partsofspeaking

OK, I have been on an NPR bashing roll lately, which is bad because I really like their humanities and arts coverage, most of the time, and that they report stories from all over the world.  I didn't appreciate their story on drag queens who put on strip shows at Christmas, a show called "Homo for the Holidays" (about as blasphemous as you can get) and the days of my giving them money are over.  Yesterday sort of told me how out of touch they are. It was a story about a Latina actress who is starring in a new Norman Lear (yes, that Norman Lear) sitcom (he's 94) with Rita Moreno (85).  It is, from what I can tell, a Latino version of Good Times , of the Jimmy Walker Dynomite fame.  Yeah.  But the actress was saying that they wanted to get the details right, so the Latinos had to tell the director that Latinos use "country crock bowls" for leftovers, not Tupperware.  The NPR staff member bought that that was a Latino thing. Uh.  No.  It's a poor...

The “complaint” God had with the Israelites in the Old Testament had to do with their leadership as much or more with the masses.   If this is true (in terms of my interpretation) it really makes a difference in understanding.   Those who criticize Jesus in peeling grains to eat on Sabbath (when fasting is not required) were the Pharisees. Why are the Pharisees the bad guys?   Not just because they oppose Jesus, although that is part of it, but because they use their power heavily, not to shepherd but to oppress and control.   Leadership is never taken for granted or presented as a light thing in Scripture.   Spiritual leadership, I should say, although for other types it is true as well that leadership is never taken lightly.   Pagan kings like Nebuchadnezzar are instruments of judgment, but spiritual leaders must first be good examples and never false or hypocritical. Their character, not their use of power, comes first.   Howe...

 Let's just stop this, shall we?  Great article on American offensive hyperbole. https://regiehammblog.wordpress.com/2017/02/01/this-hitler-nonsense/  

 My husband had on one of those sports talk shows this evening (the one with the skinny white guy with a last name that probably got him called cow turd in school and with the chubby black guy who wears a hat).  The skinny white guy was talking about the Patriots or someone and said, "He is trying to build an integrous organization." What? "I am a pretty educated and well read person," I said.  "I have never heard that word."  So my husband looked it up on on Google, and this is what he found: https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=integrous I did some more looking up and learned that while it has appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary , which tracks usage historically, that was a long, long, long time ago (like centuries).  But . . . when he used it, I did know what he meant, so does that not make it a legitimate word?  Meaning was conveyed (or perhaps evoked) by it, even if we say "of integrity" instead of "integrous." (and my ...

"There was a time when I really wanted to help the poor, the sick, and the broken, but to do it as one who was wealthy, healthy, and strong. Now I see more and more how it is precisely through my weakness and brokenness that I minister to others." Henri Nouwen How I need this truth! This link is an interesting book review on a new collection of his letters.  I have read some of his work and found it meaningful at the time.  http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2017/january-web-only/henri-nouwens-weakness-was-his-strength.html

Tonight I was coming home listening to my customary 25 minutes of drive time radio.  I listened to Janet Parshall and at one point said, Let me turn over to NPR and see if they are talking about Trump. At first I thought, they aren't.  It was an African woman in Nairobi talking about how she has trouble getting her condoms.  Because of Trump. That beats all.  He's been in office ten days and the supply of condoms in Kenya has been cut off.  Now, that is power! OK, forgive the snarky.  I realize this poor woman is probably married and already has a number of children and wants to practice family planning.  Of course she should.  And she should get them from the health clinic. But . . . at what point in time did it become the responsibility of the United States government to supply her condoms?  Why doesn't Kenya's government? Oh, they are too poor, you say.  Really?  Why are they poor?  Too poor to help with health n...

The United States is not Israel in the Old Testament.  We are a representative democracy, a democratic republic with a constitution.  We are not obligated to follow the laws of the Old Testament about the aliens and strangers among us.  As a sovereign nation, we are to protect our borders and citizens.  Christians are not Old Testament Israel either.  Most of the "promises" Christians use from the Old Testament do not apply to us, especially not individually. In Matthew 16 Jesus said, Upon this rock I will build my church.  That means he was going to start something new--new wine in new wineskins.  He wasn't replacing Israel; he was starting the church.  The church has very clear teaching of its own to follow, called the gospels and epistles.  Every spiritual and moral principle that God wants us to follow from the Old Testament is repeated in the New. So, where does this lead us to refugees?  Don't quote Old Testament passages ...