Why I have not remained a Southern Baptist....

Consider the statement below from a fiercely conservative prominent Baptist publication...emphasis is mine.

"Missouri Southern Baptists believe abortion should be prohibited. Only God has the right to take an innocent life. A large majority of Missouri Southern Baptists feel so strongly about abortion and how God views governments that condone it that it weighs heavily on our collective conscience come elections."

I'm not terribly keen on a traditional and limiting description of the deity (in fact I'm perhaps becoming a fully functional Anglican Deist with borderline pro-life tendencies although I remain a staunch opponenet of any such legislation). The statement quoted puts me into an absolute tizzy. My regular schtick in listed format follows:

1. I have no desire to believe in or worship a deity that has the right or feels it posesses the right to take an "innocent life". I thought that the whole idea behind God's creation of mankind (I'm not so left-wing as to feel that term is gender exclusive) was one of communion and redemption when that communion was impaired. Why any such deity would wish to destroy any part of its' creation, let alone an innocent, is beyond my comprehension.

In short, this answers the "Why do bad things happen to good people" question with "Because the Almighty needs entertainment every now and then, and you're a convienent victim. After all the Deity can do as it damn well pleases."

Don't misinterperit my remarks. I am and remain a believer in the Divine. I simply think that some "Christians" are worshipping a mythological deity that doesn't exist except for in their fractured understanding of the Divine. There's something remarkably human about that, and I expect I've missed the mark on most of the "divine" stuff as well. I hope that the real God of Abrahamic religions regards them (and I) as lovingly (and forgivingly) as I expect any such deity to do.

2. "...how God views governments..." That's an equally disturbing prospect, especially given the way governments have perverted what might be labelled as 'God's Ideas' and 'God's Will' and bent them to serve their own design. In fact, I would think that any puritan-derived denomination (i.e. Southern Baptist) would eschew this notion based on the concept of "Priesthood of the Believer". The years of persecution suffered at the hands of a Political/Government Established Church (Anglicanism) in the history of all such denominations should also come into play. The SBC notion of a personal God who is in communion with his [sic]people (individuals) seems to be the trump card in this case. God simply has no interest in relationships with and opinions of Governments in a "Priesthood of the Believer" defined world. Look up the Catholic notion of an 'interdict' and familarize yourself with it before it becomes officially sanctioned SBC doctrine and is added to the Baptist Faith and Message.

3. Whatever happened to the notion of the seperation of church and state? Whatever happened to the ability to divorce political issues from religious ones? I grew up in the SBC, in a family that was and still is very respected at the Associational and State level. I keep telling my family that the SBC they remember pre-1978 and the local congregation they worship with are both far out of touch with the dogmatic, politically pandering, and bureaucratic organization that now exists at the national and state level. Remember, there was a time when being a Baptist meant you were a free-thinker and that apart from dancing and drinking in public, you were allowed and expected to keep your mouth shut and vote your conscience in political things. Remember when congregations that differed on the application of doctrine (ordained women, deaconesses, dancing, open or closed communion)were allowed to coexist with each other and were lauded for doing so?

The SBC does care if you vote 'left', if you believe that abortion is an individual's personal decision not that of the government or church, if you believe that blacks and women and homosexuals are equal in value to affluent and conservative and straight white males. If you think that the SBC still allows people and congregations who have a differing opinion from their post-1978 orthodoxy to remain a member of the SBC as a dissenting voice and provide balance, those days ended long ago. Look at the churches expelled in the last 30 years and what they stood, and still stand for.

There remain a few of these 'free-thinking' individuals and congregations in the SBC, but their number is few and shrinking. Conservatives in the SBC have spent 30 years purifying the denomination from perceived errant thinkers and voices of dissent. To some of us, too much talk of "purity" has echoes of 1935 German polity in it to be even partially palatable.

May we have the widsom to care for the widow and the orphan, rather than hedge our own way of life in the pursuit of power and domination over others.

Found today during my French Exam....

Only Herr Vogler will like this.....So what's this....?

Oh My GOD can it be.... (Scroll down...)








Only Herr Vogler will proably be as amused by this as I...

8 year old captures Tooth Fairy.

So the elder child lost another tooth this week. This has become a fairly common ocurrence in our household, and as my spouse and I age I expect we'll have many more teeth to trade for coins.

However our 8 year old (soon to be 9) know the game is up. My spouse entered her room early Wednesday morning and carefully removed the envelope. Instead of a tooth was a note. "I just wanted to see if the tooth fairy was real"

Turns out she hid the tooth in another envelope somewhere else in the room with another note "I just wanted to find out if you were real"

PS. Hugs and Kisses

PSS. XOXOXOX

PSSS. Sorry this is so messy, I had to write it in the dark.

We're expecting that she'll be sitting waiting for Santa with a video camera, or stalking the Easter Bunny with a BB gun this time next year. How did it ever come to this?

Saudi Arms Deal....

So the Bush admin is trying to provide the Saudi's with a special Arms package.... Now while I'm not a pacifist, I don't like exporting armaments to any countries with whom we don't have a clost personal relationship (i.e. NATO)

Other US Arms deals....

1. US supplies arms to Iran to allow the Shah to continue a despotic regime. Following the Revolution US hostages are taken by Iranian revolutionaries bearing armaments provided by the United States.

2. US supplies arms to Iraq to allow their President Saddam Hussein to overcome Iran in the Iran Iraq war of the 1980's. Hussein uses these armaments against the Iranians (some bearing US armaments) as well as against US troops in the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.

3. US supplies arms to Manuel Noriega to help prop up the Panamanian dictatorship....These weapons used against the US.

4. Grenada blah blah blah

5. The Philipines... blah blah blah


So....what about the Saudi's...
1. Massive violations of human rights

2. Hotbed of Fundamentalist Islamic controversy

3. Osama is a Saudi Arabian

4. 19 of the 20 9/11 Hijackers were Saudi Nationals

Something tells me we should sell more weapons to the Canadians.....last time I checked the Canada been a stable place with the exception of their use as a staging point for the War of 1812 by the Brits...... So...Canada, YES! Saudis.....perhaps in another couple hundred years....

So....

My Colloquium is over, which is one of the major portions of my degree (in lieu of a Thesis). This is obviously a load off.





During this process the following picture of Gaetano Guadagni (a castrato) came up.



So look a the picture....what do you see? I'm particularly concerned about his trouser legs.

Are those leggings, or a pair of hands holding gelders? This was not realized by my colloquium partner and I until this image was blow up and put on the giant screen at the Institute, quite a funny moment now that it is over!





So what's left on my to do list?





Ardo - Monteverdi Madrigals...memorized and staged....Hell I've got one more week to get this done.





Transcribe and edit a motet by Johann Walther





Sing Messiah with famous german conductor Helmuth R, and so impress him by my musicianship that he hires me for every performance with offers of appropriate solo for the remainder of my life (a la 'all-you-can-eat')





Go sing in a posh, really posh, Bach Christmas Oratorio in L'ville





Sleep



Eat





Drink a LOT of coffee.

Whoops! I crapped my pants...

I knew that it was inevitable that the FDA would eventually be paid enough money in bribes, and perks that they would approve some not-ready-for-prime-time drug that addressed the issue of weight loss. And now it's here.

Alli (pronouned Ally) is a simple drug that prevents the body's absorption of fat. However if you overindulge that excess fat has to go somewhere.

Hence this quote directly from Alli's site:

"You may feel an urgent need to go to the bathroom. Until you have a sense of any treatment effects, it's probably a smart idea to wear dark pants, and bring a change of clothes with you to work"

I can vouch for the fact that if I were to shit myself at work or school from a pill that no pants of any color would prevent me from falling victim to merciless treatment from my peers et al. Suddently the 30 extra pounds I carry 'round seems like much less of a problem.

I can hardly wait to see what the next technological breakthrough in this field is around the corner. We've had some experience of late with these products. Consumption of Olestra and Wow! Chips resulted in nothing worse than "anal leakage" but this goes over the top. At no point during their possibility did any product containing Olestra have a warning label that advised wearing shit-colored clothing, just in case.

Just imagine the poor health concerned nut that took and Alli and ate a bag of Wow! Chips. Sombody'll have to get their O ring replaced.

Mouseketeer Alumni...

As Hammer just pointed out: Who'd have thunk that Christing would have turned out to be the classy one out of this bunch.

Just goes to show you, you can't predict anything.......unless it involves a change in the color of one's facial hair.