Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Here I Stand

In the words of Martin Luther, “Here I stand.” This pretty well sums up my theological worldview today. I’m not sure about tomorrow.

What's your theological worldview?created with QuizFarm.com


You scored as Emergent/Postmodern.

You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this.

Emergent/Postmodern. . . . . . . . . 75%
Neo orthodox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68%
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan. . . 57%
Modern Liberal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50%
Classical Liberal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46%
Charismatic/Pentecostal. . . . . . . . 36%
Reformed Evangelical . . . . . . . . . . 32%
Roman Catholic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25%
Fundamentalist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14%

Other bloggers have posted this link and expressed interest in seeing whether or not others agreed with their results. I think it hits pretty close to where I think I am. I was surprised that I have any Fundamentalist at all. I will have to repent and perform acts of contrition because of that 14%.



Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Blind, Stupid, or What?

“Last week, Gonzales sent leaders of Congress a 42-page legal defense of warrantless eavesdropping which suggests that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is unconstitutional if it prevents the NSA's warrantless eavesdropping.” AP writer Pete Yost 1-24-06
This is definitely a new low (or maybe high, depending on your political persuasion) in spin-doctoring. Initially, the Bush administration claimed that its domestic surveillance program was legal under FISA. Now it is claiming that if it is not legal under FISA then FISA is unconstitutional. I used to use the “Blind, Stupid, or What?” login for items regarding the lying of the Bush administration, but I now find it hard to believe that any rational person can put any trust in anything that comes out of the Whitehouse.
George W. Bush has been lying his entire career. Take you choice of issues: National Guard Service, WMDs, outing of CIA agents, etcetera, ad nauseum. Where is Jimmy Carter when we need him? Oh yeah, he out there doing some good for the kingdom of God.



Friday, January 13, 2006

PLEASE SIGN AND FORWARD

Still very busy but needed to pass this on. I received an email from a college student with the subject:

PLEASE SIGN SCHOOL PETITION AND FORWARD

I was interested to see what kind of petition I was supposed to sign and discovered the following text:

PETITION TO REINSTATE PRAYER IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Agree or Delete: Instructions to sign are at the bottom.
PETITION FOR PRES. BUSH

Following that was a list of 1839 names from all over the country.

As a firm believer that real prayer was not and cannot be removed from public schools, and consequently cannot be “reinstated,” I was not moved to add my name to the list and then forward it to a few thousand of my closest friends. But I was struck by the following dire warning that showed up at the end of the list of names.

If you don't forward the petition and just stop it, we will lose all these names. If you do not want to sign it, please forward it to everyone you know. Thank you!!!
To add your name, click on "forward". You will be able to add your name at the bottom of the list and then forward it to your friends.
THE 2,000TH PERSON SEND IT ON TO THE FOLLOWING E-MAIL ADDRESS  President@white.gov

“If you do not want to sign it, please forward it to everyone you know. Thank you.” I give them points for being polite and points for shear audacity, but just how stupid do they think I am? That, by the way, is a rhetorical answer which does not require a response.

What a temptation, all I have to do is not forward this message and all 1839 names of well-meaning but woefully misguided people will be lost. But upon further examination I saw that the sender had included six other names. It would be just my luck that one of them will sign and forward it.  It was interesting to see who was on the list.

One is from a baptist college
One is from a catholic college
One is probably a nurse, might be wrong but nurse_2b06@____  seems like a sure thing
One works for the OK state tax commission
One works for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Indian Health Service
And one is only identified as smilelady70

All of them and me is an interesting group. I wonder if there is a way we could get together to discuss this issue.  Alas, I don’t see how it can be done without mining the list for addresses which I consider to be the unforgiveable sin.

Super Power Teacher

It’s a busy month, I’ve not had much time for blogging but found this on McCarty Musing and thought it was interesting/enlightening/disturbing/all-of-the-above.

if the US wants to run the world and be able to kick some serious military ass, we have to sacrifice certain other things. Like health-care. And maternity benefits. And reduced or free lunches for poor kids.