Thursday, May 28, 2015
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Ministries Begin To Weigh In On Duggar Scandal
But if the information conveyed is true, is it gossip?
Some might respond that, because this information impacts only the Duggars, no one else but the involved parties need to know about it.
But if assorted religious propagandists uplifted the Duggars as some kind of ideal to emulate in terms of breeding out of control and for ways to curtail the freedoms of their children, shouldn't it be exposed where these figures fall short in adhering to the most simple and obvious Christian standards?
If it is considered gossip to report when this family falls short, shouldn't celebrating their hyperlegalistic proclivities also be considered a form of gossip when these are invoked for the purposes of manipulating one's audience into believing that their own walk with God is inferior when they prefer not to rely upon so many externalities in their own spirituality and religious devotion?
In reflection upon the Duggar scandal, a pastor on SermnAudio remarked how worldlings are gleeful when Christians fall into sin.
But don't we believers tend to do the same thing in regards to the adherents of assorted false belief systems?
Who among us didn't latch onto the Roman Catholic abuse scandal as proof to the shortcomings of that variety of Christianity?
So now shouldn't similar outrages be taken as proof that things might not be as perfect in hardline Evangelicalism as the missionary prayercard photos would lead us to believe?
In reflecting upon the Duggar scandal, a pastor criticized the number of homseschooling families that position themselves almost as teaching ministries as they share their practices and techniques with others but without the formal ecclesiastical authority of eldership.
The peculiarities of certain homeschool families are secondary in regards to that comment.
What this minister is saying is that you should not be allowed to publish a book or speak at a conference convened beyond the direct oversight of a church body without the permission of your pastor, deacon board, or consistory.
The response to that in terms of organized religion is who is going to stop me?
by Frederick Meekins
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Reflections Upon The Duggar Allegations
Given the molestations allegations that have come out against Josh Duggar, if that is what goes on behind the close doors of the first family of homeschooling, should Christians now evaluate that form of education as well?
His own sisters are alleged to rank among his victims.
But since he was married by 20 years of age, he is not the deviant.
You are if you are not according to radical homeschoolist propaganda.
Would there be as much outrage over the Duggar allegations if these parents had not attempted to rule over their children with such an iron fist?
Seems to me your son molesting one of your daughters would be more a sign of failed parenting than if your kids kissed someone before their wedding ceremony.
Perhaps this tragic story should be taken as a warning that parents procreating at such a shocking rate don't always pay that much attention to the children whom it is claimed are loved more than the children of those parents that spawn a more manageable one to three.
No wonder the one Duggar girl got married to someone on the other side of the world. Always figured it was to get away from that crowd.
Who would have thought it would have been over something so terrible.
Mark my words.
Before it’s all over with, the Duggar that can’t keep his hands to himself will be addressing riveted crowds on the topic as to why septuagenarian singles shouldn’t even be allowed to sit with one another in church.
By Frederick Meekins
Duggar Parents Hand Victimized Daughter Over To Abuser As Housewarming Present
Sunday, May 24, 2015
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Friday, May 22, 2015
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Review Proves Why Most Christians Films Not Worth Watching
Is Kevin Swanson going to maintain that nothing questionable would slip out of his mouth while battling a genocidal Artificial Intelligence on the cusp of perpetrating an extinction level disaster?
The radical homeschooler’s critique of the film went beyond questionable dialog selections on the part of the screenwriters.
Tony Stark in particular was condemned as an individualist and not being much of a team player.
But isn’t that the characteristic of Robert Downey’s interpretation that has made his performance endearing over the course of the interlocking Marvel films and one with which sarcastic loners with a tendency to dance to the beat of their own drum have been able to identify?
As the review progressed, Swanson finally revealed the nature of his ultimate disapproval with the film.
For you see, with the exception of the archer Hawkeye, the protagonists are to be condemned because the are SINGLE (as in unmarried) for a variety of reasons.
For the most part, shouldn’t these characters be applauded for that decision because of the particular vocations in which they find themselves?
Captain America was in suspended animation for over 70 years while the woman he loved, Agent Peggy Carer, aged at a normal rate and if developments in her own TV miniseries are any indication, eventually moved on to marry somebody else as she didn’t even know those many decades that he was even still alive.
So in the eyes of the radical homeschoolers, is Steve Rogers not supposed to work through that profound emotional trauma before wedding someone else that he might not really love?
As to the Incredible Hulk, despite the slight sparks there with Black Widow, perhaps Bruce Banner has character enough to realize that he is better off without a relationship in which the normal stresses of which could set off his condition to the point where he wouldn’t simply snap at his wife in a less than courteous tone but instead level his entire neighborhood.
Though it was amusing to discover that Hawkeye had a secret family that he had concealed from his colleagues in the espionage and costumed adventurer communities and that served as a reminder of what these heroes are fighting for, these are action adventure films (not chick flicks).
While passing romance and flirtations add flavor to the narrative, the primary purpose for these films is to see robots and aliens blown up.
I don’t really care to see Superman flying Lois Lane from store to store looking for new drapes for the Fortress of Solitude.
Perhaps the most disturbing thing said by Swanson in his analysis was that we must be careful not to limit the designation of witchcraft to those claiming to be witches.
Instead, anyone whose power comes from a source other than God is guilty of this grievous offense.
An argument can be made as to the technical accuracy of that claim.
However, it must be remembered that Swanson advocates a political philosophy known as theonomy or Christian Reconstructionism that calls for the implementation of Biblical law as the nation’s comprehensive social policy and statutory code.
Since that is the case, how ought and to whom should the Biblical injunction of “Suffer not a witch to live” be applied?
For if definable limits are not placed upon such a principle, it could certainly be manipulated as a clever way to justify executing your political and philosophical opponents.
Vigilance is required whether one is dealing with a maniacal artificial intelligence or a podcasting minister that hasn’t fully considered the implications of his theological pronouncements.
By Frederick Meekins
Would Transhumanist Party Candidate Surrender Control Of Government To Skynet?
Duggar Not Allowed To Kiss Until Wedding Day Apparently Copped An Underage Feel
On The Flash, if Eobard Thawn was erased from the timeline altogether, does that mean the entire series now resets itself? Because it was established earlier in the season that he murdered the real Dr. Wells and assumed his identity in order to build the cyclotron 20 years earlier than it would have been. (And will riot police need to be called in at Comicon should debates about this get out of hand?)
A Facebook theologian said “Furthermore, should preaching God's Word be contingent upon what is popular to keep the tithes and offerings coming in? Many churches have prospered that do not preach the gospel such as Joel Osteen's congregation.” That comment was in response to my own about if you are going to insist that dead babies go to Hell, don’t expect much in the collection plate or even for the parents to come back to church if that is the degree of comfort your ministry provides. It must be something to go through life that devoid of emotion. Preaching God’s word might not be contingent upon what is popular. However, neither does it necessarily be expressed in such a way as to rub salt in what has got to be one of life’s most crippling psychological wounds.
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Pastor Threatens Damnation Of Children To Silence Critics
Dependent upon what the pastor is accused of doing, if the deed is sufficiently egregious, doesn't the pastor also bear some of the responsibility for this potential religious abandonment?
What this pastor was doing from the pulpit was attempting to frighten critics into silence.
Pastor Jason Cooley admonished in the sermon that one ought to largely remain silent regarding a pastor's errors or mistakes.
He likened this form of criticism and analysis to a form of backbiting or secret whispering spoken of unfavorably in Scripture.
Often a pastor's sermons consist in large part of what others have done wrong even if the names are changed.
Therefore, what is so wrong with the average Christian, as part of their own ministry, exposing errors on the part of pastors so that all throughout Christendom might be better protected against them when spiritually assaulted by similar doctrine and pastoral malfeasance elsewhere?
Scripture warns about spreading secrets and talking about that which one ought not or which there is no verifiable proof.
However, a sermon is a public oration.
As such a discourse, it is open to reflection by and cogitation upon by those that hear it. The role of the pastor is to protect the flock.
Then shouldn't it be the role of studied voices from within the flock to protect the flock from the pastor even if that protection consists of little more than assurance that more than one mind is formulating these kinds of concerns?
By Frederick Meekins
Monday, May 18, 2015
Pastoral Ego Nearly As Large As The Political
The analysis is correct.
However, it elicits a number of additional observations.
I'm not really much of a Huckabee fan.
I just don't really care for candidates that insist that the government should track the weight of your children for national security reasons when some of their own offspring from an official family photo look like they top the 300 pound mark.
However, according to these pastors, are we to take away the impression that whether or not we attempt something should be predicated upon the possibility of earthly success?
Secondly, which of the candidates isn't running for name recognition in the form of the prestigious positions or lucrative book deals and speaking engagements that will accumulate at the end of the campaign trail?
What in life is not done for name recognition?
On an episode of Futurama, it was joked that all of civilization was just an attempt to impress the opposite sex.
When you come down to it, one of the primary reasons human beings procreate is so that your name will continue after you are dead.
Name recognition, in part, is why people get involved in ministry.
Sure, there is a deeply spiritual motivation to spread the Gospel.
However, if that is the only reason, why did the church posting this podcast attach its name to the file as well as those of the participating pastors?
By Frederick Meekins
Sunday, May 17, 2015
Saturday, May 16, 2015
Friday, May 15, 2015
Overly Stringent Requirements Chase Away Potential Members
One is also obligated to become a formalized member of an organized congregation.
Then perhaps the requirements to join should not be so strenuous for some of them.
It might be one thing to ask the aspirant to renounce their sins and to give when they can.
However, there seems to be nothing in the pages of Scripture where one is required to join a “growth group” and to volunteer an hour a week to the church.
If you are attending the Sunday Service, that ought to be considered the hour that you are contributing.
Furthermore, isn't it challenging enough for the socially awkward and anxious to come to a neutral centralized meeting place?
I am sure as Sheol as part of these growth groups not going to the home of people I barely know to areas where I know next to nothing about the off site or on street parking.
Furthermore, isn't it enough for someone to confess that they believe in Christ for the remission of sins?
Should membership be contingent upon how dramatic or shocking one's past life testimony happens to be?
Joining a church should not have to be an audition for American Idol or some other reality series.
By Frederick Meekins
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Headline Potpourri #71
Those verbalizing the word “thug” have been accused of actually thinking the “N-word”. And what if they did? Those saying the word “thug” weren't the ones rampaging in the streets and destroying property.
The Iranian Supreme Leader has Tweeted that, in America, police kill citizens for no reason. That is opposed to as in the Islamic Republic where law enforcement put to death woman going out in public with uncovered heads and toss homosexuals off of multistory buildings.
Donald Trump condemned the Muhammad cartoon exhibition as being unnecessarily provocative of Muslims. Should his beauty pageants be abolished for the same reasons? Those of that particular faith aren't too keen either on broads prancing about in high heels and skimpy swimsuits with their boobs jacked up and their hindquarters swaying in the breeze.
In a church membership class posted on SermonAudio, those in attendance for the proceedings were required from the sound of it to fill in a seating chart of those around them each week supposedly for the purposes of learning the names of the fellow students. If Independent Baptists insist that their practices are derived from sola scriptura, where is the precedent for the described classroom procedure described in the pages of Holy Writ? If a church requires such rigmarole, doesn't the church run the risk of alienating those with social anxiety? For I know I'd go running out of their at the end of the class like Chiroptera fleeing Ghenna.
A number of supporters are listing among his qualifications for the Presidency that Ben Carson is Black. Perhaps Rand Paul's should list among their preferred candidate's qualifications that the Kentucky ophthalmologist is White?
If the White House can serve tacos during its celebration of the contrived Mexican holiday of Cinco de Mayo, why is it condemned as racist for assorted student grounds to serve these dishes at assorted activities and functions?
On a News and Focus program, William Strum of Berean Baptist Chuch condemned short term missions trips. But aren't the shortcomings of those undertakings more the fault of professional religionists that shame the average Christian for little involvement with transborder outreach and how even something like vacation has to be justified on the grounds of profound spiritual implication? Can't someone just go to the beach or mountains to be going to the beach or mountains? Does the reason have to have a string of Bible verse references following it?
According to an academic study referenced on Generations Radio with Kevin Swanson, Nigerian children are supposedly better off than than those in Baltimore. Does that include the 214 girls rescued from Boko Haram that are now pregnant. At least those impregnated outside of marriage in Baltimore probably had a bit more say in the matter.
A Facebook theologian admonished that one should only pray for a request if it is God's will. But unless one possess precognition or clairvoyance, regarding a variety of morally ambivalent issues of which Scripture is not necessarily definitive, you aren't really going to know what God's will is until a chronometric potentiality has already elapsed.
Speaking in reference to the Muhammad Cartoon Contest, Al Sharpton insists that, even if you have a right to do something, that does not mean you should do it. Mind you, this is the street thug that applauds those that do that to which they have no right such as the vandalism of private and public property. One of the acts he instigated at one time even resulted in the loss of innocent human life.
Are those outraged by the restaurant sponsoring a White Appreciation Day discount as bent out of shape over President Obama establishing programs such as My Brother's Keeper that benefit only Colored youth?
The Afrosupremacists outraged over southern youth posing with Confederate paraphernalia are the same subversives and terrorist sympathizers that exhibit little concern or condemnation of the property destruction that takes place during riots in ghettos such as Ferguson and Baltimore.
The same Afrosupremacists outraged over southern youth posing with Confederate paraphernalia are the same subversives and terrorist sympathizers that exhibit little concern or condemnation of the property destruction that takes place during riots in ghettos such as Ferguson and Baltimore.
In a Lutheran Sunday School class, an Ethiopian pastor smugly remarked that Ethiopia is mentioned around forty times in the Bible whereas America is not mentioned. If Ethiopia is such a wonderful place, why is the pastor here rather than in Ethiopia. And if he is counting among those references those mentioned in the Book of Daniel, I don't recall those being all that positive. From that text, it sounded like Ethiopia would become part of some Islamist or Third World alliance that would attempt to attack Israel towards the end of the age.
Shouldn't the fact that most Westerners have had few encounters with actual demonic sorcery or witchcraft serve as a testament to the power and vitality of the Christian worldview rather than as a pretext to launch a rant on how dimwitted Whitey is? If you are teaching from Acts 8 and skip over the encounter with Simon the Sorcery instead to harp how wonderfully crosscultural the encounter between Phillip and the Ethiopian eunuch, don't you as a pastor bear the responsibility for failing to teach Americans as to the reality of these spiritual dangers?
A pastor praised the Baltimore mother that slapped her son for participating in the riots. From the pulpit, the minister announced that this woman should be nominated as mother of the year. But wasn't what we witnessed more a last ditch effort to interdict a lifestyle of failed parenting? To remain consistent, shouldn't a minister that just a week or two before suggesting that Bruce Jenner is mentally screwed up because of the increasing number of women that wear pants not lift up as the ideal Proverbs 31 mother someone that has birthed multiple children outside of marriage by as many men and who is covered with tattoos?
As part of a mother's day sermon, a pastor condemned young women for not knowing how to cook from scratch. Where is it detailed in the Scripture that meals must be prepared from scratch and cannot be out of a can as ridiculed in the pastor's snide comment regarding Chef Boyardee? If a pastor is going to hold women up to such an impossible standard, is he adept at what would be considered manchores such as gutting his own livestock or even auto repair? Shouldn't someone that lives in an apartment complex where the staff handles the yardwork and maintenance be reluctant about criticizing other basic tasks no longer completed as they were in the 1800's?
A Lutheran Church I visited needed over $3000 for its vacation Bible school program. Who knew cloth puppets and snack cookies were such big business. $2000 was to be for advertising. Are they flying in Davey & Golitath to film a commercial?
Rick Perry said it is healthy to question the government but not the military. But is not the military part of the government? How about when the government through the military is used to implement anti-Christian, pro-gay policies? Composed of fallen individuals like every other human organization, though it can be respected, free citizens are still within their rights to question the military.
The Colorado restaurant celebrating White Appreciation Day has extended the discount to all customers. Does the United Negro College Fund now intend to be as broadmindedly magnanimous in the disbursement of the organization’s scholarships?
In a sermon, a pastor admonished that, if a member was not able to attend a given Sunday, they were obligated to listen to the sermon online. That was so the truant parishioner could receive their “marching orders”. Where the member ought to march is straight out of the church. For down the road, you could very well find that the marching order you are given is to guzzle down the funny-tasting Koolaid.
Mooch Obama gave a graduation speech blaming Whitey for all of her problems. Denzel Washington's commencement oration emphasized the importance of recognizing God to a person's success. Here's a novel idea. How about doing away with celebrity speeches and just hand out the diplomas?
An online meme pictures a man carrying a bow and arrows. The text reads, “Your dad doesn't hunt? Well, happy Mother's Day to your dad.” I've yet to see a Biblical text proving that men that don't like to hunt are effeminate. If anything, if Esau and Nimrod are among the foremost examples of hunters mentioned in the Bible, they don't seem to be spoken of all that favorably. Nothing screams masculinity like running off into the woods with a bunch of other men because that is what the group pressures everyone into doing.
The Washington Post insists that marriage is a constantly evolving social institution that has not always consisted of our current understanding as a relationship between a loving man and woman. If that is the standard, technically there is really nothing wrong when ISIS savages take toddler brides. And if a man and woman come to an agreement where the man can horsewhip the woman when she fails to prepare dinner to his liking, are we as pluralists and relativists required to publicly ascent to that as well?
In coverage of the horrific Philadelphia train derailment, CNN ran the headline “Midshipman Among The Fatalities”. Will the occupational backgrounds of the other victims also merit a broadcast graphic? Given that the tragic passing of this individual was not related to his Department of Defense status, is he worthy of more pity than the others? Why not make public lamentation for the deceased passenger with the largest bank account?
A Calvinist meme reads, “If you as a man are at liberty to choose your own house, friends and wife, has not the Lord God the liberty to do the same? The thing of it is, though it might feel like you are living in Hell if you select the wrong spouse, the person you don't select to marry does not burn throughout all eternity as a result. Furthermore, the use of marriage as an analogy in matters of soteriology ultimately breaks down. Christ might have the church as his metaphorical bride. However, that bride is ultimately composed of multiple individuals. You, as an individual, according to the moral law established by this God, are limited to a single mate (contrary to what certain populations in Utah might insist). Under predestination, if God is free to select as many as He wants to incorporate into this mystical body, isn't He ultimately at fault if He allows an individual to slip into Hell?
By Frederick Meekins
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Are Sloppy Homiletics An Acceptable Mother's Day Gift?
From the pulpit, the minister announced that this woman should be nominated as mother of the year.
But wasn't what we witnessed more a last ditch effort to interdict a lifestyle of failed parenting?
To remain consistent, shouldn't a minister that just a week or two before suggesting that Bruce Jenner is mentally screwed up because of the increasing number of women that wear pants not lift up as the ideal Proverbs 31 mother someone that has birthed multiple children outside of marriage by as many men and who is covered with tattoos?
As part of a mother's day sermon, a pastor condemned young women for not knowing how to cook from scratch.
Where is it detailed in the Scripture that meals must be prepared from scratch and cannot be out of a can as ridiculed in the pastor's snide comment regarding Chef Boyardee?
If a pastor is going to hold women up to such an impossible standard, is he adept at what would be considered manchores such as gutting his own livestock or even auto repair?
Shouldn't someone that lives in an apartment complex where the staff handles the yardwork and maintenance be reluctant about criticizing other basic tasks no longer completed as they were in the 1800's?
By Frederick Meekins
Afrosupremacists Win Effort To Desecrate U.S. Currency
And the vast majority supporting this couldn't tell you a single thing about her other than that she was Black.
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