Inerrancy bravely called together in the 80's by the Seminary Presidents: Lolley / Dilday / McCall /etc. Each one of these men had a pastoral heart. Duke McCall was furthest away from Pastor toward Administrator. None of them was stupid. McCall probably enjoyed exercise of executive power the most, but it was not the excess of a Mohler or Patterson.
From that Conference should have come a mutual understanding that we were more alike than alien in our views of Scripture. I have yet to meet a "Liberal" professor who was past a middle-of-the-theological-road sharer of truth and research at the time he taught. Few of those exist anymore thanks to CR under the pretense of Inerrancy.
I think I know whereof I speak because I was President of the Emory University BSU the year Altizer did his "God Is Dead" stuff. I saw, first hand, what "Liberal" is all about. In that case it involved thoughts which were not really that radical couched in words undefined ("dead" the main one) which got the front cover of Time Magazine. 1967 was the year and I entered SEBTS that Fall after Altizer in the Spring.I perceive in your position a desire to make the Scriptures, themselves an object of worship for their validity. Without that object being perfect, you would probably say all your religious belief falls apart. I prefer to worship the Living God using the Scriptures as my "measuring rod (CANON)." At the same time recognizing them as a witness to their experience with God in their day and time.
The transference of the experience of the Bible writers was by word of mouth first. It was subjected to some verbal alteration as no story is ever told exactly in the same way twice. This does not invalidate it. It simply adds a human touch and explains, for example, why the Gospels are not 1:1 replications of each other. There is "truth" in that transmission, but it is not "absolute perfect truth" because man is involved along with his imperfect mind and voice.The verse you quoted from Paul stating "all scripture is inspired . . ." is the basis of my preference of "inspired" over "inerrant." Further, the "writings (graphe)" to which he refers are the non-canonical writings, many of them termed "Gnostic Gospels."
Yesterday, on National Geographic TV there was an excellent presentation of the Gospel of Mary purported to be written by Mary Magdelene. I doubt it would be shown at one of our seminaries today because it hardly follows BF&M 2000. To our loss, it contains valuable information which broadens our understanding of who Mary was and what relationship she had to Jesus---yet we don't want it recognized as a new discovery shedding new light on Jesus!Our orthodoxy makes us afraid of anything new which shakes its perfection. In my position of scripture reverence, I welcome the new stuff, measure it in terms of the old stuff serving as my measuring rod, and consider it also in light of how the Holy Spirit guides me in having a balanced and real faith today and into tomorrow.
Carl C.F. Henry is quoted by you at the end of treatise 1. He has long been recognized as an outstanding Conservative Biblical Scholar. I agree that I would not say what he says because I do not see it as totally accurate.
It does not take into account all the variances I cited before and you covered in your exposition. For me, it does not require a perfect dictated text to a perfect scribe from a perfect God and written in a perfect form transmitted down through the years so I can worship and use that perfect "received text" to have a perfect orthodox statement of faith with a Bible-----so perfectly big------it can be used to bash out the brains of anyone not believing in the perfection!Frankly, I know of no one the Bible claims to be perfect outside of Jesus--who, through faith, we believe to be the Messiah. Although the Bible gives reliable witness to this, the facts of scripture pale in comparison to the joy of salvation when one is willing to turn those facts into a living faith.If, today, an original manuscript were found, for example, which clearly stated: "Jesus and Mary Magdelene were lovers and married," it would not destroy my faith. It would simply enlarge my understanding of who Jesus really was and how our orthodoxy covered it over because Paul, for one, had serious sexual hang-ups and fully expected the End of the Age to come in his lifetime.
Then the Catholic Church turned his words into creed, said Peter was the first Pope (irregardless of how Peter and Paul had to part ways rather than fight all the time), made local priests lord and master of superstitious illiterate masses, raked in millions from each church, and still could not get along with the Greek segment of the Catholic Church.
When my professors pointed out how Paul's position softened in his older letters, it did not destroy my "perfect orthodox complete" faith--rather it gave me the knowledge that any real faith changes over time. Sometimes our perfect and arrogant theology of youth needs to grow an become more open to that which God is showing us every day.
I rejoice in getting a "C" on my Bible course at Emory, although I was "preacher's kid mad" at the time. It was on 2nd Isaiah's Suffering Servant--Was He The Christ?" I had used dad's concordances and Pulpit Commentaries--including C.F. Henry's books you quoted--in diligent research. I had "Jesus is the Suffering Servant" nailed down, annotated, all cross-referenced. I could win any debate on that issue with my paper.
I found my reason for an "average" grade when I read the note from the professor, son of the head of the University's Department of Religion, Dean Reese, which said: "You did an excellent presentation on the first half of the issue. You did NOTHING on the other side of the issue that Jesus might not be the Suffering Servant, therefore you got this grade. Just do better on your next paper! You have great potential."
That got my attention after the shock of a "C" when I knew I had given the best "A" paper ever--after all I was a life-long Baptist with perfect SS attendance and my daddy had every reference book a great preacher should have! Daddy was no dummy and could debate with the best of them. His belief was that heart and brain both needed to be baptized and dedicated to letting people know--in plain language--who God and Jesus really are.
To back this truth-telling up you need to know I was fired from 2 large churches of FBC caliber because I kept preaching the Bible, telling the truth in simple terms, convicting church leadership of their own state of sin and social exclusion, and I was not so fearful as to simply tell them what THEY WANTED TO HEAR! My dad had the same experience.
It proves to me we are often too busy kissing the feet of orthodoxy instead of seeking a living and breathing relationship to God and Christ with the Holy Spirit guiding our daily quest for truth, love, and peace.
I have found that peace despite severe disappointment with the Southern Baptist "demonimation" and its ignorant, egotistical, judgmental approach to religion. Too often we are attending a "Glorified Country Club" instead of a fellowship of believers who worship and work together in a "FELLOWSHIP OF FAITH AND LOVE."
Our growth is in decline. Our giving is to the point 600 IMB missionaries/staff will have to go because we can no longer support them.
Meanwhile, the heads of agencies are earning 3-figure incomes with perks and benefits doubling what actually shows. Our reasonable HMB headquarters on Spring Street (downtown Atlanta) has been transferred to a mega-million dollar campus in affluent Alpharetta---far removed from the street people of Atlanta / the airport / or anything resembling the poor and outcast Jesus associated with.
I fail to see how God could be happy with our arrogance and judging and doing what our Baptist founders despised most----having a Creed instead of an Autonomous general agreement on Theology while we sacrificially give to Missions as our prime goal.
We have drastically changed using Inerrancy as the rally cry. Our humble and dedicated leaders of the past--with a servant attitude--have been replaced with "little kings" at every corner. They would rather fly First Class everywhere and stay in 4-star Hotels than walk with dusty feet among the poor who need the Gospel.
If you and I truly believe in Autonomy, we will simply be friends with a slightly different view of Scripture. Otherwise, we will be bitter enemies so stuck in our different positions that we cannot appreciate how your view appeals to certain people while mine appeals to others.
Together we could reach 10,000 when our 2 churches are cooperating. Otherwise we are leading 5,000 away from the other 5,000 who could and should be helping one another fund missionaries. Our prime purpose, missions, used to win the lost we cannot win from our large church facility!
I think we will be friends!!! I pray we both have a special Christmas filled with love, joy, and peace!
Frank--I am honored that you would take your time and energy to share your views in such a clear fashion. If only our SBC leadership would be so forthright and kind to those of us who share most of your views, we would still be together!!!Remember the Conference on Inerrancy bravely called together in the 80's by the Seminary Presidents: Lolley / Dilday / McCall /etc. Each one of these men had a pastoral heart. Duke McCall was furthest away from Pastor toward Administrator. None of them was stupid. McCall probably enjoyed exercise of executive power the most, but it was not the excess of a Mohler or Patterson.
From that Conference should have come a mutual understanding that we were more alike than alien in our views of Scripture. I have yet to meet a "Liberal" professor who was past a middle-of-the-theological-road sharer of truth and research at the time he taught. Few of those exist anymore thanks to CR under the pretense of Inerrancy.
I think I know whereof I speak because I was President of the Emory University BSU the year Altizer did his "God Is Dead" stuff. I saw, first hand, what "Liberal" is all about. In that case it involved thoughts which were not really that radical couched in words undefined ("dead" the main one) which got the front cover of Time Magazine. 1967 was the year and I entered SEBTS that Fall after Altizer in the Spring.I perceive in your position a desire to make the Scriptures, themselves an object of worship for their validity. Without that object being perfect, you would probably say all your religious belief falls apart. I prefer to worship the Living God using the Scriptures as my "measuring rod (CANON)." At the same time recognizing them as a witness to their experience with God in their day and time.
The transference of the experience of the Bible writers was by word of mouth first. It was subjected to some verbal alteration as no story is ever told exactly in the same way twice. This does not invalidate it. It simply adds a human touch and explains, for example, why the Gospels are not 1:1 replications of each other. There is "truth" in that transmission, but it is not "absolute perfect truth" because man is involved along with his imperfect mind and voice.The verse you quoted from Paul stating "all scripture is inspired . . ." is the basis of my preference of "inspired" over "inerrant." Further, the "writings (graphe)" to which he refers are the non-canonical writings, many of them termed "Gnostic Gospels."
Yesterday, on National Geographic TV there was an excellent presentation of the Gospel of Mary purported to be written by Mary Magdelene. I doubt it would be shown at one of our seminaries today because it hardly follows BF&M 2000. To our loss, it contains valuable information which broadens our understanding of who Mary was and what relationship she had to Jesus---yet we don't want it recognized as a new discovery shedding new light on Jesus!Our orthodoxy makes us afraid of anything new which shakes its perfection. In my position of scripture reverence, I welcome the new stuff, measure it in terms of the old stuff serving as my measuring rod, and consider it also in light of how the Holy Spirit guides me in having a balanced and real faith today and into tomorrow.
Carl C.F. Henry is quoted by you at the end of treatise 1. He has long been recognized as an outstanding Conservative Biblical Scholar. I agree that I would not say what he says because I do not see it as totally accurate.
It does not take into account all the variances I cited before and you covered in your exposition. For me, it does not require a perfect dictated text to a perfect scribe from a perfect God and written in a perfect form transmitted down through the years so I can worship and use that perfect "received text" to have a perfect orthodox statement of faith with a Bible-----so perfectly big------it can be used to bash out the brains of anyone not believing in the perfection!Frankly, I know of no one the Bible claims to be perfect outside of Jesus--who, through faith, we believe to be the Messiah. Although the Bible gives reliable witness to this, the facts of scripture pale in comparison to the joy of salvation when one is willing to turn those facts into a living faith.If, today, an original manuscript were found, for example, which clearly stated: "Jesus and Mary Magdelene were lovers and married," it would not destroy my faith. It would simply enlarge my understanding of who Jesus really was and how our orthodoxy covered it over because Paul, for one, had serious sexual hang-ups and fully expected the End of the Age to come in his lifetime.
Then the Catholic Church turned his words into creed, said Peter was the first Pope (irregardless of how Peter and Paul had to part ways rather than fight all the time), made local priests lord and master of superstitious illiterate masses, raked in millions from each church, and still could not get along with the Greek segment of the Catholic Church.
When my professors pointed out how Paul's position softened in his older letters, it did not destroy my "perfect orthodox complete" faith--rather it gave me the knowledge that any real faith changes over time. Sometimes our perfect and arrogant theology of youth needs to grow an become more open to that which God is showing us every day.
I rejoice in getting a "C" on my Bible course at Emory, although I was "preacher's kid mad" at the time. It was on 2nd Isaiah's Suffering Servant--Was He The Christ?" I had used dad's concordances and Pulpit Commentaries--including C.F. Henry's books you quoted--in diligent research. I had "Jesus is the Suffering Servant" nailed down, annotated, all cross-referenced. I could win any debate on that issue with my paper.
I found my reason for an "average" grade when I read the note from the professor, son of the head of the University's Department of Religion, Dean Reese, which said: "You did an excellent presentation on the first half of the issue. You did NOTHING on the other side of the issue that Jesus might not be the Suffering Servant, therefore you got this grade. Just do better on your next paper! You have great potential."
That got my attention after the shock of a "C" when I knew I had given the best "A" paper ever--after all I was a life-long Baptist with perfect SS attendance and my daddy had every reference book a great preacher should have! Daddy was no dummy and could debate with the best of them. His belief was that heart and brain both needed to be baptized and dedicated to letting people know--in plain language--who God and Jesus really are.
To back this truth-telling up you need to know I was fired from 2 large churches of FBC caliber because I kept preaching the Bible, telling the truth in simple terms, convicting church leadership of their own state of sin and social exclusion, and I was not so fearful as to simply tell them what THEY WANTED TO HEAR! My dad had the same experience.
It proves to me we are often too busy kissing the feet of orthodoxy instead of seeking a living and breathing relationship to God and Christ with the Holy Spirit guiding our daily quest for truth, love, and peace.
I have found that peace despite severe disappointment with the Southern Baptist "demonimation" and its ignorant, egotistical, judgmental approach to religion. Too often we are attending a "Glorified Country Club" instead of a fellowship of believers who worship and work together in a "FELLOWSHIP OF FAITH AND LOVE."
Our growth is in decline. Our giving is to the point 600 IMB missionaries/staff will have to go because we can no longer support them.
Meanwhile, the heads of agencies are earning 3-figure incomes with perks and benefits doubling what actually shows. Our reasonable HMB headquarters on Spring Street (downtown Atlanta) has been transferred to a mega-million dollar campus in affluent Alpharetta---far removed from the street people of Atlanta / the airport / or anything resembling the poor and outcast Jesus associated with.
I fail to see how God could be happy with our arrogance and judging and doing what our Baptist founders despised most----having a Creed instead of an Autonomous general agreement on Theology while we sacrificially give to Missions as our prime goal.
We have drastically changed using Inerrancy as the rally cry. Our humble and dedicated leaders of the past--with a servant attitude--have been replaced with "little kings" at every corner. They would rather fly First Class everywhere and stay in 4-star Hotels than walk with dusty feet among the poor who need the Gospel.
If you and I truly believe in Autonomy, we will simply be friends with a slightly different view of Scripture. Otherwise, we will be bitter enemies so stuck in our different positions that we cannot appreciate how your view appeals to certain people while mine appeals to others.
Together we could reach 10,000 when our 2 churches are cooperating. Otherwise we are leading 5,000 away from the other 5,000 who could and should be helping one another fund missionaries. Our prime purpose, missions, used to win the lost we cannot win from our large church facility!
I think we will be friends!!! I pray we both have a special Christmas filled with love, joy, and peace!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Will Terrorism be conquered???
Geert Wilders, chairman Party for Freedom, the Netherlands
Speech at the Four Seasons, New York September 25, 2008
Speech at the Four Seasons, New York September 25, 2008
Dear friends,
Thank you very much for inviting me. Great to be at the Four Seasons. I come from a country that has one season only: a rainy season that starts January 1st and ends December 31st. When we have three sunny days in a row, the government declares a national emergency. So Four Seasons, that’s new to me.
It’s great to be in New York. When I see the skyscrapers and office buildings, I think of what Ayn Rand said: “The sky over New York and the will of man made visible.” Of course. Without the Dutch you would have been nowhere, still figuring out how to buy this island from the Indians. But we are glad we did it for you. And, frankly, you did a far better job than we possibly could have done.
I come to America with a mission. All is not well in the old world. There is a tremendous danger looming, and it is very difficult to be optimistic. We might be in the final stages of the Islamization of Europe. This not only is a clear and present danger to the future of Europe itself, it is a threat to America and the sheer survival of the West. The danger I see looming is the scenario of America as the last man standing. The United States as the last bastion of Western civilization, facing an Islamic Europe. In a generation or two, the US will ask itself: who lost Europe? Patriots from around Europe risk their lives every day to prevent precisely this scenario form becoming a reality.
My short lecture consists of 4 parts.
First I will describe the situation on the ground in Europe. Then, I will say a few things about Islam. Thirdly, if you are still here, I will talk a little bit about the movie you just saw. To close I will tell you about a meeting in Jerusalem.
The Europe you know is changing. You have probably seen the landmarks. The Eiffel Tower and Trafalgar Square and Rome’s ancient buildings and maybe the canals of Amsterdam. They are still there. And they still look very much the same as they did a hundred years ago.
But in all of these cities, sometimes a few blocks away from your tourist destination, there is another world, a world very few visitors see – and one that does not appear in your tourist guidebook. It is the world of the parallel society created by Muslim mass-migration. All throughout Europe a new reality is rising: entire Muslim neighbourhoods where very few indigenous people reside or are even seen. And if they are, they might regret it. This goes for the police as well. It’s the world of head scarves, where women walk around in figureless tents, with baby strollers and a group of children. Their husbands, or slaveholders if you prefer, walk three steps ahead. With mosques on many street corner. The shops have signs you and I cannot read. You will be hard-pressed to find any economic activity. These are Muslim ghettos controlled by religious fanatics. These are Muslim neighbourhoods, and they are mushrooming in every city across Europe. These are the building-blocks for territorial control of increasingly larger portions of Europe, street by street, neighbourhood by neighbourhood, city by city.
There are now thousands of mosques throughout Europe. With larger congregations than there are in churches. And in every European city there are plans to build super-mosques that will dwarf every church in the region. Clearly, the signal is: we rule.
Many European cities are already one-quarter Muslim: just take Amsterdam, Marseille and Malmo in Sweden. In many cities the majority of the under-18 population is Muslim. Paris is now surrounded by a ring of Muslim neighbourhoods. Mohammed is the most popular name among boys in many cities. In some elementary schools in Amsterdam the farm can no longer be mentioned, because that would also mean mentioning the pig, and that would be an insult to Muslims. Many state schools in Belgium and Denmark only serve halal food to all pupils. In once-tolerant Amsterdam gays are beaten up almost exclusively by Muslims. Non-Muslim women routinely hear “whore, whore”. Satellite dishes are not pointed to local TV stations, but to stations in the country of origin. In France school teachers are advised to avoid authors deemed offensive to Muslims, including Voltaire and Diderot; the same is increasingly true of Darwin. The history of the Holocaust can in many cases no longer be taught because of Muslim sensitivity. In England sharia courts are now officially part of the British legal system. Many neighbourhoods in France are no-go areas for women without head scarves. Last week a man almost died after being beaten up by Muslims in Brussels, because he was drinking during the Ramadan. Jews are fleeing France in record numbers, on the run for the worst wave of anti-Semitism since World War II. French is now commonly spoken on the streets of Tel Aviv and Netanya, Israel. I could go on forever with stories like this. Stories about Islamization.
A total of fifty-four million Muslims now live in Europe. San Diego University recently calculated that a staggering 25 percent of the population in Europe will be Muslim just 12 years from now. Bernhard Lewis has predicted a Muslim majority by the end of this century.
Now these are just numbers. And the numbers would not be threatening if the Muslim-immigrants had a strong desire to assimilate. But there are few signs of that. The Pew Research Center reported that half of French Muslims see their loyalty to Islam as greater than their loyalty to France. One-third of French Muslims do not object to suicide attacks. The British Centre for Social Cohesion reported that one-third of British Muslim students are in favour of a worldwide caliphate. A Dutch study reported that half of Dutch Muslims admit they “understand” the 9/11 attacks.
Muslims demand what they call ‘respect’. And this is how we give them respect. Our elites are willing to give in. To give up. In my own country we have gone from calls by one cabinet member to turn Muslim holidays into official state holidays, to statements by another cabinet member, that Islam is part of Dutch culture, to an affirmation by the Christian-Democratic attorney general that he is willing to accept sharia in the Netherlands if there is a Muslim majority. We have cabinet members with passports from Morocco and Turkey.
Muslim demands are supported by unlawful behaviour, ranging from petty crimes and random violence, for example against ambulance workers and bus drivers, to small-scale riots. Paris has seen its uprising in the low-income suburbs, the banlieus. Some prefer to see these as isolated incidents, but I call it a Muslim intifada. I call the perpetrators “settlers”. Because that is what they are. They do not come to integrate into our societies, they come to integrate our society into their Dar-al-Islam. Therefore, they are settlers.
Much of this street violence I mentioned is directed exclusively against non-Muslims, forcing many native people to leave their neighbourhoods, their cities, their countries.
Politicians shy away from taking a stand against this creeping sharia. They believe in the equality of all cultures. Moreover, on a mundane level, Muslims are now a swing vote not to be ignored.
Our many problems with Islam cannot be explained by poverty, repression or the European colonial past, as the Left claims. Nor does it have anything to do with Palestinians or American troops in Iraq. The problem is Islam itself.
Allow me to give you a brief Islam 101. The first thing you need to know about Islam is the importance of the book of the Quran. The Quran is Allah’s personal word, revealed by an angel to Mohammed, the prophet. This is where the trouble starts. Every word in the Quran is Allah’s word and therefore not open to discussion or interpretation. It is valid for every Muslim and for all times. Therefore, there is no such a thing as moderate Islam. Sure, there are a lot of moderate Muslims. But a moderate Islam is non-existent.
The Quran calls for hatred, violence, submission, murder, and terrorism. The Quran calls for Muslims to kill non-Muslims, to terrorize non-Muslims and to fulfil their duty to wage war: violent jihad. Jihad is a duty for every Muslim, Islam is to rule the world – by the sword. The Quran is clearly anti-Semitic, describing Jews as monkeys and pigs.
The second thing you need to know is the importance of Mohammed the prophet. His behaviour is an example to all Muslims and cannot be criticized. Now, if Mohammed had been a man of peace, let us say like Ghandi and Mother Theresa wrapped in one, there would be no problem. But Mohammed was a warlord, a mass murderer, a pedophile, and had several marriages – at the same time. Islamic tradition tells us how he fought in battles, how he had his enemies murdered and even had prisoners of war executed. Mohammed himself slaughtered the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza. He advised on matters of slavery, but never advised to liberate slaves. Islam has no other morality than the advancement of Islam. If it is good for Islam, it is good. If it is bad for Islam, it is bad. There is no gray area or other side.
Quran as Allah’s own word and Mohammed as the perfect man are the two most important facets of Islam. Let no one fool you about Islam being a religion. Sure, it has a god, and a here-after, and 72 virgins. But in its essence Islam is a political ideology. It is a system that lays down detailed rules for society and the life of every person. Islam wants to dictate every aspect of life. Islam means ‘submission’. Islam is not compatible with freedom and democracy, because what it strives for is sharia. If you want to compare Islam to anything, compare it to communism or national-socialism, these are all totalitarian ideologies.
This is what you need to know about Islam, in order to understand what is going on in Europe. For millions of Muslims the Quran and the live of Mohammed are not 14 centuries old, but are an everyday reality, an ideal, that guide every aspect of their lives. Now you know why Winston Churchill called Islam “the most retrograde force in the world”, and why he compared Mein Kampf to the Quran.
Which brings me to my movie, Fitna.
I am a lawmaker, and not a movie maker. But I felt I had the moral duty to educate about Islam. The duty to make clear that the Quran stands at the heart of what some people call terrorism but is in reality jihad. I wanted to show that the problems of Islam are at the core of Islam, and do not belong to its fringes.
Now, from the day the plan for my movie was made public, it caused quite a stir, in the Netherlands and throughout Europe. First, there was a political storm, with government leaders, across the continent in sheer panic. The Netherlands was put under a heightened terror alert, because of possible attacks or a revolt by our Muslim population. The Dutch branch of the Islamic organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir declared that the Netherlands was due for an attack. Internationally, there was a series of incidents. The Taliban threatened to organize additional attacks against Dutch troops in Afghanistan, and a website linked to Al Qaeda published the message that I ought to be killed, while various muftis in the Middle East stated that I would be responsible for all the bloodshed after the screening of the movie. In Afghanistan and Pakistan the Dutch flag was burned on several occasions. Dolls representing me were also burned. The Indonesian President announced that I will never be admitted into Indonesia again, while the UN Secretary General and the European Union issued cowardly statements in the same vein as those made by the Dutch Government. I could go on and on. It was an absolute disgrace, a sell-out.
A plethora of legal troubles also followed, and have not ended yet. Currently the state of Jordan is litigating against me. Only last week there were renewed security agency reports about a heightened terror alert for the Netherlands because of Fitna.
Now, I would like to say a few things about Israel. Because, very soon, we will get together in its capitol. The best way for a politician in Europe to loose votes is to say something positive about Israel. The public has wholeheartedly accepted the Palestinian narrative, and sees Israel as the aggressor. I, however, will continue to speak up for Israel. I see defending Israel as a matter of principle. I have lived in this country and visited it dozens of times. I support Israel. First, because it is the Jewish homeland after two thousand years of exile up to and including Auschwitz, second because it is a democracy, and third because Israel is our first line of defense.
Samuel Huntington writes it so aptly: “Islam has bloody borders”. Israel is located precisely on that border. This tiny country is situated on the fault line of jihad, frustrating Islam’s territorial advance. Israel is facing the front lines of jihad, like Kashmir, Kosovo, the Philippines, Southern Thailand, Darfur in Sudan, Lebanon, and Aceh in Indonesia. Israel is simply in the way. The same way West-Berlin was during the Cold War.
The war against Israel is not a war against Israel. It is a war against the West. It is jihad. Israel is simply receiving the blows that are meant for all of us. If there would have been no Israel, Islamic imperialism would have found other venues to release its energy and its desire for conquest. Thanks to Israeli parents who send their children to the army and lay awake at night, parents in Europe and America can sleep well and dream, unaware of the dangers looming.
Many in Europe argue in favor of abandoning Israel in order to address the grievances of our Muslim minorities. But if Israel were, God forbid, to go down, it would not bring any solace to the West. It would not mean our Muslim minorities would all of a sudden change their behavior, and accept our values. On the contrary, the end of Israel would give enormous encouragement to the forces of Islam. They would, and rightly so, see the demise of Israel as proof that the West is weak, and doomed. The end of Israel would not mean the end of our problems with Islam, but only the beginning. It would mean the start of the final battle for world domination. If they can get Israel, they can get everything. Therefore, it is not that the West has a stake in Israel. It is Israel.
It is very difficult to be an optimist in the face of the growing Islamization of Europe. All the tides are against us. On all fronts we are losing. Demographically the momentum is with Islam. Muslim immigration is even a source of pride within ruling liberal parties. Academia, the arts, the media, trade unions, the churches, the business world, the entire political establishment have all converted to the suicidal theory of multiculturalism. So-called journalists volunteer to label any and all critics of Islamization as a ‘right-wing extremists’ or ‘racists’. The entire establishment has sided with our enemy. Leftists, liberals and Christian-Democrats are now all in bed with Islam.
This is the most painful thing to see: the betrayal by our elites. At this moment in Europe’s history, our elites are supposed to lead us. To stand up for centuries of civilization. To defend our heritage. To honour our eternal Judeo-Christian values that made Europe what it is today. But there are very few signs of hope to be seen at the governmental level. Sarkozy, Merkel, Brown, Berlusconi; in private, they probably know how grave the situation is. But when the little red light goes on, they stare into the camera and tell us that Islam is a religion of peace, and we should all try to get along nicely and sing Kumbaya. They willingly participate in, what President Reagan so aptly called: “the betrayal of our past, the squandering of our freedom.”
If there is hope in Europe, it comes from the people, not from the elites. Change can only come from a grass-roots level. It has to come from the citizens themselves. Yet these patriots will have to take on the entire political, legal and media establishment.
Over the past years there have been some small, but encouraging, signs of a rebirth of the original European spirit. Maybe the elites turn their backs on freedom, the public does not. In my country, the Netherlands, 60 percent of the population now sees the mass immigration of Muslims as the number one policy mistake since World War II. And another 60 percent sees Islam as the biggest threat to our national identity. I don’t think the public opinion in Holland is very different from other European countries.
Patriotic parties that oppose jihad are growing, against all odds. My own party debuted two years ago, with five percent of the vote. Now it stands at ten percent in the polls. The same is true of all smililary-minded parties in Europe. They are fighting the liberal establishment, and are gaining footholds on the political arena, one voter at the time.
Now, for the first time, these patriotic parties will come together and exchange experiences. It may be the start of something big. Something that might change the map of Europe for decades to come. It might also be Europe’s last chance.
This December a conference will take place in Jerusalem. Thanks to Professor Aryeh Eldad, a member of Knesset, we will be able to watch Fitna in the Knesset building and discuss the jihad. We are organizing this event in Israel to emphasize the fact that we are all in the same boat together, and that Israel is part of our common heritage. Those attending will be a select audience. No racist organizations will be allowed. And we will only admit parties that are solidly democratic.
This conference will be the start of an Alliance of European patriots. This Alliance will serve as the backbone for all organizations and political parties that oppose jihad and Islamization. For this Alliance I seek your support.
This endeavor may be crucial to America and to the West. America may hold fast to the dream that, thanks tot its location, it is safe from jihad and shaira. But seven years ago to the day, there was still smoke rising from ground zero, following the attacks that forever shattered that dream. Yet there is a danger even greater danger than terrorist attacks, the scenario of America as the last man standing. The lights may go out in Europe faster than you can imagine. An Islamic Europe means a Europe without freedom and democracy, an economic wasteland, an intellectual nightmare, and a loss of military might for America - as its allies will turn into enemies, enemies with atomic bombs. With an Islamic Europe, it would be up to America alone to preserve the heritage of Rome, Athens and Jerusalem.
Dear friends, liberty is the most precious of gifts. My generation never had to fight for this freedom, it was offered to us on a silver platter, by people who fought for it with their lives. All throughout Europe American cemeteries remind us of the young boys who never made it home, and whose memory we cherish. My generation does not own this freedom; we are merely its custodians. We can only hand over this hard won liberty to Europe’s children in the same state in which it was offered to us. We cannot strike a deal with mullahs and imams. Future generations would never forgive us. We cannot squander our liberties. We simply do not have the right to do so.
This is not the first time our civilization is under threat. We have seen dangers before. We have been betrayed by our elites before. They have sided with our enemies before. And yet, then, freedom prevailed.
These are not times in which to take lessons from appeasement, capitulation, giving away, giving up or giving in. These are not times in which to draw lessons from Mr. Chamberlain. These are times calling us to draw lessons from Mr. Churchill and the words he spoke in 1942:
“Never give in, never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy”.
My comment:
Reverse discrimination seems to be the core of much social manipulation these days. It is just as bad, if not worse, than simple discrimination. It, somehow, gives the former discriminee the idea they have a right to make up for lost time--sometimes brought on by minority hiring and promotion policies. People who do not have the skills or ability are promoted over those who do simply because of race or sex.
Not good!!!
I watched a section of Atlanta before the era of great anti-discrimination actions. My Aunt and Uncle lived in "Kirkwood" which was one of the "pretty little villages" within easy commute or walk of downtown Atlanta of the 50's.
The practice was called "block busting." A (usually black) realtor managed to get a white family to sell out. Often it took 2-3 families in the same house to afford it, but that didn't matter. Pretty soon white homeowners were being spooked that the community was going black because every home sold got bought by non-white folks.
Realtors then pounced on everyone not wanting to sell and offering low prices with the observation, "Look what's happening and you better sell before prices go to nothing!" By the time about 30% of homes got sold, the prices did go to nothing. People who had paid for a home and looked, with contentment, toward a comfortable retirement had to almost start over building equity. All the value of their house was used in a down payment and moving expenses. This is why residents of Cobb County are fighting to keep MARTA rail lines and buses our of there! They have lost enough of hard earned money to block busting.
What happened next is horrible: unbridaled threat and intimidation from new black families and their children. My elderly Aunt and Uncle had peeping toms all the time. Rocks were thrown at the house. There was no off street parking so they looked out to see their old car being used as a bouncing game with children all over it. Police could not respond in time and soon grew weary of the complaints. These older white people were told they were "on their own."
This is real. It has been going on in America since the 50's. Now it is simply extended around Atlanta where many communities have nothing but foreign language signs. The Realtors get rich by buying low and selling high to their own kind.
Prejudice and racism in the reverse is far more evil than what preceeded it and the motivation is Money-Money-Money!
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Payback is HELL -- divorce update
It is hard to believe a week has passed. I spent the night at my daughters, stayed with her sick twins for the day, had the middle boy come home early from school with my wife having to leave work and bring him. The oldest is the only one somewhat intact, but he has a terribly sullen attitude much like his father these days.
This morning my wife filled me in on yesterday--You're gonna love this!!!!
My daughter's abusive "5-year-old-in-a-man's-body" is now staying with his parents who created this monster with their crazy parenting techniques. He called my daughter to tell her to shut the air vents under the house and turn on a light you have to crawl to since a freeze was coming. Not that he is off right now and knows exactly what to do, but he has to keep his commands going!
Next he starts complaining about how he is being treated:
This morning my wife filled me in on yesterday--You're gonna love this!!!!
My daughter's abusive "5-year-old-in-a-man's-body" is now staying with his parents who created this monster with their crazy parenting techniques. He called my daughter to tell her to shut the air vents under the house and turn on a light you have to crawl to since a freeze was coming. Not that he is off right now and knows exactly what to do, but he has to keep his commands going!
Next he starts complaining about how he is being treated:
- Must be home at a certain time (early, even though he is 35)
- Must make his bed and wipe the shower door to leave it EXACTLY as momma dictates
- If he is 1 minute late to a meal the (usually chicken strips because momma hates to cook) plate will be in the microwave
- Answer all kinds of questions and listen to all kinds of stupid advice from meddling parents.
Payback---indeed it is HELL and this abuser deserves every bit of it!
He would get worse right now from an angry father who has just learned his daughter was grabbed by the hair and had a butcher knife placed to her throat in front of all the boys. He can thank God the separation is in progress and daddy does not have to intervene on that one.
My father, years ago, told me something very important: "When the Bible says, 'Vengeance is mine saith the Lord,' it means it!" I am eternally grateful to my father for pointing it out and telling stories of how it worked out for him. My Baptist preacher experiences have been exactly the same--I left the vengeance to God and it certainly was provided in ways I could never have planned nor predicted if I had taken vengeance into my own hands.
One quick example:
My second Senior Minister church had a group called "the clique" at its core. These people appeared to be faithful church members. They sang in the choir, taught SS, were elected Deacon and other positions. To the quick observer they seemed to be "righteous."
Once there and trying to work with them, I quickly discovered it was all a cover-up for backbiting, illicit affairs, making people with spiritual needs more sick instead of helping them to heal.
To make a long story short they corrupted 2 of my new staff members--literally physically with sexual antics corruption--to the point one had to be forced to resign and the other through his "other woman clique manipulator" ended up in a divorce / job loss / almost successful suicide place.
Guess who got fired as the Senior Minister----ME!!!!
I wanted to hurt several someones for how my wife and children got treated. Their actions were so threatening and hostile I took a friend and a .357 magnum with me after the vote to get things from my office. It may sound like a strange tale to you, but I had to live it.
You will never guess what happened to the "prime schemer" in this little story of having my career and family badly hurt. He had an elder son whose wife was expecting a baby. That young pregnant lady was the daughter of another participant in the "ousting of Gene event." In fact, he moderated the meeting when the church could have rejected my resignation, but the Moderator told them they could not do it because I had submitted it-----HOGWASH!!!
The beautiful child was born. Mommy and child were home alone in the first few days. She had put the baby to bed and decided to take a long warm soaking bath. Her husband came home within a few hours to find his beautiful wife and new mother drowned in her bath tub!
It sends chills down my spine!
Another participant in my pastoral slaughter had his beautiful beauty contestant type daughter in her early 20's fall off the back of a motorcycle into the path of an 18-wheeler which ran over her head! I'm not making any of this up. To a one those who meant evil for me paid a price as vengeance happened within the first year of my leaving!
Payback is HELL---usually it sets straight those awful things hurtful people have done to others who were just trying to do their job / get along / live and honest life.
If anyone chooses to take life in his own hands and exact vengeance, it turns into the kind of awful martyr bombing / plane hijacking / etc. stuff of recent years which has our soldiers by the thousands being exposed to vengeance bombing / roadside devices / etc.
Vengeance begets vengeance ad finitum!
When Jesus advocated returning good for evil / turn the other cheek reactions, he was offering a better way. Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. proved that what seems impossible can become so by peaceful protest as hard as it might be to endure the blows, dogs, water hoses, etc. from those presently in charge.
As Christmas approaches, we did get a present from above which gives us encouragement to believe that when God says, "Vengeance is mine," he means it and you can trust it. It is proven to me that my father was right!
Thanks, Dad, I will surely see you again one day. You just got there before I do.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
How about the Homosexuality Issue?
http://www.baptiststandard.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9802&Itemid=9
The above link will get you to the State Baptist paper of Texas--The Baptist Standard.
Their editor, Marv Knox, had more guts than most anyone else to bring the debate in "Southern Baptist homophobia land" to the forefront.
Rather than do a long blog on this issue, I invite you to read the article and commentary. About half way through those comments, I stepped in to say what does not need repeating here.
I welcome your comments on this very important issues here since the commentary is now closed at the Baptist Standard.
I simply applaude Marv Knox for his courage and not saying the things expected to be said if one is to remain editor of any state baptist publication these days.
The above link will get you to the State Baptist paper of Texas--The Baptist Standard.
Their editor, Marv Knox, had more guts than most anyone else to bring the debate in "Southern Baptist homophobia land" to the forefront.
Rather than do a long blog on this issue, I invite you to read the article and commentary. About half way through those comments, I stepped in to say what does not need repeating here.
I welcome your comments on this very important issues here since the commentary is now closed at the Baptist Standard.
I simply applaude Marv Knox for his courage and not saying the things expected to be said if one is to remain editor of any state baptist publication these days.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Krampus
http://www.monstropedia.org/index.php?title=Krampus
I picked up a copy of National Geographic for December. It has an article about something I had not encountered before. The link above gives the essential information. It is a strange new--rather resurrected--practice.
As I read about this, my psychological analysis kicks in. It bespeaks the "split" nature of personality I cited before with Reaction-Formation Psychosis being the basis of much modern religiosity.
Sigmund Freud, the father of modern psychology, was a resident of Vienna, Austria. It is in the area where the Krampus roamed at his time. That time was one of great turmoil in philosophy / medicine / political unrest. It was the era which generated Karl Marx and his ideas of a government where the workers ran things with committees and all material goods should be shared equally. Out of unhappiness comes deeper thought and insight.
We are in a similar era today. All sorts of religions are in direct conflict. Americans are trying to say we must be a Christian country despite the clear constitutional demand that Congress shall make no laws concerning religion. We are certainly in a war tantamount to the Great Crusades! Conflict is everywhere.
Add to this conflict scenario the economic struggles which are world wide and you have pressure on most of us which causes our demons to come out like Krampus. The masks are scary and bespeak several people I have met lately. They have a demon within which lurks beneath the surface of their personality!
Freud posited 3 aspects of personality which are basic: Id / Ego / Super Ego.
According to his theory of personality the Id is our selfish self. It seeks to get what it wants when it wants it. There are no bounds on the lusts of the Id!
The Super Ego is exactly the opposite. It gives our personality a super human perfection. It seeks good and success. It treats people with the same good goals that Jesus prescribed: Love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself.
The Ego is the balance point trying to encompass both Id and Super ego. A balanced person has a sense of self that incorporates some of the Id and Super Ego and recognizes their existence. In short, Ego is the present moment self trying to maintain control of the excesses of Id and Super Ego.
Another concept of Freud was the importance of dreams. In our dreams, he posited, we are freed of normal conscious restraints. Each dream has strange objects which symbolize those things which are troubling the Ego--usually a conflict between Id and Super Ego. Out of these dreams and using hypnosis, Freud tried to help people understand themselves. His favorite questions were: "What does this mean to you?" "What was that symbol in your dream representing out of your past history?"
Freud started by trying to help himself in his terrors. He advocated that every practitioner should have therapy himself on, at least, a weekly basis. For him, the therapy was essential and a never ending process. Like many people in my Abnormal Psychology class years ago at Emory, the main reason for them studying was that they had emotional and personality problems driving them to the edge of sanity. As I looked around the classroom and witnessed the discussions and interaction, I concluded: about 10% of us in this class are normal--the rest be a little crazy!
Our professor, in the first lecture, stated clearly that as we studied the abnormal classifications that everyone here will find some of these things in his/her mind because none of us is perfect. If any of you find yourselves severely troubled by any of this, make an appointment and let's talk privately--I mean it!!! This is important!
Now back to Kampus.
The mask worn by the participant is hideous and scary. The reveling going on right now across Europe has a high amount of intoxication accompanying it. The purpose is to scare children into being good so Santa brings toys rather than the switches in the bag of the Kampus. Before the day of Freudian understanding, pagans used this practice to "get the demons out." Once demons are out and looked at, we can begin to acknowledge their presence and put them in perspective.
What troubles me in recent years is the dispersion Fundamentalist preachers are putting on Halloween. The costumes and spooks of All Hallows Eve deal with the same fears and worries of children. It is simply a way to make spooks fun and get candy from adults. As children go up and down the street, there are fun things to make their hair raise without killing them. It is similar to a roller coaster ride. In your heart you know you are safe despite things that go bump in the night!
Too much is being put out these days as scare tactics. We have seen them in abundance over the National Healthcare debate. George Bush used this tactic to the max by saying Sadam Hussain has "Weapons of Mass Destruction." In reality most of this amounts to "Weapons of Mass Distraction" so we have to fund and follow the leader of the US Government. Thereby, we sanction our soldiers using our Weapons of Mass Destruction applied against the citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan who are killed by what is called "peripheral damage." Too often, our own soldiers are the victims of a bomb or artillery shell gone awry. Everyone is scared in war and innocent people die a bloody death.
In reverse, this is exactly the purpose of the Terrorist. The events of 9/11 now have us held captive with fear. We stand in long lines at airports for searches. The citizens of New York and the Pentagon employees go to work every day with hidden fears every time a plane passes close overhead. We are living in a current environment filled with fear!
Back to the Freud Id/Ego/Super Ego idea: Our fearful Id is putting massive doses of Adrenaline into our bodies. There are more panic attacks these days. We hear news reports of murder/suicides. We rejoice that the Oregon State killer of cops was cut down yesterday, but we can't help but wonder who will be next. In many ways we become our own worst enemy through fear!
If you keep watching the storms and hurricanes on the Weather Channel, you are obsessing on hidden fears and using the stories to scare them out of you. My mother lives in Atlanta where there is a murder or robbery every day. She acts as though each one happened right outside her door although she lives in a fairly safe and sane neighborhood. At age 91, she, like many elderly people, are filled with fear. However, at the same time she has a deep faith and trust that "God will take care of you." Remember that marvelous hymn. My daddy sang it often as he shaved getting ready for another day of trying to minister to people with deep troubles.
What I am saying is that, as Jesus said, "The Kingdom of God is within you." The disciples were quizzing him on when he would return. They thought they could not exist without him. Jesus told them, in essence, "Quit relying on my presence. The Kingdom of God is IN YOU!"
God gives each of us the ability to cope if we rely on his Spirit and trust He will provide a way. The Kampus is awful, but it can be controlled by the centered person. With God's help, the Kampus is just a pretend costume designed to get the evil spirits out into the open so it can be seen a discovered to be---just a drunk in a silly mask and costume!
I picked up a copy of National Geographic for December. It has an article about something I had not encountered before. The link above gives the essential information. It is a strange new--rather resurrected--practice.
As I read about this, my psychological analysis kicks in. It bespeaks the "split" nature of personality I cited before with Reaction-Formation Psychosis being the basis of much modern religiosity.
Sigmund Freud, the father of modern psychology, was a resident of Vienna, Austria. It is in the area where the Krampus roamed at his time. That time was one of great turmoil in philosophy / medicine / political unrest. It was the era which generated Karl Marx and his ideas of a government where the workers ran things with committees and all material goods should be shared equally. Out of unhappiness comes deeper thought and insight.
We are in a similar era today. All sorts of religions are in direct conflict. Americans are trying to say we must be a Christian country despite the clear constitutional demand that Congress shall make no laws concerning religion. We are certainly in a war tantamount to the Great Crusades! Conflict is everywhere.
Add to this conflict scenario the economic struggles which are world wide and you have pressure on most of us which causes our demons to come out like Krampus. The masks are scary and bespeak several people I have met lately. They have a demon within which lurks beneath the surface of their personality!
Freud posited 3 aspects of personality which are basic: Id / Ego / Super Ego.
According to his theory of personality the Id is our selfish self. It seeks to get what it wants when it wants it. There are no bounds on the lusts of the Id!
The Super Ego is exactly the opposite. It gives our personality a super human perfection. It seeks good and success. It treats people with the same good goals that Jesus prescribed: Love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself.
The Ego is the balance point trying to encompass both Id and Super ego. A balanced person has a sense of self that incorporates some of the Id and Super Ego and recognizes their existence. In short, Ego is the present moment self trying to maintain control of the excesses of Id and Super Ego.
Another concept of Freud was the importance of dreams. In our dreams, he posited, we are freed of normal conscious restraints. Each dream has strange objects which symbolize those things which are troubling the Ego--usually a conflict between Id and Super Ego. Out of these dreams and using hypnosis, Freud tried to help people understand themselves. His favorite questions were: "What does this mean to you?" "What was that symbol in your dream representing out of your past history?"
Freud started by trying to help himself in his terrors. He advocated that every practitioner should have therapy himself on, at least, a weekly basis. For him, the therapy was essential and a never ending process. Like many people in my Abnormal Psychology class years ago at Emory, the main reason for them studying was that they had emotional and personality problems driving them to the edge of sanity. As I looked around the classroom and witnessed the discussions and interaction, I concluded: about 10% of us in this class are normal--the rest be a little crazy!
Our professor, in the first lecture, stated clearly that as we studied the abnormal classifications that everyone here will find some of these things in his/her mind because none of us is perfect. If any of you find yourselves severely troubled by any of this, make an appointment and let's talk privately--I mean it!!! This is important!
Now back to Kampus.
The mask worn by the participant is hideous and scary. The reveling going on right now across Europe has a high amount of intoxication accompanying it. The purpose is to scare children into being good so Santa brings toys rather than the switches in the bag of the Kampus. Before the day of Freudian understanding, pagans used this practice to "get the demons out." Once demons are out and looked at, we can begin to acknowledge their presence and put them in perspective.
What troubles me in recent years is the dispersion Fundamentalist preachers are putting on Halloween. The costumes and spooks of All Hallows Eve deal with the same fears and worries of children. It is simply a way to make spooks fun and get candy from adults. As children go up and down the street, there are fun things to make their hair raise without killing them. It is similar to a roller coaster ride. In your heart you know you are safe despite things that go bump in the night!
Too much is being put out these days as scare tactics. We have seen them in abundance over the National Healthcare debate. George Bush used this tactic to the max by saying Sadam Hussain has "Weapons of Mass Destruction." In reality most of this amounts to "Weapons of Mass Distraction" so we have to fund and follow the leader of the US Government. Thereby, we sanction our soldiers using our Weapons of Mass Destruction applied against the citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan who are killed by what is called "peripheral damage." Too often, our own soldiers are the victims of a bomb or artillery shell gone awry. Everyone is scared in war and innocent people die a bloody death.
In reverse, this is exactly the purpose of the Terrorist. The events of 9/11 now have us held captive with fear. We stand in long lines at airports for searches. The citizens of New York and the Pentagon employees go to work every day with hidden fears every time a plane passes close overhead. We are living in a current environment filled with fear!
Back to the Freud Id/Ego/Super Ego idea: Our fearful Id is putting massive doses of Adrenaline into our bodies. There are more panic attacks these days. We hear news reports of murder/suicides. We rejoice that the Oregon State killer of cops was cut down yesterday, but we can't help but wonder who will be next. In many ways we become our own worst enemy through fear!
If you keep watching the storms and hurricanes on the Weather Channel, you are obsessing on hidden fears and using the stories to scare them out of you. My mother lives in Atlanta where there is a murder or robbery every day. She acts as though each one happened right outside her door although she lives in a fairly safe and sane neighborhood. At age 91, she, like many elderly people, are filled with fear. However, at the same time she has a deep faith and trust that "God will take care of you." Remember that marvelous hymn. My daddy sang it often as he shaved getting ready for another day of trying to minister to people with deep troubles.
What I am saying is that, as Jesus said, "The Kingdom of God is within you." The disciples were quizzing him on when he would return. They thought they could not exist without him. Jesus told them, in essence, "Quit relying on my presence. The Kingdom of God is IN YOU!"
God gives each of us the ability to cope if we rely on his Spirit and trust He will provide a way. The Kampus is awful, but it can be controlled by the centered person. With God's help, the Kampus is just a pretend costume designed to get the evil spirits out into the open so it can be seen a discovered to be---just a drunk in a silly mask and costume!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Was there an ancient Nuclear Holocaust???
Below is an interesting blog. My friend, Dr. Jim Willingham, is one of the most interesting individuals I have met through "blog land." He is an older gentleman who was, at one time, an agnostic--if not an athiest. Jim's early life was full of trauma including a murder/suicide in his own family. We began on opposite sides of a Biblical Recorder discussion--each accusing the other of having starkly different views on theology and other issues.
I was bold enough to give out my email address and Jim quickly started communicating. We still have distinct differences of opinions, but Jim always brings to me some fascinating philosophical viewpoints. This web site is one of his latest!
http://philosophicalanthropology.blogspot.com/2009/11/ancient-atomic-wars.html
For years, I have noticed the similarity between the biblical account of the Tower of Babel and a rocket which might reach up to God as opposed to a tower for the same purpose. The motivation for that human building project was similar to Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in Eden. The Bible writers knew nothing of rockets, but they knew about building great monuments and towers trying to get closer to God.
Now, bring this to our modern era and the supposed Weapons of Mass Destruction used by the Bush Administration to convince the American public of why we had to invade Iraq. It is strange how we went from 9/11 to Osamma ben Laden to Sadam Hussain to Al Quida to Afghanistan, now moving toward Pakistan. We are getting deeper and deeper into a quagmire of East vs. West somewhat similar to the Holy Crusades.
This is dangerous territory!!!!
We, as a nation, are hated by many people who view us as intrusive warmongers who send the troops and our own Weapons of Mass Destruction against any who seemingly oppose us. I would have to admit they pretty much have their viewpoint affirmed. My most startling evidence is some Apache gun camera footage sent to me by my son's best friend, Scott, who is a Crew Chief on the Fighting Eagles squadron at Seymour-Johnson AFB in Goldsboro. They have recently been deployed to Afghanistan and just lost a crew to what is seen presently as "mechinical failure" and no time to bail out. Our soldiers are, indeed, dying on foreign soil today.
The gun camera footage shows men and trucks on a bridge. Interestingly, none of the men is carrying a visible weapon. As the footage rolls you hear the voices of the crewmen over the radio: "The one behind the post. Put the sight on him. Smoke him! Put the sight on that truck--there is a man under it! Smoke him!"
With each "smoke him" command the gattling gun opens up and the body is blown into mush! It is not pretty!
If that were your relative obliterated on a bridge with not enough body parts to bury, would you love the American military???
I am not sure US soldier lives, supposedly given for freedom, are not lives given to let the US possess the massive oil reserves of the Middle East. It will not be the first time we have been given an official rationale for war when money and profit were the real motives.
If you have seen "W" from Oliver Stone, it shows clearly the back room discussion as George Bush was considering waging war against Iraq. According to this movie, based on history, the discussion was clearly over oil rather than existing "WMD." So far, even our spy satellite technology has not produced any evidence of such weapons in Iraq! Those birds can see and photograph objects as small a 1' from space!
Now, another reality seen often in the news: We have trained scientists in nuclear technology who are in N. Korea which has a weapon--there is more talk of such nuclear physicists working in several Eastern countries!
What could be the result???
It doesn't take much imagination to forsee smuggling of parts / assembly in a large city / holocaust when the trigger is hit! Just as 4 planes were hijacked in a coordinated event, the same could happen in multiple cities.
Is it possible history is repeating itself and we could blow ourselves back into caveman days?? Is it possible the genetic material from dinosaurs could be mutated by atomic radiation into a backwards evolution so that man no longer rules the earth and the "Thunder Lizards" make every day a walk through a literal house of horrors???
Think about it and comment if you please.
I was bold enough to give out my email address and Jim quickly started communicating. We still have distinct differences of opinions, but Jim always brings to me some fascinating philosophical viewpoints. This web site is one of his latest!
http://philosophicalanthropology.blogspot.com/2009/11/ancient-atomic-wars.html
For years, I have noticed the similarity between the biblical account of the Tower of Babel and a rocket which might reach up to God as opposed to a tower for the same purpose. The motivation for that human building project was similar to Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in Eden. The Bible writers knew nothing of rockets, but they knew about building great monuments and towers trying to get closer to God.
Now, bring this to our modern era and the supposed Weapons of Mass Destruction used by the Bush Administration to convince the American public of why we had to invade Iraq. It is strange how we went from 9/11 to Osamma ben Laden to Sadam Hussain to Al Quida to Afghanistan, now moving toward Pakistan. We are getting deeper and deeper into a quagmire of East vs. West somewhat similar to the Holy Crusades.
This is dangerous territory!!!!
We, as a nation, are hated by many people who view us as intrusive warmongers who send the troops and our own Weapons of Mass Destruction against any who seemingly oppose us. I would have to admit they pretty much have their viewpoint affirmed. My most startling evidence is some Apache gun camera footage sent to me by my son's best friend, Scott, who is a Crew Chief on the Fighting Eagles squadron at Seymour-Johnson AFB in Goldsboro. They have recently been deployed to Afghanistan and just lost a crew to what is seen presently as "mechinical failure" and no time to bail out. Our soldiers are, indeed, dying on foreign soil today.
The gun camera footage shows men and trucks on a bridge. Interestingly, none of the men is carrying a visible weapon. As the footage rolls you hear the voices of the crewmen over the radio: "The one behind the post. Put the sight on him. Smoke him! Put the sight on that truck--there is a man under it! Smoke him!"
With each "smoke him" command the gattling gun opens up and the body is blown into mush! It is not pretty!
If that were your relative obliterated on a bridge with not enough body parts to bury, would you love the American military???
I am not sure US soldier lives, supposedly given for freedom, are not lives given to let the US possess the massive oil reserves of the Middle East. It will not be the first time we have been given an official rationale for war when money and profit were the real motives.
If you have seen "W" from Oliver Stone, it shows clearly the back room discussion as George Bush was considering waging war against Iraq. According to this movie, based on history, the discussion was clearly over oil rather than existing "WMD." So far, even our spy satellite technology has not produced any evidence of such weapons in Iraq! Those birds can see and photograph objects as small a 1' from space!
Now, another reality seen often in the news: We have trained scientists in nuclear technology who are in N. Korea which has a weapon--there is more talk of such nuclear physicists working in several Eastern countries!
What could be the result???
It doesn't take much imagination to forsee smuggling of parts / assembly in a large city / holocaust when the trigger is hit! Just as 4 planes were hijacked in a coordinated event, the same could happen in multiple cities.
Is it possible history is repeating itself and we could blow ourselves back into caveman days?? Is it possible the genetic material from dinosaurs could be mutated by atomic radiation into a backwards evolution so that man no longer rules the earth and the "Thunder Lizards" make every day a walk through a literal house of horrors???
Think about it and comment if you please.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Dealing with Stress
30. November 2009 by David Julen, Pastor, First Baptist Cramerton (copied from Biblical Recorder online edition--you are encouraged to see their coverage of pastor suicide and Snyder Memorial family tragedy {Fayetteville businessman kills self, 2 children, and wife}).
When I learned in September of the death of a North Carolina pastor by his own hand I was reminded of how often I have dealt with Christians who believed only the weak willed and less devout dealt with depression and emotional breakdown.
It brought to mind an article in American Heritage magazine several years ago by John Appel.
Appel was a highly respected psychiatrist at Yale and received the Legion of Merit for his work in military psychiatry during World War II.
In the article he related how he and a team of psychiatrists were given the task of developing a method to determine which soldiers would ultimately break down because of combat stress and weed them out before they broke.
Prevailing Army wisdom was that the soldiers who broke down in combat were neurotics and weaklings. Yet Appel’s research showed that every man has a breaking point.
Every man who is exposed to enough extreme stress for a long enough period of time will become a psychiatric casualty.
Appel said this is now accepted in the military but is still hardly common knowledge, and it has tremendous implications for understanding social structure and human nature.
Appel noted that one of the places where this breaking point began to be clearly shown was in the Mediterranean theater of operations — North Africa and Italy.
In some places infantry rifle battalions had casualty rates of 1,200 to 1,500 per thousand per year.
Following such intense action, division psychiatrists reported a sharp rise in what they began to call the “old sergeants syndrome.”
Veterans with multiple stripes on their arms and medals on their chest were coming in as psychiatric cases at a far greater rate than new men.
This tracked with data from other theaters that pointed toward the fact that those who had broken down were not weaker but had been in the crucible of combat the longest.
The end result of their research was that by 214 aggregate days of combat duty (as I understand this, not tours of duty but days in combat), all men had broken down psychologically — that is, if they had not been wounded, killed, or lost to physical sickness.
Based on his data Appel asked Gen. George Marshal to recommend a limit of 180 aggregate days of combat duty.
The number who had survived that long was so small Appel noted that the loss of manpower involved would be acceptably slight and the Army adopted his recommendation.
The fact that everyone has a breaking point may be accepted in the military but it is often unaccepted in our Christian culture. In the abnormal extreme stress of combat the breaking point is exhibited by men who can barely function.
They are jittery, overly cautious, often possessing the “thousand yard stare” — broken men who simply stare off in the distance almost unable to function. In normal activities of life the breaking point may be when one is unable to balance stress from earning a living, dealing with family, sickness, pain and grief, finances, and perhaps a genetic predisposition toward depression.
Appel’s realization that every man has a breaking point is not held in common belief.
We often still operate under the assumption that only the weak need emotional help.
Recently in the Biblical Recorder, Steve Scoggin, president of the counseling agency CareNet, said, “We create an environment that makes it hard to admit our humanity.”
Appel’s report to Gen. Marshall led to a decision to change the environment for infantrymen.
I believe that we as Christians need to begin to change the environment in which we function by recognizing everyone has a breaking point, including the most devout.
This should be an extension of our foundational doctrine that we still retain a sinful nature that is not removed when we accept Christ as our Savior. (1 John 1:8-10, Gal. 5:17, etc.) Adopting a limited amount of time in combat gave men hope for a way out. Hope is in the DNA of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Psalms echo this theme of hope in God even when current circumstances are unchanged.
The New Testament speaks over and over of help and hope for the afflicted and hurting that are believers (Romans 8:18, 12:12). As ministers we often are called to be present in difficult circumstances where there are no easy answers. Our inadequacies can feed our hopelessness.
I often recall the words of my teacher Wayne Oates who cited 2 Cor. 2:15-16 — “We are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing … Who is sufficient for these things?”
We are often called to simply be the reminder there is a greater power at work. We are reminders of the presence of God. We are not God.
We all have our breaking point because we are all broken and in need of God’s help.
When I learned in September of the death of a North Carolina pastor by his own hand I was reminded of how often I have dealt with Christians who believed only the weak willed and less devout dealt with depression and emotional breakdown.
It brought to mind an article in American Heritage magazine several years ago by John Appel.
Appel was a highly respected psychiatrist at Yale and received the Legion of Merit for his work in military psychiatry during World War II.
In the article he related how he and a team of psychiatrists were given the task of developing a method to determine which soldiers would ultimately break down because of combat stress and weed them out before they broke.
Prevailing Army wisdom was that the soldiers who broke down in combat were neurotics and weaklings. Yet Appel’s research showed that every man has a breaking point.
Every man who is exposed to enough extreme stress for a long enough period of time will become a psychiatric casualty.
Appel said this is now accepted in the military but is still hardly common knowledge, and it has tremendous implications for understanding social structure and human nature.
Appel noted that one of the places where this breaking point began to be clearly shown was in the Mediterranean theater of operations — North Africa and Italy.
In some places infantry rifle battalions had casualty rates of 1,200 to 1,500 per thousand per year.
Following such intense action, division psychiatrists reported a sharp rise in what they began to call the “old sergeants syndrome.”
Veterans with multiple stripes on their arms and medals on their chest were coming in as psychiatric cases at a far greater rate than new men.
This tracked with data from other theaters that pointed toward the fact that those who had broken down were not weaker but had been in the crucible of combat the longest.
The end result of their research was that by 214 aggregate days of combat duty (as I understand this, not tours of duty but days in combat), all men had broken down psychologically — that is, if they had not been wounded, killed, or lost to physical sickness.
Based on his data Appel asked Gen. George Marshal to recommend a limit of 180 aggregate days of combat duty.
The number who had survived that long was so small Appel noted that the loss of manpower involved would be acceptably slight and the Army adopted his recommendation.
The fact that everyone has a breaking point may be accepted in the military but it is often unaccepted in our Christian culture. In the abnormal extreme stress of combat the breaking point is exhibited by men who can barely function.
They are jittery, overly cautious, often possessing the “thousand yard stare” — broken men who simply stare off in the distance almost unable to function. In normal activities of life the breaking point may be when one is unable to balance stress from earning a living, dealing with family, sickness, pain and grief, finances, and perhaps a genetic predisposition toward depression.
Appel’s realization that every man has a breaking point is not held in common belief.
We often still operate under the assumption that only the weak need emotional help.
Recently in the Biblical Recorder, Steve Scoggin, president of the counseling agency CareNet, said, “We create an environment that makes it hard to admit our humanity.”
Appel’s report to Gen. Marshall led to a decision to change the environment for infantrymen.
I believe that we as Christians need to begin to change the environment in which we function by recognizing everyone has a breaking point, including the most devout.
This should be an extension of our foundational doctrine that we still retain a sinful nature that is not removed when we accept Christ as our Savior. (1 John 1:8-10, Gal. 5:17, etc.) Adopting a limited amount of time in combat gave men hope for a way out. Hope is in the DNA of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Psalms echo this theme of hope in God even when current circumstances are unchanged.
The New Testament speaks over and over of help and hope for the afflicted and hurting that are believers (Romans 8:18, 12:12). As ministers we often are called to be present in difficult circumstances where there are no easy answers. Our inadequacies can feed our hopelessness.
I often recall the words of my teacher Wayne Oates who cited 2 Cor. 2:15-16 — “We are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing … Who is sufficient for these things?”
We are often called to simply be the reminder there is a greater power at work. We are reminders of the presence of God. We are not God.
We all have our breaking point because we are all broken and in need of God’s help.
Modern Pressures and Religion
Why is society so prone in recent years toward ultra-conservative politics and religion? Why is the SBC taken over by power hungry control freaks who insist on biblical inerrancy as a creed and conformity as a practice?
A newly graduated pastor, recently called to a typical conservative SBC church in this area, is raising eyebrows each Sunday with what flows from the pulpit. Two quick examples: the second sermon dealt with corruption among us. His primary text was the Belk lingerie insert in that Sunday’s paper which was described as “pornography.” Another sermon for communion used numerous passages to tell people how sinful they were and that none should take the elements unless they had become perfect enough under his standards. A friend of mine was there and said, “I don’t think anyone but him was good enough to qualify that day!”
Let’s be honest. We have always had this element in Christianity and Southern Baptists, but why is it they seem to rule the day?
I have been watching this “stuff” in every corner of life since 1979. Red flags keep saying, “Something is wrong.” Recently I revisited some basic things I learned about human personality. The term “Reaction-Formation” keeps coming to mind. See if it makes sense to you.
Whenever forces attack our personality, it fights back with “defense mechanisms” that protect from insanity. One of these defenses is termed Reaction Formation—it replaces in the conscious mind our subconscious urges with a showy opposite.
A passage from an Abnormal Psychology text says:
Some people reduce their anxieties and feelings of personal conflict through the method of strengthening repression by denying the conflict. The so-called “old maid’s neurosis” (the fear of finding a man under the bed) is a thin disguise of a repressed wish. Similarly, childhood prudery is a reaction formation against growing sexual interest. The reformer and the vice crusader are also examples of reaction formation. They are reacting in many cases against their own erotic interests and inclinations. (The Disorganized Personality, George W. Kisker, PhD., 1964, McGraw-Hill, NY, pp. 150-151.)
I like the old saying, “Only God is perfect—and, quite frankly, I am uncomfortable with people who think they are gods.” In one of my early churches we hired a summer youth worker known for his enthusiasm and piety. During the first Bible Study he berated the girls for wearing halter tops. Some were emotionally to the point of tears. This fellow was engaged at the time and married in the fall. His new wife’s roommate happened to know for a fact she was pregnant when they married. The only explanation for this dedicated and righteous young man’s action is Reaction-Formation. He was not insane, but his life was terribly unhealthy and dishonest at that time.
Every day we are confronted with more psychological pressure. Why is it that “Baby Boomers” (born 1946-1966) with college degrees and supposed intelligence are so drawn to a “Reaction-Formation” unhealthy religious interpretation? Here I speak from personal knowledge as a 1946 Baby Boomer.
The difference between sanity and insanity is one of degree. All of us have crazy moments, but healthy people recover quickly. People who are emotionally immature or over-stressed often do not see it. Even worse, these sick people often seek out others who are equally sick so they do not feel like strangers. At one time you could feel confident an SBC Seminary graduate was mature enough to help sick or immature church members grow. You hoped the lay leadership in a healthy church would, by example and teaching, help others grow. This may no longer be the case. Whenever a society or church has more sick than healthy personalities, the whole group could make a sane person think he is crazy because he is not willing to agree with the crowd.
Try this theory on for size: World War II made everyone live in trauma, but “we” won. Those coming back quickly joined churches and started raising families (the golden 50’s of SBC growth). Many had found God in the foxholes. On the other hand, our churches always reflected society and the sick side was that when jobs were plentiful and money good, we joined the church, raised families, but soon forgot the spiritual God who saved us from death and began to worship the God of American material success. Ignoring racism and prejudice, every white Southern Baptist church built bigger buildings and was “SUCCESSFUL.” Children were supposed to join too because “it was the right thing to do.” Many joined at age 6-10, but never grew beyond that first commitment.
Soon the sweet post-war babies became teenagers and the popular thing was to rebel. By-and-large my contemporaries preferred to read Playboy over the Bible, substitute booze for communion grape juice, and burn flags or smoke pot during Viet Nam. Only the “dumb few” went to church each Sunday or discussed things religious. My contemporaries at Emory University were more concerned with becoming rich Doctors, Lawyers, etc. than anything else. I assume most were church members, but few showed any evidence of a personal commitment with any understanding of the cost of discipleship.
Now those “Baby Boomers” are 40-60 and suddenly everyone is “getting religion.” What kind is it we want—notice I said “want” and not “need.” How much of religion in mega-churches is entertainment rather than servanthood? How much of it is personal and unique to the individual or regimented and dictated by the new “king-pastors’ and TV preachers? How much of it is healthy and normal or so showy that many ask, “Is this real?” Yet we glorify it as “successful church growth.” Reaction-formation more often comes to my mind.
I propose that what we are calling a revival of the masses is, instead, a showy opposite of the drug-infested, flag-burning, anti-authoritarian 60’s. Herein lies the sickness: it is a public show trying to offset the emptiness of early adulthood. If it was real and filed with love and compassion, it could be great. If it is empty and faked, it is a showy opposite which only covers inner insecurity and lack of faith.
As I read the Gospels and the Psalms or Prophets, I see much good therapy and direction. The same personality problems existed, but with no fancy modern names. Conservative and pious religious persons hated Jesus. He preferred to walk with bare-footed and smelly working folk rather than dress nicely and smell incense at the Temple. He was a centered and sane reflection of worshipping God. It had nothing to do with the traditional, superficial, reaction-formation religion of his day—partly for this they killed him.
Jesus, to me, was that perfectly centered god-man rather than a perfect god pretending to be human.
Without his help and direction we are always pretending, some more and others less. The more we pretend to be something we are not, the sicker we become.
I wish that we could chart a new course for free Baptists that is not pretentious or sick, but honest, directed by faith, and full of mutual respect. I believe Jesus made a comment about the sick needing a physician. It would be good if the physician is sane and normal rather than breathing psychotic germs across those he pretends to help.
A newly graduated pastor, recently called to a typical conservative SBC church in this area, is raising eyebrows each Sunday with what flows from the pulpit. Two quick examples: the second sermon dealt with corruption among us. His primary text was the Belk lingerie insert in that Sunday’s paper which was described as “pornography.” Another sermon for communion used numerous passages to tell people how sinful they were and that none should take the elements unless they had become perfect enough under his standards. A friend of mine was there and said, “I don’t think anyone but him was good enough to qualify that day!”
Let’s be honest. We have always had this element in Christianity and Southern Baptists, but why is it they seem to rule the day?
I have been watching this “stuff” in every corner of life since 1979. Red flags keep saying, “Something is wrong.” Recently I revisited some basic things I learned about human personality. The term “Reaction-Formation” keeps coming to mind. See if it makes sense to you.
Whenever forces attack our personality, it fights back with “defense mechanisms” that protect from insanity. One of these defenses is termed Reaction Formation—it replaces in the conscious mind our subconscious urges with a showy opposite.
A passage from an Abnormal Psychology text says:
Some people reduce their anxieties and feelings of personal conflict through the method of strengthening repression by denying the conflict. The so-called “old maid’s neurosis” (the fear of finding a man under the bed) is a thin disguise of a repressed wish. Similarly, childhood prudery is a reaction formation against growing sexual interest. The reformer and the vice crusader are also examples of reaction formation. They are reacting in many cases against their own erotic interests and inclinations. (The Disorganized Personality, George W. Kisker, PhD., 1964, McGraw-Hill, NY, pp. 150-151.)
I like the old saying, “Only God is perfect—and, quite frankly, I am uncomfortable with people who think they are gods.” In one of my early churches we hired a summer youth worker known for his enthusiasm and piety. During the first Bible Study he berated the girls for wearing halter tops. Some were emotionally to the point of tears. This fellow was engaged at the time and married in the fall. His new wife’s roommate happened to know for a fact she was pregnant when they married. The only explanation for this dedicated and righteous young man’s action is Reaction-Formation. He was not insane, but his life was terribly unhealthy and dishonest at that time.
Every day we are confronted with more psychological pressure. Why is it that “Baby Boomers” (born 1946-1966) with college degrees and supposed intelligence are so drawn to a “Reaction-Formation” unhealthy religious interpretation? Here I speak from personal knowledge as a 1946 Baby Boomer.
The difference between sanity and insanity is one of degree. All of us have crazy moments, but healthy people recover quickly. People who are emotionally immature or over-stressed often do not see it. Even worse, these sick people often seek out others who are equally sick so they do not feel like strangers. At one time you could feel confident an SBC Seminary graduate was mature enough to help sick or immature church members grow. You hoped the lay leadership in a healthy church would, by example and teaching, help others grow. This may no longer be the case. Whenever a society or church has more sick than healthy personalities, the whole group could make a sane person think he is crazy because he is not willing to agree with the crowd.
Try this theory on for size: World War II made everyone live in trauma, but “we” won. Those coming back quickly joined churches and started raising families (the golden 50’s of SBC growth). Many had found God in the foxholes. On the other hand, our churches always reflected society and the sick side was that when jobs were plentiful and money good, we joined the church, raised families, but soon forgot the spiritual God who saved us from death and began to worship the God of American material success. Ignoring racism and prejudice, every white Southern Baptist church built bigger buildings and was “SUCCESSFUL.” Children were supposed to join too because “it was the right thing to do.” Many joined at age 6-10, but never grew beyond that first commitment.
Soon the sweet post-war babies became teenagers and the popular thing was to rebel. By-and-large my contemporaries preferred to read Playboy over the Bible, substitute booze for communion grape juice, and burn flags or smoke pot during Viet Nam. Only the “dumb few” went to church each Sunday or discussed things religious. My contemporaries at Emory University were more concerned with becoming rich Doctors, Lawyers, etc. than anything else. I assume most were church members, but few showed any evidence of a personal commitment with any understanding of the cost of discipleship.
Now those “Baby Boomers” are 40-60 and suddenly everyone is “getting religion.” What kind is it we want—notice I said “want” and not “need.” How much of religion in mega-churches is entertainment rather than servanthood? How much of it is personal and unique to the individual or regimented and dictated by the new “king-pastors’ and TV preachers? How much of it is healthy and normal or so showy that many ask, “Is this real?” Yet we glorify it as “successful church growth.” Reaction-formation more often comes to my mind.
I propose that what we are calling a revival of the masses is, instead, a showy opposite of the drug-infested, flag-burning, anti-authoritarian 60’s. Herein lies the sickness: it is a public show trying to offset the emptiness of early adulthood. If it was real and filed with love and compassion, it could be great. If it is empty and faked, it is a showy opposite which only covers inner insecurity and lack of faith.
As I read the Gospels and the Psalms or Prophets, I see much good therapy and direction. The same personality problems existed, but with no fancy modern names. Conservative and pious religious persons hated Jesus. He preferred to walk with bare-footed and smelly working folk rather than dress nicely and smell incense at the Temple. He was a centered and sane reflection of worshipping God. It had nothing to do with the traditional, superficial, reaction-formation religion of his day—partly for this they killed him.
Jesus, to me, was that perfectly centered god-man rather than a perfect god pretending to be human.
Without his help and direction we are always pretending, some more and others less. The more we pretend to be something we are not, the sicker we become.
I wish that we could chart a new course for free Baptists that is not pretentious or sick, but honest, directed by faith, and full of mutual respect. I believe Jesus made a comment about the sick needing a physician. It would be good if the physician is sane and normal rather than breathing psychotic germs across those he pretends to help.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Children and Grief
“Unless you change and become like children,
you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Jesus in Matt. 18
Her name was Alyssa. I met her as the new minister of Noonday Baptist Church near Woodstock, GA She had been the poster child for Atlanta in a recent MD telethon. She was precious. She loved the BeGees. She had met them through Make a Wish Foundation. It was one of the highlights of her life.
She was about 10 when I became her minister. I met them in the hospital as Alyssa suffered a chronic lung infection which is part of the last stages of the disease. She went home in a few days. That was where I saw her home and all her memorabilia of a short life filled with important moments. Many people had gone to bat for her and her working class parents. They could not afford much, but love prevailed in that home.
Fast forward 2 years as the disease had weakened her to the critical point. She was in the hospital this time for her last hours of life on this earth. When I arrived the Physician was attending himself. He had fallen in love with this little patient along with all of us who met her. Her smile was contagious and it never left for long even in the most hurting things modern medicine can do. Nothing conquered Alyssa or put her down for long.
The Doctor had his stethoscope to her heart and was listening quietly. The parents were standing at her bedside with dread all over their faces, but tempered by faith. There was nothing for me to say except to be there standing quietly. We waited on God.
Suddenly there was a strange woman pushing the door open uninvited. She burst into the room and began her “Christian Cheerleader” routine. She began to tell the parents how they must have faith--they had plenty. It showed quietly for the last 2 years to me. She then began to speak in a loud voice to Alyssa as she lay comatose. You could hear her at least 2 doors down. “Alyssa, if you hear me nod your head!” Alyssa’s almost lifeless body did a slight convulsive motion. This set the lady on fire and she began her sermonet about being saved and going to heaven. Alyssa, and none of us, needed a last minute deathbed confession. Our spiritual roofs had been thatched a long time ago.
For about 5 minutes this lady carried on as insensitive “do gooders” do--more interested in what they are doing than helping the one in trouble. Words, no matter how spiritual, mean nothing when a beloved child is dying. My first thought was, “This lady needs to get a foot in her behind to get her the devil out of here.” Somehow God gave me a crisis word. We had another lady in the hospital with hysteria-induced ranting about her minor illness. She just had asthma. However the central circle was filled with my church folks tending to her because she was one of the families called “the click.” No one was there for Alyssa but me, her physician, nurses, and her parents.
I can’t believe the words which came out, but I quietly asked her to help my other church members pray down the hall. She quickly left--thank God. I was about to do the “money changers at the Temple” approach on this wacky “do gooder.”
As the door closed, Alyssa’s parents whispered a quiet “thank you” through tear-filled eyes. Again, our eyes focused on Alyssa and her quietly attending Doctor. In about 5 minutes tears filled his eyes and trickled down his cheek. Quietly he said, “She’s gone.”
We all did as Jesus: we wept!! Not a word was said. No words could get past the ball of grief in our throats anyway. Finally, her parents asked if I could say a prayer. I have never choked one out with any more anxiety. All I could say was, “Thank you God for this child who has brought so much joy to all of us. Thank you for the faith she had. Give us some of it today. Thank you for her caring Doctor. Thank you for the nurses who have attended her. Give us all a peace that passes understanding in these hard hours of loss. In the strong name of Jesus we pray. Amen.”
With that we hugged one another until we each had to leave. One nurse after another quietly came by as the word passed in whispered sorrow. We all cared more than words could say. No one thereafter came with any “do gooder sermonets”. They are a wasted effort in such time. People need to be loved through grief.
God gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth for a reason: listen more than you talk.
Some years ago John Drakeford wrote the insightful book, The Awesome Power of the Listening Ear. It tells of the importance of listening in times of hurt: losing a child, spouse, friend, house to foreclosure, etc. He was so right.
Dr. Richard Young taught for many years at Bowman Gray and Southeastern Seminary in my student days. He was a brilliant chaplain and mentor in the early days of clinical training with a psychological background to help with understanding. He told a story I shall never forget.
There was a male patient in Dr. Young’s student days who was the terror of the floor. He had a terminal illness and cared not how or when he focused that anger. Every Dr., nurse, or student chaplain was deathly afraid to enter his room. Dr. Young thought about it while he waited his turn to do the inevitable round with this man. He decided to try something different.
He went in the room and pulled a chair beside the door. He sat down and said NOTHING! After the required 30 minutes, he stood to leave. The patient spoke. He said, “Thanks for saying nothing and just being here. I needed that more than you can know. I am tired of the questions and “cheer up” bull from every one except you. Thanks for being here and DO come again! When I am ready to talk, I will. Until then, button it up, if you please.”
you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Jesus in Matt. 18
Her name was Alyssa. I met her as the new minister of Noonday Baptist Church near Woodstock, GA She had been the poster child for Atlanta in a recent MD telethon. She was precious. She loved the BeGees. She had met them through Make a Wish Foundation. It was one of the highlights of her life.
She was about 10 when I became her minister. I met them in the hospital as Alyssa suffered a chronic lung infection which is part of the last stages of the disease. She went home in a few days. That was where I saw her home and all her memorabilia of a short life filled with important moments. Many people had gone to bat for her and her working class parents. They could not afford much, but love prevailed in that home.
Fast forward 2 years as the disease had weakened her to the critical point. She was in the hospital this time for her last hours of life on this earth. When I arrived the Physician was attending himself. He had fallen in love with this little patient along with all of us who met her. Her smile was contagious and it never left for long even in the most hurting things modern medicine can do. Nothing conquered Alyssa or put her down for long.
The Doctor had his stethoscope to her heart and was listening quietly. The parents were standing at her bedside with dread all over their faces, but tempered by faith. There was nothing for me to say except to be there standing quietly. We waited on God.
Suddenly there was a strange woman pushing the door open uninvited. She burst into the room and began her “Christian Cheerleader” routine. She began to tell the parents how they must have faith--they had plenty. It showed quietly for the last 2 years to me. She then began to speak in a loud voice to Alyssa as she lay comatose. You could hear her at least 2 doors down. “Alyssa, if you hear me nod your head!” Alyssa’s almost lifeless body did a slight convulsive motion. This set the lady on fire and she began her sermonet about being saved and going to heaven. Alyssa, and none of us, needed a last minute deathbed confession. Our spiritual roofs had been thatched a long time ago.
For about 5 minutes this lady carried on as insensitive “do gooders” do--more interested in what they are doing than helping the one in trouble. Words, no matter how spiritual, mean nothing when a beloved child is dying. My first thought was, “This lady needs to get a foot in her behind to get her the devil out of here.” Somehow God gave me a crisis word. We had another lady in the hospital with hysteria-induced ranting about her minor illness. She just had asthma. However the central circle was filled with my church folks tending to her because she was one of the families called “the click.” No one was there for Alyssa but me, her physician, nurses, and her parents.
I can’t believe the words which came out, but I quietly asked her to help my other church members pray down the hall. She quickly left--thank God. I was about to do the “money changers at the Temple” approach on this wacky “do gooder.”
As the door closed, Alyssa’s parents whispered a quiet “thank you” through tear-filled eyes. Again, our eyes focused on Alyssa and her quietly attending Doctor. In about 5 minutes tears filled his eyes and trickled down his cheek. Quietly he said, “She’s gone.”
We all did as Jesus: we wept!! Not a word was said. No words could get past the ball of grief in our throats anyway. Finally, her parents asked if I could say a prayer. I have never choked one out with any more anxiety. All I could say was, “Thank you God for this child who has brought so much joy to all of us. Thank you for the faith she had. Give us some of it today. Thank you for her caring Doctor. Thank you for the nurses who have attended her. Give us all a peace that passes understanding in these hard hours of loss. In the strong name of Jesus we pray. Amen.”
With that we hugged one another until we each had to leave. One nurse after another quietly came by as the word passed in whispered sorrow. We all cared more than words could say. No one thereafter came with any “do gooder sermonets”. They are a wasted effort in such time. People need to be loved through grief.
God gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth for a reason: listen more than you talk.
Some years ago John Drakeford wrote the insightful book, The Awesome Power of the Listening Ear. It tells of the importance of listening in times of hurt: losing a child, spouse, friend, house to foreclosure, etc. He was so right.
Dr. Richard Young taught for many years at Bowman Gray and Southeastern Seminary in my student days. He was a brilliant chaplain and mentor in the early days of clinical training with a psychological background to help with understanding. He told a story I shall never forget.
There was a male patient in Dr. Young’s student days who was the terror of the floor. He had a terminal illness and cared not how or when he focused that anger. Every Dr., nurse, or student chaplain was deathly afraid to enter his room. Dr. Young thought about it while he waited his turn to do the inevitable round with this man. He decided to try something different.
He went in the room and pulled a chair beside the door. He sat down and said NOTHING! After the required 30 minutes, he stood to leave. The patient spoke. He said, “Thanks for saying nothing and just being here. I needed that more than you can know. I am tired of the questions and “cheer up” bull from every one except you. Thanks for being here and DO come again! When I am ready to talk, I will. Until then, button it up, if you please.”
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