Comment of the Day

On my post regarding Ukraine and Crimea, the following comment was posted...

INCLUSIVE SALVATION

Who are those who are included in salvation? All men who believe and obey what the apostle Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost are saved. It does not make any difference what denominational name is written on the church building where you worship, if you obey the gospel preached by Peter, then, you are saved, you are a member of the Lord's church, you are part of the church of Christ, you a member of the body of Christ, you are a Christian.

What did Peter preach?
1. Peter preached that Jesus was a miracle worker. (Acts 2:22)
2. Peter preached that Jesus was resurrected from the dead by God the Father.(Acts 2:24-35)
3. Peter preached that Jesus was both Lord and Christ.(Acts 2:36)
When the three thousand believe Peter, they asked "What shall we do?"(Acts 2:37)
4. Peter told them to repent and be baptized in order to have their sins forgiven.(Acts 2:38)

This is the same message Jesus preached. (Mark 16:16 "He who believes and is baptized will be saved....)

THE TERMS FOR PARDON ARE: Faith-John 3:16, Repentance-Acts 2:38, Confession-Romans 10:9-10, Baptism (immersion in water) 1 Peter 3:21

All who meet the terms for pardon are saved regardless of the denominational name on the church building.
YOU ARE INVITED TO FOLLOW MY BLOG.

It included a blog address and the poster's name, neither of which I'm going to mention here because I'm not sure this is a man who needs more traffic.

And I do think he might have missed the point of the original post which was pretty much to say, "hey, here's some info about Ukraine that I didn't know until quite recently."

Your source for all your pope-related news...

Two quick things...

One, the new pope has a chemistry major...

And B, the Vatican has finally released their recipe for white and black smoke. The BBC does a nice job explaining the chemistry behind each mixture. They also have a great photo of the black smoke from yesterday morning.

Tune in for more breaking pope news as it happens.

'Bout right...

That about sums up my feeling on the whole issue. (source)

Heaven protect us

And thank you TheDailyWh.at.

Just fun

Even Jesus (5:47) can't resist the Party Rock Anthem.

Governor Rick Perry, Christian

Separation of church and what?

I have no problems with people believing what they want to believe. No problems with people worshiping in gigantic, stadium-sized churches. But it feels somehow wrong to have the governor of a state come out and encourage it this openly and blatantly.

Two things...neither is right

Pat Robertson is a moron...



And Princeton High School now has a Facebook page...

Parody or not parody?

You tell me...is Mass: We Pray a parody or not?

Update: Big weekend bible burning

The Amazing Grace Baptist Church has updated their book burning webpage to now include links explaining their hatred of each type of music and many of their to-be-burned bibles.

The page has a new, darker background on which the red type just sears into your eyeballs.

Oh, and in sad news, apparently it's now a Members Only! event, so make sure to wear your jacket.

Thanks to Jacob...K for the update and the photo.

Lambuel and Mr Gruff

Let's balance the wackiness of last week's religious post - wonder if their website is still down - with something entirely on the opposite end of the spectrum: Objective Ministries 4Kidz.

Check out the world's easiest maze.

Help Ruby the Lioness match biblical husbands to wives.

Learn why Habu is confused.

Find out what to do if you run into a Gruff atheist.

Learn what T-Rexes actually eat.

Play Lambuel dress up.

And guess why Levi the Leviathan was smiling during the flood.

Holy crap this site is just so over the top that I almost want to throw the flag on it. Can it really be real - with its plan for a giant, flying space cross? With its Halloween Reclamation project? With Milton the Spiritual Warrior cat? With its Creation Science Fair?

I can find a few sites that swear that Objective: Ministries is a spoof, but none of them ever actually show any proof other than saying "look at this crazy webpage" - which doesn't convince me that it's not real.

My most telling detail is that nowhere can I find a contact address/phone number.

Your thoughts, folks?

If you're bored on Halloween

If you haven't already solidified your Halloween plans, I found a little something that may interest you.

It's a Halloween book burning.

It's down in Canton, NC at the Amazing Grace Baptist Church, just a bit down the road from Pigeon Forge, TN, really.

But it's not just any book burning, no. It's a bible burning. To quote their news and events page...

Come celebrate Halloween by burning Satan's bibles like the NIV, RSV, NKJV, TLB, NASB, NEV, NRSV, ASV, NWT, Good News for Modern Man, The Evidence Bible, The Message Bible, The Green Bible, ect[sic]. These are perversions of God's Word the King James Bible.

We will also be burning Satan's music such as country, rap, rock, pop, heavy metal, western, soft and easy, southern gospel, contempory[sic] Christian, jazz, soul, oldies but goldies[sic], etc.

We will also be burning Satan's popular books written by heretics like Billy Graham, Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, John McArthur, James Dobson, Charles Swindoll, John Piper, Chuck Colson, Tony Evans, Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swagart, Mark Driskol, Franklin Graham, Bill Bright, Tim Lahaye, Paula White, T.D. Jakes, Benny Hinn, Joyce Myers, Brian McLaren, Robert Schuller, Mother Teresa, The Pope, Rob Bell, Erwin McManus, Donald Miller, Shane Claiborne, Brennan Manning, William Young,etc

We will be serving Bar-b-Que Chicken, fried chicken, and all the sides.

So, they're burning all of Satan's works - any bible translation other than King James, plus books by popular pastors like Billy Graham and the Pope - and all of Satan's music - which is pretty much anything but classical music, as far as I can tell.

Satan is gonna be pissed.

Me, I love fried chicken, so I'll be there.

Two tactics

I'm not a religious man. I'll readily admit to that.

In fact, to say that I'm not a religious man is probably underselling my general attitude toward religion.

It's probably truer to say that I simply don't understand religion at all.

I don't understand how people can believe that there is a greater force in the universe - especially a greater force that is somehow personified - that drives us, creates us, and wants to dictate how me act during our time in this life.

Often times, this total befuddlement leads to cynicism and mockery of religion from me.

That being said, I recognize that many people - many of you, my readers - have a great deal of faith - either in a God or in the religion through which his/her/its presence manifests to us. Because of my respect for your faith - I don't get it, but I know it's important to you - I try to always keep my cynicism in check.

Sometimes, though, a bit of light ribbing can be fun. To see two ways in which religious mocking can be lighthearted and not (in my eyes, anyway) hateful, check out Mr Diety, a web show about the Christian God, his personal assistant, and their efforts to communicate His word without being misunderstood. Then try this single webcomic - which is admittedly far too wordy for its own good - over at Subnormality.

But always remember that there is a more confrontational, less kind, just outright mean way to make obvious your hatred of religions - a position and tone that is continually taken at Unreasonable Faith.

Personally, I prefer Mr Diety's way.

Guard your children well, TL

The Girl is a huge fan of Hello Kitty, but after checking out Christians AGAINST Cartoons!'s website (emphasis theirs) diatribe against the cute little stand-in for Anubis, I may have to do a bit of an exorcism on her tchotchkes...

Susanna, a concerned Christian, recently wrote into Christians Against Cartoons with the following question:

Hi there - maybe you can help me. My Christian neighbor says that Hello Kitty isn't good for her daughter's spirit. I've searched the Internet to find out why. Can you tell me why or post on your site? Thank you.

Well Susanna, I would really like to thank you for asking this for allowing your child to accumulate a menagerie of Hello Kitty dolls is akin to when the Hebrews, after having just been led out of their bondage in Egypt by Moses, decided to mimic their former Egyptian slave masters and worship a calf cast from purest gold! As it says in Deuteronomy 9:16: “And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God--had made for yourselves a molded calf! You had turned aside quickly from the way which the Lord had commanded you.”

It is by no mere coincidence that Hello Kitty herself resembles the cat-headed Sekhmet, the Egyptian sun goddess of destruction! There are also strong resemblances between Hello Kitty and the Lower Nile love goddess Bast. Often cats and cat idols were entombed in the burial chambers of the Pharaohs for the cat had a deep mystical significance to these pagan slave drivers.

Permitting your child to lie in a bed covered in Hello Kitty dolls, you are allowing her to lie in a mock Egyptian burial chamber! This seemingly harmless fascination with these dolls can lead your child down the path of the occult. The so-called “goth” teens who paint their faces to resemble corpses and worship death are also often seen with Hello Kitty memorabilia and stickers incongruously affixed to their usually black attire. This is because these poor, misguided youngsters who have given their eternal souls over to the darkness, know the masked meaning of these cuddly idols. The Hello Kitty, the ChocoCat, The Badtz Maru are just sugar coated stand-ins for Sekhmet, the Anubis and Ra. These are the same gods that The Lord cast down into the sulfur pit of hell and made into demons! Their power, which allowed Ramses to turn his staff into a serpent, cannot be underestimated today.

Oh, but wait...there's more...

For example, I doubt that you knew that...

Burger King Nickelodeon and Sponge Bob are nothing more than three heads of the seven headed beast that the Whore of Babylon rides upon during the End Times!

You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness...in heaven above, or...the earth beneath, or...the water under the earth

Unless, that is, you've made a Talking Jesus Doll!. For just $19.95 (plus $7.95 shipping and handling - might I recommend the word of god in bulk as it were), you get a foot-tall Jesus who speaks a half dozen scriptures, though he thankfully avoids Exodus 20:4.

Ah, I do so love the smell of commerce in the morning - especially successful commerce.

Just don't try to donate Jesus to the a Christmas toy drive. That could cause a bit of a stir.

Thoughts on the afterlife

We're not talking heaven or hell here, just what to expect if you end up in limbo...

Your drink would always be either just a little too hot or just a little too cold...close enough to right that you'd go ahead and drink it.

Your clothes almost fit right...not so wrong that you'd change, but almost right so you'd go ahead and wear them anyway, but you'd spend the day fidgeting with the clothes.

Every television show would start five minutes into the episode or twenty minutes in if it's a two-hour movie.

Your fingernails wouldn't grow anymore, but they'd be just a little longer than you'd like them to be.

The music would be tolerable - but not good - cover versions of songs that you like.

Fruit would be permanently on the verge of being ripe but never would quite get there, and if it ever did, it would be just a little overripe.

You'd never be first in line - but there wouldn't be enough people ahead of you that you'd give up and come back later.

The vending machines would always pay up, but it would never be what you wanted.

The weather would change daily but would never give a full day or sun or rain...just a constant threat and intermittent drizzle...not cold but not quite warm either.

You wouldn't have to wash your clothes because they wouldn't get any dirtier but they'd always have just a slight smell to them - as though you'd been wearing them for three straight days.

The humming of the fluorescent lights would be the wrong pitch - and it would change every few days so you couldn't get used to it.

And the chocolate would've bloomed.

Like a regular post...only unexpected

First off, I have no idea what day it is.

Last weekend saw me (and The Girl) head down to Pigeon Forge for our annual weekend in the chalet (indoor miniature golf, how much cooler can that be?) which consumed everything from the moment the workweek ended until 'bout 3 o'clock Monday afternoon. Back to work on Tuesday. Snow day on Wednesday. Back to work on Thursday - but with a shocking early release at 1:15. Ended the in-school collecting part of the Pasta for Pennies campaign (feel free to make an online donation here or to read this post from last year if you don't know my feelings about the campaign). Snow day on Friday.

And I think I'm about to start the weekend this morning...after a work week consisting of one and three quarter broken-up days and about ten thousand dollars raised in that week.

This coming week could be really tough if we actually have to work five solid days.

---

Speaking of somebody having a rough work week, check out this story of a high school basketball ref who laced 'em up for her first game officiating varsity boys and was told to go home. Apparently the co-educational religious school at which she was about to officiate the game believed (and this is a direct quote from their official statement regarding the incident):

This formation of adolescent boys is best accomplished by male role models, as the formation of girls is best accomplished by women. Hence in boys' athletic competitions, it is important that the various role models (coaches and referees) be men.

In addition, our school aims to instill in our boys the proper respect for women and girls. Teaching our boys to treat ladies with deference, we cannot place them in an aggressive athletic competition where they are forced to play inhibited by their concern about running into a female referee.

Her officiating partner supported her and walked out as well.

I'm happier to have read this part of the ESPN story:

St. Mary's isn't a full member of the Kansas State High School Activities Association, and competes against mostly private schools across the state. Gary Musselman, executive director of the activities association, said St. Mary's is on the association's list of approved schools, which means it can compete against other member schools. Next month, at its regularly scheduled meeting, the KSHSAA will discuss whether to keep St. Mary's on that list.

And I don't see that there's any place in today's world for such discrimination.

---

I was hoping to congratulate my high school alma mater in completing their first undefeated boys basketball regular season since 1980, but there was apparently a bit of a weather delay, and the game'll be taking place tonight.

Here's to hoping I haven't jinxed 'em.

By the way, if you're looking to check out Indiana basketball, check John Harrell and Matt Denison's website.

They outstanding.

The Title of the Blog - Part 9

I'm not a religious man.

I wasn't raised in a religious family. My parents weren't the kind to get up every Sunday morning - or every Saturday for those of you in the Cathloci or Jewish persuasion - to head to the local house of worship.

We didn't even stop by for Christmas and Easter. The closest I ever came to being a church-going young sort was during summer bible school at Mt Tabor Presbyterian Curch, and that was mostly for the Kool-Aid and cookies.

Nowadays, I claim the simplicity of being an apathesist, but I do tend to be a bit a-religious.

And it tends to bubble forth from time to time, as it appears to have done back then...

A few years ago, a fraternity brother of mine was questioning his faith. He was a pretty religious guy in a conservative, west central Indiana small town. He’d been going to church for all of his life, and sometimes during his high school years, he began to doubt whether everything he’d been hearing all the time was still going down quite right with his thoughts at the time. Doesn’t seem to radical a notion to me.

Well, this fraternity brother of mine – we’ll call him Jimmy Chitwood,, thought that’s not his real name – decided to be open and honest with people about his doubts. He told his parents and his youth pastor about his situation and told them he wasn’t going to be coming to church for a while, just until he could his thoughts straight in his own mind. Until then, he wished them well and tried to go about his way. Little did he know the arsenal that the pastor had at his calling…

The pastor drew Jimmy aside and related to him the following story…

“Jimmy,” she said, “I remember another young man about your age, who was also questioning his faith. He too had decided not to come to church and explore what else was out there. That young man started hanging out with his friends a little more, and even started swearing – just to be cool. It wasn’t any religious problem to him anymore, so he thought it wouldn’t hurt him.

“After that didn’t bring lightning down from the sky on him, Jimmy, the young man tried smoking with his friends too – just to be cool Even though he had learned that it was wrong, some of his friends did it, and he was just exploring anyway. Again, no lightning, so they boy even tried smoking. Nothing big, just tobacco at first. Heck, his friends were doing it and they seemed okay. So he tried it – just to be cool.

“Everything’s going along fine for this boy, Jimmy, and so he tried smoking some other things too. Some illegal drugs. Nothing too heavy, just marijuana here and there – just to be cool. He kind of liked it even, and it wasn’t hurting him.

“Well one day, his friends and he were just hanging out, and somebody suggested that they go up to Lover’s Point. (I made up that name because I can’t remember the real name in their town) and maybe rattle a few cars, maybe shine flashlights in a few window, you know – just to be cool. Sounded good to him Jimmy, so they went.

“They rattled a few doors, shined a few lights, and then one of the guys pulled a girl out of a car and put a bag over her head. You know, just to be cool. That boy started raping the girl and called the young man who was questioning his faith – just like you Jimmy – over and told him to have a go with her. The young man was a little reluctant, but – just to be cool – he went ahead and did it. After all, his friends were doing it.

“Jimmy, the bag fell off the girl’s head, and it was his sister Jimmy. Well I just don’t want to see that happen to you.” The pastor ended the tale then and there.

Now, I am far from condoning sister-raping or anything of that sort. That’s the kind of crime that rates right there with beer-mooching in my book, and it simply shouldn’t be tolerated. Nope, not at all. What I am a bit curious about, however, is what sort of pastor would use a blatant tactic like fear to keep one of his young sheep in the flock. That’s pretty sick, if you ask me. I would hope instead that someone in a position to guide young people, to steer them clear of dangers and the like would instead allow that young person to make up their own mind, would encourage them to explore other avenues in hopes of finding the faith that is right for them.

I would go so far, even, to say that a religion that has to scare people into its beliefs is in a pretty sad state. If the threat of hellfire and damnation is the only reason to follow in your religion, then perhaps you should rethink a bit. In my two psychology classes, we learned that punishment is the least effective means of getting someone to do what you want them to do, but maybe psychologists should take a gander at some of the cults around the world – the Jim Jones, David Koreshes, and Pope John Pauls of the world. Each man claimed to be the chosen one, to be the conveyor of the messages of “Heaven” in some way. They were all infallible, and each has lead his flock into some frightening decisions.

Perhaps Pope John Paul is not the most despicable of the men that have held his office – an elected one, remember. He was not the one who decreed that nations of people should take up arms to reclaim a city deemed holy. He was not the one to call for the inquisition of millions of Europeans in various countries. No, is merely the man most responsible for the failure of a gathering of world leaders in trying to solve the crisis of overpopulation two years ago. He is an old, frail man who leads the single most powerful political force in the world. He is the latest, most successful in a long line of cult leaders.

What would you do if a man came up to you and claimed to have known the son of god? He might have long, black hair, and a fairly short beard, or he might be a black man, or someone from the Middle East. He claims that the man walked on water and was raised from the dead. You have no proof of this other than what the man and his eleven fellow vagrants have said. They look a little shaky and seem to be delirious with their ‘faith.’ Would you cross mountains with them? Would you pledge your life to them? Would you give them a tithe from your wages? How much, and what’s your credit card number…?

Religious dogmatism at its most extreme

I warn you in advance, the language in this BBC documentary is a bit school-inappropriate at times, but it's an interesting one to watch.


The documentary about the Westboro Baptist Church has been broken into seven parts - all of which are all available on YouTube. Sadly, between the time I typed this - about a week ago - and the time I'm posting it, the videos have been removed. At the end of this post, I will offer a list of videos that are still on YouTube about and from the church.

The church is known around much of the US as the church whose members have been picketing soldiers' funerals around much of the nation on the basis that any milatry death is a result of the sins of the people in our nation. The group has come to Ohio and made headlines when their right to picket a funeral in Northeast Ohio.

The documentary is interesting because it does allow us a glimpse into the lives of one family of the church, but on the whole the documentary was a little disappointing to me. The documentary filmmaker comes to the project with the goal not of simply explaining to us what the church members are like but rather of hoping to get one of the church members to either convert or to at least show some crack in their faith.

He takes the Michael-Moore-esque steps of giving us confrontational scenes rather than allowing room for any sort of true revelations. An example of this is the two meetings he holds with the church's patriarch. Instead of giving us any background on the patriarch or coming with any prepared questions, the filmmaker simply begins talking to the man and is quickly cut off, revealing less about the church than about his unwillingness to provide any sort of unbiased coverage of the story.

I do wish that the documentary - interesting enough as it is - could have been better because the exploration of religious dogmatism has so much room to teach us about our own beliefs. The most telling moments are near the end of the film when the filmmaker speaks to a male member of the church out on a protest. The filmmaker asks a number of questions but never allows the church member to give full answers. Instead, the filmmaker continues to speak over those answers, projecting his beliefs almost as unrelentingly as do the church members.

And the links that do work - at least for today:

I warn you, these videos do contain language that certainly is inappropriate for school viewing (even if you do happen to be able to get to YouTube from school.

• From Westboro themselves:
  • It's too late to pray
  • Priests rape boys
  • Expose f** churches
  • Rebuke f** courts
  • Rebuke f** pimp Bush
  • God hates f**s
• The first part of the Louis Theroux BBC show
• A longer first part video of Louis Theroux

Blasphemy in oh so many forms

This gigantic statue is about ten minutes from my house. It's kinda creepy and rather weird. Luckily, though, there's an entire website devoted to the statue.

Thanks, by the way to Heywood Banks for writing such a cool song about the freakish monstrosity.

And if you'd like to know more about Touchdown Jesus, head to any of these inspirational links:

• Solid Rock Chruch - home of Backflip Jesus
• King of Kings (statue) on Wikipedia
• Roadside Attractions's entry with some good pictures

Hey, somebody believed it...

The religion of one age is the literary entertainment of the next.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Luckily we've got a whole bunch of literary entertainment at our disposal.

Here in the US, the most widely-known mths are pretty much all Greek and - to a lesser extent - Roman. The gods of the two pantheons are often confused, somewhat rightfully as the two pantheons are quite similar.

• MythMan.com offers nice reference help with the Greek gods
• MythWeb.com offers more of the same, nicely presented
• Winged Sandals doesn't have as much info but is a lot more fun to play around on
• Mythography does a nice job presenting the Roman pantheon

Honestly, though, I enjoy the Norse myths a whole lot more than I do the Greek or Roman.

• Encyclopedia Mythica has information on lots of gods, this section on the Norse
• Wikipedia always has info on just about any subject
• Gareth Long has a good essay comparing Greek to Norse mythology

There are, of course, as many other gods and pantheons as there have been societies in the past. Thankfully, there are sites that are pan-pantheonic:

• GodChecker.com offers the most comprehensive information on the web
• Flickr has a nice set of Lego gods and goddesses
• Thorshof offers you some help in "Choosing A Heathen Diety"

Don't foget to make the appropriate sacrifices and to check out the more modern gods from Neil Gaiman's American Gods.