From a BBC article, here: Albino killers get death penalty - BBC News
Part of the article:
Four Tanzanians have been sentenced to death by hanging for killing an albino man last year - one of a spate of such murders in the country.
[...] Witchdoctors sell good-luck potions made from the body parts of albino people for thousands of dollars.
More than 50 albino people are thought to have been murdered in the past two years in Tanzania.
Analysts say thousands of albino people are now living in fear, especially in villages in the north-west where the majority of the murders have occurred.
It seems that witchdoctors are making a fortune by selling potions made from albino body parts. Hey, if people are going to believe in that fable about Zombie Jesus, why not believe that albino parts in a potion will cure you or make you powerful? Same amount of proof - have to have faith. Probably use the potions to ward off witches - Look, no witches, must be working! Go figure. I wonder how they prove that said potions are, in fact, made from albino body parts? Do they keep digital photos of the body and show which part the potion was made from? Inquiring minds want to know!
Once again, anytime you make something more sacred than human beings, you devalue the life of a human. When a witchdoctor, or priest, or politician, has more power than a common man, you know the society is in deep doo-doo.
Update: The original entry on CBN.com has been yanked after just about everyone on the Internet noticed it and started linking to it. So I’ve updated the link to point to the article’s home on the Charisma magazine website.
Nope, this isn’t another article in the yearly tradition of warning you about checking your Halloween candy before eating it or wearing costumes that restrict your vision. This one comes from the founder of Kimberly Daniels Ministries International and was published on CBN.com Charisma Magazine and it starts off with a question:
Halloween—October 31—is considered a holiday in the United States. In fact, it rivals Christmas with regard to how widely celebrated it is. Stores that sell only Halloween-related paraphernalia open up a few months before the day and close shortly after it ends. But is Halloween a holiday that Christians should be observing?
Almost any time an article starts off like that you can pretty much bet the bank the answer is going to be a resounding “No.” Chances are the person writing it is a religious nutcase who is out to rain on someone’s parade and Mrs. Daniels doesn’t disappoint:
The word “holiday” means “holy day.” But there is nothing holy about Halloween. The root word of Halloween is “hallow,” which means “holy, consecrated and set apart for service.” If this holiday is hallowed, whose service is it set apart for? The answer to that question is very easy—Lucifer’s!
The first couple of sentences start off OK, but then she dives off the deep end with the last sentence in the paragraph. Halloween grew out of old pagan rituals and has nothing to do with Lucifer outside of the minds of crazy Christian fundamentalists. But I’m sure that little fact won’t stop this lady from going on to weave a story full of bullshit.
Lucifer is a part of the demonic godhead. Remember, everything God has, the devil has a counterfeit. Halloween is a counterfeit holy day that is dedicated to celebrating the demonic trinity of : the Luciferian Spirit (the false father); the Antichrist Spirit (the false holy spirit); and the Spirit of Belial (the false son).
Did you know Lucifer has his own Trinity? That’s news to me and I’ve read the Bible several times over. But maybe I missed that part so let’s skip ahead a little and see if we can’t get to what the real dangers of celebrating Halloween are:
The key word in discussing Halloween is “dedicated.” It is dedicated to darkness and is an accursed season. During Halloween, time-released curses are always loosed. A time-released curse is a period that has been set aside to release demonic activity and to ensnare souls in great measure.
[...] During this period demons are assigned against those who participate in the rituals and festivities. These demons are automatically drawn to the fetishes that open doors for them to come into the lives of human beings. For example, most of the candy sold during this season has been dedicated and prayed over by witches.
Hoo boy, we’re into some Grade A Crazy now!
Really? Witches? You’re going to seriously suggest that the candy being sold at this time has been prayed over by witches transforming it into some sort of Tylenol delayed-release of evil?
I do not buy candy during the Halloween season. Curses are sent through the tricks and treats of the innocent whether they get it by going door to door or by purchasing it from the local grocery store. The demons cannot tell the difference.
Yep, she’s seriously going to suggest just that. So there’s one of the great dangers of celebrating Halloween. If you eat any candy that’s been prayed over by witches you’ll be possessed by demons too dumb to tell the difference between candy you begged for and candy you bought for yourself at the store.
But she’s not done with the crazy just yet. She’s got lots of it and she’s handing it out in lieu of treats this year:
Even the colors of Halloween (orange, brown and dark red) are dedicated. These colors are connected to the fall equinox, which is around the 20th or 21st of September each year and is sometimes called “Mabon.” During this season witches are celebrating the changing of the seasons from summer to fall. They give praise to the gods for the demonic harvest. They pray to the gods of the elements (air, fire, water and earth).
Well at least she got the name right, though Mabon is celebrated by neo-pagans and has nothing to do with the Christian concepts of Lucifer or demons or a “demonic harvest.” The name for the Autumnal Equinox was coined by Aidan Kelly around 1970 and is a reference to Mabon ap Modron who is the Welsh personification of youth. Ironically if you do your research you’ll learn that in Celtic lore Mabon ap Modron has more to do with rebirth, the start of Summer, than the Autumn harvest, but when you’re making up your own religion based off old pagan ideas no one ever said you couldn’t move things around a bit. After all it’s not like the Christians didn’t move Jesus’ birth to the other end of the year so they could usurp a major pagan holiday.
Continuing…
Mother earth is highly celebrated during the fall demonic harvest. Witches praise mother earth by bringing her fruits, nuts and herbs. Demons are loosed during these acts of worship. When nice church folk lay out their pumpkins on the church lawn, fill their baskets with nuts and herbs, and fire up their bonfires, the demons get busy. They have no respect for the church grounds. They respect only the sacrifice and do not care if it comes from believers or non-believers.
Gathering around bonfires is a common practice in pagan worship. As I remember, the bonfires that I attended during homecoming week when I was in high school were always in the fall. I am amazed at how we ignorantly participate in pagan, occult rituals.
Apparently if you worship Mother Earth with fruits, nuts, and herbs you unleash demons. This is yet another amazing bit of nonsense she pulled out of her ass. The second paragraph makes me wonder if she participates in any of the common Christmas traditions of decorating a Christmas tree or kissing under mistletoe or exchanging gifts as those are all pagan rituals from Yuletide on which Christmas is based. Considering how much bullshit she spreads around to paint Wiccans and Neo-pagans as devil worshipers I can only imagine she has just as much bullshit to justify the pagan-based rituals she does partake in.
The gods of harvest that the witches worship during their fall festivals are the Corn King and the Harvest Lord. The devil is too stupid to understand that Jesus is the Lord of the Harvest 365 days a year. But we cannot be ignorant of the devices of the enemy. When we pray, we bind the powers of the strong men that people involved in the occult worship.
It’s clear now, with her citation of the Corn King and the Harvest Lord, that Mrs. Daniels is engaging in the age old Christian tradition of painting the Pagans as being Satanists, which just isn’t true in the slightest. I’m sure Mrs. Daniels would be more than offended if a pagan were to portray her religion as a sick zombie worshiping death-cult (which, depending on how you look at it, is a fair description) yet she has no problems portraying the pagans as evil people intent on unleashing demonic forces on unwitting Christians. Hypocrisy is not a value I remember Jesus endorsing.
In case you don’t think she’s really portraying pagans as evil all we have to do to see this is true is to continue reading:
Halloween is much more than a holiday filled with fun and tricks or treats. It is a time for the gathering of evil that masquerades behind the fictitious characters of Dracula, werewolves, mummies and witches on brooms. The truth is that these demons that have been presented as scary cartoons actually exist. I have prayed for witches who are addicted to drinking blood and howling at the moon.
Got that? She’s prayed with real, live witches that were addicted to drinking blood and howling at the moon. How can you not take her seriously?
Incidentally, it’s interesting to read what the neo-pagans have to say about the Corn King and the Harvest Lord:
Yet another kingly God from Wiccan traditions is the Corn King, who grows during the hot summer months only to give himself up for the good of others when harvest comes. The death of the Corn King is a powerful image of sacrifice—of one who lays down his life for the welfare of those he loves. Many vegetation Gods play this sacrificial role, one well-known example being Dumuzi, the Sumerian consort of the Goddess Inanna. In most mythic stories, the sacrificial God dies and is reborn at the beginning of the next season. Of course, the theme of the dying-and-reviving God found it’s most enduring form in the mythic story of the death and resurrection of the Christian God, Jesus of Nazareth.
[...] HARVEST LORD is an ancient symbol of the Slain God, the willing sacrifice, the sacred king, and sacred seed. He is the Green Man seen as the cycle of Nature in the plant kingdom. The Harvest Lord is cut down and his seeds planted into the earth so that life may continue and be ever more abundant. This mythos is symbolic of the planted seed nourished beneath the soil and the ascending sprout that becomes the harvested plant by the time of the next Autumnal Equinox.
It shouldn’t come as any surprise that both of these pagan myths sound remarkably like the Christian story of Jesus. If you’ve studied ancient religions to any degree you will be more than aware that the idea of a God sacrificing himself for the sake of his creation—sometimes in human form and sometimes not—is a recurring idea that predates Christianity. There’s a lot of such myths out there and the Christian version is hardly novel.
The point being that there’s clearly nothing evil or demonic about the pagan myths. That, in fact, they express some of the same ideas that the Christian myth does. Mrs. Daniel’s attempts to twist them into something evil and demonic not only does a disservice to a harmless holiday, but is an act she would never tolerate against her own beliefs.
But she won’t let that fact get in the way with cranking the crazy knob all the way up to 11:
The word “occult” means “secret.” The danger of Halloween is not in the scary things we see but in the secret, wicked, cruel activities that go on behind the scenes. These activities include:
- Sex with demons
- Orgies between animals and humans
- Animal and human sacrifices
- Sacrificing babies to shed innocent blood
- Rape and molestation of adults, children and babies
- Revel nights
- Conjuring of demons and casting of spells
- Release of “time-released” curses against the innocent and the ignorant.
Another abomination that goes on behind the scenes of Halloween is necromancy, or communication with the dead. Séances and contacting spirit guides are very popular on Halloween, so there is a lot of darkness lurking in the air.
Sex with demons? Orgies with humans and animals? More Tylenol-like time-release curses? Man, apparently I’ve been getting invited to all the boring Halloween parties!
It should come as no surprise that Mrs. Daniels offers absolutely nothing in the way of evidence to back up any of those claims. It’s just more bullshit she made up to paint the holiday and pagans in a bad light. I’d love for her or one of her followers to show me anything that remotely supports the claims she’s making here. They can’t because it doesn’t happen.
The rest of her column is the standard Bible quotes and calls for people to repent that usually closes out such idiocy. There’s a certain irony, from an atheist standpoint, of watching one delusional person attack the delusions of a different group and try to paint them as evil.
The real evil here is being committed by Mrs. Daniels who sees nothing wrong with spreading lies and demonizing another religion’s beliefs to score points with her fellow believers. If she really believes the nonsense she’s spewing then she’s arguably crazy. If she doesn’t then she’s classically wicked. Sadly, she’s hardly alone in her approach.
Got the following this morning:
From: “Baumann, Brent”
Subject: Feel sorry for you
I am a geologist who has watched the creation show a few times and I certainly have not heard any of the claims you are making but I have studied creation science and worked as a geologist in the “real world” for many years and the more I work and the older I get the stronger my faith becomes in intelligent design. I have worked in mines two miles underground and mapped above ground throughout Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. It all points to a creator.
Maybe in your infinite wisdom you can explain thousands of feet of coal beds supposedly laid down over millions of years of time containing “polystrate” fossils but containing no rock debris. Or maybe you can explain why scientists are constantly finding and covering up geological anomalies in rock strata throughout the world with the convenient phrase “unconformities or non-conformities”. You will probably have to look those words up in the dictionary.
I probably check out this site again because I am not talking to people with any credibility or desire to learn about intelligent design or a creator. All you want to do is spout your anti-Christian point of view.
Understand this, there will be a day of reckoning and a place of judgment. You were created in God’s image and despite the fact that you despise Him, He desires that you come to a knowledge of the truth which can only be found in Jesus Christ.
My reply is somewhat lengthy so I’ll post it after the jump.
Click here to read MORE...
Hoo boy, it’s amazing the kind of uproar that new-fangled Twitter thingy can cause. It seems earlier today the words “No God” became what the Twitterettes call a “Trending Topic” and all hell broke loose. Theists were confused, upset, outraged, and horrified that the phrase “No God” could be the number one trending topic. Meanwhile us atheists were quite amused at the ruckus it was causing and some of the stunning tweets it was generating from the True Believers™.
The common assumption among the theists was that this was all due to us nasty atheists out on a God bashing spree, but the truth is it all got started when someone posted that cloying cliche: “No God, No Peace, Know God, Know Peace.” Apparently Twitter has a funky way of determining what the relevant words in a tweet are and, as the phrase was repeatedly retweeeted by the faithful, it made “No God” a trending topic. Which then led to what is the other amusing aspect of this thread: The numerous clueless TBs who kept posting tweets such as this one:
@TechNoteDaGreat How did no god become a tt
I can answer that. In part it happened because a lot of clueless Twats Twits Tweeters kept asking how it became a Trending Topic. Every time one of these morons used the words “No God” in their tweets asking how it became a trending topic they helped to bolster that trend. Many of the outraged felt they should do something to knock it from the top spot yet they kept using the words “No God” in their tweets thus helping to ensure it stayed number one. You’d think the logic of this would be self-evident, but it left many TBers confused and angry.
Personally I had a great time watching the thread grow and taking potshots at some of the more stupid arguments being tossed into the fray. Pascal’s wager, which I saw stated in hip-hop terms for the first time ever, was a popular one as was the “without God there’s no purpose, no love, no blah blah blah” line of reasoning. Which isn’t to say they didn’t have anything new that I hadn’t heard before. For example. did you know that God is the reason you wake up in the morning? It’s true! According to many TBers who say it ain’t the alarm clock that wakes your sorry ass up, but God. ***Dave asked if that meant he could blame God if he overslept and was late to work. Sounds logical to me. A comment that probably would’ve gotten him lumped in with us Godless heathens had he not sent it straight to me.
Anyway, the point I wanted to get to is this: I’m sometimes accused of being overly harsh or rude to the True Believers™ when they come around. I’m told I am disrespectful and intolerant and that I should be more like the even-handed Christians I’m accused of bashing. I always find that amusing when I come across tweets like the following which I’ve placed after the jump to tidy things up.
Click here to read MORE...
It seems there’s a number of religiously deluded people out there that are trying their hand at imprecatory prayer, asking God to destroy their enemies, and now one of them is being sued because of it:
Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said he wants Gordon Klingenschmitt, a former U.S. Navy chaplain, to “stop asking Jesus to plunder my fields ... seize my assets, kill me and my family then wipe away our descendants for 10 generations.”
The suit also asks the court to stop the defendants – Klingenschmitt and Jim Ammerman, the founders of the Chaplaincy of Full Gospel Churches – from “encouraging, soliciting, directing, abetting or attempting to induce others to engage in similar conduct.”
It’s not so much that Weinstein is worried about God actually acting on those prayers, but rather some of his followers:
Weinstein, who is Jewish, said his family has received death threats, had a swastika daubed on their home, and feces thrown at the house. He said the harassment started several years ago when he began protesting Christian proselytizing at his alma mater, the Air Force Academy.
Weinstein’s attorney, Randal Mathis, said their biggest concern is that Klingenschmitt’s audience includes a “certain number of unstable people” who might act in the name of God.
It’s not an unreasonable fear to have considering the number of people who have killed on God’s behalf because they believed they were being called to do so.
Klingenschmitt claims to have done nothing wrong:
Klingenschmitt, 41, told The News that he has “never incited anybody” to hurt Weinstein, whom he called a “paranoid megalomaniac who has a history of anti-Christian persecution.”
“I never prayed for anyone’s violence,” he told the paper. “All I did was quote the Scriptures.” His prayers are available on his website, the Pray In Jesus Name Project, The Evening Prayer’s Channel and for radio broadcast.
Does he want Mikey Weinstein to die? “I pray the Psalm that his days are few,” he told The News.
So he’s never incited anybody to hurt Weinstein, except that God fellow who has a known history of utilizing humans to do his dirty work. And it’s not that he’s praying for Weinstein to do so much as, you know, not be living too much longer if at all possible. Because that’s exactly what Jesus would do.
We last checked in with the The True Bible Code and Lord’s Witnesses people almost a year ago at the start of December 2008. At that point they were on guess number 126 that New York would be hit with a terrorist attack of some sort.
Now they’re up to guess number 172:
There will be a terrorist attack on the US taking the form of fire from the heavens and a rising mushroom cloud between 2009Tishr1 and 2009Tishri10 (September23-October3). The attack will hit Westside Midtown Manhattan producing a man made mushroom cloud rising from the Hudson river.
Now would be the time to buy 3 years supply of candles, solar power, wind power, food, water, gas bottles, deisel etc. for yourself your loved ones and some guests.
Because, honestly, if you can’t trust the advice of someone who has been wrong 171 times already then who’s advice can you trust? They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. I think these folks prove that adage quite well.
Each time I’ve visited their page over the past few years it has grown longer as they rush to invent new evidence to explain why their last prediction failed to come to pass. You do have to give them credit for owning up to their past failures. Though even they have lost count claiming they’ve only been wrong 155 times, or maybe only 145 times depending on, as they say themselves, how you count them, when it’s really 171. I know, I counted them up just to be sure.
They offer a Biblical justification for their continued attempts in the face of so much failure:
Why do the LWs keep predicting a nuclear terrorist attack from the bible when they have got it wrong so many times before?
Jesus said:
7 Keep on asking, and it will be given you; keep on seeking, and you will find; keep on knocking, and it will be opened to you.
8 For everyone asking receives, and everyone seeking finds, and to everyone knocking it will be opened (Matthew7).
Either you believe those words or your prefer the promises of Ferenc Gyurcsan, the Hungarian Prime Minister.
Jesus’ words do not mean that we should knock once or twice. They mean that we should keeping knocking until the door opens. For that is the promise. They do not mean that we should seek here and once we have done that we should seek there. They mean that we should seek everywhere until we find. For that is the promise. They do not mean that we should ask once or twice. They mean that we should ask every day and every hour of every day until we are answered. For that too is the promise.
And that is what we have done. And that is what we shall continue to do, God willing, because unlike the wonderful hungarian prime minister whose candour about his dishonesty is like a refreshing stream of truth in a desert of deception, Jesus is true to his word all the time. He is good for every one of his promises and he delivers what he says he will deliver. He does what he says he will do.
The only way we will not find is if we stop seeking. The only way it will not be opened to us is if we stop knocking. And the only way we will not be answered is if we stop asking.
In short they keep guessing because they have no doubts the event they are predicting will come to pass. They just can’t seem to figure out when it will happen, but that’s OK because if you keep on guessing then sooner or later you’ll either be right or die of old age. Guess which outcome I’d wager a bet on?
The fact that they keep asking (or rather guessing) and Jesus keeps not answering is no reason for these folks to stop guessing. It just means they need to guess again and again and again. They’re like the small child in the backseat of the car on a long road trip constantly asking “Are we there yet? Are we there yet? How about now? Are we there yet?” Only there’s no parent in the front seat or, for that matter, a car. Which is probably for the best because after a 171 questions that parent would probably be ready to murder them for a little peace and quiet.
Incidentally I have no idea why they bring up the Hungarian Prime Minister. There’s probably mention of him someplace further up the page, but I didn’t bother to read the whole thing as it’s a lot of nonsense to wade through.
So we’ll check in in another 6 months, or year, or the next time I get bored and remember that these idiots are out on the web, just to see what the count is up to. Maybe they’ll get lucky some day and someone will do something in New York that’s close enough to what they’re waiting for that they can stop guessing and do a little “see I told you so” dance. I can just hear them now: “So what if it took us a couple of thousand guesses? In the end we were right!”
Cafe Philos had an interesting article here:
I just heard the news that the Center for Inquiry and its sister organization, the Council for Secular Humanism, have teamed up to sponsor a Blasphemy Day this September 30th. Before you yawn, consider they probably mean well.
Time was when blasphemy was a crime and a blasphemy day might have been a wake up slap to the powers that be. Back then, setting aside a day to blaspheme might have accomplished something. But today? Isn’t every school kid a blasphemer these days?
At least, those were my first thoughts upon hearing of a Blasphemy Day this year. I wondered what the point could be. It’s 2009. Most days, I’m of the opinion that the Judeo-Christian God — “God” with a capital “G” — is too ridiculous to exist, and that the various more sophisticated gods of the philosophers and theologians are unnecessary to explain anything. No one is stopping me these days from expressing those opinions, so what could be the point of my going out of my way to blaspheme?
I’m curious. Any ideas?
The fact that we have the right to blaspheme is so important it can hardly be understated. Unlike most countries in this world, our Freedom of Speech sets us apart from all the chaff. This does not mean that it is appropriate or respectful to blaspheme, just that we have the RIGHT to do so.
From that article I linked to this NYTimes article here:
Back in the fall of 2007, with only the most practical motives in mind, George Kalman took his pen to the standard form for creating a limited liability company in Pennsylvania.
[...] The first line on the document asked Mr. Kalman to supply his chosen corporate name, and he printed it in: I Choose Hell Productions, LLC. In a personal bit of existentialism, Mr. Kalman believed that, even if life was often hellish, it was better than suicide.
A week later, the daily mail to Mr. Kalman’s home in the Philadelphia suburb of Downingtown brought a form letter from the Pennsylvania Department of State. His corporate filing had been rejected, the letter explained, because a business name “may not contain words that constitute blasphemy, profane cursing or swearing or that profane the Lord’s name.”
[...] After a couple more readings, though, Mr. Kalman realized that the rejection was genuine. Pennsylvania, it turned out, indeed had a law against blasphemy. In the short term, Mr. Kalman successfully filed for incorporation as ICH Productions, LLC. In the longer run, he put in a call to the state branch of the American Civil Liberties Union and set in motion a challenge to the state law.
[...] Pennsylvania’s law may be the most idiosyncratic of all, because it covers only the matter of corporate names. And, rather than being a dusty vestige of the 19th century, it was enacted (and overwhelmingly so) only in 1977. A Democratic legislator, Emil Mrkonic, wrote the bill after a mail-order fire-arms dealer filed incorporation papers for the God Damn Gun Shop.
I love that the recent bill was passed in PA in 1977. And who could fault the business entrepreneur for wanting to name his gun shop as he did in 1977, which caused the bill to be introduced by some Fundie? Should we have the right to blaspheme?
I often highlight on this blog religious people who are less than a shining example of the faith they profess to believe in. I can be particularly hard on the ones who have taken on the mantel of religious leadership that have engaged in the very sins they decry in others. I can be harsh in my criticisms of such people.
However, I also try to acknowledge the religious folks who seem to actually be trying to live up to their faith. There are plenty of believers out there whom I have absolutely no beefs with and whom I think are a positive force in society. Listening to NPR yesterday I came across the following news item about one such person. Meet Methodist Minister Chester Cook:
By some definitions, Cook has the largest church in the country. As the full-time chaplain of Atlanta’s international airport, his flock includes the 56,000 employees and a quarter of a million travelers who pass through each day.
The United Methodist minister models his ministry on the parable of the good Samaritan — a stranger who helps a traveler in crisis and practices kindness, often without mentioning religion. Cook says he gets a lot of practice in these days of inflexible airline rules. He often pays a traveler’s $150 change fee from his chaplain’s budget or his own wallet. And sometimes he manages to bend the rules.
On a walk back toward the airport’s chapel, Cook recalls the time he found an elderly woman stranded in the airport. She wasn’t supposed to fly out for three days, and the airline wouldn’t change her ticket. So Cook confronted an airline manager.
“I said, ‘This is a dilemma, because if that was your 81-year-old grandmother sitting out there, you would be fit to be tied,’ ” Cook says. “And I said, ‘I’m sure the news channels would love this story if I gave them a phone call.’ “
The woman was put on the next flight.
Cook’s job has him helping the frazzled, overwhelmed, stranded, and lost (both metaphorically and literally). He is there to lend a helping hand whether it’s only to help you find your next flight or to deal with whatever tribulations you happen to be going through at the time:
Theology on the run and expedited prayers — that’s typically all that Cook has time for. And it’s not just for distressed travelers, but also for the tens of thousands of flight attendants, baggage handlers, cashiers and others who work at the airport. Cook has 40 part-time chaplains who help him serve this huge operation, and they often specialize: Former pilots minister to pilots, retired military tend to the soldiers.
Each day, hundreds of soldiers and Marines pass through this airport going to or from Afghanistan and Iraq. It’s a sea of tan and green. These people have a very different set of spiritual needs. Cook says he’s seen a sharp surge in anxiety in the past year — not about fighting, but about the toll that repeated deployments take on their families.
“It’s tough to have a newborn and then have to leave,” he says. “Or to have a boy just starting T-ball and you have leave. And the wives, who said, ‘I married you to have a life with you, and now I’ve had 10 years of separation.’ There’s no answer.”
It seems rare to meet a clergyman who’s willing to admit that sometimes there’s no answer to the dilemmas they’re confronted with. Who’s honest enough or forthright enough not to fall back on the old standby of God’s mysterious methods. Who’s willing to help out without trying to turn it into an attempt to convert you to their faith. Such people are worthy of our support regardless of whether we share their belief. We would be better off if more people, believers or not, emulated folks like Minister Cook.
