I have watched with bemusement as the NY Times scrambles to apologize to all of us simple folk who live in Flyover Country. The Grey Lady has had to remember her manners and ask for forgiveness over a recent review in the paper. The aptly named column “The Critical Shopper” recently reviewed the arrival of American icon J.C. Penney in upscale Midtown Manhattan. The author of the piece is not a fan of J.C. Penney. That is okay. She is not a fan of their merchandise. Again, that is okay. But her tone in dismissing those who might shop there was instructive of how those big city folks view us simple Midlanders just now learning how to walk upright and use utensils. Here is a part of the column. Why would this dowdy Middle American entity waddle into Midtown in its big old shorts and flip-flops without even bothering to update its ancient Helvetica Light logo, which for anyone who grew up with the company is
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I have been known to partake of the product of Jesus’ first miracle. If you slept through Sunday School the first miracle was changing water into wine. (Note to spiritual hall monitors: I understand that not all share my freedom to partake and I am cautious about where I consume the fruit of the vine). In fact I began my journey in a church where drinking wine (and nearly everything else) would doom you to eternal hellfire. H.L.Mencken’s quote about Puritanism summed up our miserable little assembly. “Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy” I remember hearing a complete sermon dedicated to the theory that the wine of the New Testament was not fermented and therefore did not contain alcohol. That sermon led me to puzzle over Paul’s admonition to the church at Ephesus revised to reflect his view. And do not be drunk with Welch’s Grape Juice, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit… I could pound gallons of Welch’s and not
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I have written a great deal about civility in the public discourse. I have to confess that I am losing heart. Internet forums make cowards courageous. You can write things to me from the cave of anonymity that you would never say to my face. The rules at my site have been consistent. This is not an open forum. We have one basic rule at “Bad Christian” World Headquarters. Verily, verily, all words that proceedeth out of thy posts and thy comments shall be civil…thus saith the one who payeth the server bills. Thy vile words shall be cast forever into the sea of delete and I will blocketh thee forever. King James style rules just sound more authoritative. So if you demonize around here you get blocked. No apologies. A couple of years ago Rick Warren had a conversational debate with Sam Harris. The discourse between the two of them was civil. Neither party changed their mind about what they believed. The
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My ministry of making other Christians feel superior continues unabated. Last week I promised the conclusion to the hypocrite series and then I failed to deliver. So I was a hypocrite while writing about hypocrites. Thanks to faithful reader Wilma for pointing out my omission. This is bonus material that I did not have time to address with Pastor Jeff but I did post at the World Magazine site. I have written a lot about how people in the church do considerable damage with actions and words that do not reflect Jesus. I have been frustrated by Christians who receive grace willingly and deny it to others. I see division in the body of Christ where we should see unity. It occurred to me that the church does not understand a few key principles that winning baseball teams understand. The first thing that winning teams understand is that every teammate brings strengths and weaknesses to the team. A great team
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Good buddy Scott approached me recently at the activity I laughingly call “work”. “Can I ask you a question?” He asked. I always default to apprehensive when I get that query. I want to start defending myself before I even know the question. “No, in spite of this physique I am NOT using steroids!” Okay…maybe that is a defense that will never happen but I do tend to be wary. “Sure,” I responded. “Does Christianity get easier or harder as you get older?”  I laughed because I knew my answer right away. “Yes.” He laughed in return and said this. “Everything else in life that you do over and over tends to get easier as you get more experience.” In that comment is the key. We get in trouble when we view maturing in Christ as a human endeavor like maturing in your job skills. My faith journey gets harder if I attempt to follow Christ like I attempt to improve in my job or hobbies. If I work harder and learn
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Few movies have generated more mainstream quotes than the silly movie Airplane and that movie is, of course, one of my favorites. Having claimed the intellectual high ground I offer this dialogue with very anxious flyer Ted Striker and a fellow passenger. Passenger: Nervous? Ted Striker: Yes. Passenger: First time? Ted Striker: No, I’ve been nervous lots of times. I sometimes think of that line when I write these humble ramblings. I have certainly been nervous a number of times because I attempt to communicate truth with grace and represent Jesus humbly even as I tackle tough topics. Nothing makes me more nervous than writing about faith and politics. I wrote a piece with the tongue-in-cheek title “Will Democrats Go To Heaven?”. Here is an excerpt from that article. “Christians are not to seek “power over” others – by controlling governments, passing legislation or fighting wars. Christians should seek to have “power under” others – winning others hearts by sacrificing for those in
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Recently I had the pleasure of addressing this fun filled topic with Pastor Jeff Denton of Waterbrook Bible Fellowship in Wylie, Texas. I am posting a question per day from that discussion. Here is question number 7… Pastor Jeff: In my opinion, this gets to the Question Behind the Question. Because if an unbeliever says they believe the church is full of hypocrites, and they don’t want to hang out with people like that, I believe they’re really saying “The only Christians I know are hypocrites who don’t care about me and live only for themselves.”  I want to respond with, “Tell me about the Christians you know personally.”  If you only know the public failures. People who condemned others, only to find out they were participating in the exact sins they were condemning others for – yeah, I’d want to get away from people like that too. What I want you to know is that real, transformed, Christians – saved
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