Yanagisawa

Voodoo

I remember one time, while in the Corps, when I operated mystical, magical powers that worked. It was a Sunday morning. (Remember Sundays?! Worst work-day of the week!) I woke up, not sick, but just plain tired. Exhausted. Bone weary. I prayed, "Heavenly Father, I'm tired. I need rest. I'm rolling over and sleeping as long as I need to. Please keep those who would F@#*s with me away." I woke up late afternoon. I got dressed for the Sunday service (already in session) and quietly walked in. Nobody ever said a word to me - like they hadn't even noticed. It was truly a Sabbath miracle ;)

Well said. The whole franchise was built upon the notion of "mathematical exactness and scientific precision" and "fits like a hand in a glove". This brand of "inerrancy" does great damage to the narrative, reducing it to propositions and bullet points and charts and footnotes that MUST agree with the modern mind, no matter how much of its life is lost in its dissection. In my opinion this is why Bullinger's oeuvre, no matter how sincere, was a fool's errand. Sincerity is no guarantee for truth.

How can people of seemingly above average intelligence and rational thought come to such a conclusion? Does not this ancient, pre-scientific record ooze of mythic explanations for what is? I wonder what Ken Hamm has to say about this one?

http://redemptionpictures.com/2014/02/28/bill-gothard-homeschool-cult/ These guys all have the same playbook.

I noticed that as well. Here's another story, this one from an investigating group (the same one that was just fired yesterday from conducting an internal investigation at Bob Jones University) http://www.recoveringgrace.org/2014/02/the-gothard-files-a-case-for-disqualification-x2/

This just published regarding Bill Gothard, another kindly spiritual leader http://www.patheos.com/blogs/lovejoyfeminism/2014/02/bill-gothard-sexual-predator.html

Raf: If you haven't already I would suggest checking out a few of Bart Ehrman's books.

Perhaps a bit off topic but perhaps not. Interesting nonetheless.

WTF? Well, it was in the preview. Let me do my homework. It was Eliane Elias and she looked and played spectacular.

This one's pretty good too.

"I have no friends when it comes to the word!" This bromide made a virtue out of being a brittle, reactionary geek with no relationhip skills, compassion or cultural maneuverability. It was a battle cry meant to snuff out dialogue, tension, paradox and mystery - all scary things to a hyper-Teutonic mindset.

And to think, I was planning on reading that pesky 600 page The Philosophy of History by Georg Hegel. Thank God I discovered a one minute synopsis. Thank you Dr. Dale!!!! I'll be waiting for the one minute synopsis of A Critique of Pure Reason by JERRY Kant, and Leviathan by CALVIN Hobbes.

Okay, since the discussion is about "mainstream" whether that is right or wrong is not the issue. Lets' call it "synthetic mainstream." The point is that, in my opinion, it is argot because it is not a language of accomodation. It is not a language that invites engagement and dialogue. It is rather a language designed to exclude and is "deliberately hermetic." Also, I would ask you to condider "gnostic" in this discussion as gnostic with a lower case "g," as in placing a premium value on "true" knowlege attained by belonging to a group with ritual and culture designed to enlighten its initiates along a path of wisdom towards divinity.

For as long as people have agreed to bond together as the "in crowd" one of the first orders of business is to devise ways to exclude outsiders. Perhaps the most effective way to achieve this is by developing a unique language. The proper term for this phenomenon is "argot." Argot is a secret language used by various groups to prevent outsiders from being a part of them and to affirm their uniqueness. According to Pierre Guiraud in L'Argot. Que sais-je? Victor Hugo was one of the first to research argot extensively He describes it in his novel, Les Misérables, as the language of the dark; at one point, he says, "What is argot; properly speaking? Argot is the language of misery." Bruce Sterling defines argot as "the deliberately hermetic language of a small knowledge clique... a super-specialized geek cult language that has no traction in the real world." The Way mind police are "argoteers" of the first order assimilating phrases into daily conversation like: "Promised Land of the Prevailing Word," "the Renewed Mind is the key to the Power of Christ in Me," "as he is," etc. The list goes on ad nauseum. The reason, I believe, the mainstream's reaction to the Talk Soup clip is mainly a big "HUH?" (after the belly laughter) is because the whole thing is creepy in the sense of "a super-specialized geek cult language that has no traction in the real world." Any thoughts?

Man, when I see a "biblical concept" that has to be explained by lines and circles and triangles and arrows I know it's time to turn and run like the wind.

Kirkegaard's Fear and Trembling is a great exposition on this very subject. It delves deeply into the account of Abraham offering Isaac. Faith (and it's resultant obedience) takes on many faces in a given culture....sometimes looking honorable and uplifting - sometimes horrid and criminal.

In the Corps we were forbidden to set the Holy Trinity of seasonings (kelp, cayenne, sea salt) on the table lest they would become stranded and forgotten behind the common plate, thus failing to deliver a full round of salty, kelpy, peppery goodness to every Son of God seated with all power. The proper way to avoid this was to hold them in the palm of your hand, select the spice(s) you wanted, and then pass them on to your left. Many brothers' and sisters' sense of community, as well as their in- depth spiritual perception and awareness, was questioned over the sheer selfishness of tabling the spices.

Young Girl, get out of my mind My love for you is way out of line Better run girl! You're much too young girl!

Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber

OMG Joel Osteen seals the sum of the vapid wasteland that is Modern American Evangelicalism. It is disturbing that so many thousands lap up this tripe and think they are nourished. This is just my opinion of course. BTW, ten to one she was called "Vicky" until she assumed the crown.

"we were all part of a cult"...I think that says it all. I have recollections of doing bless patrol at Emporia while Vic and his motorcoach were visiting...watching a young lady enter the coach and then sometime later exit the coach and walk away...even though it was well after midnight, sexual hanky panky NEVER ENTERED MY MIND...afterall, he was the mog" Ditto! One summer I lived in the "Upper Room" facing the courtyard and saw women come and go at a pretty good clip. Never did it occur to me that hanky panky was going on. Suspension of belief to the extreme.

As I have tried to sift through the issues of the above discussion I have found the works of John Polkinghorne helplful as well. A delightful, thoughtful quantum physicist/Anglican clergyman. Also knighted but not called "sir" because as clergy he is not expected to take up a sword.

A thought from Eugene Peterson: "Inerrancy, as commonly defined, does irreversible violence to the literary genres of the Bible.. [inerrancy} stands squarely on the view that the Bible is a collection of propositions, i.e. verses. It is a recent innovation, appearing in none of the Reformation confessions. The Bible's descriptions of truth are rich and diverse. Inerrancy is a concept that has to be footnoted in too many ways to be useful."