Things I Think…

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22 Responses

  1. AA says:

    Phil had to work? Outrageous! We missed him.

  2. filbertz says:

    number seven is an example of #1. Political and ministry aspirations are one in the same anymore…hold on to the seat or the pulpit at all costs because that’s where the power is.

  3. Michael says:

    fil,

    Yes…

  4. filbertz says:

    further, the very same abuses you refer to in #1 are excused by the lack of a robust understanding and practice of grace. (#5) If the sinners are shaping the conversation around grace, we’ll have a skewed view on what grace really is.

  5. John 20:29 says:

    #1- had an interesting conversation with our neighbor (in her 50s and a very attractive woman from TX, married to a University Prof.) about what constitutes sexual harassment … we agreed that some of the accusations in the press are silly, “What woman hasn’t had her butt pinched at some point?” she said… hmmm
    #2- amen, but hope that doesn’t swing to total complacency either
    #3- yep… in the last 5 years i have become inordinately fond of a couple horses
    #4- Chester is an example of the Christian who needs to find a church 🙂
    #5- amen… human good is ultimately evil without selfless grace
    #6- reminds me of being a teenager comparing notes with girl friends that would end in, “You, too!” affirming our humanity?
    #7- it seems like an awful lot of judges are strange LOL – that said, IF Moore confessed and repented, what then? Not an Al Franken confession-so-called, but a real one with a penitent heart. Don’t we, the Church, have to forgive under those circumstances? Barring political differences, would sins of decades long since past, make the man ineligible? dunno, just pondering….
    #8- nothing messes up the order of things like government
    #9- grace and wisdom
    #10- and me
    thank you, Michael for some real life ponders this morning

  6. Dan from Georgia says:

    #7, living next door to AL. I can tell you that there are many people who flat out will not vote outside of the Republican party, NO MATTER WHAT THE CANDIDATE did. They could kill, rape, steal, and many would vote for that candidate because the think that it’s God’s will, and because of “But Hillary….”. Oh, and it goes both ways. People have already made up their minds, no matter what is presented to them.

    Also, I saw a meme out there somewhere that showed a white Jesus consoling a girl who was raped, saying that he was sorry for what happened to her, but the more important thing was the Senate seat.

    (not an original thought here)…Satan offered the world to Jesus. Satan still offers the world to Jesus through his followers.

  7. Dan from Georgia says:

    #10…been thinking about some things recently regarding “Victory”…lots of churches, Christian books, seminars, whatnot…preach about having that “Victorious Life in Christ”. I have read the whole Bible, and a few spots many more times than once, and I really don’t think living the “Victorious Life” is a focus anywhere.

    See for example:
    The Apostle Paul (shipwrecked and having a thorn in his side)
    Jesus’ disciples (all but one martyred)
    The hero’s of the faith in Hebrews (sawed in two for example).
    Jesus (crucified in his early 30s).

  8. JoelG says:

    Dan #7… exactly.

    Don’t forget that “loser “Stephen praying for his murderers as they were killing him.

    Not very victorious…

  9. Babylon's Dread says:

    I think I disagree with #1. More pastors are run out of ministry over sexual immorality than any other sin. Now, if you are parsing affairs from sexual harassment then you might have a point.

    I do think churches will want more than an accusation to run off ministers whose record is otherwise unstained. Then again I know that this blog has been devoted to exposing abuse of power. One thing sure is that many sexual sins in the ministry are rooted in power over women.

    But sexual accusations against ministers are nothing new and unlike entertainment or public officials ministers have been run from their jobs in large numbers over this.

  10. Jtk says:

    “ I hate to say this, but I think we may be replacing real human relationships not only with social media, but with our pets…”

    I love your cat “parables” but…
    the amount of all manner of animals in public spuds is getting out of control.

    Every store, every restaurant, every coffee shop seemingly.

    For me, when it’s my whole family and for those with young kids, I’m concerned about safety. More concerning, I keep hearing and seeing comments online about how individual humans, made in the image of God, need to be killed when an animal is harmed in any way, legal or not (the police shooting of a pit bull that wouldn’t comply with either the owner nor the police, comes to mind).

    We already have enough uncontrolled and uncontrollable adults and children…

    Why post this here, I am asking myself…

  11. Jtk says:

    Public places
    Not “spuds”

  12. Michael says:

    Good responses today, folks…

    BD, I’m comparing what I know to what has been exposed…

    JTK…I think you make good points…

  13. descended says:

    I think we’re all tiring of having to hear about what goes on or doesn’t go on in the pants of old men.

    We have infants for princes and children for kings.

  14. Dan from Georgia says:

    JoelG, yes! And furthermore, down here in the south you have many black (Pentecostal and baptist mainly) churches that preach this stuff. The congregations are either rich or poor. My wife likes black gospel music, and much of this music promotes the same thinking-God is gonna bless you ten fold, heal your cancer, bring your spouse back, and make you get off your meds, for example.

    Me me me.

  15. Martin Luther's Disciple says:

    Dan,
    “and much of this music promotes the same thinking-God is gonna bless you ten fold, heal your cancer, bring your spouse back, and make you get off your meds, for example. ”

    And God will do this – it is a 100%promise.

  16. Jtk just read my mind.

    I amazed the places will now bring their pets.

    It’s like a fashion accessory

    I grew up with hunting/work dogs.

    The idea that a dog would be tromping around TJ Maxx or Safeway boggles me…

  17. Duane Arnold says:

    #13 Descended

    “We have infants for princes and children for kings.”

    What a great song lyric. Mind if I steal it?

  18. Martin Luther's Disciple says:

    “We have infants for princes and children for kings.”

    Isn’t that a Jesus line?
    “but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”

  19. Martin Luther's Disciple says:

    descended,
    “I think we’re all tiring of having to hear about what goes on or doesn’t go on in the pants of old men.”

    I don’t think incontinence is something to make light of in us old men. 🙂

  20. descended says:

    Duane
    Be my guest!

    MLD
    good funny 😉 ba dum bumbum

  21. descended says:

    MLD
    It’s from Isaiah 3:4. I think that the church recapitulates the sins of the leaders of ancient Israel, and as the only people in our nation with the Holy Spirit (supposedly), our nation follows suit and recapitulates the sins of the nation of Israel.
    I’m sure you already read this 10x as much as me.

    1 For behold, the Lord GOD of hosts is going to remove from Jerusalem and Judah
                Both supply and support, the whole supply of bread
                And the whole supply of water;

          2 The mighty man and the warrior,
                The judge and the prophet,
                The diviner and the elder,

          3 The captain of fifty and the honorable man,
                The counselor and the expert artisan,
                And the skillful enchanter.

          4 And I will make mere lads their princes,
                And capricious children will rule over them,

          5 And the people will be oppressed,
                Each one by another, and each one by his neighbor;
                The youth will storm against the elder
                And the inferior against the honorable.

          6 When a man lays hold of his brother in his father’s house, saying,
                “You have a cloak, you shall be our ruler,
                And these ruins will be under your charge,”

          7 He will protest on that day, saying,
                “I will not be your healer,
                For in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;
                You should not appoint me ruler of the people.”

          8 For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen,
                Because their speech and their actions are against the LORD,
                To rebel against His glorious presence.

  22. Martin Luther's Disciple says:

    descended,
    The church and Christians are sin generators – everything we do is tainted with sin.
    Are you suggesting that we can do differently?
    The law preached here by Isaiah is not to reform us into good people (the law is incapable of that) – it is to show us how bad we are and how hopeless we are without a savior.
    We are lucky to be counted as only infants and children where we should be counted only as dead.

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