Disciple Discipline
The facebook link showed the way to a buzzfeed quiz, which promised to tell “Which One Of Jesus’s Disciples Are You?” “Reveal your New Testament alter ego.” PG does not know all of the disciples. There is Peter, Judas, and the others. In any event, this test will be a good excuse to post pictures, from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
This being bf buzzfeed, the questions are meme embedded in pictures. In other words, if you want to repeat the questions, you will have to type them out. The first question is about what country you would like to visit. In ancient Palestine, international travel was rare. Countries like Brazil, and Czech Republic, were way in the future. This is a non biblical question.
This is a goofy quiz. You are asked to choose a color, and a baby animal. You are asked to pick a month. Nine months are listed, from april to december. This coincides with the Mary’s reputed arrival date. The quiz is posted in February. Evidently, living in the present was not a disciple characteristic.
It gets better, You need to “choose a random household object.” The choices include sliced bread, scotch tape, and a tape measure. Maybe this is product placement advertising. This hypothesis might explain “choose a winter olympics event.”
The last one takes the prize. “Pick a Jesus.” You choose from nine pictures, winking Jesus, earnest Jesus, dancing baby Jesus, dime store Jesus, black Jesus, southpark Jesus, impressionist Jesus, dining Jesus, and crucified Jesus. So much Jesus, so little time.
At the end of the page, PG was drawing a blank. It seems as though he did not choose a household object. After clicking on scotch tape, the page went immediately to the answer, Saint Jude.
What Do You Mean By Jesus?
A blogger, using the name Culture Monk, posted a piece with the title A pastor’s secret sins…REALLY??? It is a familiar story. A professional Jesus worshiper is confronted about the improper conduct of an associate, and gets nasty. It turns out that the nasty senior pastor is also fooling around. It does not end well.
PG saw the story when there were no comments. He made the first one. If you want to be noticed, be the first comment that people see. One comment was edited, and is available in full at the original post.
Chamblee54 I see Jesus through the people that believe in him. My experience has been horrific. Since I don’t agree with the scheme for life after death, I see no reason to make excuses for Jesus.
Lee Don’t blame Jesus for the sins of the so-called “Christian Church.” Jesus reserved his greatest condemnation for the religious hypocrites of his day … Read Matthew 23 … You have been hurt, not by Jesus Christ, but by corrupt human beings who falsely claim to be followers of Jesus Christ.
Culture Monk Well said Lee. One of my goals in writing articles such as this one is not to condemn Jesus… but to condemn the hypocrisy of people who use the name of Jesus…….
It really comes down to what you mean when you say Jesus. The spirit that people make so much noise about has little in common with the man who lived in Palestine. If you don’t consider the Bible to be “the word of G-d,” then you might take what it says with caution. We really don’t know what Jesus said. All we know is what the magic book says.
To PG, it is impossible to separate Jesus from the misery that Jesus worshipers have caused. It is all part of the same entity. When a believer uses Jesus to hurt his neighbor, that is Jesus in action. When you say that you have been hurt by “corrupt” human beings, you are making excuses for Jesus.
A big part of the scheme is forgiveness for sins. Some say that Jesus paid the price for your sins. If that is the case, then Jesus can take the blame for what you do in his name. It should be noted that most Jesus worshipers are more interested in being forgiven, than in forgiving.
Is this hypocrisy, or just seeing Jesus as it really is? PG remembers the time when he learned the true nature of Jesus. He was working with an aggressive preacher. The man would lose his temper, and use Jesus to hurt people. He got plenty of support from other believers.
One day, the bully for Jesus had another temper tantrum. PG was shouted down and humiliated. When the tirade was over, the bully for Jesus got a phone call. The first thing he did, after picking up the phone, was to shout “I never felt better in my life.”
PG sees Jesus as a source of misery in his life. Nothing would please him more than to go the rest of his life without being confronted by the so-called son of G-d. If PG ever hears about the scheme for life after death again, it will be too soon. If you don’t agree with something the first ten thousand times you hear it, then it is highly unlikely that number ten thousand and one will make any difference.
Many Jesus worshipers are selfish. If they see someone being made uncomfortable with their verbal abuse, they turn up the volume. “I don’t care what man thinks, I care what G-d thinks.” This is another black eye for Jesus.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Theology Worse
As with so many discussions, it began with a facebook meme. “If your theology doesn’t lead you to love people more, you should question your theology.” The graphics leave room for improvement.
I would leave the word “your” out of that sentence ~ Other people’s ideologies don’t lead me to do anything. ~ they lead other people ~ Right.. so this would be addressed to them as well. ~ Your is often confused for you’re. One is a second person possessive. One is a contraction of you are. It is good to keep theology, if you must deal with it, as your theology, and not you’re theology. ~ It is so good that I’ve never seen it done. ~ Will I see you at the potluck? ~ I hope so. ~ Substitute the name of an religion that encourages extremism for the word theology in my sentence above
Very few people would use the phrase “my theology.” They would say “my faith,” “my religion,” or something else. As religion has become a dirty word, people are substituting faith. If enough people are hurt by the faith of others, then that too will be seen as a dirty word. Theology stands above the battlefield, which is probably just as well.
One of the philosophical side roads of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is the concept of mythos vs. logos. The idea is that when people see a contradiction between a legend (mythos) and knowledge (logos,) they will usually choose the legend.
Theology is basically a combination of theo, or G-d, and logos. Is this the contradictory combination of mythos and logos? Or is Theo the caretaker brother of Vincent Van Gogh? Should believers cut an ear off if they hear something that offends them?
In America, we tend to see theology in Christian terms. One of the fundamental beliefs of this affair is the concept that the bible is “the word of G-d.” A spin off of this belief is an abundant interest in semantics. Saved or not, the obsession with what words mean is tough to get away from.
Too much food for thought can lead to mental indigestion. Or is that spiritual diarrhea? Maybe this chat should end at this point. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Jesus Gets A New Nickname
There is a video making the rounds now. The title involves Jesus, and a certain racial slur, delicately known as the N word. The video is embedded above. You can feel the magic for yourself.
Here is a story about the song, with the edgy language bleeped. “One pastor is trying to spread the word of God with an edgy rap song. The rapping pastor and his wife claim they have “Christian swag” while tossing around the n-word. … The video of the rapping pastor was recently uploaded to YouTube but it’s not clear when it was filmed. It was taken at a church in Iowa which closed in 2004.” Another helpful interneter has the lyrics.
In case you didn’t know, Pastor Jim Colerick, and Mrs Mary-Sue Colerick, are melanin deficient. They are, as Bette Midler once said about Karen Carpenter, so white they are invisible. It is not considered good manners for Caucasians to use this word, with or without salvation.
There is another angle to this equation. Many Jesus worshipers see not using cusswords as a sign of righteousness. As a result, many Jesus worshipers use the words G-d, and Jesus Christ, as tools of their anger. This violates the third commandment. Now, this use of a sacred name, as profanity, is being extended to using a sacred name as a racial slur. Someone is always ready to manipulate language to serve an agenda.
When you call a book “the word of G-d”, you give certain words too much power. When you designate the lazy way of saying black as a super duper naughty word, you give those six letters way too much power. Now, we see the convergence of these two taboos. Let the party begin.
Pictures of Pastor and Mrs. Colerick are taken from the video. The other images are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost.
Coexist
The custom of expressing your innermost thoughts on the back of your vehicle has taken a curious turn. One popular emblem says coexist. The seven letters are equipped with symbols, both religious and secular. One hopes that no one receiving this message has forgotten to stop, and hit the car with the coexist symbol on the bumper.
When PG was young, there was a miniature golf course on Cheshire Bridge Road called Putt Putt. The first bumper sticker he saw said “I play Putt Putt.” Is coexist an improvement?
When this post was first conceived, the i in coexist was perceived to be unadorned. It was as if the religion of i was receiving due recognition. Upon closer examination, it seems as though the tittle has a five pointed star. This means that the i is a sorcerers wand. The i apparently stands for paganism.
The c, x, and t of coexist are pretty obvious. They are symbols for the three Abrahamic religions. O is a peace sign, and e has the male and female symbols. The religions they represent are not apparent. The s is a yin yang, which is somehow related to Taoism.
Buddhism, Atheism, Communism, and Hinduism are not represented. They spell out Bach. The composer produced glorious music for the Lutheran church. He also had twenty children. Perhaps the e in coexist represents the left out denominations. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Clusterduck
PG had heard about yet another celebrity making offensive comments about queers. Since PG had never seen, nor heard of, the tv show the celebrity was in, it was questionable how much concern it deserved. After a few days of facebook firestorm, PG began to wonder just what the man said.
Mr. Google had a list of 299 million places to look. On the first page, there was a link. PG clicked on the link. After a few seconds, an auto start video started to play. It was a commercial for a Dove soap product, designed for the use of men. There was no place to turn the noise off. PG left the site.
On the second page of the google list was a link to What the Duck? This was the article, in GQ magazine, that quacked up America. It seems like a writer went to Louisiana to listen to Phil Robertson. The writer is surprised that Monroe, LA, is pronounced MUN row.
The sensational quote is presented, without any context, early on in the piece. Any casual readers will see it before the attention span runs out. There are other bizarre quotes. Supposedly, black people in Louisiana were happier under Jim Crow. (FWIW, “He and his wife, Korie, adopted a biracial child named Will and are dedicated advocates of the practice.”) “Islamists” are a “society where there is no Jesus.” And on, and on, and on. Spell check suggestion for Islamists: Misogamists, Alarmists.
The article paints the picture of a man, perhaps well meaning, who simply cannot keep his mouth shut. “While Phil proselytizes, I lean over to Willie (Phil’s son), who is playing a video game on his phone. Boy, it’s hard to get a word in with him! Willie nods knowingly, barely looking up. I get the sense he’s heard all this before, many, many times.”
The article keeps coming back to the “faith” of Mr. Robertson. He does seem to believe what he says. So did the people who flew planes into the World Trade Center. At some point a person has to ask what it says, about Jesus, to be represented by Phil Robertson. (Not to mention Pat Robertson, who has no doubt been confusd for Phil.) Maybe we should just leave it at that.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress. These are Union Soldiers, from The War Between the States. Their targets fired back.
The War On Christmas
Merry Christmas used to be a greeting of good will. It meant, I am happy that you survived the year, have a nice holiday. It was not an in your face gesture, designed to express a religious opinion.
Christmas used to be a time of peace on earth and good will towards men. There were parties, gift giving, and holiday time from school and work. The religious part has always been there, but if you wanted to ignore it you could.
Now, the Jesus Worshipers want it all. The fact that our culture is dominated by Jesus worship is not good enough, they want it all. And they don’t care if it offends you. Peace on earth, and good will towards men, is an obsolete concept.
We don’t know when Jesus was born. Some scholars say he was born in the spring, but it was a long, long time ago. When the early Christians were trying to convert the Romans, they decided to have a birthday celebration for Jesus at the time of a pagan holiday. It is the winter solstice, the time of renewal at the end of the year. It is an ideal time for a religious feast.
Many people, PG included, have been hurt by Jesus. Christianism is an aggressive religion, and if you don’t agree, you can expect to be insulted and humiliated. As society becomes more and more secular, the Jesus worshipers get more aggressive. Many people have come to see the birth of Jesus as something to be mourned, rather than celebrated.
PG used to enjoy saying Merry Christmas. To him, it was a greeting of good will. Now, it is taking sides in a nasty fight. Maybe the proper thing to say is have a nice day.
And now for something completely different. PG found this recently, and it is not original to him. If you really need a link to the original, we will look harder.
When I was young and impressionable, I heard the Co-Adjutor Archbishop of Bombay preach on the subject of Christmas. He made the point that the adjective “merry” actually means “to be showing the influence of alcohol”, that is to be at least partially drunk. So to wish someone a Merry Christmas is really to wish them a Drunken Christmas.
And he went on to point out that as drunkenness is a sin, and moreover it is illegal to ply an infant with alcohol, a “merry Christmas” not only treats the birth of Christ as an occasion for sin, it also excludes the guest of honour Himself from the celebration.
That is a perversion of the meaning of Christmas — yet how often do we hear “true Christians” insist on saying “merry Christmas”? Why don’t they just wish the world happiness and joy?
This holiday feature is a repost. The pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Mithras Is Born
Until 2009, PG had never heard of Mithras.
Mithras is a Persian deity, from the Zoroaster tradition.(That is pronounced Zor uh THRUS ta.) Not much is known about Mithras … did he really exist, or was he a legend? There was a cult of Mithras in the first century Roman empire.
There are supposed to be similarities between Mithras and Jesus. These include the virgin birth, the birth on December 25, and rising from the dead after three days. Some spoilsports say the early christians grafted Jesus onto the legend of Mithras.
One indication that this might be true is The Catholic Encyclopedia. “Some apparent similarities exist; but … it is quite probable that Mithraism was the borrower from Christianity.”
This is a repost. Pictures from The Library of Congress .
German Pastry Christmas
PG got an email today from Allen Hunt a radio announcer. The letter had a Christmas message. PG read the story, and heard the ding ding ding of his BS detector. Here is the story.
Merry Christmas! As the wars about the public celebration of Christmas become filled with pettiness and hostility on all sides, be not dismayed. Your celebration of Christmas depends solely on you and nobody else. I heard the story of Oswald Goulter years ago and it reminds me of that simple fact. I am responsible for how I embrace the gift of Christmas.
Oswald Goulter served as an agri-missionary to China. On his way back to the USA for furlough during World War II. His sponsor mission agency gave him a ticket to get home by boat. When Oswald arrived in the port of India, New Delhi, he found boats filled with Jews, housed there to protect their lives from Nazi Germany. The Jewish boats couldn’t land anywhere. They were not accepted or welcome anywhere at the time
Oswald went to see them and said, “Merry Christmas!”
“We’re Jewish,” they responded.
“I know, I know. But what would you like for Christmas. Merry Christmas!”
“Don’t you understand? We are JEWISH.”
“Merry Christmas. What do you want?”
To get rid of this nuisance, they said, “How about some German pastry? That sure would be grand.”
Oswald scoured the city until he found a bakery that made German pastry. Oswald sold his ticket for home to get money to purchase some pastry. He went back to the boat and shared it with them.
As he spoke about this experience later in one of his supporting churches, a very prim member of the congregation stood and asked, “Why did you do that? They were Jewish. They don’t even believe in Jesus.””I know,” Oswald replied, “but I do.”
PG sent a reply to the original email. This post is being written an hour later, so it is not unreasonable that Mr. Hunt has not replied.
Allen do you have any proof that Oswald Goulter existed? This story seems a bit far fetched. I googled Oswald Goulter, and all I see is the same story told over and over.
Why did he go to India? This is over the Himalayan mountains, or around Vietnam. Couldn’t he do just as well in North Asia, or even Russia?
When did this incident happen? There are mixed indications in the versions I read, and no exact dates. If this was after WW2, then maybe the restrictions about admitting Jews would start to loosen up.
Why German pastries? After all that the German people had done to them, this seems a bit strange.
There are hundreds of real, verifiable Christmas stories out there. This one seems a bit fishy.
After sending the email, PG hunkered down in the google.(Snopes never heard of Oswald Goulter) It seems that Oswald John Goulter was born June 22, 1890 in Oklahoma. He died in March 1985, in Santa Clara California. He was interviewed in 1971 as part of a project involving missionaries to China. “This interview supplements the account of Goulter’s life in Wilfred Powell’s Scattered Seed. Mr. Goulter portrays the disruption in Chinese life in the area of Lu-chou (Hofei) in Anhwei province during the years 1922 to 1951. He tells how the Communists were able to take advantage of the disorder caused by warlords and bandits and the Japanese invasion to drive the nationalists from power. He also discusses his conception of practical Christianity and its applicability in China.”
There is another story about Mr. Goulter. After the communist takeover, Mr. Goulter and his wife, Irene, were taken into custody. Mr. Goulter was beaten repeatedly, but refused to renounce his faith. Finally he was released (or, in some versions, escaped). This imprisonment is generally agreed to for three years. If he left in 1951, that would be consistent with the time line of the communist takeover.
In the Hunt version of the story, Oswald Goulter left during World War 2.
This does not answer the question of why Mr. Goulter would go to India, before America. It also does not account for the appearance of the Jews in India, six years after the end of World War 2. It should also be noted that India was in chaos, with the advent of Independence and the partition. Would they have Jews hiding in the city?
There is a book, Scattered Seed: The Story of the Oswald Goulters, Missionaries in China 1922-51. PG does not know if it discusses German pastries.
This is a repost from four years ago. The original had several comments about Mr. Goulter, which we will share. Allen Hunt sent a reply, which was lost in a hard drive crash. It was rather snide. Dr. Hunt has quit sending PG emails. His radio show is no longer being broadcast.
Lindsay goulter said, on February 26, 2010 at 3:26 am Hi oswald goulter was my great uncle.Born in Auss. If you would like to know more about him please reply to my e/mail. lindsay g
Teena Anderson said, on October 30, 2010 at 10:02 pm
Oswald Goulter is my grandfather. He was a missionary to China for 30 years. His story is told in the book Scattered Seed by Wilfred Powell. Oswald and Irene had 3 daughters, Lovena, Doris ( who is still living!) and Jean. Doris and Jean were born in China. Jean was my mother-she spoke excellent chinese with a Hefei accent. I am the eldest grandchild. They lost a baby boy born in China and buried him in the mountains of Kuling, where the missionaries would go for the summer.
My husband, Hugh Anderson (Presbyterian minister) and I have taught in China with the Amity Foundation. Our first summer of teaching we traveled to Hefei and met Rev. Zhu who helped Oswald after he had been confined in the internment camps. They were great friends. Rev. Zhu’s son is now a Disciple of Christ minister here in the United States. Teena Anderson, Medford, Oregon.
chamblee54 said, on October 30, 2010 at 10:09 pm
Thanks for stopping by. Do you know if the story about the German Pastries was true? It is an inspiring story, but as I noted in my post, there are a few issues with it.
Miaohua Jiang said, on January 19, 2011 at 11:06 pm
The book by Wilfred E. Powell titled Scattered Seed came in mail yesterday. I searched in the book for any evidence that this story might actually happened. Unfortunately, the story as it is stated never happened. At least it did not happen in India.
The sabbatical year was between 1936 and 1937. The family did take the western route going through Europe to return to US. They arrived in US in September 1936. Christmas of 1936 was their first Christmas in US in many many years. They were not able to return to China because of Japenese invasion until late 1937. Mr. Goulter did help refugees in Shanghai around Christmas time 1937. The book did mention that Shanghai also had ships with Jewish refugees. So, the story could have happened in Shanghai, China, instead of India. It did not involve boat tickets. Mr. Goulter had clothings shipped from Los Angeles to Shanghai. Also Mr. Goulter was interned by Japenese for many years, not communists.
chamblee54 said, on January 20, 2011 at 12:02 am
Thank you for following through. That is an inspiring story, too bad it can’t be proven to be true.
Miaohua Jiang said, on January 1, 2011 at 10:13 pm
Doris is visting us this new year’s day of 2011!
Miaohua Jiang said, on January 4, 2011 at 2:23 pm
This is what I got from my conversation with Doris, O.J.’s second daughter. According to Doris, Mr. Goulter did not like his first name. Chinese people would simply call him Gou Shee-Sang (Mr. Gou). Doris was born in Hefei in 1924. Her mother homeschooled the girls. By the time she was 10, they felt it was time for girls to have a more formal education in Shanghai. Before they left for Shanghai, they travelled for a year to Europe, going through possibly the Hongkong – India route. So, it was around 1934 – a time Jews were forced to escape Germany. So, the story is credible. The girls stayed in Shanghai until 3 month before Pearl Harbor was attacked when American government ordered evacuation of women and children. Mr. Goulter stayed behind and was imprisoned by invading Japenese because of his British citizenship. I am ordering this book and hopefully when Doris visits again next time I will have a chance to verify a few more details with her. Amazingly, after leaving Hefei for more than 75 years, she can still speak the local dialect and sing local children songs forgotten even by the local people.
Teena Anderson said, on October 30, 2010 at 10:09 pm
Oswald Goulter was my grandfather. He was born in Australia. He heard about the Boxer rebellion and felt called to go to China. He came to the U. S. to get more education. He married Irene Goucher (my grandmother) in Oklahoma and they spent 30 years together in China. They had 3 daughters, 2 of whom were born in China. My mother was born in Tsingtao but spent 10 years in Hefei (Lu Chow Fu). She had a great Hefei accent. They also had a baby boy that died and was buried in the Kuling mountains. (Lu Shan)Oswald Goulters life was written by Wildfred Powell in the book Scattered Seed. Our family still have ties to Chinese that were ministered by my grandfather. There are many more accounts of what my grandfather accomplished in China. He loved the Chinese and they loved him. Teena Anderson of Medford, Or.
Lauri Penry said, on March 25, 2012 at 8:27 am
My grandparents (Dr. and Mrs. Paul R. Slater) served as medical missionaries in China with the Goulters. I have heard the story many times of how my grandfather met up with Mr. Goulter, and he wasn’t wearing shoes. So my grandfather gave him his. The next time they crossed each other’s paths, Mr. Goulter was again without shoes. He told my grandfather that he found someone who needed them more than he did.
I was just going through some pictures at my parents’ house this weekend, and found one with Mr. Goulter in it. I am in the process of reading Scattered Seed now. My parents were attending Phillips University when Mr. Goulter was a member of the faculty. From what I have always heard about this man, he was exceptional, and a true servant!
John McBride said, on May 10, 2012 at 10:10 am
Oswald Goulter is my grand uncle and he was born in Australia. I had the pleasure of meeting him and Irene in in either 1973/4 when they visited Australia and later in San Jose in 1981. He was quite some bloke who’s achievements were quite incrediable. My grand father was a potato farmer at a place called Irrewillipe, about 100 miles west of Melbourne. One year my brother and I spent our Easter weekend (4 days in Australia) helping dig up the crop. At night, my grandfather read Oswald’s letters to us by kerosene lamp beside the wood stove in the kitchen. As a ten year old, those letters were more exciting to listen to than reading my Superman comics.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
To Womankind
Leviticus 18:22 has long been used to justify hatred of men who use a tush for receiving, in addition to shipping. In the King Jimmy edition, the text reads “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.” Recently unearthed documents suggest that this verse may be more about honesty than fornication.
The story, according to the Bible University of Los Lobos (BULL,) is that the “word” with should be translated as “to”. In this revised edition, the verse would read “Thou shalt not lie to mankind, as to womankind: it is abomination.” It is well known that men lie to women whenever they feel the need. If the lips are moving, what comes out is suspect. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Shut Up Franklin Graham
PG was researching a previous post, and decided to check up on little Ralphie Reed. His group’s website has a headline video, Franklin Graham: America Has Turned Its Back on God. It does not mention why anyone should care.
Franklin Graham’s claim to fame is his father. Billy Graham is a TV preacher superstar. The elder Graham is still alive, so it is fair to make negative comments. PG walked through the living room countless nights, and saw parents glued to the tube. The Billy Graham crusade was a staple of television. The blow dried superpreacher stood in front of a football stadium full of admirers, telling people how not to go to hell. Sin, salvation, send money. Is that all there is?
If Franklin Graham did not have a superstar father, he would be nobody. Life is not fair, and the opinions of Franklin Graham, and his sister, Anne Graham Lotz, are treated with the reverence Catholics give to the thoughts of the Pope. Franklin Graham has gotten a lot of attention with some rude comments about Muslims. Islam and Christianity use the same G-d.
It was some comments about G-d in the video that annoyed PG. “We’ve turned out back on G-d. We’ve taken G-d out of our schools. We’ve taken G-d out of our government.” Apparently, Franklin Graham and PG have different thoughts about G-d.
G-d is in everything and everybody. If you turn your back on G-d, she will still be looking you in the eye. If you have a room full of children, then G-d is present in that room. This idea of a puny G-d, that you can turn your back on, may be the most offensive thing ever said by the Graham family, Inc.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost.
Chamblee54 
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