Dobson

Dobson's Focus on the Family claims that the researchers who are crying out against his use of their work are taken in (or words to that effect) by the liberals. In what world does he live? They say he is misusing and misstating their work and ask him to stop using it. Dobson respects them enough to use them as sources, but not enough to listen to them when they decry what he says? Somethings smells and it's not Gilligan, Pruett, Saewyc and more.

Truth Wins Out has many articles on this and is spearheading the contact of scientists and researchers whom Dobson has misquoted, misstated and misused their research.

Albert Schweitzer

"At the point in life where your talent meets the needs> of the world, that is where God wants you to be."

-Albert Schweitzer

Kasemann

That person "honors God who remains God's creature upon earth instead of striving for translation into heaven.

Kasemann

Source unknown

Be careful when you invite Jesus into your life, he always shows up withhisfriends.

Spas, Hot tubs and Pools

I love swimming. I remember splashing in the Rio Grande when it was fed by snowmelt. I remember going to the pool everyday after lunch as a kindergartner. I remember all sorts of fun. And, until I worked at a motel with a pool, my dream house included a pool and spa.

No longer.

One reason.

I became a Certified Pool Operator and learned that the human body loses one pint of body fluid for every fifteen minutes in a body of water that’s 100 degrees.

So I don’t use public spas. I don’t know how long it has been since the water was changed.

Another reason.

I work to maintain our spa and pool. Today for the first time in about two weeks the spa was clear when I came to do the maintenance. I don’t know for sure, but I can make a guess. For the last two weeks I’ve had a group of workers come in and use the spa about 6pm, it’s always within a fifteen minutes of getting back from work. And when they come down to the pool area they all have dry hair. My guess and, I suspect yours as well, is that they weren’t showering before going into the pool and spa.

So no longer does my dream house include a pool and a spa. The maintenance is daily, the expense is horrendous, the abuse by people is ongoing and I could go on. I think I’ll just retire to a place that has a nearby river or pond and just take a dip there when I get the urge to swim.

Genital mutilation

"Female circumcision is not barbaric. It is done for a reason, to keep the female pure. If only we adopted such practices here in the UK, then maybe women would be less inclined toward infidelity and therefore family values would still be an integral part of society. Family values instil a sense of discipline and respect, which we need as a counteraction against the modern trend of zero respect and zero discipline that is undermining the very fabric of our decaying society."
Mr Jangles, BBC News
http://www.fstdt.com/lastcomments.asp

“Female circumcision isn’t barbaric” I keep wondering in what world these people live. While it is certainly true that no cause is so pure that it can’t attract an idiot to spout off in support, it is also true that there are some things that are just wrong. An operation that causes life-long pain and takes away the pleasure of sex is just plain wrong on so many levels.

Family values, as I understand them, are about strengthening through love and caring. And I fail to see anything caring about genital mutilation. And if women are such that you can’t trust them to stay faithful, then it might be better not to marry that particular woman rather than to trust that some torturous operation would prevent them from straying. The idea that some sort of pain-inducing operation will keep women pure is simply ridiculous. Genital mutilation attempts to protect a man at the expense of a woman.

T. S. Eliot

All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods,
I should be glad of another death.

T. S. eliot

Faithfulness and the law

Whenever I read the gospels I keep hearing things that look to the results rather than the particulars. Do people end up protected, healed, welcomed, or clothed? That's the question that is asked. But, the questions of "Have you performed the ritual? Have you obeyed this particular of the law?" seem to be ignored. The passage I'm reading today in my lectionary studies illustrates this.

Luke 16:10-17 begins with the statement about the small things reflecting the large. And it could easily have gone the direction of so you must tithe the mind, the dill and the other small things, but instead goes to the whole question of how we use our riches and our gifts. It is not about being persnickety, but about whom we serve.

I serve a God who claims to be the Way, the Truth and the Life. And following a God who makes that claim means that we should seek to be truthful and faithful. And so being faithful in the small things indicates where we will be in the large. And so working to be honest about the things where the truth won't harm anyone and only inconvenience us is about following the one who says he is the Truth. And the little things reflect our services both large and small to the one we claim to worship.

The question we should be asking ourselves in reading the story is not really about other people and their faithfulness. The turn in this story is when we realize that we can be just like the Pharisees and love money and ridicule the truth. And are we the religious leaders who heap heavy burdens on the back of others – heavy burdens that we ourselves cannot bear? Or are we the followers of Jesus who hear and do the word of God?

Luke 16:10-17 (18)

[10] "Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much.
[11] If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? [12] And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? [13] No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."

[14] The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they ridiculed him. [15] So he said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others; but God knows your hearts; for what is prized by human beings is an abomination in the sight of God.

[16] "The law and the prophets were in effect until John came; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is proclaimed, and everyone tries to enter it by force. [17] But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one stroke of a letter in the law to be dropped.

[18] "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.

The dangers of wealth Luke 12:13-31 (with additions)

It's not that no one wealth will enter the realm of God. But there is a warning to those with money in this passage (and in many other passages). That warning is don't let dollars distract you from what is really important. One's life doesn't consist in the abundance of possessions. (Luke 12:15) Well… if one's life is in those possessions there is a need to change.

But deciding about wealth is not unimportant; it's just not the most important thing. Or, perhaps, it is better to say we should decide that wealth is not the most important things in our life. We should choose God over wealth. We should choose to work for the realm of God rather than for property and money.

The question we need to ask is 'where is our heart focused?' For some of us the answer will be prestige. For others the answer will be possessions. Still others will answer – money. And there are as many different answers as there are people. Somehow all of us sooner or later will let our desires for something other than God rule our heart.

But when we let something other than God rule our heart we can look, examine, repent. That is we can change and seek God once again. We can let the distractions fade away and look to serving and enjoying God. An abundance of possessions may or may not pass away before our life ends, but a life lived in the path of God will find completion even without toys with which to play.

Luke 12:13-31

[13] Someone in the crowd said to him, 'Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.' [14] But he said to him, Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you? [15] And he said to them, Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. [16] Then he told them a parable: The land of a rich man produced abundantly. [17] And he thought to himself, 'What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' [18] Then he said, I will do this:

I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. [19] And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry." [20] But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be? '

[21] So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.

[22] He said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. [23] For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. [24] Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! [25] And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? [26] If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? [27] Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. [28] But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you -- you of little faith! [29] And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. [30] For it is the nat!
ions of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. [31] Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well."

Depression: a story (more)

As she lifted her head the sour smell of stale sweat from her pillow arose. But it was too hard to move much more and so she lay back down in desperation. She didn't feel as if there were any good reason for her to stay in bed, but she just couldn't move. And that was what she had felt for a long time.

At least it felt like a long time. At this point she wasn't sure how long. She vaguely remembered happy times. But it was as if those happy times were through ten feet of cotton candy and her life now. She could see herself laughing in some photos, but couldn't figure out what that felt like. Yes, she had been happy, but not in a long, long time.

Her living room and kitchen were immaculate. But that was because she didn't have the energy to leave them messy. When she ate – everything was cleaned and put away before she fell asleep. And she didn't buy any food that might go bad. The dried milk she kept on hand didn't taste all that good when she made it up for the meal – it was supposed to sit – but when she had the energy to eat and clean up she wanted to do it then. If she waited any time her burst of energy would be long gone and then there's be the dishes to clean and they'd sit. She'd done that before when she'd tried to wait. And the dishes would sit with the big round eye of a plate accusing her of not doing anything and her mind quivering with the blows of unmet expectations. And she just couldn't face the unwashed dishes one more time. So she made the dried milk up and drank it before it had cooled and as the horrid taste went down – thought – at least I got something in my body one more time.

And at times it was a moment-by-moment decision to keep on existing in such pain. She'd started treatments but so far none of them had worked. And she lived in pain. And she could no longer remember what it had been like before she lived in pain. And the treatments – try this drug and it will take two to six weeks before it works – you've been taking it for eight weeks and there's no change, then stop taking the drug and in two weeks will try another drug – seemed futile. And every day longer until each day seemed like years.

They called it depression – she called it pain.

And she lived with it.

Today she was curled up in bed. Her book club was at noon, but she hadn't read the book and she wasn't sure she could go because she didn't want people to know that she hadn't read the book. It was six in the morning and the book had arrived. The package was sitting next to her bed. But she'd only opened it enough to see the spine and then had let it lie there, accusing her, saying she should just reach out and begin reading it, letting her know how worthless she was since she couldn't reach over there. Instead she tossed and turned and even when she wasn't looking at the book the thought of it ate at her, the acid of not getting it done rising up in her throat and burning so that she couldn't sleep, but couldn't pick up the book.

And she thought – I could call Angie, but I've already made too many excuses for not reading the books. And I've called her too many times. And if I keep calling her she might not want to hear from me again. And I don't want her to see me like this. And maybe I just won't go, but I've missed too many meetings already. And it's too early to call her, but I've missed too many meetings, or I've been to them and not read the book and I just can't do it, but I don't want to miss the meeting and the book is sitting right over there so if I start reading now I could at least pretend to know what the book is saying, but I can't concentrate enough to read and besides my comments aren't as good as those of the other people and can't be since I haven't read the book and the books been sitting there for two weeks but I just haven't had the energy, but I'm perfectly fine so I should have read the book and then I wouldn't have to call Angie and cancel but I still haven't cancelled so!
I could go but then I'd be unprepared and everyone would see what a mess I am.

And it was six-fifteen in the morning and she did not have the energy to get out of bed or to grab the book and yet she was tossing and turning and wondering if she could get out of bed today.

Once upon a time she thought that she would have thought nothing about getting out of bed. And she wondered why it seemed so hard to do, but it did. She was wrapped in a cocoon of frustration and anger and despair and it was torturing her to move and sit up and swing her legs over the bed and she dreaded the day and what would come and what would happen and whether she could actually do something. And she thought, I've got a doctor's appointment today so I don't need to actually go to the book club. I can tell them I'm waiting and they'll understand and then I don't need to read the book, but I do want to read the book and I do want to keep up with things, but how can I keep up with things when I can't concentrate on anything and it takes so much energy and I've been up since 6am and I just can't get out of bed and I used to be able to get out of bed in the morning but it seems like so much work.

Martin Luther

Faith must trample underfoot all reason, sense, and understanding.

Martin Luther

anon.

Insanity is continuing the same behavior and expecting a different results.

And the lawless revealed - extended

One of the less obvious aspects of the passage from 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 is the idea that we may not know the lawless until they are revealed at the day of the Lord. Certainly there will be rebellion and wars and rumors of wars. But those things are happening through the world today, yesterday and all the days between the writing of Thessalonians to now.

And one of the more important statements for my theology is that about the ones who have refused to love the truth. There are many who claim they have the truth and love the truth, but yet don't have the truth in them. And one of the signs of this is shutting people up when they ask questions about the 'proclaimed truth' or 'received truth'.

And whenever one is unable to ask questions or told which questions are proper, then there's good reason to question whether what is being taught is the truth. I've seen this adoration of what is received in many fashions. Whether it is in the distortion of the word objective by saying 'we have the most objective source on the planet since our scripture was written by God and so is from a completely outside source." or "If one thin in the Bible is proved false, then I can't believe any of the Bible and can no longer be a Christian." or a multitude of other formulations that come down to, 'if it isn't the way I think it should be, then I'm going to stop playing and go home.'

The lawless one is not the one who asks questions, but the one who wants things their own way. The lawless one is not the one who wants to discuss the questions, but the one who wants to dictate the answers. The lawless one wants things there very own way.

But seeking the truth and following God is about wanting to give up our own way and searching for where God is guiding. The emptying of self is not to fill with one doctrine, but to open self to hearing the Word of God.

A couple of thousand years after this letter to Thessalonica we still are waiting for the day of the Lord that is already here. We are called to live as though it is in the next minute and ass though it may be another thousand years. Scripture may say we don't know the day or the hour and some groups have used this to proclaim the month or the year. That sense of Scripture is that we are in the now and not yet of waiting. We are in the koinonia, but don't know the chronos.

Many of the people who set themselves up as those to be worshipped, don't necessarily say that's what they're doing. They may not even realize that they're setting themselves up in place of God. But whenever someone says, 'this is the way that God wants us to act and don't question me about it', then they are setting themselves up in place of God. They've forgotten to look to make sure that what they are saying is the truth and set themselves up to be lawless even as they are very stringent in how they act and what they say. But what they say and how they act is not according to God's design. Not when they stop the testing and avoid the questions.

This linking of doubt, questions and faith is nothing new. " It is namely through doubt that we come to engage in research [and] through research that we come upon the truth." comes from -- Abelard, _Sic et Non_, 1349. It's from Scripture and saint that we learn to do God's will. But even the saint can be questioned on scripture and faith as we follow scripture to test the spirit (find passage)

The lawless aren't revealed in wild behavior, but in behavior that does not love the truth. The lawless are revealed as they deceive themselves and others. Dobson of Focus on the Family reveals this sort of lawlessness when he cites the work of others and doesn't admit that those who made those reports believe that he is misusing and falsifying what they say. Carol Gilligan, Kyle Pruett, and Angela Phillips have said that Dobson is misstating their work, yet Dobson continues use the work in ways the authors/ researchers say is wrong. That's the attitude of one who is lawless; who believes that he is worth more than another; the one who believes that his opinion is correct no matter what others think.

And it's not entirely wrong to be willing to stand against the crowd. We who are Christian are called at times to stand against what is popular. But there's a difference between standing up to the crowd and refusing to acknowledge that the researchers of a particular work disagree with you as to what it means. One is righteous and the other is self-righteous. And in this case while Dobson is standing against some people it is also true that he has a great many supporters who buy into what he says and who believe that he is authoritative on these matters.

It's not just enough to say that one stands against popular culture. One must actually do so. Or, rather, one who is of Christ is called to stand not against popular culture but for the truth. And when one stands for the truth one ignores the meanderings of culture or received wisdom or long-held truths. One stands for truth by asking for evidence, for proof, for how the view is supported, for can it be shown. It is not which pundit says it or which religious figure approves, but whether they are willing to listen to questions and admit when they've made a mistake.

Tertullian talks of the rule of faith or regula fidei near the end of the 2nd century. He says: "Provided the essence of the rule is not disturbed, you may seek to discuss as much as you like. You may give full reign to your itching curiosity where any point seems unsettled and ambiguous or dark and obscure." (Tertullian, Prescriptions Against Heretics, in Early Latin Theology, S. L. Greenslade, ed. and trans. (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1956) 14, p. 40.) This is the way of law. We can examine for truth; we can examine for meaning; we can examine for consequences. We can and should ask questions. The rule of faith in Tertullian and his predecessors is broad and open rather than closed.

As scripture says in 'test the spirit'; Tertullian in 'give full reign to your itching curiosity'; or Abelard in 'engage in research'; we are to engage our minds. Those who say, 'trust my authority' are the lawless of whom we have to be wary. Those who say 'I know better than you' are the ones of whom we should be leery. Those who want to give us the answers rather than help us work out the answers are those we should fear. For those are the answers of rule rather than of law.

And those who want to make rules that can't be questioned are those who ultimately don't follow the law. The law can be studied and understood. Rules and regulations may or may not follow the law, but should be subject to the law. And those who proclaim that they cannot or should not be questioned are makers of rules, rather than followers of the law.

The day of the Lord is in our midst. It is not a day that is met with unquestioning obedience, but one that calls for opening our eyes and unstopping our ears. It is a day that calls for growth in understanding by questioning the received truths of the past in preparing to meet the glories of God.

The rule of faith that Tertullian and other down through the centuries mention is not as simple as the five fundamentals (in either version). It is a compendium of what we've learned from scripture and faith. But it is always regulated by a return to scripture and faith. That is so, even though scripture as in the Greek and Hebrew Testaments wasn't formed until after the idea of regula fidei had been expressed. Yet the rule of faith is an idea to which we need to return.

The Nicene Creed is one example of putting down the rule of faith. It is certainly not the only example, there are prayers and creeds in the Greek and Hebrew Testaments or statements such as this is the first commandment and the second is like to it given in the gospels. We who are Christian (and before us those who were/are Jewish) have set down guides to our faith and struggled with what is the essence for millennia.

And as we've done so there have also been those who would set down their version of what scripture means above all other ideas. Augustine writes in The Literal Meaning of Genesis" even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of this world…. Reckless and incompetent expounders of Holy Scripture bring untold trouble and sorrow on their wiser brethren when they are caught in one of their mischievous false opinions and are taken to task by those who are not bound by the authority of our sacred books."

There's a difference between the rule of faith, which speaks of God and is not contradictory to fact, and making rules while telling people not to question those rules. Doubt and questions are not opposed to faith. For faith is belief in what cannot be seen or touched (to paraphrase Hebrews 12:18,19) and for those who want certainty that is something that they cannot stand. Faith that is built on being certain is a frail reed that will break as soon as one part is shown to be in error.

We are to be prepared for the coming of our Lord. We are to work so as to not be taken in by those who deceive and bear false witness. We are to work not just for rules, but also for rules that follow the law of God. And that law comes from truth and openness, not from secrecy and closing off questions.

Martin Luther once said "A theologian is born by living, dying, and being damned ----- by thinking, reading, and speculating." Someone who is willing to risk their life for the sake of curiosity is lawful. Someone who wants to avoid the hard question is lawless. It is the wanting quick and easy solutions that makes the one lawless and the willingness to work to find the truth that makes one lawful.

Or one could also quote Romans "Anything that is not based on faith is sin." (14:23) Faith does not avoid what is disturbing or unruly in the questions and doesn't worry about doubt. Faith can abide in the midst of turmoil and trouble. Faith is willing to go forth without the answers knowing that we are those who pass through what is untouchable and a sounding trumpet or a roaring fire (paraphrase of Hebrew 12:18ff); while the lawless is willing to settle for the dictatorship of quick solutions, no questions, and a momentary peace.

The life of faith in the God of Scripture, the God of Abraham and Sarah, of Isaac and Rebecca, and of Jacob, Leah and Rachel; of saints present, past and future is one where we pack our belongings and go on a journey when we cannot see the end. The coming is at hand and yet far away. The coming is something we long for and find in the scattered moments of God's breaking in and yet unimaginably delayed in coming.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

[1] As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, [2] not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. [3] Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction. [4] He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God. [5] Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you? [6] And you know what is now restraining him, so that he may be revealed when his time comes. [7] For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but only until the one who now restrains it is removed. [8] And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will destroy with the brea!
th of his mouth, annihilating him by the manifestation of his coming. [9] The coming of the lawless one is apparent in the working of Satan, who uses all power, signs, lying wonders, [10] and every kind of wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. [11] For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion, leading them to believe what is false, [12] so that all who have not believed the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness will be condemned.

Martin Luther

A theologian is born by living, dying, and being damned ----- by thinking, reading, and speculating.

(Martin Luther)

Scripture

Anything that is not based on faith is sin. (Romans 14:23)

anon

The Gospel is experienced by those who are in touch with their misery.

Another pregnant lesbian

Mary Cheney is pregnant and she and her partner though unable to get married will be raising a child. There are some rants and raves from the ex-gay, Focus on the family and such about how it is so horrible that a child will be raised outside of a heterosexual family. Yet every study shows that it isn't the gender of the parents, but having more than one parent that makes a difference. Dobson (see earlier posts on this for links) has misquoted Gilligan and Pelk, saying that they show heterosexual families are better, but even in the natural world instances like Roy, Silo and Tango show that the problem is not in the gender of the partners, but the lack of a partner in raising young.

anon

Life is a mystery to be lived and not a problem to be solved.

FW: Which reindeer are you

I'm having trouble figuring which one of Santa's Reindeer I'm most like. But then I keep changing my answers everytime I take this. But that probably makes it just right for a pub discussion. Which of Santa's reindeer are you most
like?

This last time...

***You Are Dancer***
Carefree and fun, you always find reasons to do a happy dance.

Why You're Naughty: That dark stint you had as Santa's private dancer.

Why You're Nice: You're friendly. Very friendly.

Preparing sermons

I've never been able to re-use a sermon of mine, let alone one written by someone else. They can help in the sermon process and there are some that I think are wonderful, but they aren't in my voice, even the ones that I've written are no longer in my voice. I've changed, the congregation has changed.

I once served a three point parish. The sermons ended up differently in all three congregations even though they were preached in a four hour period on the same text and on the same day. Even when I used a manuscript, the sermons were different.

There are certainly weeks when my preparation time was shortened considerably, but if I didn't take the regular time to study scripture, to study commentaries, to pray and reflect, to look at like and unlike passages, then my sermons and worship presence suffered. It may not have suffered for a month or two, but eventually the lack of both prayer and study that goes into a sermon became clear to me.

There's a pianisst who once said if he didn't practice one day, then he heard, two days and the critics heard it, three days and everyone knew.