Column, etc.
NOTE: Blogger is not allowing me to post pictures tonight. Pardon the text-only post.
Tonight is first day of spring semester. I'm taking all night courses this semester. I thought that might work out better with the job schedule. Tonight it's Geography. Gimme an M...A...P...S...waddya got? 90 minutes of dozing.
It's been a rough week in all honesty, and yet another opportunity for my wife to prove how amazing she is. She's dealt with my tears, my outbursts, my anger, my depression and my hopelessness for the past week.
Things never seem to work out exactly as you hope or plan. My intention was to work part-time at the newspaper, part-time at my previous job, and switch colleges so my commute would be shorter.
As I posted last week, my previous job let me go a little sooner than expected. Also, last week I went to a different college with the intention of transferring, but couldn't do it. I just got a "vibe." I've been at Normandale for over a year now and it feels like home. It's clean, modern, I know people here, the computers are fast and the instructors are by and large of exemplary quality, so I figured why ruin a good thing?
I've been struggling with financial, personal and spiritual issues recently. My mom sent me a book by Billy Graham, and as is normally the case there was no blinding light on the road to Damascus. The book did, however, do a pretty good job of describing precisely where I'm at spiritually at the moment. It rightfully described me as being "book smart" about Christianity but not feeling it in my heart.
There were four characteristics of a Christian described in the book, and though I don't recall the three I exhibit, I do recall the one I do not: Love. Christians are supposed to exude love for their fellow man. It doesn't take a theologian to know that yours truly does not always, if ever, exude love for his fellow man. Quite the opposite.
The question is, how does one change the very core of one's being? I'm already trying to quickly make up for four decades of career and financial stagnation. Now I have to renovate my soul?
It's going to be a busy week and I'll do my best to post regularly. If not, I beg your forgiveness.
COLUMN
The following is this week's offering to the newspaper. You'll note that it's little more than a beefed-up version of last week's Pat Robertson post. My editor told me that if I would care to write something specifically geared towards eliciting reader reaction, I could do so. Since the Robertson post garnered quite a few comments, I took that as a good sign.
Pat Robertson is taking heat for yet another presumably irresponsible statement he uttered on the 700 Club.
Robertson dared suggest that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s stroke was punishment from God for ceding land to the Palestinians in the name of Mideast peace, which by the way is an oxymoron.
Folks on all sides of the political and religious aisles are up in arms over Robertson’s statement. In the ensuing furor the question no one seems to be asking is:
What if Robertson was right?
Somewhere along the way God apparently became a wizened, white-haired grandfatherly type dandling us on his knee for all eternity. Religious folks have fostered this portrayal to keep pews and collection plates full, as is evidenced by Catholic and Protestant churches alike accepting every imaginable form of deviancy regardless of its 180-degree departure from Church precepts. A parish for every perversion is their motto.
Non-religious types perpetuate the God-as-grandfather image because, on the off-chance he actually exists, such a kindly old gent would never dish out eternal hellfire. A wagging of his mighty index finger in the face of transgressors coupled with a stern verbal admonishment would be as bad as it gets, followed by ions of dandling.
For Pat Robertson to suggest otherwise is sacrilege, at least according to armchair reverends throughout the nation. These are people whose exposure to current events is limited to news teasers aired during sitcom commercial breaks.
I was raised in an Evangelical church which described itself as “charismatic,” but my mom described it best as “charis-maniac.” The Sunday service consisted of 90 minutes of singing, foot-stomping and speaking in tongues followed by an hour of fire and brimstone washed down with cookies and punch afterwards. Nothing gets the taste of sulfur out of your mouth like watered-down Kool-Aid.
This church, for all its shortcomings, at least instilled the fear of God in parishioners. The Good Book is chock full of plagues, pestilence and wrath. It’s all judgment all the time, like a 24-hour cable channel with locusts, frogs and hail.
Sodom and Gomorrah were wiped out by a vengeful God. Jonah was swallowed by a fish sent by God. Moses served up the plague du jour until the Pharaoh let his people go. And don’t I recall something about a flood that made Hurricane Katrina look like a water park attraction?
Sounds like a certain omnipotent being is in need of serious anger-management counseling.
The Bible also makes it abundantly clear that Israel is God’s chosen land and the man upstairs deals harshly with folks who seek to destroy her. God drowned the Pharaoh’s armies in the Red Sea, brought down the walls of Jericho and committed countless other acts of vengeance that, if replicated in Hollywood, would merit an NC-17 rating for violence.
If God is not above exacting retribution on outsiders who seek to destroy his chosen land, why was Pat Robertson out of line for suggesting that the leader of Israel would be at risk for weakening it from within?
Predictably, in their rush to judgment, none of Robertson’s detractors have bothered to learn what he actually said. He merely quoted the third verse of the Book of Joel that says God reserves the right to smite those who “divided up my land,” which is precisely what Sharon did.
Golly, a Christian preacher quoting a Bible verse directly related to current events in God’s chosen land. Not exactly the Webster definition of unmitigated gall.
Hal Lindsay, who has built a cottage industry on Biblical prophecy, recently predicted that “something would happen to Ariel Sharon” necessitating his removal as prime minister of Israel. Why didn’t Lindsay get the same negative press as Robertson? Perhaps because he’s not part of the supposed right-wing cabal manipulating marionette strings over the White House.
I’m not a fool. Ariel Sharon’s stroke was more likely attributable to age and a fast-food diet than an act of God. It makes me nervous, however, to discount out-of-hand the possibility that God might choose to directly intervene in the lives of men, particularly men who seek to parcel out his chosen land to sworn enemies.
It seems ironic that the very folks who point to the lack of modern-day miracles as proof of God’s non-existence are the same people who scoff at the idea of Divine intervention of the vengeful sort. You can’t have it both ways.
If given the choice to throw in my lot with blow-dried talking heads who decry Pat Robertson’s words or a man well-versed in Scripture who’s willing to tell the world that like it or not, God has a proven track record of kicking butt and taking names, I’ll side with the latter. And I’m buying up locust repellant stock like you wouldn’t believe.
Tonight is first day of spring semester. I'm taking all night courses this semester. I thought that might work out better with the job schedule. Tonight it's Geography. Gimme an M...A...P...S...waddya got? 90 minutes of dozing.
It's been a rough week in all honesty, and yet another opportunity for my wife to prove how amazing she is. She's dealt with my tears, my outbursts, my anger, my depression and my hopelessness for the past week.
Things never seem to work out exactly as you hope or plan. My intention was to work part-time at the newspaper, part-time at my previous job, and switch colleges so my commute would be shorter.
As I posted last week, my previous job let me go a little sooner than expected. Also, last week I went to a different college with the intention of transferring, but couldn't do it. I just got a "vibe." I've been at Normandale for over a year now and it feels like home. It's clean, modern, I know people here, the computers are fast and the instructors are by and large of exemplary quality, so I figured why ruin a good thing?
I've been struggling with financial, personal and spiritual issues recently. My mom sent me a book by Billy Graham, and as is normally the case there was no blinding light on the road to Damascus. The book did, however, do a pretty good job of describing precisely where I'm at spiritually at the moment. It rightfully described me as being "book smart" about Christianity but not feeling it in my heart.
There were four characteristics of a Christian described in the book, and though I don't recall the three I exhibit, I do recall the one I do not: Love. Christians are supposed to exude love for their fellow man. It doesn't take a theologian to know that yours truly does not always, if ever, exude love for his fellow man. Quite the opposite.
The question is, how does one change the very core of one's being? I'm already trying to quickly make up for four decades of career and financial stagnation. Now I have to renovate my soul?
It's going to be a busy week and I'll do my best to post regularly. If not, I beg your forgiveness.
COLUMN
The following is this week's offering to the newspaper. You'll note that it's little more than a beefed-up version of last week's Pat Robertson post. My editor told me that if I would care to write something specifically geared towards eliciting reader reaction, I could do so. Since the Robertson post garnered quite a few comments, I took that as a good sign.
Pat Robertson is taking heat for yet another presumably irresponsible statement he uttered on the 700 Club.
Robertson dared suggest that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s stroke was punishment from God for ceding land to the Palestinians in the name of Mideast peace, which by the way is an oxymoron.
Folks on all sides of the political and religious aisles are up in arms over Robertson’s statement. In the ensuing furor the question no one seems to be asking is:
What if Robertson was right?
Somewhere along the way God apparently became a wizened, white-haired grandfatherly type dandling us on his knee for all eternity. Religious folks have fostered this portrayal to keep pews and collection plates full, as is evidenced by Catholic and Protestant churches alike accepting every imaginable form of deviancy regardless of its 180-degree departure from Church precepts. A parish for every perversion is their motto.
Non-religious types perpetuate the God-as-grandfather image because, on the off-chance he actually exists, such a kindly old gent would never dish out eternal hellfire. A wagging of his mighty index finger in the face of transgressors coupled with a stern verbal admonishment would be as bad as it gets, followed by ions of dandling.
For Pat Robertson to suggest otherwise is sacrilege, at least according to armchair reverends throughout the nation. These are people whose exposure to current events is limited to news teasers aired during sitcom commercial breaks.
I was raised in an Evangelical church which described itself as “charismatic,” but my mom described it best as “charis-maniac.” The Sunday service consisted of 90 minutes of singing, foot-stomping and speaking in tongues followed by an hour of fire and brimstone washed down with cookies and punch afterwards. Nothing gets the taste of sulfur out of your mouth like watered-down Kool-Aid.
This church, for all its shortcomings, at least instilled the fear of God in parishioners. The Good Book is chock full of plagues, pestilence and wrath. It’s all judgment all the time, like a 24-hour cable channel with locusts, frogs and hail.
Sodom and Gomorrah were wiped out by a vengeful God. Jonah was swallowed by a fish sent by God. Moses served up the plague du jour until the Pharaoh let his people go. And don’t I recall something about a flood that made Hurricane Katrina look like a water park attraction?
Sounds like a certain omnipotent being is in need of serious anger-management counseling.
The Bible also makes it abundantly clear that Israel is God’s chosen land and the man upstairs deals harshly with folks who seek to destroy her. God drowned the Pharaoh’s armies in the Red Sea, brought down the walls of Jericho and committed countless other acts of vengeance that, if replicated in Hollywood, would merit an NC-17 rating for violence.
If God is not above exacting retribution on outsiders who seek to destroy his chosen land, why was Pat Robertson out of line for suggesting that the leader of Israel would be at risk for weakening it from within?
Predictably, in their rush to judgment, none of Robertson’s detractors have bothered to learn what he actually said. He merely quoted the third verse of the Book of Joel that says God reserves the right to smite those who “divided up my land,” which is precisely what Sharon did.
Golly, a Christian preacher quoting a Bible verse directly related to current events in God’s chosen land. Not exactly the Webster definition of unmitigated gall.
Hal Lindsay, who has built a cottage industry on Biblical prophecy, recently predicted that “something would happen to Ariel Sharon” necessitating his removal as prime minister of Israel. Why didn’t Lindsay get the same negative press as Robertson? Perhaps because he’s not part of the supposed right-wing cabal manipulating marionette strings over the White House.
I’m not a fool. Ariel Sharon’s stroke was more likely attributable to age and a fast-food diet than an act of God. It makes me nervous, however, to discount out-of-hand the possibility that God might choose to directly intervene in the lives of men, particularly men who seek to parcel out his chosen land to sworn enemies.
It seems ironic that the very folks who point to the lack of modern-day miracles as proof of God’s non-existence are the same people who scoff at the idea of Divine intervention of the vengeful sort. You can’t have it both ways.
If given the choice to throw in my lot with blow-dried talking heads who decry Pat Robertson’s words or a man well-versed in Scripture who’s willing to tell the world that like it or not, God has a proven track record of kicking butt and taking names, I’ll side with the latter. And I’m buying up locust repellant stock like you wouldn’t believe.
posted by Admin Worm at 2:59 PM
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