On any given Saturday afternoon, while living in Germany, there was only one place I could be found - the roller skating rink. I started skating when I was about 4 and remained active at it through age 19.
It was about 1967 and as we went out for our first skate, the dj announced a new song from America and played this one. Everyone just stopped and listened. It was a weird song, there really was nothing like it we had heard before. Admittedly, most of our music to skate to was by British groups, but still this song was beyond odd. And we loved it!
I think the dj got sick of all of the requests for a replay! Yeah, it instantly went to number one, once all of us were home and calling the radio station at Kaiserslautern!
Mind you, none of us had a clue what the song was about, but the music was intriguing and for some reason made the girls all want to dance. Yeah, well, okay ... :)
And this unknown, to us in NATO-landia, group from Boise, Idaho became the new king of rock...
Roll the clock ahead by seven years and I was to get to know Mark Lindsay very well. He lived quite close to me and on Thursday nights I could hang with him and talk "old time" rock and roll. First you have to understand that what was behind "Kicks" had badly damaged him, as it had Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, so he was struggling. And I admired the man for not giving up and his daughter (?) for caring for him. Been four decades ago now and I wished I had kept a journal of our talks, he was a cool guy and through him learned too much about the music industry and the personalities involved.
Paul Revere, I was to finally meet in the 1980's at the Raider's first reunion performance. The group had lost its bass, taken over by Paul's son and of course Mark, whom was replaced by an almost photo replacement for Mark! I had to actually touch his face to see what had been done to make him look so Mark-ish! Wow! Anyway, the kid did a great job as Mark and imitating something between Mark and David Lee Roth - and did he ever JUMP! er KICK! It was quite the contrast - a Mark whom was age perfect of yesterday, surrounded by greying and wrinkled Raiders still rocking up a storm. Well, except for Paul's son whom was twenty-ish.
So, it was an awesome birthday present and I still have my 8 by 10 of Paul Revere safely stored away. And ever so often I dust off my Paul Revere Anthology and listen to their entire recording history from Boise to Lewiston, to the world stage.
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Thanksgiving
I have always been a big fan of Thanksgiving. Of course, "always" had to start when my family moved to America. Our was first Thanksgiving was in Sumter, South Carolina and the base commander had invited us to his house for a southern style feast. I remember the candied yams, cornbread stuffing and blond daughter the most. Yeah, she was shallower than the pan the stuffing rested in. It was a great meal and I learned early on to avoid blonds.
My grandmother lived most of her life in America but since both her parents were foreign, there were no family traditions surrounding this holiday. "As long as there was mashed potatoes, who needs turkey?", would have been her motto. At her table, salmon was the normal fall meal, always with mashed potatoes.
A few years ago, I did an extensive study on the entire Thanksgiving question and was rather surprised to find that nothing is carried forward from that first commemoration...
You could not have picked a worse place to land a ship - it was swampland and there was quite simply nothing there! No game, few fish in the bay and everyone was sickly - and that was just for starters. As the winter wore on, more and more began dying from starvation. The ship stores were exhausted, the three men whom had rifles would be away for days in the hunt for anything. And more died, froze to death or fell overboard and drowned.
When spring came, there were survivors, not many; two out of three were now dead. And they knew that with spring they could plant and prayed more game could be found. So, they held a celebration - a solemn occasion to thank God for having made it this far.
They feasted, not upon turkey with all the fixin's, but upon 5 kernels of buckwheat per person. Their normal daily ration was only three kernels of this grain! And they thanked God they had that much.
It takes events like this, for each of us in our lives, to remember that whatever we have in this life is from God and we need to thank Him and rejoice for that abundance - no matter how little it is in appearance.
Of course, we know that later the indians found this little group of starving people and brought them food, taught them how to farm, how to find the local plants they knew nothing of and build homes. Were it not for these indians, there never would have been the celebration of the fall harvest, with all of its bounty, Abraham Lincoln called upon America to remember and observe.
Of course, with the arrival of the second ship - our now established British religious protestors/Dutch survivors were to be overcome by racism, bigotry, superstition and take out these new policies on these same indians whom had saved the first group's lives. The rest is just history - betrayals, murders, without end, on both sides.
So having learned this, I have across the almost 20 years of having children, started each Thanksgiving meal with five buckwheat kernels on each plate. To teach my children the difference between thankfulness and bounty. To remember a time when faith and thankfulness had real meaning. And, to share with new friends whom would dine with us the story of long ago.
Each year the first purchase of the holiday season is a new bag of buckwheat grouts. Yeah a pound of buckwheat is quite a few kernels. Conversely, I actually like making buckwheat cereal for breakfast once or twice a year....
So, as we descend into the madness of this holiday - take a moment and pause to reflect upon how this tradition really started and what it really represented. And maybe pick up some kernels at the local health store to share around the table tomorrow.
My grandmother lived most of her life in America but since both her parents were foreign, there were no family traditions surrounding this holiday. "As long as there was mashed potatoes, who needs turkey?", would have been her motto. At her table, salmon was the normal fall meal, always with mashed potatoes.
A few years ago, I did an extensive study on the entire Thanksgiving question and was rather surprised to find that nothing is carried forward from that first commemoration...
You could not have picked a worse place to land a ship - it was swampland and there was quite simply nothing there! No game, few fish in the bay and everyone was sickly - and that was just for starters. As the winter wore on, more and more began dying from starvation. The ship stores were exhausted, the three men whom had rifles would be away for days in the hunt for anything. And more died, froze to death or fell overboard and drowned.
When spring came, there were survivors, not many; two out of three were now dead. And they knew that with spring they could plant and prayed more game could be found. So, they held a celebration - a solemn occasion to thank God for having made it this far.
They feasted, not upon turkey with all the fixin's, but upon 5 kernels of buckwheat per person. Their normal daily ration was only three kernels of this grain! And they thanked God they had that much.
It takes events like this, for each of us in our lives, to remember that whatever we have in this life is from God and we need to thank Him and rejoice for that abundance - no matter how little it is in appearance.
Of course, we know that later the indians found this little group of starving people and brought them food, taught them how to farm, how to find the local plants they knew nothing of and build homes. Were it not for these indians, there never would have been the celebration of the fall harvest, with all of its bounty, Abraham Lincoln called upon America to remember and observe.
Of course, with the arrival of the second ship - our now established British religious protestors/Dutch survivors were to be overcome by racism, bigotry, superstition and take out these new policies on these same indians whom had saved the first group's lives. The rest is just history - betrayals, murders, without end, on both sides.
So having learned this, I have across the almost 20 years of having children, started each Thanksgiving meal with five buckwheat kernels on each plate. To teach my children the difference between thankfulness and bounty. To remember a time when faith and thankfulness had real meaning. And, to share with new friends whom would dine with us the story of long ago.
Each year the first purchase of the holiday season is a new bag of buckwheat grouts. Yeah a pound of buckwheat is quite a few kernels. Conversely, I actually like making buckwheat cereal for breakfast once or twice a year....
So, as we descend into the madness of this holiday - take a moment and pause to reflect upon how this tradition really started and what it really represented. And maybe pick up some kernels at the local health store to share around the table tomorrow.
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
The Worst Poser Ever
I went to the local gun show over the weekend to see about selling off some more of my Euro collectables. I never could have foreseen whom would be in my table island group - a piece of pseudo military trash. I really hate posers - they take away from those whom actually do risk their lives - wanting their sympathy and the praise due them.
He is obnoxious, he is loud, he tells the same graphically rude tales over and over and over and over ... without end. He claims to be a Gulf War vet, tosses around Gulf War trivia without end - unfortunately one of my extremely good friends was there for two tours. So, I know the tales from a tank commander's perspective and as a member of the General Staff. I know his friends, I know their tales - and - this man's tales are salacious, unlike any vet I have ever known out of an institution. Interesting.
Knife Maker, once a youth and now a man, I have known well for the last few years and his upcoming bride for the past year. Both were there with me. They wanted to silence him permanently. Dutchman was there - he had to leave because he wanted to crush the guy's windpipe, quietly, quickly, efficiently. Dutchman was idled years ago in a sword fight - right hand and right knee, he can not grip nor run any longer. And as I sat and watched, his right thumb was straining, fighting to cock with his hand into a very dangerous gesture. I chased him out to go shopping - burgers, ammo, whatever I needed, anything to separate him from the poser.
So, just as I did with my father, I started analyzing the stories, the comments and cross checking him with what I know from those on the ground. And it got interesting.
Yeah, he probably was military during the Gulf War, only problem he was more than likely in Okinawa. He was on an aircraft carrier. He was at best a Seaman, a pinon. Powerless, faceless, valueless. And he wanted recognition. He learned the stories and the salacious facts that thrilled him - stuff that no one there would have said to the innocent and then laughed.
Towards the end of the show, he was talking with some women, "You know what fire control is under combat conditions?" and laughed his idiot laugh.
In a voice only he would hear I said, "Yeah, two shots placed as close as possible, as rapidly as possible."
His laugh froze and I called upon all of my resources to draw upon that hidden real personality and he looked into the deadest eyes I am sure he has never seen. Without exaggerating, he almost peed his pants and he ran for the bathroom! Knife Maker's fiancee looked at me and started to say something and then checked herself and whispered, "Thank you."
He is obnoxious, he is loud, he tells the same graphically rude tales over and over and over and over ... without end. He claims to be a Gulf War vet, tosses around Gulf War trivia without end - unfortunately one of my extremely good friends was there for two tours. So, I know the tales from a tank commander's perspective and as a member of the General Staff. I know his friends, I know their tales - and - this man's tales are salacious, unlike any vet I have ever known out of an institution. Interesting.
Knife Maker, once a youth and now a man, I have known well for the last few years and his upcoming bride for the past year. Both were there with me. They wanted to silence him permanently. Dutchman was there - he had to leave because he wanted to crush the guy's windpipe, quietly, quickly, efficiently. Dutchman was idled years ago in a sword fight - right hand and right knee, he can not grip nor run any longer. And as I sat and watched, his right thumb was straining, fighting to cock with his hand into a very dangerous gesture. I chased him out to go shopping - burgers, ammo, whatever I needed, anything to separate him from the poser.
So, just as I did with my father, I started analyzing the stories, the comments and cross checking him with what I know from those on the ground. And it got interesting.
Yeah, he probably was military during the Gulf War, only problem he was more than likely in Okinawa. He was on an aircraft carrier. He was at best a Seaman, a pinon. Powerless, faceless, valueless. And he wanted recognition. He learned the stories and the salacious facts that thrilled him - stuff that no one there would have said to the innocent and then laughed.
Towards the end of the show, he was talking with some women, "You know what fire control is under combat conditions?" and laughed his idiot laugh.
In a voice only he would hear I said, "Yeah, two shots placed as close as possible, as rapidly as possible."
His laugh froze and I called upon all of my resources to draw upon that hidden real personality and he looked into the deadest eyes I am sure he has never seen. Without exaggerating, he almost peed his pants and he ran for the bathroom! Knife Maker's fiancee looked at me and started to say something and then checked herself and whispered, "Thank you."
Monday, November 25, 2013
Thor: The Dark World
Short: Hysterical movie I laughed for hours over some of the sequences - yes they were meant to be funny, quite a bit of sci-fi violence, with added elements of dark humor I seemed to be the only one to catch in the theater. Good flick.
Long: A better movie than the first one and I thought that one was pretty good, however everyone was relaxed this time and had fun with the genre and movie direction. When you hit the funny part, well it is darn hard to forget that comedy which is why I am still laughing.
Loki comes into his own and does a great job, in many ways actually the best part of the film. Thor is type cast to saying "No" a great deal or grunting - and just how tiny is our damsel in distress? It is reminiscent of John Wayne having to walk in a trench or the damsel on a boardwalk so they could have both their faces in the same frame! Over all Loki was by far the best.
Plot is typical, everybody wants to rule the world, to quote Jung. No surprise there, utter failure is no surprise either. However should you stay through the credits - your brain will be tweaked when you realize that all is as it seems that you just watched! Some future movie has a great deal to explain to make up for the mind games stuffed in the credits!
So I did it! Not a single spoiler's alert!
Yeah, I will probably end of owning it, it is quirky enough to watch a few times over ...
Long: A better movie than the first one and I thought that one was pretty good, however everyone was relaxed this time and had fun with the genre and movie direction. When you hit the funny part, well it is darn hard to forget that comedy which is why I am still laughing.
Loki comes into his own and does a great job, in many ways actually the best part of the film. Thor is type cast to saying "No" a great deal or grunting - and just how tiny is our damsel in distress? It is reminiscent of John Wayne having to walk in a trench or the damsel on a boardwalk so they could have both their faces in the same frame! Over all Loki was by far the best.
Plot is typical, everybody wants to rule the world, to quote Jung. No surprise there, utter failure is no surprise either. However should you stay through the credits - your brain will be tweaked when you realize that all is as it seems that you just watched! Some future movie has a great deal to explain to make up for the mind games stuffed in the credits!
So I did it! Not a single spoiler's alert!
Yeah, I will probably end of owning it, it is quirky enough to watch a few times over ...
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Musical Saturday Morning
One of my friends sent me this video and I was enthralled. I had not heard the piece in decades and how it was done was almost magical. Not bad for a an almost 200 year old tune!
It was in seventh grade when I was subjected to Music Theory and History, a class I almost failed for I lack any sense of rhythm or ability to translate scratches on a musical bar sheet into finger positions - AT ALL! I was a first in Germany! The teacher had a nervous breakdown as he could not conceive of someone with No ability in music! However, because of my art abilities I was used for coping all of the sheet music for the class - yeah, pre-xerox machine days. So, I passed the class because I drew the most perfect treble cleft he had ever seen. Yeah, Mr. Eliot, you are still remembered with great stress and fear!
I liked the music, in fact I felt it was probably the greatest piece I have ever heard. And we are talking music, not the words.
Written between 1822 and 1824, based upon earlier works he had done, Ludwig Von Beethoven, plagiarized himself in creating the conclusion of his 9th Symphony. Its first performance was in a beer hall because the local church would not allow what it considered secular music to be practiced in the local cathedral. The response was overwhelming and the Viennese Opera was petitioned for the rights to rehearse there and for performance. The crowds went crazy!
This piece of music was then given the words from Friedrich Schiller's, Ode To Freedom. Yeah, what we know as the Ode To Joy of Man's Desire was really about Freedom - and that was the only word change (one word in German, a bunch in English!) when it went into the music. Schiller was terrified of his writings becoming a political rallying cry and so stripped the idea of freedom from the Ode.
And, Schiller hated the result.
It truly is one of Beethoven's master works. Sit back and enjoy the most novel approach used with this tune, I have ever seen ...
And Mr. Eliot, if you are still alive, are you amazed at how much I have remembered almost 45 years after your class?
It was in seventh grade when I was subjected to Music Theory and History, a class I almost failed for I lack any sense of rhythm or ability to translate scratches on a musical bar sheet into finger positions - AT ALL! I was a first in Germany! The teacher had a nervous breakdown as he could not conceive of someone with No ability in music! However, because of my art abilities I was used for coping all of the sheet music for the class - yeah, pre-xerox machine days. So, I passed the class because I drew the most perfect treble cleft he had ever seen. Yeah, Mr. Eliot, you are still remembered with great stress and fear!
I liked the music, in fact I felt it was probably the greatest piece I have ever heard. And we are talking music, not the words.
Written between 1822 and 1824, based upon earlier works he had done, Ludwig Von Beethoven, plagiarized himself in creating the conclusion of his 9th Symphony. Its first performance was in a beer hall because the local church would not allow what it considered secular music to be practiced in the local cathedral. The response was overwhelming and the Viennese Opera was petitioned for the rights to rehearse there and for performance. The crowds went crazy!
This piece of music was then given the words from Friedrich Schiller's, Ode To Freedom. Yeah, what we know as the Ode To Joy of Man's Desire was really about Freedom - and that was the only word change (one word in German, a bunch in English!) when it went into the music. Schiller was terrified of his writings becoming a political rallying cry and so stripped the idea of freedom from the Ode.
And, Schiller hated the result.
It truly is one of Beethoven's master works. Sit back and enjoy the most novel approach used with this tune, I have ever seen ...
And Mr. Eliot, if you are still alive, are you amazed at how much I have remembered almost 45 years after your class?
Friday, November 22, 2013
What The Heck?
What the heck is going on here?
As you might remember, several weeks ago I was treated to inquisition involving a long time friend of mine and his misbehaviors with the females of that church. It took me a few weeks to get past the idea that I would willing execute him for what he has done. Today, Thursday, guess what I got treated to - another inquisition!
This time, the guy was the youth pastor of my old church, at least up until three years ago, and his behaviors apparently spanned numerous churches and about 20 years!
Yeah, no one bothered to check any of his references before he was hired - he had been fired from every church he had worked for - for the same problem - inability to control himself around teenage girls! Good Lord! What has become of the church when it is too hard to check references?!?!?!?!? And too hard to let the truth be known, much less charges filed against him! Yeah, he appears to be getting away with his latest disaster as well. Grrrrrrrrrr!
I am just sickened that we can place no trust that a job search committee will return qualified candidates, we can not trust the testimony of the answers given in interviews, no one is checking references when hiring those whom will be responsible for the care of the children and the church through more destroyed lives - looses even more the right to bear Jesus' name!
We do not need a revival in this sick Western theology poisoned church - we need a full blown REVOLUTION!
Out with the seminars creating these disasters!
Out with Elderships unable to make God-ly decisions!
Out with Pastors whom can not stand up for God!
Out with Youth Workers dedicated to satisfying their carnal natures!
Out with those whom destroy others through gossip!
The whole lot of you suck!
Get out of my church!
And yeah, that is exactly how I feel on this whole subject! There is no room in God's Kingdom for these losers - and oh by the way - Jesus flat out said this at least four times I can think of! It is the doctrine of demons which allow this culture to even exist in the Church, drive men to their baser natures, destroy the lives of the innocent and reduce Jesus' life and sacrifice to a nice story but of no real relevance!
Sorry, you will get what you deserve you sham of a church! Your ministry is over. God has left you. Why do you even keep the lights on?
Now how to cause real change ... ? Another denomination? Or can a church be sued for claiming to be Christian when they no longer represent anything Christian?
I really feel pity for the likes of Hutt, Zwingli, Huss and Luther - fairly straight on men whom began a movement to bring people to God and it has grown into a forum for pedophilia ...
Where are our Christian leadership? And if their absence is indicative of something, I worry for the immediate future of Christianity.
As you might remember, several weeks ago I was treated to inquisition involving a long time friend of mine and his misbehaviors with the females of that church. It took me a few weeks to get past the idea that I would willing execute him for what he has done. Today, Thursday, guess what I got treated to - another inquisition!
This time, the guy was the youth pastor of my old church, at least up until three years ago, and his behaviors apparently spanned numerous churches and about 20 years!
Yeah, no one bothered to check any of his references before he was hired - he had been fired from every church he had worked for - for the same problem - inability to control himself around teenage girls! Good Lord! What has become of the church when it is too hard to check references?!?!?!?!? And too hard to let the truth be known, much less charges filed against him! Yeah, he appears to be getting away with his latest disaster as well. Grrrrrrrrrr!
I am just sickened that we can place no trust that a job search committee will return qualified candidates, we can not trust the testimony of the answers given in interviews, no one is checking references when hiring those whom will be responsible for the care of the children and the church through more destroyed lives - looses even more the right to bear Jesus' name!
We do not need a revival in this sick Western theology poisoned church - we need a full blown REVOLUTION!
Out with the seminars creating these disasters!
Out with Elderships unable to make God-ly decisions!
Out with Pastors whom can not stand up for God!
Out with Youth Workers dedicated to satisfying their carnal natures!
Out with those whom destroy others through gossip!
The whole lot of you suck!
Get out of my church!
And yeah, that is exactly how I feel on this whole subject! There is no room in God's Kingdom for these losers - and oh by the way - Jesus flat out said this at least four times I can think of! It is the doctrine of demons which allow this culture to even exist in the Church, drive men to their baser natures, destroy the lives of the innocent and reduce Jesus' life and sacrifice to a nice story but of no real relevance!
Sorry, you will get what you deserve you sham of a church! Your ministry is over. God has left you. Why do you even keep the lights on?
Now how to cause real change ... ? Another denomination? Or can a church be sued for claiming to be Christian when they no longer represent anything Christian?
I really feel pity for the likes of Hutt, Zwingli, Huss and Luther - fairly straight on men whom began a movement to bring people to God and it has grown into a forum for pedophilia ...
Where are our Christian leadership? And if their absence is indicative of something, I worry for the immediate future of Christianity.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Almost Human
Youngest daughter wanted to watch the premier episode of a new science fiction TV show, Almost Human, and I thought, what the heck and watched it with her.
I liked Sunday's episode. No idea where the series is going to go, but since it is TV is it only a matter of time before it turns into a soap opera...
Monday -
So, it was a two part premier, the second one being tonight. It had about 10 minutes of story sort of like Bones or NCIS in content and the rest was just an excuse to have a lingerie fashion show, while discussing the sex trade of the future.
Really? That is the best their writers could come up with? Surely they had months if not a year to work through the premier episodes and "they" went with a bunch of model wanna-be's in underwear?
Really?
Given that start off, I predict this show will be wildly successful, winning all kinds of awards.
And one more reason Kris does not watch much more than the weather forecasts.
Sigh.
I liked Sunday's episode. No idea where the series is going to go, but since it is TV is it only a matter of time before it turns into a soap opera...
Monday -
So, it was a two part premier, the second one being tonight. It had about 10 minutes of story sort of like Bones or NCIS in content and the rest was just an excuse to have a lingerie fashion show, while discussing the sex trade of the future.
Really? That is the best their writers could come up with? Surely they had months if not a year to work through the premier episodes and "they" went with a bunch of model wanna-be's in underwear?
Really?
Given that start off, I predict this show will be wildly successful, winning all kinds of awards.
And one more reason Kris does not watch much more than the weather forecasts.
Sigh.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Sigh
A great many things make me sad.
Seeing the decline in the health and mental acuity of elderly friends. To know that loss is near and it is just the unnatural way of things in this age in which we live.
Seeing friends chasing dreams and ignoring the reality of the moment.
Watching the contortions my current church is going through and the cluelessness of those involved to understand there is a problem, they might be a part of.
Knowing far too much and being completely unable to do anything about any of it. What value is knowledge if you are powerless? You are forced to just be a viewer and that is painful. Conversely, Jeremiah did not do very well in that regard either ...
Knowing a long time friend is a pedophile is a pretty hard one to swallow - he knows exactly how I feel about the subject and even pretended to agree me across the decades. I will have to make sure our paths never cross ever again...
Knowing that in spite of my desire, this week is going to go horrible for me. I hate knowing I will make others unhappy, especially when my desire is to enjoy some relaxation. But, it will not happen. Satan has a unique way of robbing joy from me every time the opportunity arise to do so.
And so I sigh. Enough of my old nature survives that I can separate some of the pain away from me. Unfortunately, enough of my new nature exists to make sure I am in pain.
I have come to the conclusion that either people no longer listen to what is said, only what they want to hear - or Kris has lost his ability to communicate. No one seems to understand what I say, my words are stripped bare of intention and having done so, used out of context.
Sigh
Seeing the decline in the health and mental acuity of elderly friends. To know that loss is near and it is just the unnatural way of things in this age in which we live.
Seeing friends chasing dreams and ignoring the reality of the moment.
Watching the contortions my current church is going through and the cluelessness of those involved to understand there is a problem, they might be a part of.
Knowing far too much and being completely unable to do anything about any of it. What value is knowledge if you are powerless? You are forced to just be a viewer and that is painful. Conversely, Jeremiah did not do very well in that regard either ...
Knowing a long time friend is a pedophile is a pretty hard one to swallow - he knows exactly how I feel about the subject and even pretended to agree me across the decades. I will have to make sure our paths never cross ever again...
Knowing that in spite of my desire, this week is going to go horrible for me. I hate knowing I will make others unhappy, especially when my desire is to enjoy some relaxation. But, it will not happen. Satan has a unique way of robbing joy from me every time the opportunity arise to do so.
And so I sigh. Enough of my old nature survives that I can separate some of the pain away from me. Unfortunately, enough of my new nature exists to make sure I am in pain.
I have come to the conclusion that either people no longer listen to what is said, only what they want to hear - or Kris has lost his ability to communicate. No one seems to understand what I say, my words are stripped bare of intention and having done so, used out of context.
Sigh
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Response to: A call for massive ‘Reformation’ – before it is too late.
I have no knowledge whom Andrew Strom is and it really does not matter one way or another, someone needs to reply to his list of problems within the Church, however, he shows he is a part of the problem as well - a product of the Western (American) Church and its apostate theology ... So, italicized are his words, non-italicized are mine:
It
is a sad fact that today’s church is deceiving itself in some very
crucial areas. Below are some plain facts (-absolutely true) that may
shock a few people:
1.
“Ask Jesus into our heart” is not in the Bible. Neither is “Give your
heart to the Lord”, or repeating a “sinner’s prayer”. These practices do
not exist in Scripture at all. The subject of salvation is the most
important subject in the Bible and we are being lied to about it. These
doctrines are a total fabrication. They were invented to make salvation
“quick and convenient”. Many church members today who are relying on
these things are clearly not ‘saved’ at all. (It is true, however, what has become institutionalized is the "prayer of faith"/"confession"/whatever your group calls it. There are no magic words in Christianity, but there is the requirement for the acknowledgement of your own unworthiness before God and the need/recognition of Jesus' payment made on your behalf. This is the most common error I run into in America, that you are "saved" by "the prayer" rather than by a changed heart and life!)
2. Church buildings do not exist in the Bible. They were invented around 200-300 AD, when the church was in serious decline. Only a backslidden church could fall so far away from the simplicity of the early church. Church buildings are anti-New Testament, and bring with them a host of problems and traditions. It was basically when the church fell into the hands of Rome that this concept of the “cathedral” really took over. And we are still spending millions on these monuments today.
(Not entirely true, here Strom forgets the writings of the Apostle John's disciples whom carried him from place to place, church to church, throughout Galatia. Paul wrote concerning the running of the church of both Ephesus and Corinth. There may have been some home churches but in Ephesus we have the building itself John and Timothy shepherded! The remains of the church Lazarus shepherded on Crete and the second century Basilica of Mary, the largest church ever constructed until the Romans took everything over. I imagine if I reread my archaeology works for a few hours I could find other first or second century churches we have found through digging. )
3. The “one pastor runs everything” model is totally unscriptural. Far from running everything, in the book of Acts we find the word “pastor” NOT EVEN USED ONCE. (-The early church did have strong leaders and elders. But it was never a “one man band” like we see today. And never was it so “controlling” either).
(Again, we have to remember James owned the Jerusalem church, Paul claimed primo rights to all the churches he established, Timothy was told to take the reins of Ephesus, John owned the Galatian churches at the end of the first century. Call that position what you will, but it did exist, as did the concept of Bishop. )
4. “Tithing” is not a New Testament practice at all. And it is being shamefully abused by today’s preachers. In the New Testament we are told to give cheerfully – whatever we purpose in our hearts to give. Telling people that they MUST give 10% to the church or they are “robbing God” is totally sick – and a money-grubbing way of twisting Scripture. There is no evidence that the apostles EVER preached ‘tithing’ to New Testament believers. It was clearly regarded as an Old Testament practice.
(And now we run smack into the misnomer that somehow Old Testament is Jewish and New Testament is Christian! Nothing could be any further from the truth! Both are Jewish - however, the positional opportunity was extended to the gentile believers to come into salvation through Jesus (just the same as the Jew!). There is no such thing as a "tithe" to the church any longer, however, ALL you have is expected of you by God! It is the Western (American) money grubbing belief system by which God requires nothing or little of you! If you can not give ALL you have to God, then you need to rethink your theology! Modern money grubbing apologists such as the radio "Christian" financial advisers are more interested in not trusting God than living a Scriptural life. By the way, the Jewish tithe was 33% when you include all of the fees and charges for and by the Synagog. Sorry Dave, God wants everything you have, He will curse you with what you do not willingly give ... )
5. The words “prosper” or ‘prosperity’ were NEVER used by Jesus at all – and only exist a couple of times in the entire New Testament. Yet greedy preachers have built whole kingdoms upon them. The words – “sell what you have and give to the poor” and “deceitfulness of riches” and “you cannot serve God and mammon” and “woe to you that are rich” were DEFINITELY used by Jesus and the apostles. But we don’t hear these things preached too much, do we?
(Here I agree with Strom, the entire concept of the prosperity paganism, has nothing to do with Christianity - it is a lie as old as gnosticism and almost eclipsed The Way, the original name of Christianity. Equally God is quite expressive concerning debt and getting out of it - period. And so I now wonder what his point was above about giving, unless it is just that he does not want to give to support the local church? But, even in the first century the concept of giving to the "store house" was well known.)
6. There were no Bible Colleges, Seminaries or degrees in the New Testament. The only people who seemed to have “Bible Schools” were the Scribes and Pharisees! The apostles were simple fishermen and tax collectors. It is likely that a number of them could not even read or write. What was their “qualification” for being in the ministry? Simply that they had SPENT A LOT OF TIME WITH JESUS. The fact that people expect a “professional clergy” today with degrees from Bible College has helped to make the church sicker and more unscriptural than ever. Simple humble people with a calling from God often cannot get to minister because they do not have a “piece of paper” to make them ‘qualified’. -Yet another disaster for the church.
(Partially wrong. First off, Jews were amongst the best educated cultures on earth in the first century! Both boys and girls were taught reading and writing, in the synagog. We know this from the Synagog of Gamla. Jesus taught the Apostles as well as the 120 disciples whom were with him. These went on to found their own itinerant schools to teach about Jesus. We have ample proof of this through the writings of the early church fathers. No there were no degrees, there was only the proof of your work and for some accolades by those whom were known and respected. It is a remnant of Catholicism that you have to go to school, get a degree, to share the secret knowledge, controlled by the Catholic Church. Nothing angers me more than someone educated above their abilities, pulling rank with their degrees, when they are dead wrong... And yes, I have 12 years and refused my degree - I believe in what Paul wrote - if I can not walk the talk, don't listen.)
7. There is almost no evidence whatsoever that the early church had their “main meeting” on a Sunday. They gathered together ‘from house to house’ virtually every day! There were no church buildings. They did not dress up and “go to church”. There were no denominations. There were no separate groups with different ‘labels’. They lived their lives together – all the Christians in the local area. Love and fellowship and ‘koinonia’ were as natural to them as breathing. And the apostles in Jerusalem preached every day at huge open-air gatherings. -Not “hidden away” inside four walls. This was truly a “street church” in every way.
(Here a knowledge of Biblical times comes in handy. We have already covered the concept of church. People of "The Way", had the ability to meet anytime they wanted except on Saturday because the Jews used the Synagogs then, and the early Christian leaders taught in the Synagogs. Later this was to change and the now labelled "Christian" sect were thrown out of Judaism. Some bought their old Synagogs, adding Christian symbolism as early as 70 ad. In Greece, Galatia and Rome, yes, they started in the streets, the forums and meeting halls - as well as, homes.)
8. The idea that you can replace the moving of the Holy Spirit with programs, programs and more programs just shows how low we have sunk. Man-made programs are everywhere today. The early church had much more of God and much less of ‘man’.
(Okay, Amen! Our churches are sick, driven by programs, abandoned by God - long ago. The Holy Spirit's ministry have been replaced by pragmatic business managers, power is political - not God given and the church has reaped the whirlwind for this lack of faith and false testimony.)
9. We preach a ‘humanistic’ Jesus today. -A Jesus who exists mainly for our own “happiness”. A Santa Claus who wants to rain down continual blessings upon us. A God of grace and mercy without judgement, righteousness or truth. Our gross misrepresentation of who Jesus really is, is one of the most serious offenses of the modern church. Today’s church seems to worship a “plastic” Jesus – one that she has made in her own image. What an offense to God.
(Yup again, but let me drive home the point, in case I am misunderstanding his viewpoint here. Assuming you are a Christian: when you look to see God, you are going to see Jesus. When God looks like you, it not you and your sin he gazes upon - it is Jesus He sees. You can not see God in any perspective and you are covered by Jesus blood, dripping with it, hence why God sees His son. God is a fearful and angry God, if you are not His - that means He will abandon you to torment and destruction under Satan's care if you really want to live in his world. Conversely, you want to be covered by Jesus' blood and live in that world as well - welcome to utter destruction as you are lulled to sleep by Satans' many blessings to keep you from seeing or hearing Jesus.)
A lot of preachers are well aware that there is something very wrong with the church today. They know there is little ‘fear of the Lord’. They know there is no deep repentance or deep moving of the Holy Spirit. They know that it is just the same old “game” being played every week. A lot of them are very aware of this. But they will not do anything about it. They will not rock the boat. And they will “squash” anyone who comes along trying to do something. They do not want a real “shaking”. There is too much to lose. They have their careers and their little ‘kingdoms’ at stake. This is the real truth of the matter. This is where the rubber truly meets the road.
(Remember that fear of the Lord is the BEGINNING of wisdom, not the completion of it! And yes, the modern church has been compromised by the lure of financial wealth and steady incomes. When we put money before God, we lose, not God.)
That is why God is about to bring “Great Reformation”. He will not put up with these ‘hirelings’ any longer. He will not have them as leaders over His people. A lot of them are about to “lose their heads”. They will never lead God’s people again.
This is what true ‘Reformation’ is all about. It is the process of replacing the old leadership and the old lies. -It is David taking over from ‘Saul’.
There is a ‘New Wineskin’ coming. In fact it is upon us. There is a new leadership arising – many of them trained in the ‘wilderness’ for such a time as this. The hour is now here. LET THE NEW LEADERS ARISE! The sad fact is that today’s church has sunk so low that it is almost a matter of people needing to be RESCUED OUT OF HER. I never thought I would say something as radical as that, but it is the truth.
(Nope, God is not going to bring us a reformation as long as we lack men with humble hearts, men intent upon their agendas rather than laying down a foundation of truth from God. We are surrounded by a hurting world filled with people betrayed by those they should have respected, a church whom could not and would not respond. If you want to lay it all out there - the MEN of this generation have walked away from God given roles and responsibilities and until WE reclaim that - we never will have anything other than the chaos we deserve... And yes, I dearly pray for revival, but it will only be when God moves that it will occur.)
Much of the church is living a lie. Many inside her are told continuously that they are “OK” – that they are saved and headed for heaven. Nothing could be further from the truth. Multitudes of them are headed directly for hell. The systemized LYING that is going on has deceived the leaders and the people alike. It is the blind leading the blind. We need to contend for these people – desperately. Much of the church is “lost”. They are mired in deception – an entire system of deception.
Kindest regards in Christ,
Andrew Strom
(Personal Theology is important, the contents of your theology is important, it must be based upon the Bible and not man's opinions. You must live it! Men you are judged and God calls you account both now and in eternity. So, whatcha gona do?
Same old Same is not going to work this time, unless Hell is actually your desired destination..... )
Monday, November 18, 2013
Another Church Failure
Something is fundamentally wrong in ourselves, in our churches, in our culture, in the society within which we operate. I have sat on this post for two weeks now because I have not known what to say, how to say it or even if it needed to be said. And I am still not sure I really have answers to any of those problems yet. And, there is no way to address this with any eloquence.
I had expected to have a quiet lunch with an old friend - I had not planned on getting involved in an inquistion concerning a mutual friend.
The object of the inquisition had charges brought against them by concerned parents in my old church. The church did not agree with the concerns and as the first complainer was one of the under pastors, he resigned and left the church. It was his daughter, he would not support a church which could not recognize sin.
It took little for me to run down the tales, using discernment - you can not hide, you can not lie. And I was sickened. My heart is broken, my spirit crushed for my friend is beyond guilty...
The first was a ten year old girl, then a twelve year old girl, a fifteen year old gir and the final known one a sixteen year old girl!
I suspect at least two other girls in the church were damaged by him and I learned by accident of one marriage he has destroyed.
Only two of the girls feel drawn to the church, but can no longer trust a God whom would not protect them; nor a church which would not take action.
I am ill, my avowed belief is that such men should be quietly executed and removed from the gene pool. It makes me ill to think of my friend as being worthy of execution - and knowing that I would willingly be the one to take action.
Pastors and Elders unwilling to move on accusations, churches where sin is allowed to fester and lives destroyed, cultures so warped that innocence becomes sin, sin is expected, sin is ignored and the church is sidelined - when it should be on the front lines of the battle.
A list of losers, a list of those whom now need major prayer and reached out to.
I am just sick!
I had expected to have a quiet lunch with an old friend - I had not planned on getting involved in an inquistion concerning a mutual friend.
The object of the inquisition had charges brought against them by concerned parents in my old church. The church did not agree with the concerns and as the first complainer was one of the under pastors, he resigned and left the church. It was his daughter, he would not support a church which could not recognize sin.
It took little for me to run down the tales, using discernment - you can not hide, you can not lie. And I was sickened. My heart is broken, my spirit crushed for my friend is beyond guilty...
The first was a ten year old girl, then a twelve year old girl, a fifteen year old gir and the final known one a sixteen year old girl!
I suspect at least two other girls in the church were damaged by him and I learned by accident of one marriage he has destroyed.
Only two of the girls feel drawn to the church, but can no longer trust a God whom would not protect them; nor a church which would not take action.
I am ill, my avowed belief is that such men should be quietly executed and removed from the gene pool. It makes me ill to think of my friend as being worthy of execution - and knowing that I would willingly be the one to take action.
Pastors and Elders unwilling to move on accusations, churches where sin is allowed to fester and lives destroyed, cultures so warped that innocence becomes sin, sin is expected, sin is ignored and the church is sidelined - when it should be on the front lines of the battle.
A list of losers, a list of those whom now need major prayer and reached out to.
I am just sick!
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Muscial Saturday Morning
Sometimes I am offered a question that almost seems insurmountable to answer; to you probably no problem at all. In this case, it was: what is my favorite musical group. Gees - how easy, for you! Almost a year later, I finally have the answer. No, I will not tell you what jolted my memory!
But, Kris' favorite band from 1964 on was the Dave Clark 5, then since 1970 - Bread. Yeah, real hard core, huh?
I liked their songs, but they meant nothing to me, and something about them haunted me. And this song, so completely different than what they were known for, one of my favorites:
Because you can have no personal freedom when you are forced to live in a world you were never created to be a part of...
But, Kris' favorite band from 1964 on was the Dave Clark 5, then since 1970 - Bread. Yeah, real hard core, huh?
I liked their songs, but they meant nothing to me, and something about them haunted me. And this song, so completely different than what they were known for, one of my favorites:
Because you can have no personal freedom when you are forced to live in a world you were never created to be a part of...
Friday, November 15, 2013
Humor Attempt
Do you ever pull and stunt and then just watch it wither on the vine? I tell ya, it is amazing how the best ideas just are not shared by others.
So, I go to a local hardware store and there is a DeLorean parked by the building. So, I go check it out then walk into the store.
By the door is a friendly greeter, since I am not from the local high school. I stop and asked her what year it was. She eyed me suspiciously and slowly said, "2013"
I shouted, "Yes! It worked!"
And then ran out to the DeLorean.
No one thought that was funny. Amazing.
Sigh...
Swedish Rocket Scientist came in two hours late from London yesterday and I had a delightful time beng regaled with tales of his trip and frustrating him no end demanding he remember his meals! LOL!
I had a great yesterday, just no one else found my day as funny as I did ...
Go figure.
So, I go to a local hardware store and there is a DeLorean parked by the building. So, I go check it out then walk into the store.
By the door is a friendly greeter, since I am not from the local high school. I stop and asked her what year it was. She eyed me suspiciously and slowly said, "2013"
I shouted, "Yes! It worked!"
And then ran out to the DeLorean.
No one thought that was funny. Amazing.
Sigh...
Swedish Rocket Scientist came in two hours late from London yesterday and I had a delightful time beng regaled with tales of his trip and frustrating him no end demanding he remember his meals! LOL!
I had a great yesterday, just no one else found my day as funny as I did ...
Go figure.
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Where Is God?
“Night, is a book by Elie Wiesel about his experience in the German
concentration camps. “One day,” writes Wiesel, “as we returned from
work, we saw three gallows… The SS [guards] seemed more preoccupied,
more worried, than usual. To hang a child in front of thousands of
onlookers was not a small matter. The head of the camp read the verdict.
All eyes were on the child. He was pale, almost calm, but he was biting
his lips as he stood in the shadow of the gallows… ‘Where is merciful
God, where is He?’ someone behind me was asking. At the signal, the
three chairs were tipped over… Then came the march past the victims. The
two men were no longer alive… The child, too light, was still
breathing… And so he remained for more than half an hour, lingering
between life and death… Behind me, I heard the same man asking: ‘For
God’s sake, where is God?’ And from within me, I heard a voice answer;
‘Where is He? This is where – hanging here from this gallows…'
Where is God when a child is shot in Newtown or hung in Auschwitz or killed in an American drone air strike or for that matter dies of cancer? I don’t know. There is no answer.
Talk of God giving humans free will and thus allowing us to face the consequences of our choices solves nothing. If the creator could intervene personally when it came to the magic tricks in the Bible like making the sun stand still for a day in a battle, he could have done something about that child gasping out his young life. He didn’t. Theology that tries to paper this horrible fact over with explanations about why there is evil is nothing but nervous blather.
But I take comfort in the fact that sometimes a person of immense courage follows Christ to a cross. Such acts point to a God that had the empathy to share our fate. Sometimes one person’s example gives me hope that following Christ might be the path that leads us out of the hell we’ve made, even if I’ll never know why we’re here in the first place, let alone why God didn’t just make things simpler, better, faster rather than taking the slow path of gradual ethical evolution."
***
If you are Christian, if you deal regularly with the unchurched, sometimes even the churched, you will hear the wail and the anger - because there is no God, because no fair God would allow ...
And how do you answer them?
When I think of my late friend Peter, telling of me of the nun Maria's plight in a Magadan death gulag ...
When I think of the 6.5 million Jews, the 7.5 million Christians executed by my father's Reich ...
When I think of Lenin and his 19 million executions to purify the land ...
When I think of the 30 million Stalin in his paranoia executed ...
When I think of Mao Tse Tung and his 32 million deaths ...
Or Pol Pot ...
Or Rwanda ...
Or Ruby Ridge, Idaho ...
Or Waco, Texas ...
Or the assassination of John F Kennedy ...
Or a record setting typhoon ...
Where is God when the millions, or even the one is crying out in their death rattle?
Where is God in the storm, the waves, the tides, the mass deaths by nature?
How can a fair God ...
And that is the rub, God is not "fair". If he was you would already be dead, as would I.
God is a "just" God, he does what is right, not what is fair.
When we see with human eyes, we are looking for fairness.
When we see with God's eyes, we are looking for justice.
And when we are judging God, we are judging by human standards, not God's standards.
Where is God? Allowing man to trash and destroy His creation, even human life. He has already provided the only standard of measure for life - the ability to stand with Him but acknowledging His son's sacrifice, at human hands.
Where is God in the storm or other natural disaster? Perhaps judging a perverse culture, perhaps destroying false witnesses, perhaps testing the faith of His people, perhaps calling His people home because it is time.
We are not smart enough to know. I can look at a culture dedicated to sexual vice and know God will call them to judgement. I can look at authorities whom are ruthless or corrupt and know that God is going to call them to account for their deeds. I do not know when, I do not know how, but anyone can read Jeremiah or Isaiah in the Bible and see that God has a standard and He was willing to use it even against His own people - to their own destruction! How much more so for a just God, to do the same to _____ (fill in the blank).
We are the creation, not the creator, we can not judge how He uses us, when he uses, where he will use us - we just have to be willing to be used, ready to be used and expect to be used. The problems arise when we say, "Well, God would never work that way!" Really? Maybe you need to study your Bible a little more closely before you side with Western (American) Culture's beliefs about God.
The real God does not cause sin, that does not mean He can not use it to His advantage. The real God does have control of everything and is more than willing to turn Satan loose upon a world unable to recognize much less fight against it without the Holy Spirit's intervention.
Everyday, in the world around you, in your daily life, God is there, God is working. Can you see Him? Can you see His handiwork? Can you show others?
But, if you are not a Christian, well, there is no requirement that God does anything in your life or around you, other than to continually offer you the chance to make your peace with Him - through you acceptance of His son's death as the payment for your doing things your way and not His. And then you get to be held accountable for having followed teachers of the truth ... (hint, we are surrounded by those quite willing to lie to us and mislead us!)
So where is God right now? Calling the hurting, the desperate to look to Him and not theirselves for the answer to their problems. Calling you to account - right now, right here ...
That does not mean you are saved from death or punishment, but it does mean there is a better way from what you knew on this Earth.
Where is God when a child is shot in Newtown or hung in Auschwitz or killed in an American drone air strike or for that matter dies of cancer? I don’t know. There is no answer.
Talk of God giving humans free will and thus allowing us to face the consequences of our choices solves nothing. If the creator could intervene personally when it came to the magic tricks in the Bible like making the sun stand still for a day in a battle, he could have done something about that child gasping out his young life. He didn’t. Theology that tries to paper this horrible fact over with explanations about why there is evil is nothing but nervous blather.
But I take comfort in the fact that sometimes a person of immense courage follows Christ to a cross. Such acts point to a God that had the empathy to share our fate. Sometimes one person’s example gives me hope that following Christ might be the path that leads us out of the hell we’ve made, even if I’ll never know why we’re here in the first place, let alone why God didn’t just make things simpler, better, faster rather than taking the slow path of gradual ethical evolution."
***
If you are Christian, if you deal regularly with the unchurched, sometimes even the churched, you will hear the wail and the anger - because there is no God, because no fair God would allow ...
And how do you answer them?
When I think of my late friend Peter, telling of me of the nun Maria's plight in a Magadan death gulag ...
When I think of the 6.5 million Jews, the 7.5 million Christians executed by my father's Reich ...
When I think of Lenin and his 19 million executions to purify the land ...
When I think of the 30 million Stalin in his paranoia executed ...
When I think of Mao Tse Tung and his 32 million deaths ...
Or Pol Pot ...
Or Rwanda ...
Or Ruby Ridge, Idaho ...
Or Waco, Texas ...
Or the assassination of John F Kennedy ...
Or a record setting typhoon ...
Where is God when the millions, or even the one is crying out in their death rattle?
Where is God in the storm, the waves, the tides, the mass deaths by nature?
How can a fair God ...
And that is the rub, God is not "fair". If he was you would already be dead, as would I.
God is a "just" God, he does what is right, not what is fair.
When we see with human eyes, we are looking for fairness.
When we see with God's eyes, we are looking for justice.
And when we are judging God, we are judging by human standards, not God's standards.
Where is God? Allowing man to trash and destroy His creation, even human life. He has already provided the only standard of measure for life - the ability to stand with Him but acknowledging His son's sacrifice, at human hands.
Where is God in the storm or other natural disaster? Perhaps judging a perverse culture, perhaps destroying false witnesses, perhaps testing the faith of His people, perhaps calling His people home because it is time.
We are not smart enough to know. I can look at a culture dedicated to sexual vice and know God will call them to judgement. I can look at authorities whom are ruthless or corrupt and know that God is going to call them to account for their deeds. I do not know when, I do not know how, but anyone can read Jeremiah or Isaiah in the Bible and see that God has a standard and He was willing to use it even against His own people - to their own destruction! How much more so for a just God, to do the same to _____ (fill in the blank).
We are the creation, not the creator, we can not judge how He uses us, when he uses, where he will use us - we just have to be willing to be used, ready to be used and expect to be used. The problems arise when we say, "Well, God would never work that way!" Really? Maybe you need to study your Bible a little more closely before you side with Western (American) Culture's beliefs about God.
The real God does not cause sin, that does not mean He can not use it to His advantage. The real God does have control of everything and is more than willing to turn Satan loose upon a world unable to recognize much less fight against it without the Holy Spirit's intervention.
Everyday, in the world around you, in your daily life, God is there, God is working. Can you see Him? Can you see His handiwork? Can you show others?
But, if you are not a Christian, well, there is no requirement that God does anything in your life or around you, other than to continually offer you the chance to make your peace with Him - through you acceptance of His son's death as the payment for your doing things your way and not His. And then you get to be held accountable for having followed teachers of the truth ... (hint, we are surrounded by those quite willing to lie to us and mislead us!)
So where is God right now? Calling the hurting, the desperate to look to Him and not theirselves for the answer to their problems. Calling you to account - right now, right here ...
That does not mean you are saved from death or punishment, but it does mean there is a better way from what you knew on this Earth.
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Where was God ... The Humanists Speak
By Daniel Burke, CNN Belief Blog Co-editor
(CNN) – The disasters are always different and often devastating. But the questions they raise are hauntingly familiar.
In the days since Super Typhoon Haiyan ...
Officials say the death toll may rise to 10,000 in the heavily Catholic country. Meanwhile, many people are asking: How should we make sense of such senseless death and destruction? Was God in the whirlwind itself, as the Bible hints, or present only in the aftermath, as people mobilize to provide food, water and shelter?
These questions may not be new, but we keep asking them, perhaps because the answers remain so elusive.
For many Americans, a paradox sits at the heart of their thinking about natural disasters. According to a survey taken after 2011's earthquake and tsunami in Japan, most Americans (56%) believe that God is control of everything.
But more Americans blame hurricanes, earthquakes and other storms on global warming (58%) than on an angry and punishing deity (38%), according to a 2011 poll by the Public Religion Research Institute. ...
The Bible's Psalm 107 says that “For (God) commands, and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves thereof. ...
He turns rivers into a wilderness, and the water springs into dry ground."
But, as the poll shows, most Americans have moved past the idea that God causes natural disasters, wrote Stephen Prothero, a frequent CNN contributor, in a 2011 column.
"When it comes to earthquakes and hurricanes, our authorities are geologists and meteorologists," Prothero said as he rode out Hurricane Irene on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. "Most of us interpret these events not through the rumblings of the biblical prophet Jeremiah or the poetry of the Book of Revelation but through the scientific truths of air pressure and tectonic plates."
For atheists, storms like Haiyan are proof that God doesn't exist, author and activist Sam Harris said.
"Either God can do nothing to stop catastrophes like this, or he doesn’t care to, or he doesn’t exist. God is either impotent, evil or imaginary," Harris said after Japan's tsunami. "Take your pick, and choose wisely."
God may or may not be in withering storms, but many religious leaders say they sense a divine presence in the aftermath, as people across the world mobilize to lend a hand.
Rabbi Harold Kushner is one of the most famous names in the realm of theodicy, a branch of theology that tries to explain the unexplainable: why a good God would allow bad things to happen.
After Japan's tsunami, Kushner called nature "an equal-opportunity destroyer," making no distinctions between sinners and saints.
But Kushner, author of the bestselling book "When Bad Things Happen to Good People," said he sees God's hand in the resilience of people whose lives have been destroyed and in the "goodness and generosity" of strangers who donate and pray for the survivors.
That still leaves a tricky question, though: Why do humans suffer, sometimes terribly, in the first place?
There's no good answer, says the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and best-selling author.
"Each person has to come to grips with that," Martin said. "It’s not as if some magic answer can be found. But the idea of God suffering along with us can be very helpful."
Muslims, on the other hand, see stormy trials as tests from God, said Sayyid Syeed, national director of the Islamic Society of North America’s Office of Interfaith and Community Alliances.
"Muslims believe that God tests those he loves, and these tragedies also serve as a reminder to the rest of us to remain grateful to God for all our blessings and cognizant that we must support those in need," Syeed said.
Vietnamese Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh, whose native country remains in Haiyan's path, said such storms remind us that our lives are impermanent and the importance of treasuring each moment.
"This is the best that we can do for those who have died: We can live in such a way that they can feel they are continuing to live in us, more mindfully, more profoundly, more beautifully, tasting every minute of life available to us, for them," Hanh said.
***
Tomorrow, let's consider this from God's, not man's, perspective ...
(CNN) – The disasters are always different and often devastating. But the questions they raise are hauntingly familiar.
In the days since Super Typhoon Haiyan ...
Officials say the death toll may rise to 10,000 in the heavily Catholic country. Meanwhile, many people are asking: How should we make sense of such senseless death and destruction? Was God in the whirlwind itself, as the Bible hints, or present only in the aftermath, as people mobilize to provide food, water and shelter?
These questions may not be new, but we keep asking them, perhaps because the answers remain so elusive.
For many Americans, a paradox sits at the heart of their thinking about natural disasters. According to a survey taken after 2011's earthquake and tsunami in Japan, most Americans (56%) believe that God is control of everything.
But more Americans blame hurricanes, earthquakes and other storms on global warming (58%) than on an angry and punishing deity (38%), according to a 2011 poll by the Public Religion Research Institute. ...
The Bible's Psalm 107 says that “For (God) commands, and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves thereof. ...
He turns rivers into a wilderness, and the water springs into dry ground."
But, as the poll shows, most Americans have moved past the idea that God causes natural disasters, wrote Stephen Prothero, a frequent CNN contributor, in a 2011 column.
"When it comes to earthquakes and hurricanes, our authorities are geologists and meteorologists," Prothero said as he rode out Hurricane Irene on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. "Most of us interpret these events not through the rumblings of the biblical prophet Jeremiah or the poetry of the Book of Revelation but through the scientific truths of air pressure and tectonic plates."
For atheists, storms like Haiyan are proof that God doesn't exist, author and activist Sam Harris said.
"Either God can do nothing to stop catastrophes like this, or he doesn’t care to, or he doesn’t exist. God is either impotent, evil or imaginary," Harris said after Japan's tsunami. "Take your pick, and choose wisely."
God may or may not be in withering storms, but many religious leaders say they sense a divine presence in the aftermath, as people across the world mobilize to lend a hand.
Rabbi Harold Kushner is one of the most famous names in the realm of theodicy, a branch of theology that tries to explain the unexplainable: why a good God would allow bad things to happen.
After Japan's tsunami, Kushner called nature "an equal-opportunity destroyer," making no distinctions between sinners and saints.
But Kushner, author of the bestselling book "When Bad Things Happen to Good People," said he sees God's hand in the resilience of people whose lives have been destroyed and in the "goodness and generosity" of strangers who donate and pray for the survivors.
That still leaves a tricky question, though: Why do humans suffer, sometimes terribly, in the first place?
There's no good answer, says the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and best-selling author.
"Each person has to come to grips with that," Martin said. "It’s not as if some magic answer can be found. But the idea of God suffering along with us can be very helpful."
Muslims, on the other hand, see stormy trials as tests from God, said Sayyid Syeed, national director of the Islamic Society of North America’s Office of Interfaith and Community Alliances.
"Muslims believe that God tests those he loves, and these tragedies also serve as a reminder to the rest of us to remain grateful to God for all our blessings and cognizant that we must support those in need," Syeed said.
Vietnamese Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh, whose native country remains in Haiyan's path, said such storms remind us that our lives are impermanent and the importance of treasuring each moment.
"This is the best that we can do for those who have died: We can live in such a way that they can feel they are continuing to live in us, more mindfully, more profoundly, more beautifully, tasting every minute of life available to us, for them," Hanh said.
***
Tomorrow, let's consider this from God's, not man's, perspective ...
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Dream
Sunday night I had one of the oddest dreams in my life! And that says something ...
So, I got home about 9 pm from the antique show, ate a sandwich, took my dinner pills, and had to wait an hour before the bedtime pills. I spent that time reading about the typhoon and then typed up Monday's post for the Apple. And thankfully, it was bedtime, finally for me! But, my heart had gone haywire again, so I just went to bed and figured if I woke up dead, honestly, it would be fine with me.
Now, I probably ought to comment that this dream, I have had in parts, numerous times, like maybe 12 times!, it was the ending which was different this time.
It opens with me having a heart attack and I am taken in to ER, however instead of stuffing me full of pills and needles, they sit me down at a machine which is supposed to analyze my thoughts and stresses. It does this visually on a monitor.
And it always opens the same way, I am in a car driving quickly away from someone or something. The car looks suspiciously like the bat mobile - I hate the bat mobile.
I am dressed like batman - I hate batman.
Seated next to me is a female whom resembles Nicole Kidman - I hate Kidman, except in Bewitched.
The doctors are asking what this means and I have no answer - the symbols are all the things I hate!
And the car flies off the end of a waterfall. Well, I do love waterfalls.
Then I am at the wedding of an old friend of mine, a lady whom worked with me in youth work decades ago. (Oddly, in reality she has been married for decades as well, so why am I at her wedding?) She was in many ways a pseudo-daughter (really long story!), but I had no reference point from which to be such - but I was a great friend and we still are. I start cleaning the place the wedding is going to be because no one bothered to have done so yet. It looks nice, I am happy with it. But, something goes terribly wrong and the wedding is now moving to another location. So, I walk over there.
The place is a mess, there is no way to make an aisle for the bride to walk down, there are too few chairs, it is a half-way house type of mission - so I have to hustle those types out of the building, and the kicker - my daughter is there. I almost did not recognize her and noted that she had her flute and would be playing the music. It made me happy she had taken up her flute again, she was talented with it.
I was polite and respectful, I stayed away and gave her, her space and peace - I would let her make any moves towards reconciliation.
So, in the end, all came together for the wedding. The bride was lovely, the crowd was jovial and my daughter never came near nor said a word - but the dream ended as I realized she was wearing the necklace I gave her for that first Christmas. It was her first step ...
I have left out much detail for this would be a book! But, even I recognized what much of the symbolism was - in essence: I no longer know myself and other than the girl in the car with me, no one else does either. Which is a sad comment. And yes, I long for reconciliation with my daughter - if it is the only reason I am still alive - then I would have it this afternoon so I could just die in peace.
But I know my time is not up yet.
( Cura mia figlia ... )
So, I got home about 9 pm from the antique show, ate a sandwich, took my dinner pills, and had to wait an hour before the bedtime pills. I spent that time reading about the typhoon and then typed up Monday's post for the Apple. And thankfully, it was bedtime, finally for me! But, my heart had gone haywire again, so I just went to bed and figured if I woke up dead, honestly, it would be fine with me.
Now, I probably ought to comment that this dream, I have had in parts, numerous times, like maybe 12 times!, it was the ending which was different this time.
It opens with me having a heart attack and I am taken in to ER, however instead of stuffing me full of pills and needles, they sit me down at a machine which is supposed to analyze my thoughts and stresses. It does this visually on a monitor.
And it always opens the same way, I am in a car driving quickly away from someone or something. The car looks suspiciously like the bat mobile - I hate the bat mobile.
I am dressed like batman - I hate batman.
Seated next to me is a female whom resembles Nicole Kidman - I hate Kidman, except in Bewitched.
The doctors are asking what this means and I have no answer - the symbols are all the things I hate!
And the car flies off the end of a waterfall. Well, I do love waterfalls.
Then I am at the wedding of an old friend of mine, a lady whom worked with me in youth work decades ago. (Oddly, in reality she has been married for decades as well, so why am I at her wedding?) She was in many ways a pseudo-daughter (really long story!), but I had no reference point from which to be such - but I was a great friend and we still are. I start cleaning the place the wedding is going to be because no one bothered to have done so yet. It looks nice, I am happy with it. But, something goes terribly wrong and the wedding is now moving to another location. So, I walk over there.
The place is a mess, there is no way to make an aisle for the bride to walk down, there are too few chairs, it is a half-way house type of mission - so I have to hustle those types out of the building, and the kicker - my daughter is there. I almost did not recognize her and noted that she had her flute and would be playing the music. It made me happy she had taken up her flute again, she was talented with it.
I was polite and respectful, I stayed away and gave her, her space and peace - I would let her make any moves towards reconciliation.
So, in the end, all came together for the wedding. The bride was lovely, the crowd was jovial and my daughter never came near nor said a word - but the dream ended as I realized she was wearing the necklace I gave her for that first Christmas. It was her first step ...
I have left out much detail for this would be a book! But, even I recognized what much of the symbolism was - in essence: I no longer know myself and other than the girl in the car with me, no one else does either. Which is a sad comment. And yes, I long for reconciliation with my daughter - if it is the only reason I am still alive - then I would have it this afternoon so I could just die in peace.
But I know my time is not up yet.
( Cura mia figlia ... )
Monday, November 11, 2013
Antiquing
So, the Philippines are being trashed by one of the biggest storms ever on record and Kris does an antique show. Seems trivial and given the lack of news on American news, I have no clue as to real news involving the typhoon! Yeah, I can tell you how many breaths any player took during the latest football game but real news - well just no time for that when football players are breathing!
The show was heavily attended on Saturday, alas the show was four days long however! But, it is was a good show for me and I sold or traded away about one third of what I had brought - so no complaints from me.
The customers were interesting however. A tremendous amount of identity challenged came. It was a bit weird in fact. My mother, whom I was there to help, thankfully was blissfully ignorant - otherwise her mouth would have been intolerable! Yeah, she was in fine form and bad mouthing most and borderline out of control through the three days of the show. Only one nitro to get me through the first day though!
I was torn how to react when a group of ladies came through dressed in 1870's style bustle dresses. One of them was a guy. I just ignore such specticals but I had to wonder at why he would want to dress as a woman of 140 years ago. I mean it is not as if that style of clothing was comfortable in the least.
But the coolest part was cotton-candy girl was there, with her two daughters and she jumped me in a huge bear hug. Now she is one of my special girls, was so 11 years ago when she was in high school, still is. I found the rebirth of my emotion for a daughter! Dead for over a year and yet apparently still there when I am not watchful! I told her she was loved and she broke down into tears. No idea what all is going on inside her but I guess that was something she needed to hear - even from a old German. Since last I wrote of her, she and her husband have bought a house, renovated it and started going to a small church near the home. Very cool. I am very happy for the both of them. That truly was the highlight of the weekend for me!
So got rid of a ton of stuff, bought a bit - some Christmas presents, a few coins for me, some things in trade I can use at my next show.
Very long, very tiring, and very stressful four days. So terribly glad it is over!
The show was heavily attended on Saturday, alas the show was four days long however! But, it is was a good show for me and I sold or traded away about one third of what I had brought - so no complaints from me.
The customers were interesting however. A tremendous amount of identity challenged came. It was a bit weird in fact. My mother, whom I was there to help, thankfully was blissfully ignorant - otherwise her mouth would have been intolerable! Yeah, she was in fine form and bad mouthing most and borderline out of control through the three days of the show. Only one nitro to get me through the first day though!
I was torn how to react when a group of ladies came through dressed in 1870's style bustle dresses. One of them was a guy. I just ignore such specticals but I had to wonder at why he would want to dress as a woman of 140 years ago. I mean it is not as if that style of clothing was comfortable in the least.
But the coolest part was cotton-candy girl was there, with her two daughters and she jumped me in a huge bear hug. Now she is one of my special girls, was so 11 years ago when she was in high school, still is. I found the rebirth of my emotion for a daughter! Dead for over a year and yet apparently still there when I am not watchful! I told her she was loved and she broke down into tears. No idea what all is going on inside her but I guess that was something she needed to hear - even from a old German. Since last I wrote of her, she and her husband have bought a house, renovated it and started going to a small church near the home. Very cool. I am very happy for the both of them. That truly was the highlight of the weekend for me!
So got rid of a ton of stuff, bought a bit - some Christmas presents, a few coins for me, some things in trade I can use at my next show.
Very long, very tiring, and very stressful four days. So terribly glad it is over!
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Musical Saturday Morning
Well, I am sorry but what I was in the mood to post for this morning was not available in a decent Youtube version, so I had to scratch my head and go with something non-1980-ish! But, hold on it is an interesting song.
So, it was 1967, if I am remembering right, I remember hearing this song on my bus to school one morning. It was a riddle, it just did not make sense and so we worked hard trying to ferret out its real meaning. But, in Germany we just were not "hip" enough to really come away with any meaning that screamed, "You got it!".
And, I have to add that I get a little freaky when I hear a song from a group that is mostly dead. Just too weird to imagine such talent wasted and gone ... Thank you 1960's drug culture.
Three years later, I was in high school in Denver, I managed to get a chance to actually ask the question of one of them. Needless to say, I was completely crushed to learn that the song actually was all about the drug trade in California - replete with lots of slang to throw the "squares" off. "Squares", just like us hip German teenagers I guess.
So, it was 1967, if I am remembering right, I remember hearing this song on my bus to school one morning. It was a riddle, it just did not make sense and so we worked hard trying to ferret out its real meaning. But, in Germany we just were not "hip" enough to really come away with any meaning that screamed, "You got it!".
And, I have to add that I get a little freaky when I hear a song from a group that is mostly dead. Just too weird to imagine such talent wasted and gone ... Thank you 1960's drug culture.
Three years later, I was in high school in Denver, I managed to get a chance to actually ask the question of one of them. Needless to say, I was completely crushed to learn that the song actually was all about the drug trade in California - replete with lots of slang to throw the "squares" off. "Squares", just like us hip German teenagers I guess.
Friday, November 8, 2013
Updates
It has been a rough week and a half physically since I dropped my body on my front porch. The aches, the pains, all the swelling is steadily going down. However, the broken jaw just drives me nuts! I want something I can chew! I dream of steaks and pork chops! And the thought of a rack of ribs! But, unless it is tiny bites and not chewed, nothing I can do about it. Sigh. And my weight continues on the same. How is this even possible?
I have not said much of Gaelic Girl. Her departure from my life was a bit traumatic and if I do see her, she is not likely to say much, if anything, to me. In fact I would guess that she goes out of her way to avoid me and the kids. But, yesterday she made a point to thank me for something I had done nice for her many months ago. I have no doubt that her psychiatrist was behind the acknowledgement and she had caught flak yet again for how she has, and continues to, treat me. Well better late than never - at least that was my grandmother's take on such things, though there is little satisfaction in being thanked half a year later (and probably under duress)!
My friend from Colorado continues his fight against cancer - lots of prayer needed there, if you are up for it. I really wish the whole lot of them were out here so that I could be a little more involved in what is going on, But, perhaps it is for the best, for now.
My niece continues to be a blessing and continues to do well with her new life. Thank you for your many prayers on her behalf! I wish I knew where she is headed or what she will be in God's economy, but somethings you just have to wait for.
No more prowlers in the neighborhood. I guess half nude middle aged man is just too much for youth to gaze upon and realize this is them in thirty years! ("Honestly, Jake, just shot me if I ever start to look like that!") Swedish Rocket Scientist will be back next week from Italy and his car will be gone and with it any temptation to prowl my vehicles!
Today and through the weekend I am at an antique show helping my mother. I thought about getting a spot for me again, as I had done last year at this show, but I decided that it was not worth the effort. As I remember, I did not break even when gas was factored in across the four days of this show and the 50 miles it is from where I live.
So, I am bored, smiling, and wishing I was most anywhere else...
I have not said much of Gaelic Girl. Her departure from my life was a bit traumatic and if I do see her, she is not likely to say much, if anything, to me. In fact I would guess that she goes out of her way to avoid me and the kids. But, yesterday she made a point to thank me for something I had done nice for her many months ago. I have no doubt that her psychiatrist was behind the acknowledgement and she had caught flak yet again for how she has, and continues to, treat me. Well better late than never - at least that was my grandmother's take on such things, though there is little satisfaction in being thanked half a year later (and probably under duress)!
My friend from Colorado continues his fight against cancer - lots of prayer needed there, if you are up for it. I really wish the whole lot of them were out here so that I could be a little more involved in what is going on, But, perhaps it is for the best, for now.
My niece continues to be a blessing and continues to do well with her new life. Thank you for your many prayers on her behalf! I wish I knew where she is headed or what she will be in God's economy, but somethings you just have to wait for.
No more prowlers in the neighborhood. I guess half nude middle aged man is just too much for youth to gaze upon and realize this is them in thirty years! ("Honestly, Jake, just shot me if I ever start to look like that!") Swedish Rocket Scientist will be back next week from Italy and his car will be gone and with it any temptation to prowl my vehicles!
Today and through the weekend I am at an antique show helping my mother. I thought about getting a spot for me again, as I had done last year at this show, but I decided that it was not worth the effort. As I remember, I did not break even when gas was factored in across the four days of this show and the 50 miles it is from where I live.
So, I am bored, smiling, and wishing I was most anywhere else...
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Four Years Old
My grandson is four years old and he just loves to talk to grandpa Unfortunately, I am clueless as to what he is talking about most of the time!
Last week he was telling me about Obla Wobey, someone his father knew. Well, they live in housing project so it could be some middle eastern name? Then he tells me that Obla Wobey has four small ships and fights too much. So now I am struggling with the idea that if this guy has four boats he probably does not qualify for the project. So I try to ferret out about the boats and what they are used for, but he just gets frustrated that I can not call them small ships.
Well, another tact perhaps? Is he a wrestler? No, fighter. Is he on TV, yes. Well what does he do? He fights with his friends. Well, why would he fight with his friends? Do they not get along? No, they are all fighting together against the bad man. Okay, movie!
Now, which movie? So guessing my way across a 15 mile drive to my grand-daughter's school to pick her up and I discover we are talking about Obi Wan Kenobi from Star Wars! So small ships were light sabers! I laughed and laughed and laughed!
Then yesterday the power company was replacing the old aluminum power wires to the house (I have no idea why they used aluminum in the first place!), so power was out for six hours. Which lead to one of most hysterical conversations ever!
Somehow, he equated the power being turned back on with people with big butts dying. First, it was the dog was going to die, then his aunt was going to fry, then it was me! I almost had to park I was crying so hard from laughing! And as with any four year old he was deadpan serious and could not understand what was so funny - and couldn't I just lose my big butt?
Oh gees, I am tearing up I am laughing so hard!
Last week he was telling me about Obla Wobey, someone his father knew. Well, they live in housing project so it could be some middle eastern name? Then he tells me that Obla Wobey has four small ships and fights too much. So now I am struggling with the idea that if this guy has four boats he probably does not qualify for the project. So I try to ferret out about the boats and what they are used for, but he just gets frustrated that I can not call them small ships.
Well, another tact perhaps? Is he a wrestler? No, fighter. Is he on TV, yes. Well what does he do? He fights with his friends. Well, why would he fight with his friends? Do they not get along? No, they are all fighting together against the bad man. Okay, movie!
Now, which movie? So guessing my way across a 15 mile drive to my grand-daughter's school to pick her up and I discover we are talking about Obi Wan Kenobi from Star Wars! So small ships were light sabers! I laughed and laughed and laughed!
Then yesterday the power company was replacing the old aluminum power wires to the house (I have no idea why they used aluminum in the first place!), so power was out for six hours. Which lead to one of most hysterical conversations ever!
Somehow, he equated the power being turned back on with people with big butts dying. First, it was the dog was going to die, then his aunt was going to fry, then it was me! I almost had to park I was crying so hard from laughing! And as with any four year old he was deadpan serious and could not understand what was so funny - and couldn't I just lose my big butt?
Oh gees, I am tearing up I am laughing so hard!
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Luring Millennials To Christianity
I have long argued against the blind social agenda the Western Church has impaled itself upon and then I ran into this interesting article this week. I have removed all of the links to make it readable as well as removing the writer's personal opinion.
Millennials are by far the least religious generation in America today. According to Pew Research, millennials are less likely than any other demographic to be affiliated with a religion, to strongly believe in religion's teachings, or to pray. And they certainly don't like attending church.
So what to do when millennials aren't exactly filling the pews? For some congregations, the answer is to make church as un-church-like as possible.
Hence the Church-in-a-Pub, located in Fort Worth, Texas, where (mostly)
young people gather at a brewpub to drink craft beer, eat pizza, and,
yes, even take communion. For most of the people who attend, this isn't a supplement to Sunday service — this is it.
It has been so successful that the region's Evangelical Lutheran Church council declared it an official worshiping community, with plans to expand to other bars in the Forth Worth area.
"I think the institutional church now is getting onboard," Pastor Philip Heinze told NPR,
"because there's a lot of anxiety frankly about the church's decline
and they're trying to think outside of that institutional box."
A similar trend is occurring at Beer & Hymns, a monthly event held at Oregon's First Christian Portland. And in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the millennial hipster Holy Land, full religious services are held every Sunday at two longtime neighborhood watering holes, Trash Bar and Pete's Candy Story.
On Monday nights at nearby Union Pool, Rev. Vince Anderson — who
originally studied to be a Methodist minister — regularly draws big
crowds with his rowdy gospel songs.
"I have also randomly wandered into one of the Rev. Vince Anderson's shows. It's pretty clear that one is more fun than the other — specifically, the one that involves drinking beer."
But a boozy show is unlikely to lead too many youngsters back into the fold, largely because a) there are plenty of opportunities to drink delicious craft beer without being preached to and b) millennials leave the Church for many reasons, but its lack of "hipness" usually isn't one of them.
Even some young people who identify as Christian don't think being
"edgy," at least by traditional Christian standards, will attract
millennials. Evangelical Christian Rachel Held Evans argued against the idea that the "key to drawing twenty-somethings back to church is simply to make a few style updates." Christianity's problems, she wrote this summer, go much deeper:
In other words, organized religion has become heavily politicized, and
no craft IPA or guitar solo is going to change that. This view, to some
extent, is supported by none other than the Pope,
who warned against focusing exclusively on divisive social issues at
the expense of traditional Catholic priorities like helping the poor.
(kjp): The answer to Western Church's problems probably won't be found at
the bottom of a pint glass — it can only be found in Scripture, when read, understood and shared by Christians without a social or political agenda.
Millennials are by far the least religious generation in America today. According to Pew Research, millennials are less likely than any other demographic to be affiliated with a religion, to strongly believe in religion's teachings, or to pray. And they certainly don't like attending church.
So what to do when millennials aren't exactly filling the pews? For some congregations, the answer is to make church as un-church-like as possible.
It has been so successful that the region's Evangelical Lutheran Church council declared it an official worshiping community, with plans to expand to other bars in the Forth Worth area.
A similar trend is occurring at Beer & Hymns, a monthly event held at Oregon's First Christian Portland. And in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the millennial hipster Holy Land, full religious services are held every Sunday at two longtime neighborhood watering holes, Trash Bar and Pete's Candy Story.
"I have also randomly wandered into one of the Rev. Vince Anderson's shows. It's pretty clear that one is more fun than the other — specifically, the one that involves drinking beer."
But a boozy show is unlikely to lead too many youngsters back into the fold, largely because a) there are plenty of opportunities to drink delicious craft beer without being preached to and b) millennials leave the Church for many reasons, but its lack of "hipness" usually isn't one of them.
Many of us, myself included, are
finding ourselves increasingly drawn to high church traditions —
Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, the Episcopal Church, etc. — precisely
because the ancient forms of liturgy seem so unpretentious, so
unconcerned with being “cool,” and we find that refreshingly authentic.
What millennials really want from the
church is not a change in style but a change in substance. We want an
end to the culture wars. We want a truce between science and faith. We
want to be known for what we stand for, not what we are against.
Vern Bengtson, sociology professor at the University of Southern
California, agreed that conservative firebrands have scared some
potential churchgoers away. In Salon, citing research from his book, Families and Faith: How Religion Is Passed Down Across Generations,
he claimed that "the political right has become so identified with a
conservative religious agenda that it has alienated moderates who
consider organized 'religion' a synonym for an anti-gay, anti-abortion,
pro-civic religion agenda."
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
A Dark and Stormy Day
Saturday was incredible!
It began at two in the morning with me ravaged by some form of intestinal distress - for hours! By morning, I was wasted and no energy for anything other than just visiting with my friend, whom had to cancel for perhaps a more communicable bug.
So left on my own, I headed to the Frye Museum for their new exhibits they had just put up. I made it as far as South Seattle before all of the power was out to the area - yeah, a power line broke in the high winds and I got to see it bouncing around arcing like a bad horror movie! And so ended my great Seattle trip!
Back home - three hours later! - I was exhausted and exasperated with Seattle scum whom drive the streets and do not understand the concept of one car at a time at uncontrolled intersections. GEES! And ten hours listened to the high winds, sustaining at 50 miles per hour with gusts to 65!
Lights flickering, numerous power outages, I spent the time figuring out if i had to take a shot in such winds what would my hold over be at 100 yards! It was fun and kept me occupied on the laptop. Oh yeah, 50 mph wind at 100 yards - grab a knife, you have a better chance...
Then at 1:30, the middle of the night, I am jolted out of my bed by the sounds of hubcaps being pulled off of cars. I look outside, see three guys playing with Swedish Rocket Scientist's car, grab a flashlight and a gun and I am out the door. And just as quickly, they are out of their.
I had to laugh at the eye full they got: Swiss boy in his jeans, big gun, bright light and their car roared away. :)
Best part was my observing how was I going to handle this? I mean with emotion, was I going to come apart, experience real fear? Happily, I only experienced the knowledge that I knew what to do with what I had and there was no concern for me. So, some vestige of old Kris still lives, but that is one of the few resurrections in almost a year now. :)
So, quite a day, many experiences and I learned something more about myself...
It began at two in the morning with me ravaged by some form of intestinal distress - for hours! By morning, I was wasted and no energy for anything other than just visiting with my friend, whom had to cancel for perhaps a more communicable bug.
So left on my own, I headed to the Frye Museum for their new exhibits they had just put up. I made it as far as South Seattle before all of the power was out to the area - yeah, a power line broke in the high winds and I got to see it bouncing around arcing like a bad horror movie! And so ended my great Seattle trip!
Back home - three hours later! - I was exhausted and exasperated with Seattle scum whom drive the streets and do not understand the concept of one car at a time at uncontrolled intersections. GEES! And ten hours listened to the high winds, sustaining at 50 miles per hour with gusts to 65!
Lights flickering, numerous power outages, I spent the time figuring out if i had to take a shot in such winds what would my hold over be at 100 yards! It was fun and kept me occupied on the laptop. Oh yeah, 50 mph wind at 100 yards - grab a knife, you have a better chance...
Then at 1:30, the middle of the night, I am jolted out of my bed by the sounds of hubcaps being pulled off of cars. I look outside, see three guys playing with Swedish Rocket Scientist's car, grab a flashlight and a gun and I am out the door. And just as quickly, they are out of their.
I had to laugh at the eye full they got: Swiss boy in his jeans, big gun, bright light and their car roared away. :)
Best part was my observing how was I going to handle this? I mean with emotion, was I going to come apart, experience real fear? Happily, I only experienced the knowledge that I knew what to do with what I had and there was no concern for me. So, some vestige of old Kris still lives, but that is one of the few resurrections in almost a year now. :)
So, quite a day, many experiences and I learned something more about myself...
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Musical Saturday Morning
This song is probably the second most successful of his songs, His Father's Eyes being number one for both him and his wife at the time, Amy Grant.
If ever there was a living example of how living your life, your way, is not going to be blessed by God, you need look no further than Chapman and Grant. Which is sad because Grant could have done something real for God; as for Chapman, I have no idea, his life seems to be the center of bad ideas. And that is the rub - I have no doubt that Satan is banging the tar out of both of them; one through wealth, one through desire for wealth and their end results will be the same one of these days. And they get to both look stupid up at God and go, "Duh ... ".
But, I like this song ...
Sorry about this video from "Ernest Goes To Camp", I could not find anything straight from Chapman or less exciting...
If ever there was a living example of how living your life, your way, is not going to be blessed by God, you need look no further than Chapman and Grant. Which is sad because Grant could have done something real for God; as for Chapman, I have no idea, his life seems to be the center of bad ideas. And that is the rub - I have no doubt that Satan is banging the tar out of both of them; one through wealth, one through desire for wealth and their end results will be the same one of these days. And they get to both look stupid up at God and go, "Duh ... ".
But, I like this song ...
Sorry about this video from "Ernest Goes To Camp", I could not find anything straight from Chapman or less exciting...
Friday, November 1, 2013
Holiday Planning
Ah! Holidays are creeping up on me! What to do? What to do!
I have one birthday left before the end of the year, oldest grand-daughter. No clue what to give a 6 year old girl. With mine it was easy, they loved Polly Pockets anything. But I have not seen Polly Pockets in years. She likes Tinker Bell, so probably some thing with Tinker Bell on it. Sigh, I hate giving any money to the Disney evil empire. Sigh.
Then it will be Thanksgiving and I have no clue what to do this year. I would just as soon and take everyone out but that would be more money than I have thanks to the IRS and my local emergency room bill (I think I will have both of them paid off in 15 more months!). Do I do a turkey or a fennel stuffed pork tenderloin, I know I would choose pork but if the kids come, they will want turkey with all of the fixings. And no idea which of the kids will come. Eldest wants to do her own thing with her kids, next oldest might do the same, I expect youngest daughter to be here and son, well, he is usually at his girlfriends.
And Christmas,what ever to do about that one! Maybe it is just too far away to worry about as of yet....
So as I close this out on Halloween 2013 - hope you are having a hauntingly good time ....
I have one birthday left before the end of the year, oldest grand-daughter. No clue what to give a 6 year old girl. With mine it was easy, they loved Polly Pockets anything. But I have not seen Polly Pockets in years. She likes Tinker Bell, so probably some thing with Tinker Bell on it. Sigh, I hate giving any money to the Disney evil empire. Sigh.
Then it will be Thanksgiving and I have no clue what to do this year. I would just as soon and take everyone out but that would be more money than I have thanks to the IRS and my local emergency room bill (I think I will have both of them paid off in 15 more months!). Do I do a turkey or a fennel stuffed pork tenderloin, I know I would choose pork but if the kids come, they will want turkey with all of the fixings. And no idea which of the kids will come. Eldest wants to do her own thing with her kids, next oldest might do the same, I expect youngest daughter to be here and son, well, he is usually at his girlfriends.
And Christmas,what ever to do about that one! Maybe it is just too far away to worry about as of yet....
So as I close this out on Halloween 2013 - hope you are having a hauntingly good time ....
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