Playing the God card

Will someone please tell me why Barack Obama gets a pass on this? I mean, Mike Huckabee has an ad with a bookcase that sorta kinda looks like a cross, and the media goes apey.

A word from the arch-bitch-shop

This is American bishop Catherine Roskam, who caused a ruckus at the Anglican Church's Lambeth Conference. She basically said that because some men beat their wives, and most of the bishops at the conference are men, then there must be some wife-beaters among the bishops.

"We have 700 men here. Do you think any of them beat their wives? Chances are they do. The most devout Christians beat their wives... many of our bishops come from places where it is culturally accepted to beat your wife."

You know, some women are beyotches. There are an increasing number of ordained women in the Anglican Church, so there must be some beyotches among the female Anglican clergy.

Living in two worlds

Greetings, comrades.

I've been away from blogging lately. I've been torn about how to live here, on GGB Central, as a flaming conservative ranting at Obama and the likes, and in my other world, where I am a dancer and artist and nearly always in the minority religion-wise and politics-wise, where rants don't go over so well. I usually don't talk about being the GGB in dance circles, and although plenty of people who know me as a conservative are well aware that I am hardly the buttoned-down, penny loafer type, sometimes -- you know -- they just don't get it. And because I am an old-fashioned, old-school reformed Christian outside the bailywig of Rick Warren and Joel Osteen, I am out of the mainstream for a lot of conservatives as well.

But I've been on Facebook for awhile, where my disparate identities converge. I guess I'm getting a little tired of my schizophrenic online existence, and maybe my artist friends might give me the time of day politically and religiously if I keep the ranting to a minimum and approach things thoughtfully ... as I hope I would face-to-face.

Should I do it here, or should I develop a new blog? I'm not sure, but stay tuned for a new tone.

Putting the "best construction" on the Issues, Etc. cancellation

In all my reading about the sudden, inexplicable and (IMHO) unjustifiable cancellation of Issues, Etc., good Christian people of all stripes have been taking pains to put the "best construction" on the LCMS' actions. "Don't forget the Eighth Commandment!" they cry.

Yes, but ...

Let's say your husband comes home at 3 a.m. one night reeking of alcohol, stale smoke and pheromones. His clothes are rumpled. He has lipstick smears on his shirt and it's not your shade.

Now, how would you put the "best construction" on that scenario? He was abducted and held hostage in a nightclub by lipstick-wielding aliens?

The more the LCMS tries to spin the story, the worse they look. Their "explanations" have logic holes big enough to apply for statehood. (See Dr. Erich Heidenreich's excellent follow-up questions to the latest "statement" here.)

The LCMS went nuclear on Issues, Etc., and the only logical construction is that it was a complete and total repudiation of the show, its content and its host and producer.

The restoration of the archives and the LCMS' "explanations" have come only after holy fits from thousands of listeners.

I truly believe we have our answer, folks. From where I sit, the LCMS has no intention to bring back Issues, Etc., at least not with the robust content it produced under the leadership of Pastor Todd Wilken and the intrepid Jeff Schwarz. To me, the only point in continuing to scream at the LCMS is to get someone ... anyone ... to cop to the decision and admit that this was a political hit. Barring that, we might as well go scream at the moon.

However, I believe that Todd and Jeff will rise again. As Captain Malcolm Reynolds might say, Issues, Etc. was just too pretty to die.

Issues, Etc. update

Sorry for the dearth of posts this week! I decided to sit back and see what unfolded with the whole Issues, Etc. fiasco, and I've decided to -- for the time being -- remove the "Bring Back Issues, Etc." banner from the right panel. Not because I don't want them back, but I don't think anyone believes that the synod has any intention of bringing back the show, and maybe that's a good thing.

Items of note:

IE fiasco gets attention in the Wall Street Journal: Read the article here by M.Z. Hemingway, a past guest on IE and someone in the know.

David Strand, exec dir for the LCMS Board of Communication Services, issued a more detailed and lengthy statement. (Read here.) He says it was purely a financial decision. The short version of the IE fans' response (including mine): no one's buying it.

The online petition to bring back IE has topped 5,600 signatures as of this posting!!!

A special blog devoted exclusively to IE has been created: Bring Back Issues, Etc.

The Issues, Etc. controversy spreads!!

A very special look into LCMS' computer systems

A glimpse into the aftermath of the Issues, Etc. fiasco. (Click on the image above to view it at full size.)

Stink meter goes off the charts on the Issues, Etc. fiasco

Amazing tidbit on Pastor Randy Asburry's blog:

A standard severance package has been offered to both [Pastor Todd] Wilken and [Jeff] Schwarz, but it comes with the string of a “gag order” attached. (That is, they are being asked to sign a document stating that they will not discuss the conditions of their termination of employment.) The Issues, Etc. team is seeking legal counsel before they accept the conditional severance package.

As we say in the South: DO WHAT?

Apparently, there is much that Todd and Jeff could say that would embarrass the LCMS, which is absolutely no surprise to me or to anyone else closely following this story. It further reinforces the prevailing theory that nuking IE was entirely a political decision.

The smell is getting worse, LCMS. Another round of shinola is not going to help.

Maundy Thursday musings

"Maundy Thursday" -- what is it?

"Maundy" is a corruption of the Latin word mandatum, or "mandate," and refers to Jesus saying, "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you." (John 13:34)

In the middle of the Issues, Etc. fiasco and impassioned calls to respect the Eighth Commandment (do not bear false witness against your neighbor), I'm reminded how ridiculously hard it is -- no, impossible -- to love my enemies. I'm also reminded that loss of a job -- though traumatic -- is pretty mild compared with what our brothers and sisters elsewhere in the world suffer daily in the name of Christ. (For a few sobering stories, visit here or here.)

The holy law that Jesus iterated on the day before his Passion strikes us all in the face. We fail miserably at it. And that brings us to Holy Friday, the day of the Cross, the day that all the sins of the world were nailed to the tree along with the Lamb of God, along with death and the grave.

On this Holy Thursday, may you rely fully on the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, to fill your heart with love and give you forgiveness of all your sins.

Issues, Etc. unceremoniously canned; UPDATE: LCMS issues "non-statement"; UPDATE: Wil Weedon organizing protest

[Scroll down for updates. And yes, please use my banners.]

Got the astounding news today that the radio program Issues, Etc. -- a favorite of Rich and mine -- has been suddenly canceled and its host and producer, the Rev. Todd Wilken and Jeff Schwarz, respectively, unceremoniously fired with no explanation.

And this is Holy Week.

Reliable sources say that the cause is neither finances nor scandal -- neither of which would have necessitated the sudden cancellation of the program anyway. Speculation abounds, but the fact that there was no warning coupled with the fact that even the show's Web site was taken down completely smacks of a punishing stance by the Lutheran Church Missouri-Synod, which underwrote the program.

Here's a roundup of blog posts about the topic:

Wil Weedon: http://weedon.blogspot.com/2008/03/holy-tuesday-treachery.html

Randy Asburry: http://rasburrysres.blogspot.com/2008/03/day-of-infamy-call-for-prayer.html

James White: http://www.aomin.org/aoblog/index.php?itemid=2585

Kim Riddlebarger: http://kimriddlebarger.squarespace.com/the-latest-post/2008/3/18/lcms-pulls-the-plug-on-issues-etc.html

J.A.T. Vierkant: http://jatvierkantsnotebook.blogspot.com/2008/03/issues-etc-canceled.html


It just galls me that hacks like Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer are multimillionaires and poor Todd and Jeff are in the ranks of the unemployed today.


UPDATE: Looks like the LCMS has offered up a non-responsive response on the KFUO Web site:

For programmatic and business reasons, the decision was made this week to discontinue the "Issues, Etc." program on KFUO-AM. We look forward to bringing you new programming in this time slot in the near future. Also, we thank "Issues" host Rev. Todd Wilken and producer Mr. Jeff Schwarz for their years of service on behalf of the station. Those interested may still download past "Issues, Etc." programs from the "Issues" archive on this website. Thank you sincerely for your continued support of KFUO's radio ministry.

Try again, LCMS. Not. Good. Enough.

UPDATE: Pastor Wil Weedon, a frequent IE guest and -- I believe -- Jeff Schwarz's own pastor, is wanting to organize a formal public protest in St. Louis. Here's his blog post about it.

I'll be there in spirit, pastor.

Smoking to the glory of God

That last post got me cranky. Then I found this from The Sacred Sandwich.

I checked. It's true. The great Calvinist C. H. Spurgeon was a cigar aficionado. Here's what he said in 1874:

"Well, dear friends, you know that some men can do to the glory of God what to other men would be sin. And notwithstanding what brother Pentecost has said, I intend to smoke a good cigar to the glory of God before I go to bed to-night.

"If anybody can show me in the Bible the command, 'Thou shalt not smoke,' I am ready to keep it; but I haven't found it yet. I find ten commandments, and it's as much as I can do to keep them; and I've no desire to make them into eleven or twelve.

And yes, people still wig over this. And over the fact that Martin Luther drank beer.

God bless 'em, and thank God for the Reformation.

Read today's devotional from Spurgeon's classic work Morning and Evening here.

ADDENDUM: As dear hubby pointed out, it's not like Christendom had a problem with beer and cigars before the Reformation. Still, Spurgeon was a Baptist, and that just is too much for some people to bear.

Contemplating the big "M"

Motherhood.

The GGB is not -- I repeat -- not pregnant ... yet.

Hubbykins and I will probably start trying later this year, and I'm on prenatal vitamins to get my folic acid stores high and my iron levels perky. I turned 38 several days ago, and by cracky, I'd like to have kid #1 before I'm too far into my 40s.

My "mommy radar" is starting to come online. I'm mentally designing the nursery. I'm browsing Web sites of baby names. I'm smiling secretly at funny stuff like this. And this is just cool.

But I'm also terrified.

I'm terrified of becoming one of those mothers: the "super moms" who are just so damn fascinated with spawning and their spawn that they make everyone else nauseated. The narcississtic ones who romanticize their "precious angels" ... right into anger and rebellion.

Orthodox Christian writer Frederica Matthewes-Green said it a whole lot better than I can:

There must have been something wrong with the Fifties: they led to the Sixties. The kids that grew up in those tidy two-parent homes weren’t out of their teens before they began doing all they could to overthrow that wholesome security...

Though there are many factors, one short response might be: children received *too* much pampering attention. This sounds impossible in an age when millions of children are aborted, abandoned, and institutionalized in faceless day care. But there are two different traditional approaches to childrearing, and they have widely differing results.

In the Fifties an attitude toward childhood bloomed which had first sprouted in the Victorian era. In this view, childhood is seen as a carefully delineated, circumscribed experience; it’s almost a physical place, a playroom stocked with toys, where precious children linger all a long golden afternoon. Adults look on with wistful, vicarious pleasure, fawning over the tots and shielding them from the harsh winds of the cruel adult world. Adults place a high value on preserving children’s "innocence."

Sounds like the numerous unflattering definitions of "soccer mom" at Urban Dictionary.com.

Okay, so how does white, Christian, middle-class, suburban me avoid the "soccer mom" mentality? I like what Matthewes-Green had to say about Proverbs 31:

... responsibility mothering includes setting an example of full-fledged adult womanhood... While time spent cuddling and playing on the child’s level is an indispensable source of fun and security in a child’s life, a mother must also prepare her children for adulthood, not life-long childhood... [She] sets her kids an example of the "virtuous woman" of Proverbs 31, busy with home management, hobbies, and church ministries; she may even find it feasible to keep her hand in a career while caring for small children, by working from home or keeping on top of continuing education opportunities.

Preach on, sistah. And thank you for putting your finger on something that's been bugging me a LONG time.

A little spooky

Two headlines, same day:

Mormon Church President Gordon B. Hinckley Dead at 97

Leader of Greek Orthodox Church Dead at 69


If Pope Benedict or Archbishop Rowan Williams kicks today, I am going to go hide in the closet.

Potato Jesus

Fox News: Florida Pastor Finds Jesus Image in Split Potato

Is this woman for real? She was having an existential crisis about whether she should make potato salad?

"I was hesitant about making the potato salad because Sister Frankie makes the potato salad at church and I said, 'Lord, if it’s not for me to make potato salad then send me a sign.'"

::: smacking forehead :::

Apparently, she interpreted the "sign" as an indication that she should, actually, make the potato salad, which she did.

“It was good. It was the best you [sic] ever made ... it was almost as good as Sister Frankie's,” said Bishop Brewster.

Sister Frankie was unavailable for comment.

I guess I should blog again

Hey, folks. GGB here. A friend of mine with a three-year-old and a newborn is showing me out by blogging almost daily, so I figured it was high time to get my hiney in gear and talk to the world.

Hi, world.

Yesterday, hubby and I passed the 200-day mark of our wedded bliss. I keep waiting for that dreaded "tough first year" to materialize, but so far it hasn't. The toughest things about 2007 have come from outside, not from within. No, if anything, 200 days have proven that I chose beautifully. "Peas and carrots" comes to mind.

Otherwise, it's been hard to know what to blog about. It's been nice not having a day job to complain about, and days at home have been mostly productive and absolutely peaceful. Coming up on an election year, you'd think I'd be back in political-junkie mode, but lately the news only gets me angry. Suffice it to say, Hillary Clinton is a Marxist and I will vote for her opponent, whoever that may be. In fact, I'm kinda tickled that Pat Robertson -- kooky as he is -- decided to endorse Giuliani, especially after James Dobson's whining that none of the front runners is Jesus-y enough.

Speaking of Jesus ...

Michael Horton is my hero. (After Jesus.) I finally got my hands on a copy of a fantastic volume he edited, titled Christ the Lord: The Reformation and Lordship Salvation. For those of you who did not grow up Southern Baptist, this will be meaningless, but this book has finally settled the anxieties of this former SBC'er who grew up constantly hearing: "Are you really, really, really, really, REALLY saved?" (For those of you who did grow up So. Baptist, I hope you are giggling now. And go buy the book.)

Okay, our older dog is giving me that look. Time to feed the mutts. Arividerci!

How come no one ever "finds" Buddha?

Puppy murderer Michael Vick says he has "found Jesus" and now claims that dogfighting is a "terrible thing."

Ever notice how no one ever "finds Buddha" or "achieves nirvana" in the pokey? (And Vick isn't even in jail yet. This must be a record.) I'm just saying that since Eastern-style religion is all the rage these days, I'm curious as to why it's the Jesus card that gets played.

Ministers behaving badly. Congregants behaving stupidly.

"The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer [bishop], he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money."

-- St. Paul, I Timothy 3:1-3

Evangelist Juanita Bynum recently got the stuffing knocked out of her in a hotel parking lot by her husband, "Bishop" Thomas Weeks III. A hotel bellman witnessed the attack, as relayed here in an article by Fox News:

"They were talking about a reconciliation. They got into an argument. In the process of the argument, her husband walked out to the parking lot area, turned back around and started to choke Miss Bynum," [Atlanta police officer Ronald ] Campbell said.

"As he choked her, he pushed her down to the ground and started to kick her and also stomp on her," he said. "There was a bellman at the location who witnessed the whole assault, intervened, and pulled Mr. Weeks off of Miss Bynum."

"Bishop" Weeks has yet to repent and instead took a few brief moments in the pulpit this past Sunday (before a guest preacher delivered the sermon) to blame the devil for his troubles, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. His congregants are being all mashy-mouthed about "not judging." One particularly pathetic comment to the AJC site [emphases mine]:

I am a member of Global Destiny. I was there yesterday and I support Bishop 100%. He is a true man of God who made a mistake. I get paid on this week and will sow my entire pay check to the ministry. I know these are trying times for him financially. My 8 year daughter does not mind forfeiting "back to school shopping" b/c Bishop weeks is in need. Praying is not enough. We need ot take action. I signed the thing on yesterday to have the Judge decrease the felony to a misdemeanor. I am praying that his case is dismissed due ot self defense or he gets Community Service. Everyone does stuff they regret. I know he is pure, he did not mean to hurt her-he got caught up in the heat of the moment. I pray that he will Preach on this coming Sunday.

Good Lord Almighty, this is so cosmically insane, I don't even know where to begin. Weeks is in flagrant violation of at least four Biblical requirements to be a bishop, and not only is he not being held accountable, people are flinging MONEY at him!!! ENTIRE PAYCHECKS!!!

"Judge not," my arse. I cannot judge Weeks' heart or motivations, but I sure as heck can judge that smacking your wife around is a big fat honkin' no-no for any man who claims to be a Christian, much less a "Bishop." And when church members do not stand up and demand decent behavior from their leaders, it makes us all look like cretins and gives cover to ignorant people who think that the Bible actually endorses that kind of behavior.

Aggghhhh. I want to throw something.

Hostage Watch: Apparently, Amnesty International doesn't give a damn

The Associated Press is reporting this morning:

Afghan Police Find Body of Second South Korean Hostage


Out of curiosity, I checked Amnesty International's Web site to see what they had to say about the detention, mistreatment and summary execution of now TWO South Korean Christian workers:

::: crickets chirping :::

Oh. Hm. Nothing on the home page. I searched their site for the keywords "south korean hostages." I got four hits and keyword-searched each of them. I did discover that the U.S., apparently, is "denying human dignity" in the war on terror. Read all about it here. But the South Koreans in Afghanistan? I guess they're at a Talibani resort or something and the two found dead were just oopsies.

HOSTAGE WATCH: Update: Oh, shit.

This is Bae Ho-jung, father of South Korean pastor Bae Hyeong-gyu, who is reported to have been murdered by the Taliban. (AP photo) Our prayers are with you, brother.

UPDATE: 12:43 p.m. Central: It's been reported that the murdered pastor may have died of illness. Whatever. Six of one ... you know the routine. If he was that sick, he should have been in a hospital instead of in whatever shithole the Taliban stuck him in.

Barbarians.

UPDATE: July 25, 11:17 a.m. Central.

Michelle Malkin is on the case and reports that the body of a South Korean riddled with bullet holes has been found in Afghanistan.

I'm sick now.

Oh, NOW Fox News has the story on its homepage. Gee. Thanks, guys.

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Posted yesterday:

The GGB is just now recovering from a pretty nutso three months of newlywed life. (See my July 4 post for all the details.) I've been fasting somewhat from news and blogs because, well, I'm sick of reading about another bombing in Baghdad, and the only good thing about Lindsay Lohan's substance abuse problems is she's bumped Paris Hilton's orange-glo mug off the screen.

And then I read about this.

I just sent Fox News a snippy e-mail because THEY of ALL PEOPLE should at least have a MENTION of this on their homepage. But no. Alongside some legit headlines about global politics and Fred Thompson's campaign, we have these supermarket tabloid-worthy headlines:

"Live Well With Low IQ, No-Brainer"
"Man Has 33-Pound Tumor Removed From Face"
"Kim Jong-Il's Favorite Magician Injured in Risky Trick"

For the love of God and all that is holy, WAKE UP, PEOPLE! Good Lord Almighty, will you stop with the idiotic TRIVIA and stupid celebrity tricks and missing-pretty-woman dramas and start reporting the @#$%^% NEWS!!!!!!!!

When I need useless fluff, I'll watch WE TV or the Style Network. But when I turn on the news, I want frickin' NEWS! N-E-W-S!!!!

Fatwa'ed: Imam sez you can't be nekkid during sex with your spousal unit

Good thing I'm not Muslim:

Leading Islamic Cleric: Nudity During Sex Annuls Marriage (Hat tip: LGF)

But if I were Muslim, this would lead to some interesting questions: Can I wear a hat? How about stillettos? Two Band-Aids and dental floss?

One LGF commenter wondered if there was an online database for fatwas -- they're getting so hard to keep up with. Is there an official Fatwa Report? How about an RSS feed? Perhaps you can sign up for e-mail fatwa alerts to get your fresh fatwas every morning.

Can I issue a fatwa? Do I have to be Muslim? Do I have to fill out an application or something? I've been wanting to issue a fatwa against telemarketers. And Michael Bolton.