During an episode of Generations Radio, some woman was giving one of those testimonies where they air all of the dirty laundry of their past lives as justification as to why you have to live a super strict lifestyle renouncing nearly every convenience of the modern world. In this verbal pity party, the lady remarked that she had never had a honeymoon. Given that she had six children by that point and was banging against the headboards with her now husband before he had divorced his previous wife (mind you, this is from the same movement where your daughter is classified as a street whore if she holds hands or kisses someone prior to the wedding ceremony), hadn’t she already had a honeymoon multiple times over?
Interesting logic. Because some overly sheltered Christians went hog wild into debauchery once exposed to the secular university campus, a number of homeschool podcasters insist that those in the listening audience aren’t supposed to aspire to anything beyond a life of manual labor even if they do not possess an affinity towards tasks requiring mechanical alacrity or to attain any knowledge other than that possessed by their parents. Sometimes I think about being a preacher. But if this represents the kind of reasoning we are supposed to nod in agreement with while verbalizing a hearty “Amen”, I sometimes think it is more my purpose to be more like a Mark Twain or Chesterton and just expose some of this foolishness.
I don't know what's more disturbing: “50 Shades Of Grey” or Melaine Griffin's face stretched to the breaking point by plastic surgery.
Outrage has erupted over Scott Walker not being sure whether or not President Obama is a Christian. What does it matter what Scott Walker conjectures regarding the President's soterilogical state? Scott Walker holds no office in any church exercising ecclesiological authority or oversight over Barack Obama. Nor does Scott Walker exhibit any signs that this perceptual thread in his comprehensive epistemic web will prompt him towards any act of violence.
In opposition to Rob Bell's support of homosexuality, the hosts of Generation's Radio suggested that Wheaton College (the school from which Bell graduated) should do more than simply stop selling the apostate's works in the campus bookstore. Instead, the university should revoke Bell's degree and hold a book burning. Is that the direction Americans ought to take cultural disagreement in this country? Should similar policies also be applied to those holding to explicitly conservative religious positions? For example, the host Kevin Swanson holds a degree in engineering from a secular university. Should it be revoked not for reasons of academic corruption but rather on the grounds of his opposition to wanton debaucheries such as gay marriage or upholding orthodox Christian belief such as those pertaining to the divinity of Christ?
In a podcast regarding church government, it was postulated that you can’t go hobnobbing on social media with someone voted out of a church. The control your church exercises over you should not be that pervasive unless you are on the payroll possibly. And that is not so much from the standpoint of some lofty moral principle but more from the organization’s power to ruin non-compliant hirelings financially.
In a sermon comparing those that don't hold formalized membership in the congregations that they attend to shacked up whores, the preacher claimed that if you don't belong to a single church, you won't know what pastor to submit to. There isn't that much divergency in orthodox formulations of the faith that the teaching is going to pull you in two competing ethical directions. If you don't hold a position in a church beyond that of pew filler, no church should be allowed to control you to such an extent. If you need someone to control you on the personal level that you can't decide for yourself what constitutes solid teaching and sound morals, you are afflicted with a profound mental or emotional deficiency.
Regarding the pastor that accuses those that attend a church without formalized membership of being little better than a shacked up whore. Would he rather such people not attend at all? And if this pastor comes from a background of low ecclesiology to begin with, on what grounds does he turn around and toss a hissy fit should those disaffected by congregations with nitpicky rules form their own religious associations?
Those holding to a Reformed perspective taking delight in being little more than God's toy to be discarded if you happen to be a Bespin guard or Jawa rather than a Boba Fett or Luke Skywalker in terms of action figure like to boast how the sinner's prayer does not save. A recitation of the mere words might not. However, believing them does. It is a reasonable wager that fewer were damned for reciting the sinner's prayer than for relying on their infant baptism without ever exercising their own belief.
In coverage of CPAC, Fox News correspondent Carl Cameron reported that a number walked out when Jeb Bush addressed the assembled. However, most were polite and remained to listen. Given that these people most likely paid their own admission, how in the name of manners can they be compelled to sit through an oration that they do not desire to hear?
In a commercial for AARP insurance, actor Matt McCoy shares that he had his auto insurance for about 20 years. So since about the time he was in the episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation where he fornicated with Counselor Troi while in the employee of a duo of Ferengi attempting to swindle a wormhole to the Delta Quadrant.
On The Five, Juan Williams insisted that law enforcement agencies are the ones calling for the ban on certain kinds of AR-15 ammunition. So will law enforcement also renounce use of these as well. For if the American people no longer have access to them, why would civilian police forces still need access to these bullets?
Juan Williams insists that law enforcement agencies are the ones requesting the prohibition of certain varieties of AR-15 ammunition. Just because police make such a request, it does not follow that the American people should be obligated to comply.
God might not have called the church to reform society or the church as its primary purpose.. However, that is not to say that it is not His intent for individual Christians to participate in these particular cultural functions.
For the sake of consistency, since converting to Islam would Oliver Stone's son expose the human rights abuses throughout Iran and the Muslim world the way he did those of the United States as part of Jesse Ventura's Conspiracy Theories production staff?
Can't say I agree with the movement. However, didn't the government abuse its police power when it raided a meeting of the Texas secessionist movement to fingerprint those in attendance? Are similar tactics employed at mosques in that state where one is likely to find the real terrorists? And if illegals are not required to show an ID to vote, on what grounds ought you to be required to show an ID for doing nothing more than exercising one's first amendment rights to peaceably assemble?
In response to adoption, Christians often have it rubbed in our faces about how eager we should be to adopt the orphaned because God adopted us. Using these kinds of strained Biblical analogies, should we threaten to nail one of our kids to a cross for breaking our rules since that was the price God required for breaking His?
Since Chris Matthews condemned Netanyahu's speech before Congress as an attempt by a foreign leader to seize control of American foreign policy, will the inebriated pundit as vociferously support efforts to block illegal aliens from voting?
Contrary to Pastor Jason Cooley at SermonAudio, just because Leonard Nimoy was a Kabbalist, it is not necessarily an example of some kind of gnostic dichotomy that he published one memoir “I Am Not Spock” and another “I Am Spock”. These contradictory titles represent more of how he came to grips with being identified with the role defining his career.
Pastor Jason Cooley at SermonAudio insists that the only reason why anyone expressed condolences regarding Leonard Nimoy was because he “entertained their flesh”. It's not like the actor was a porn star. His most beloved role was a character that got aroused only once every seven years. For more pastors were like that, they would probably be fewer allegations of child abuse and extramarital affairs in America's churches.
The Syfy Channel broadcast a movie titled “Chupacabra Vs. The Alamo”. Do producers intend a similar film as a sequel about trolls living under the bridge to Selma that blockade those desiring to pass?
In a sermon on picking up the mantle of Elijah, a pastor remarked that most young people are more interested in what’s on TV than preaching. But it’s not like they would likely ever be considered good enough to engage in the aforementioned ecclesiastical elocution anyway.
Speaking on picking up the mantle of Elijah, an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist remarked that the reason more men don't start churches is because they are too enamored with material comfort. Maybe so. But these same ministers that emphasize an extremist position on ecclesiastical separation would probably go out of their way to prevent someone going into the ministry that did not embrace a particular perspective or ideology regarding an assortment of nonessential secondaries.
Frederick Meekins is an independent theologian and social critic. Frederick holds a BS in Political Science/History, a MA in Apologetics/Christian Philosophy from Trinity Theological Seminary, and a PhD. in Christian Apologetics from Newburgh Theological Seminary.
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