This man believes that God physically teleported him from Pensacola, FL to China.
The red flags for me are:
The woman who gives the introduction doesn’t believe he was physically moved – she speaks of being translated or transported in the Holy Spirit.
If you’re not familiar with Christianity, the words this man is speaking would be completely foreign to you. It’s completely Christianese – “the third heaven”, “in the natural”, “we see in part…”, “the realm of the glory”, “the realm of the natural”, “the eternal perspective of things”… what does any of that even mean?
Teleportation. TELE. PORT. ATION. It doesn’t exist.
He says that several people had similar experiences that night. Mass delusion. That’s what this is.
This past weekend, I finally got to watch The Ledge - the movie that has made the rounds as an “atheist movie.”
Wow.
It’s taken a few days to process everything, but my general opinion is that every person in this country needs to watch this movie.
Honestly, parts of it were pretty uncomfortable for me to watch. Joe, the Christian antagonist, sounded exactly like me at certain points in my life. I do think his character was a little over caricatured as a whole, but it was really eye-opening to hear those words and see what they sound like from the other side. It was disconcerting. It was a little embarrassing.
I may have had a little more passion in my eyes when I spewed those words, but I have argued those points many many times in my life.
Now, I see things the way Gavin does. And seeing my old self through those eyes isn’t really pleasant.
The movie isn’t atheist propaganda. Its purpose isn’t to plant atheistic ideas in your head (though if it makes you stop and think, all the better). The tag line of the movie is “What would you die for?” and Gavin is telling his story while standing on the ledge of a very tall building.
People think that just because we don’t have a god in our life that we can’t have meaning in our lives. That we can’t live or love. That we have no convictions or morals. That there is nothing that we believe in enough to die for.
This movie intends to change those perceptions. And I think it does so wonderfully.
When Tina Anderson was fifteen years old, she was raped by a male member of her church. Then she was forced to stand before the church and apologize for adultery. I’ve written about this twice before.
Ernest Willis was convicted of three counts of forcible rape and one count of felonious sexual assault in late May – fourteen years later.
Yesterday, he was sentenced to 15-30 years for his crime. Before the sentence was read, Willis read an apology. While he never admitted to rape, he apologized for “sexual misconduct”.
I am thrilled that this man is finally paying for his crime against Tina. But what about the rest of the church leadership who helped cover up the rape? When will those folks be held accountable for their actions?
Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a big fan of country music. Quite frankly, it’s in my blood. I can’t not love it. But I’ve been getting frustrated by the rise in political messages found in the music. It started with 9/11 (Stars and Stripes by Aaron Tippin, Red, White, and Blue by Toby Keith, and Have You Forgotten? by Darryl Worley, just to name a few), and it seems to have continued with Darryl Worley’s new song that is a direct message against our President.
The song is called Keep the Change and would be clever, had that phrase not already been worn out since Obama first began campaigning.
Let me be clear on one thing before I take a look at the lyrics. I don’t fault him for using his voice to say what he wants. We all have the right to say and think what we want to – even when it’s inappropriate. My purpose here is to show how arrogantly ignorant the lyrics are – not to say the song shouldn’t have been recorded or played on the radio (funny thing though, I haven’t heard it on the mainstream country station here in the Triangle – I heard it on the very conservative small town station from a few towns away).
If you see me hold my hand over my heart
Before I start the pledge of allegiance
There’s a reason
It’s to honor those who died
I can’t really say anything negative about this part. It’s a great way to catch your attention for the song though – declaring how patriotic you are.
And if you see me close my eyes and bow my head
Before I break bread with my family
It ain’t a habit, it’s important
It’s my right
Yes. It is your right to do so. Just like it’s my right not to do so. For some reason, you never see the good God fearin’ man standing up for my right not to believe in God.
I work half the year for me
The other half for Uncle Sam
While he’s bailin’ out those sinkin’ ships
And drownin’ the little man
I watch the news and have to wonder
If this country’s goin’ crazy
Talkin’ ’bout how much they love it here
But how they want to rearrange it
Okay, I get it. You’re questioning why we want to change something we claim to love so much. But, maybe that’s why? Progress is inevitable. Change is inevitable. And those who are seeking change are trying to make things better. It doesn’t always work out like that, but there are definitely a lot of things about this country that *do* need changing.
I’m just your average Joe
And that makes me smart enough to know
There’s a bunch of us out here
That feel the same
Wanna keep our God, our freedom
A little money in the bank
Y’all can keep the change
No one is trying to take anything away from anyone. Ever. That’s the exact opposite of what the majority of people want. Okay let me rephrase – no one this song is directed at is trying to take anything away from anyone.
We want you to be able to keep your God. Just like we want you to leave us be and not force your God into our living rooms. The point of keeping church and state separate? It’s so that you can live and worship your way and I can live and not worship mine.
It’s that simple.
Now the fat cats on the hill acting so brilliant
Ain’t smart enough to notice
That we’re angry
And that America’s in trouble
If they don’t wise up and stop
Bustin’ out the blocks that were laid
As a foundation well our nation
Could wake up in a pile of rubble
I can only assume that he’s referring to the belief that this country is a Christian nation founded on the principles of the Bible. See above.
They say we’re making progress
But it’s a big old shame to me
Common sense ain’t near as common
As it used to be
Finally! He said something I agree with 100%!
The rest of the song is mostly repeating the chorus and other lyrics. To what end? Clearly his message is anti-Obama and anti anything that doesn’t involve faith.
I really wish that people would stop being so defensive long enough to see things objectively and realize that just because someone doesn’t believe in the same things it doesn’t mean that they want to oppress or subdue you and yours.
I’m not really sure what to think about this. On the one hand, it’s creative. And true. On the other, part of me wants to get offended because of where I come from. But logically, there’s nothing for me to be offended over. I even laughed during some portions.
This is one of those things that I can’t believe is true. The more I read, the more disgusted I got.
After being raped and impregnated by a fellow churchgoer more than twice her age, a 15-year-old Concord girl was forced by Trinity Baptist Church leaders to stand before the congregation to apologize before they helped whisk her out of state, according to the police
Yes, you read that right. She was forced to apologize for being raped. Her pastor put partial blame on this 15-year old girl for being raped.
The victim said Phelps told her she would be put up for “church discipline,” where parishioners go before the congregation to apologize for their sins.
She asked why. “Pastor Phelps then said that (Willis) may have been 99 percent responsible, but I needed to confess my 1 percent guilt in the situation,” the victim told the police.
“He told me that I should be happy that I didn’t live in Old Testament times because I would have been stoned.”
She also had to apologize to the congregation for getting pregnant. Church leaders then sent her to Colorado so that, even though they did report the crime, nothing could be done about it by police because there was no victim.
Obviously, I can’t think of any Christian (well, outside this church, anyway) who would condone these actions.
But don’t let Christians ever tell you that their faith makes them any more moral than you or me.
And the most important thing that should come from all of this was verbalized by Jezebel:
The idea that rape victims bear some responsibility for their rapes — and that it’s important, in the aftermath of the crime, to publicly assign them blame — is a major factor keeping women like Anderson from coming forward, and keeping rapists safe from prosecution. While no woman should be forced to emulate her, Anderson’s decision to use her real name is powerful. She’s rejecting the “1% guilt” placed on her years ago, and standing before the whole country with the opposite message: her church owes her an apology.
I’m pretty sure this preacher was sampling some of the wine at Wine Barrel Family Church. The sad thing is, there was a time I would have thought this was awesome. Now, I am saddened by it.
This is pretty much a load of crap. It seems that every 10 years, textbook standards in Texas are re-visited. And because Texas is such a large buyer of textbooks, decisions made in Texas can affect what is taught nationwide.
What’s happened this year is that Republicans are jumping at their chance to assert their political ideals – disguised as “balance.”
I have to agree with what Rep. Mike Villareal (San Antonio, D) said:
I am disturbed that a majority of the board decided their own political agendas were more important than the education of Texas children.
And what Board Member Mary Helen Berlanga had to say:
“They are going overboard, they are not experts, they are not historians,” she said. “They are rewriting history, not only of Texas but of the United States and the world.”
It seems pretty clear, based on statements made by David Bradley, that the focus of the vote was political, not educational.
But Republican board member David Bradley said the curriculum revision process has always been political but the ruling faction had changed since the last time social studies standards were adopted.
“We took our licks, we got outvoted,” he said referring to the debate 10 years earlier. “Now it’s 10-5 in the other direction … we’re an elected body, this is a political process. Outside that, go find yourself a benevolent dictator.”
I really don’t understand this need to be on top politically at the expense of a child’s education.
Some of the changes include:
Texas schoolchildren will be required to learn that the words “separation of church and state” aren’t in the Constitution and evaluate whether the United Nations undermines U.S. sovereignty under new social studies curriculum.
In final votes late Friday, conservatives on the State Board of Education strengthened requirements on teaching the Judeo-Christian influences of the nation’s Founding Fathers and required that the U.S. government be referred to as a “constitutional republic” rather than “democratic.”
I’m amused that some of the most ignorant things (I might as well go ahead and say it… stupid things) I’ve heard said in my lifetime are coming out of this controversy.
“I reject the notion by the left of a constitutional separation of church and state,” said David Bradley, a conservative from Beaumont who works in real estate. “I have $1,000 for the charity of your choice if you can find it in the Constitution.”
Try reading the first amendment and its clauses. Or better yet, listen to what your peers have to say:
Mavis B. Knight, a Democrat from Dallas, introduced an amendment requiring that students study the reasons “the founding fathers protected religious freedom in America by barring the government from promoting or disfavoring any particular religion above all others.”
It was defeated on a party-line vote.
Am I the only one who sees the irony there? Ms. Knight, following the lead of the conservative members of the Board, removed the words “separation of church and state” from her amendment and was still defeated.
I’m flabbergasted!
Cynthia Dunbar, a lawyer from Richmond who is a strict constitutionalist and thinks the nation was founded on Christian beliefs, managed to cut Thomas Jefferson from a list of figures whose writings inspired revolutions in the late 18th century and 19th century, replacing him with St. Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin and William Blackstone. (Jefferson is not well liked among conservatives on the board because he coined the term “separation between church and state.”)
This just keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it? It’s like a trainwreck and you can’t look away.
What is happening in this country? First Arizona, now Texas. What’s next?
I think every church I’ve ever been to looks something like this. Oh, the music may be different, the “trendiness” of it may not be the same, but the formula is always the same.
