tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-878914472051909043.post5217891055696514551..comments2024-01-12T12:39:47.241-08:00Comments on The Christian Monist: Why Do We Christians Have to be so Weird About Imperfections?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-878914472051909043.post-59630186853082659682010-11-17T16:36:13.774-08:002010-11-17T16:36:13.774-08:00I'm a regular reader of your blog, I recently ...I'm a regular reader of your blog, I recently watched a video by bishop jim swilley that I happened to come across in the blogsphere, http://www.rechelleunplugged.com/<br />scroll down the blog to come to the video (i'd never heard of him before this). He talks of knowing he was gay since he was 4, a very honest talk, would be interested in your thoughts. <br /><br />MeganAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-878914472051909043.post-80180500168474431352010-11-17T07:16:31.687-08:002010-11-17T07:16:31.687-08:00If you want to read the Evangoworld book, I highly...If you want to read the Evangoworld book, I highly suggest The Handmaid's Tale.Jaimie Teekellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07845537262456320501noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-878914472051909043.post-64096149666413212812010-11-16T16:47:10.977-08:002010-11-16T16:47:10.977-08:00It has been a while since I read 1984 . . . maybe ...It has been a while since I read 1984 . . . maybe high school.<br /><br />I can imagine Evangoworld, where the Evangelicals have had control of all society for a few decades (I mean total control, a theocracy in other words). In that scifi story, people would walk around like smiling zombies. Then, anytime one has any observable flaw, from a severe outbreak of acne, to lessor mental health issues to sociopathic behavior, they suddenly and totally disappear. Somewhat like the daughter in "Flight Plan." Were there is no trace of the person. No s.s. number, passport and even their name on previous censuses (or censi). would disappear<br /><br />It is the "disappearing" that concerns me, much more than the flaw itself..Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03457723022566193014noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-878914472051909043.post-70264159222669875472010-11-16T10:53:37.932-08:002010-11-16T10:53:37.932-08:00Yeah.
When my husband, who was on full-time staff...Yeah.<br /><br />When my husband, who was on full-time staff at our church, stepped down and was then diagnosed with severe mental illness (along with allegations of abuse, porn and alcoholism...quiet but firm allegations made by me, his wife), our senior pastor, a man who claimed that his calling from God was to save marriages from divorce, told me to not tell anyone but to keep it very quiet.....and then proceeded to completely ignore us. <br /><br />Not that he could have helped. He couldn't have...because the problem was actually quite complex and not something that the little 1,2,3 formula's of evangelicalism could fix. But, still...the fact that he turned his face away from us, after we served with him for years, really hurt. <br /><br />My thoughts as to why? We made him look bad. The pastor is only as good as the facade he is able to maintain, both in his own family and also in his church. Or so says the evangelical unwritten creed. <br /><br />Our senior pastor was a really normal guy---not a creep like the pastor in your former church (who fits the description of a few Bible=based almost-a-cult-kind-of-church leaders I have known, including my ex)... Our pastor then wasn't the brightest bulb in the pack, but his heart was sweet and he genuinely cared, or, at least, he tried hard to genuinely care. He was someone who I never thought would turn his back on us like he did...but, oh, he did. Kept it totally hush, hush to our former congregation----to the point that I'd run into people a year later in the grocery store or something and they'd say, "What are you doing here!? I thought you guys were off in ___ as missionaries!" <br /><br />If the truth comes out when we are weak, then the truth about evangelicalism is out and people like your son see it. What is that truth? That there's not much there, under the shiny glitter. It isn't a place to build anything on, because there's nothing firm underneath the facade. <br /><br />...At least, that's my opinion, as one who built everything on top of that beautiful strong-seeming lie. <br /><br />PS. Ooooh, I love 1984, HUG. It's one of my top five favorite books. So good.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-878914472051909043.post-51679761210789311052010-11-16T06:57:18.307-08:002010-11-16T06:57:18.307-08:00What he meant was that those people who fight the ...<i>What he meant was that those people who fight the hardest against certain moral vices . . . are themselves most tempted. I’m sure there is a more clinical term for the phenomenon.</i><br /><br />Remember a couple years ago, when Rush Limbaugh was the War on Drugs' Number-One Fan while he was fighting a secret Oxycontin addiction?<br /><br />And around 100 years ago when recovering alcoholic Billy Sunday preached a Gospel all about being against Demon Rum while hardly mentioning Christ?<br /><br />(Makes you wonder about Fred Phelps, doesn't it?)<br /><br /><i>I’ve searched the web and I can’t find a single statement by James Dobson . . . not in Dr. Reker’s favor or against. This is the weirdness, which is the greater sin.</i><br /><br />It's called "doubleplusunperson -- memhole."<br /><br /><i>My leaving was instead swept under the rug . . . like a scene from bizarre-o-world. They now pretend that I never existed.</i><br /><br />Again, doubleplusunperson.<br /><br />Headless Unicorn Guy<br /><br />(Incidentally, the terminology references are to <i>1984</i> by George Orwell. If you haven't put this downer on your list of "500 greatest books", do so. You'll find a lot of parallels between Airstrip One, Oceania, and the Evangelical Cosmos.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com