1:59 PM

From what I experienced at evangelical churches in the south, the whole concept of "judge not lest..." is not really high up on their list.
When I get back home in 9 days I will watch that film cause it looks damn interesting, but right now I pay for the net by the megabyte.    

2:59 PM

So far your football prediction is way off. Good thing you didn't put money down on that bet!    

3:54 PM

I hate Miami, again    

4:13 PM

I hate Miami too. Will you come visit when I move to Jersey? Do you have clients there? If not, can you get some?    

8:57 PM

Dilf has clients in Jersey, and NY. Can I come?

Also, I don't agree about Haggard. He is a liar and a fraud and he deserves to be kicked to the curb.

He can be forgiven, but he shouldn't be put in a position of power. No matter what, he's a hypocrite and has no sense of honor. Either he betrayed gay people or he betrayed Evangelicals. I'm not crying for him at all.

As for the Iraq thing, we're being robbed blind. This isn't new; I'm just wondering how bad it will get before the majority of people in this country admit it.    

9:47 PM

Ubie - forgive me, but I thought the idea was "Hate the sin, not the sinner." or "Don't hate the playa, hate the game."

The idea that Haggard couldn't resist the forbidden fruit shouldn't (I think) disqualify him from his position. I think doing that sends the message that sins can't be forgiven, and once you've sinned, you're damaged goods.

Compounding that, the fact that his sins have to do with his alleged sexual impulses and chemical dependencies makes it even more interesting. I bet if the scandal was that her had had a heterosexual affair, outside of his marriage, he'd suffer only a mild rebuke.

I would be much more impressed with a Christian community that embraced those issues, even if they label them "sins" or "weaknesses".

So, yes - he is a lying scumbag. And the shit that's come out of his mouth has reaffirmed intolerant attitudes towards Gays. But, were I a Christian, I would suggest that Christ would love the bastards as much as anyone.

But of course, I'm not.    

11:55 PM

I want to join the Unified Church of Sysm.

Also, fuck Miami.    

8:50 AM

Do you really see this guy as someone overcome by his impulses? Because I see him as someone who used religion to achieve his political goals. His anti-gay stance in the face of his homosexuality makes him that much more repulsive to me.

He shouldn't be excommunicated, but he's proven untrustworthy in a position of power.

He has to show he's given up his lying, cheating ways before he can be trusted again. And that takes time, after spending so much time duping people and taking advantage of their trust.

By your logic, I should've stayed married to my first husband. I did forgive him, but that didn't stop me from removing him from a position to which he wasn't entitled to keep.    

9:20 AM

Ubie - I don't really get a sense that the man had political goals. More financial. And standing at the front of a church is a damned good way of separating people from their cash.

I just think that in order to NOT be completely hypocritical, there should be, at least, lip service paid towards him showing contrition, asking for forgiveness, and being allowed to participate in the leadership of his church.

Pardon one small area of my vast ignorance, but I'm of the understanding that homosexuality is not particularly singled out as a venal sin. Nor is drug use. Nor is lying, for that matter. Wouldn't they all be pardonable sins?

Yes. He's a liar and a deceiver. And a fabricator and a prevaricator. And a pitcher and a catcher.

But he's still a human.

I meant more to point out the selective use of grace and forgiveness than to give the guy a free pass. But I really don't like the extra helping of scorn that goes along with him having an extra-marital relationship that's of the homo- rather than the hetero- variety.    

10:19 AM

I was confusing him with that North Dakota guy.

So, not necessarily a political figure. But the fact it was a homosexual affair is pertinent to me in a different way than it is to his congregation.

Can we agree to disagree on this issue? I don't have sympathy for him. Does that make his transgressions any worse than anyone else's? No. But a leader should be held to higher standards. And I don't trust anyone who doesn't stand up for his or her principles.

He espoused anti-gay views because it was popular, while engaging in gay sex because he enjoyed it. I have no respect for that.    

10:26 AM

That billions of people have a belief in an unseen, unheard, unfelt supernatural power gets more and more mindboggling.

And ironically, when one of the supernatural's talking heads gets caught being human, there is a line of people ready to crucify him.

I am careful not to use Judeo/Christian principals of morality against people like who perpetuate a belief in the supernatural. This guy sounds like a Grade A Asshole.

What I am REALLY happy about is SYSM giving a nod to some new music I can download. And I wish I cared more about football, but I don't.    

10:59 AM

There are limitless things that I accept as true, because I trust the authority and motives of people who have told them to me.

But I've never bought into taught faith. And I feel suspicious of those that do. To me, it feels like adults who claim to believe in Santa Claus, because if they don't they won't get the presents under their tree.

The Sysmistress disagrees. She was brought up as a Catholic. And I promised her that I would do nothing to impede her educating our children in the rites of Catholicism.

But honestly, I think the kids have just as much belief in Pokemon as they do in God. And the education is limited to weekly classes. They go to regular church services only once or twice a year.

I'm not going to do or say anything to dissuade them from having a church-going life. But I will do everything I can to provide an example of a "purpose-driven" life, that is not tied to any particular religious dogma.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm a hypocrite. And I'm going to Hell.    

1:51 PM

i'm going to hell first.    

8:47 PM

I expect that Haggard will take the Jim McGreevey route.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_McGreevey

First deny.

Then soften the denial.

Then seek "treatment."

Then write a book. "I've been denying my true self my whole life and that is really, really hard. Don't you see how likeable that makes me?"

Then get on "Fresh Air," with Terry Gross.

At least Haggard wasn't the governor of one of the most populous states in the Union.

Gross both ways.

I am not unsympathetic to human frailties, but there is no reason that we should ever pay attention to what either of these two has to say in the future.

And, at least, he didn't misspend taxpayer dollars on his "hobby."

Thanks,

Booger    

11:04 PM

I love you.    

7:35 AM

Okay, I use the terms "forbidden fruit" and "lip service" and nobody runs with it?

C'mon. I'm going for the Blogger MVP Assist stat here, and I can't keep lobbing them up there (that was "lobbing", not "lubing" -- I'm done with the entendre fr now) if you won't play them.    

10:45 AM

You said "play them". Am I grasping at straws?    

1:26 PM

You're just bitter about the Bears, is all. What you need is some good Catholic Discipline. You also need to bone up on your Taxonomy of Sin: a "venal sin" is a misnomer for a venial sin, which is a pardonable sin.

Sex and drugs pertain to venial sins; betrayal is a mortal sin, and hypocrisy ain't much better — Dante was right to stick those fuckers in the penultimate circle of hell.    

3:14 PM

Tits, you can have Sysm. I love Dr. Sardonic.

He knows what I'm talking about even when I don't express myself clearly enough.    

3:44 PM

Thank you for the corrections, good Doctor.

As I've lived a life free of sin, the distinctions are a little blurry for me.

Jehovah! Jehovah! Jehovah!    

11:33 PM

Can't I have Sysm and Sardonic? I'll share!    

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