The most ironically titled book ever

(and also a crappy cover)

In honor of the 30th anniversary!

A note to adult-children

As you may be aware of there is a new brouhaha going on now between Doug Pagitt and Ingrid over at Slice. Ingrid interviewed DP on her radio show and that coupled with a subsequent blog posting have raised the ire of some. The mainline and reformed evangelicals are raising hell on the blogs, while the PoMo's have responded by lighting patchouli scented candles and prancing about a labyrinth mat (please don't sue me for libel).

I'm not entirely sure what has irked everybody to such a level. The interview itself I found rather innocuous with Ingrid letting Doug do most of the talking (in the usual "passive-aggressive snarky" style that we have all come to know and love). Only once did I hear her interrupt him and even with that she asked for permission first. Maybe the conversation with Bob DeWaay was what upset him? Pagitt wasn't there for that and things got a little more pointed then but it wasn't really anything we haven't heard the Slice people bring up before (Admittedly, Ingrid and Co. can be more than a little boorish at times but I didn't pick up any of that here).

Or perhaps it was the subsequent blog posting that wound up Pagitt like so much fair-trade hemp? There Ingrid posted a comment she got from someone regarding how Doug might respond to his wife asking him "Do you love me?" which I guess was construed as some sort of attack—though it was nothing of the sort. I found it actually to be a rather astute and lucid example of how Pagitt's roundabout approach to answering what the Gospel is doesn't work when applied to other more personal scenarios.

Certainly nobody was accusing Doug of not loving his wife. In fact, we Bloggers would have no way of knowing whether he does or not. The only things we can know with any degree of certainty are the things people say and do and Pagitt (like everyone else) is responsible for those things. As such we all have the right to respond in any way we choose so long as we are respectful to the person. What the Emergent crowd does I think is misconstrue attacks on their ideas with attacks on them. It's a very immature and dare I say, childish notion ("You don't like my church? I'm telling Dad!") but it's prevalent.

Attacking somebody's views and beliefs—however harshly, however pointedly—is not being slanderous or accusatory. Even being "mean" or "not-nice" in your tone isn't necessarily slander. The Emergent crowd seems to believe statements like "you believe in a false Gospel" constitute some sort of personal attack. Are they hyperbolic? Maybe. Extreme? Probably, but they aren't assaults on character they are assaults on beliefs. Lest we forget that Jesus made "accusatory" statements all the time—with most of them pointed at the religious elite of the day (Matthew 12:34, 23:33).

There's a notion out there (and not just in Emergent circles) that we have to know a person before we can agree or disagree with what they believe. That by "knowing somebody's heart" we can look beyond the things they actually say and come to some sort of mystical understanding. You'll see this in many Emergent writings ("I've known Rob for 15 years so—") as though it has any bearing on the biblical fidelity of what is actually being preached. Then on the flipside people are dismissed (and their ideas dismissed) because "I've never met him" or "I don't know who you are." Of course we need to learn to get along with people we don't see eye-to-eye with (that's called "life") but it doesn't mean that suddenly what people believe doesn't matter. When ideas aren't engaged and we are instead left with cute little platitudes about "knowing somebody before I comment on them"— well that's a dangerous road to travel down.

Are you kidding me? Please tell me you are kidding me.

Go here for your Green Prosperity Handkerchief™!

I saw this dude's TV infomercial tonight. Wow. Just wow.

You know I really try hard not be cynical about the state of the church. I swear I really do try.
But then the over-zealous authoritarian corporate church structures, PoMo idiocies and prosperity Gospels just seem to keep popping up in a never ending treadmill of horrors. Indeed all of the madness just seems to float towards me like a 4 ft hot pink beach ball asking me to wack it with the Wiffle Bat of Truth™.

Maybe I should just cave and start selling Wiffle Bats of Truth™ to confused late night infomercial viewers.

Who's afraid of the big bad Obama?

A year ago Republican pundits were quaking in their boots with the prospect of an Obama candidacy—now they should be praying for just that.

Obama finds easy target in auto firms

First his "10,000 killed in Kansas tornadoes" declaration and now he's just pulling facts out of his arse wholesale. Obama has said that he's "tired" and that's why his made some of these "gaffes." My goodness, we're a year and a half away from the election still, if the man is tired now how's he going to feel if and when he's actually running the country?

I can think of at least 4 Republican presidential candidates who would clean his clock in a debate. Of course that probably doesn't matter anyway since the '08 elections will end up being nothing more than a stop global warming/pull out of Iraq referendum.

Another reason to hate Microsoft

An interview for the ages!

I will let this speak for itself:


Because "many children are in grief" and because posting YouTube videos counts as a blog entry.

Xtreme Teen Ministries

Well here's a hilarious web page guaranteed to make you both cringe and laugh:

Youth Group Name Roster

I wonder if YouthPastor.com is affiliated with HisHolySpace or GodTube.

UPDATE: Whoever runs the above mentioned website is a total humorless goo and is blocking links from my blog. Copy and paste youthpastor.com/names into your web browser and laugh anyway!