Monthly Archives: January 2004

Cases of Logic Gone Horribly Awry

Posted on by

Woman charged over lost lottery ticket claim
I can’t believe she was stupid enough to say that her intentions were good: she “wanted to win so bad for [her] kids, [her] family.” Uh huh. Sorry lady… those aren’t good intentions — those are greedy ambitions. You deserve the maximum penalties for filing a false police report. If nothing else, you wasted the time/money/reseources of the Cleveland police, denied the rightful winner her prize, and lied to the nation. You deserve no sympathy.

Pete Rose Wants Baseball to Forgive Him
OK… you finally came clean in a book that is making you $$$$, you actually *agreed* to the lifetime ban 15 years ago, and you somehow think that you deserve to be in the Hall of Fame/be re-instated/manage another team? How stupid are you Pete? Yes, you bet on your team to win; but that was a bet whose outcome you could control. You basically rigged games, taking all the fun out of the sport and you profitted from it. You’re just a greedy, washed-up, unrepetant slimeball and I pity those who actually think you deserve another chance. Why don’t you donate the proceeds of your book to a group like Gamblers Anonymous and then maybe we’ll believe you.

Dean Says Faith Swayed Decision on Gay Unions
Uh huh. You claim that homosexuality must not be a sin if God created gay people. So basically, overeating (gluttony) isn’t a big deal because God created some people to have a greater appetite than others? Is alcoholism OK because some people have a greater predisposition to it? Just because I have a predisposition to something, it does not mean it is necessarily good for me or for my relationship with God. Add Romans 3:23 onto that please.

Dean, you’re alienating those of us who feel put off by Dubya but are still conservative Christians. Stop it. It’s great that you’re thinking of “those who are left behind” but… they’ve made a choice to act on something that isn’t in accordance with God’s will. Yes, Jesus would have hung out with gays and lesbians but He would have told them to “go and sin no more”, not to continue in their way. You can declare something blessed; but it is not truly blessed unless the Lord blesses it.

Ordination Pics

Posted on by

Jon and I after his ordination
Jon and I after his ordination

The gang who laid hands (minus one)
From left to right: Rev. Mark Shoemaker, Rev. Bill Rauch, Bishop Callon Holloway, Jon, his dad, and me. Missing is Rev. Dick Burgie. (A shame because Dick is such a kick.)

The laying on of hands
The laying on of hands. This is the fake one for pictures. The real one had me standing and holding the book for da Bish.

Jesus and Mary Magdalene

Posted on by

(Thanks Dave for the link to this.)

David van Biema, the associate editor of TIME, made the following claim in his August 11th article on Mary Magdalene:

Most scholars discount a Jesus-Magdalene match because it finds little echo in the canonical Gospels once the false Magdalenes are removed. But it fulfills a deep narrative expectation: for the alpha male to take a mate, for a yin to Jesus’ yang or, as some neopagans have suggested, for a goddess to his god. Martin Luther believed that Jesus and Magdalene were married, as did Mormon patriarch Brigham Young.

OK… does anyone see a problem here? Kudos to those who said, “But Jen, Martin Luther didn’t believe that!” Why am I so sure that van Biema is wrong? Well… I checked the Book of Concord for any mention of Mary Magdalene and there was none. Believe me, if Luther had thought that Christ being married to Mary Magdalene was true, it would be in there. I also know that Luther spoke out muchly on the cult of the saints and would not have tolerated the idea of the dualism presented by Mary Magdalene being married to Jesus Christ. (For the faith issues I have with this, read my post on The DaVinci Code.)

I’m a little irritated at the mistake made by van Biema because a lot of people are going to take his word that it was what Luther believed. He is promoting heresy and I really don’t think he cares that he was wrong. (For those who want to say that people aren’t that stupid, Google “mary magdalene Jesus Christ Luther” and see what you come up with. There are a few Christian forum discussions where people quote the TIME article as their evidence. This is even with scholars like Elaine Pagels disputing it.) I know that he isn’t Christian, but you’d think he could make the effort to GET THE FACTS RIGHT.

My belief is that all “religion reporters” should:
a.) hold a concurrent degree in Religious Studies with their journalism degrees
b.) be an adherent of the faith about which they are reporting

Then again, I’m just an idealist…

**Update** OK… it was a flippant remark made in Tabletalk, which were a group of discourses with people. Considering that Luther was usually drinking during these, it’s probably not unlikely that it was a drunken comment. And of course, van Biema wouldn’t have the sense to consider the source. The link has a pretty good explanation on it. (You have to understand Luther to get why I’m just passing this off as him being drunk.)

Recent Acquisitions

Posted on by

I really should be blogging more about what I’m reading, given that I read at least 1500 pages a month…

Today’s Christian Woman
One of my neighbors back in San Jose (who read me the Christmas story when I was 6 and planted the seed of the Gospel in my heart) gave me a gift subscription to Today’s Christian Woman for Christmas. I’m pretty thankful — I need something that even hints of female fellowship to read. I haven’t had decent fellowship with women my age since I graduated from college and I really miss it. I’m usually pretty skeptical about the inanity of most women’s magazines; but this one is published by the same people that do Christianity Today, which is tempering some of the skepticism. I know that some of my beliefs on issues might be different, but it would be nice to have a faith-based perspective on some of what I’m dealing with that I don’t have to take with a grain of salt as far as its orthodoxy.

Getting My Al Franken Fix
My wonderful mother-in-law sent me Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right by Al Franken as a Christmas present. (She gives me the best presents. The first year I was dating Jon, she gave me an afghan in my favorite colors. The next year, it was a phatty gift certificate to Lands’ End.) I’m 100 pages in and I’m not ready to assassinate anyone in the Bush administration (flog perhaps but not assassinate) but Franken does expose some of the lies of Ann Coulter, Bill O’Reilly, and Sean Hannity. He actually has people R-E-S-E-A-R-C-H the claims made by the right-wing media and it’s amazing how the story changes when you can see what the actual sources are. If nothing else, this is making me more aware of what I read and more determined to read the articles quoted if I can get my hands on them.

New Year’s Resolutions

Posted on by

It’s that time of year again! To keep me somewhat accountable, I’ve decided to list some of my New Year’s resolutions.

1.) Develop healthier living habits. Eat better. Get more exercise. Actually see a doctor about an illness before it gets to the point of near-hospitalization. (This will be easier as we’ll have decent health insurance.) Pray more. Don’t stress over things.

2.) Get my driver’s license before I hit the BIG 2-4. (Translation: get my license before May 19th.) I’m so close and if I can get some more practice in during the next 3 weeks, I can get my Minnesota license.

3.) Accept that I cannot change everything. Part of my stress problems have to do with my doggone insistence that I can change things… when in reality, I can’t change everything about a situation. I need to accept that some things are problematic and can’t be fixed.

4.) Not stress about money. Jon is making more money this year and we can meet our bills. I need to chill and remember that there has never been a time when the Lord hasn’t provided daily bread — that is, exactly what we need — and He will never stop providing for us.

5.) Tame my gremlin not to eat my books, especially the ones that blaspheme her name. She likes to chew on Njal’s Saga. Enough said.

New Year = New Layout

Posted on by

Happy New Year y’all! I’ve been wanting to do a new layout for awhile so here it is! There will be color once spring comes (or I get sick of the lack of color — whichever comes first).

Jon and I spent the evening chilling with the cats and we celebrated the New Year by trying to open the wine bottle without the aid of a corkscrew. (We can’t find it. Maybe this is why my kitchen needs to be fully unpacked???) We finally stuck a screwdriver in and pushed the cork into the bottle so it was submerged. I then had the job of straining the cork bits out of the wine. (This of course would only happen to us…) The wine was actually for getting a red wine stain out of Jon’s alb. Failing this, we’ll turn to the magic of Dryel and hope that works.

I’m looking at purchasing a laptop in the next week or two. Any suggestions on what I should get?