mymistake Posted December 29, 2014 Posted December 29, 2014 Lately she has been relying on me more an more. Today I was the only way she could get to church. I declined her suggestion that I attend the service. Anyway two hours later I pick her up again. To make small talk I ask her how was the service. She loved it. With great enthusiasm she told me today the sermon was about how God is not predjudiced. Yep, it turns out that God doesn't mind if interracial couples get married. My first instinct was to wonder should this be news? Is it 1945? Oh great, I live in the kind of town where the local pastor thought this would still be a thing? But then I saw an opportunity so I went for it. With a not-so-innocent tone I ask "So if God is not prejudiced about marriage does that mean gays can get married?" "Uh, well, no. Gee, I can't get over how much the weather has changed. It's so much colder now. I thought it was almost going to snow." "Mom, why do you say God is not prejudiced?" "Well because God want all nations to come to heaven." "Okay, and God wants gay people to come to heave too, right?" "Well God doesn't approve of their lifestyle." "Mom, gay people have a wide range of lifestyles. Different gay people live all kinds of different ways. Some even get married to someone of the opposite sex and have children . . . " "I just love how the leaves change colors. Those look gold and the ones over there look red. The leaves are so beautiful." For the rest of the drive back she didn't want to talk about the sermon, her religion or any of that. She kept changing the subject. I think I'm going to hell for that. 8
FreeThinkerNZ Posted December 29, 2014 Posted December 29, 2014 Although, that was a good way to incentivise her not to wax lyrical about the content of the sermon in future. 1
mwc Posted December 29, 2014 Posted December 29, 2014 God also has a prejudice against angels and humans banging. That shit will cause a flood. And he sure as shit doesn't want Jews marrying outside their kind given the rules I've read. But I guess he's gone a tad color-blind in the past couple years. mwc
midniterider Posted December 29, 2014 Posted December 29, 2014 "Mom, gay people have a wide range of lifestyles. Different gay people live all kinds of different ways. Some even get married to someone of the opposite sex and have children . . . " I have a relative who got married, had kids, got divorced and now has a gay partner. I wonder if your Mom looks suspiciously at hetero couples now. :-) 1
Guest Furball Posted December 29, 2014 Posted December 29, 2014 "Well because God want all nations to come to heaven." Not according to the bible. The bible teaches god only wanted a few people to go to heaven while predestinating almost the entire human race to hell. -on a side note, i am glad you got to help your mother out. Weird, according to christians, as an unbeliever you shouldn't be acting this morally kind by helping out your mother. -just sayin'
Sheerbliss Posted December 29, 2014 Posted December 29, 2014 My mom called me yesterday, happy as I've ever heard her, after listening to a sermon from Joel Osselstein (sp?) about focusing on the future, not the past. I told her this idea was taken from stoicism--focusing on things within your control and disregarding things outside of it. Would she like to listen to a book on tape with more about stoicism? No, she didn't have time. She had things to do, couldn't hear very well, etc. But...she listened to a sermon a few hours before. 1
R. S. Martin Posted December 29, 2014 Posted December 29, 2014 My mom called me yesterday, happy as I've ever heard her, after listening to a sermon from Joel Osselstein (sp?) about focusing on the future, not the past. I told her this idea was taken from stoicism--focusing on things within your control and disregarding things outside of it. Would she like to listen to a book on tape with more about stoicism? No, she didn't have time. She had things to do, couldn't hear very well, etc. But...she listened to a sermon a few hours before. Brilliant!..on your part. Here's the spelling for Joel Osteen, as in the rich guy who needs money. http://www.joelosteen.com/Pages/WatchOnline.aspx
◊ crazyguy123 ◊ Posted December 30, 2014 Posted December 30, 2014 My mom called me yesterday, happy as I've ever heard her, after listening to a sermon from Joel Osselstein (sp?) about focusing on the future, not the past. I told her this idea was taken from stoicism--focusing on things within your control and disregarding things outside of it. Would she like to listen to a book on tape with more about stoicism? No, she didn't have time. She had things to do, couldn't hear very well, etc. But...she listened to a sermon a few hours before. I guess positive ideas only count if they are branded with the Christian logo, otherwise, they're not worth anything. It's too bad that she has to apply such a double standard when it comes to the source of an idea or information.
Sheerbliss Posted December 30, 2014 Posted December 30, 2014 My mom called me yesterday, happy as I've ever heard her, after listening to a sermon from Joel Osselstein (sp?) about focusing on the future, not the past. I told her this idea was taken from stoicism--focusing on things within your control and disregarding things outside of it. Would she like to listen to a book on tape with more about stoicism? No, she didn't have time. She had things to do, couldn't hear very well, etc. But...she listened to a sermon a few hours before. Brilliant!..on your part. Here's the spelling for Joel Osteen, as in the rich guy who needs money. http://www.joelosteen.com/Pages/WatchOnline.aspx I love the sermon called "Choose Faith in Spite of the Facts." Sheesh. My mom called me yesterday, happy as I've ever heard her, after listening to a sermon from Joel Osselstein (sp?) about focusing on the future, not the past. I told her this idea was taken from stoicism--focusing on things within your control and disregarding things outside of it. Would she like to listen to a book on tape with more about stoicism? No, she didn't have time. She had things to do, couldn't hear very well, etc. But...she listened to a sermon a few hours before. I guess positive ideas only count if they are branded with the Christian logo, otherwise, they're not worth anything. It's too bad that she has to apply such a double standard when it comes to the source of an idea or information. If simply focusing on the future instead of the past made her so happy, just think how happy she'd be being ruled by reason, limiting her desires, and counting her blessings.
mymistake Posted December 30, 2014 Author Posted December 30, 2014 "Well because God want all nations to come to heaven." Not according to the bible. The bible teaches god only wanted a few people to go to heaven while predestinating almost the entire human race to hell. Well of course that is what the Bible words actually say . . . but this was a sermon that the Holy Spirit whispered into the ear of a pastor to tell Christians what the Bible actually means is something completely different. Don't ya know that is the very reason God gave us pastors?
R. S. Martin Posted December 30, 2014 Posted December 30, 2014 My mom called me yesterday, happy as I've ever heard her, after listening to a sermon from Joel Osselstein (sp?) about focusing on the future, not the past. I told her this idea was taken from stoicism--focusing on things within your control and disregarding things outside of it. Would she like to listen to a book on tape with more about stoicism? No, she didn't have time. She had things to do, couldn't hear very well, etc. But...she listened to a sermon a few hours before. Brilliant!..on your part. Here's the spelling for Joel Osteen, as in the rich guy who needs money. http://www.joelosteen.com/Pages/WatchOnline.aspx I love the sermon called "Choose Faith in Spite of the Facts." Sheesh. Just now I listened to a good part of that sermon. He's twisting things. His sermon is not facts vs faith. It's positive thinking versus negative thinking. The doctor told his mother in 1991 that she had terminal cancer but she is still alive today. The "terminal cancer" is the so-called facts and the being alive today is the so-called faith or God's destination. A student had .5 % chance getting accepted for a scholarship. There were twenty spaces for 3000 applications. That was facts. Faith was that he applied and got accepted. If you dream big God will give it to you--that is the message. We all know that sometimes we get what we want and sometimes we don't. A positive attitude helps. Talent helps. Pulling the right strings helps. Having one's name pulled out of a hat helps. Using the right words and tone and accompanying gestures helps make you a charismatic preacher of a megachurch. Doesn't make your message true. I guess this is off-topic. Sorry.
Sheerbliss Posted December 30, 2014 Posted December 30, 2014 His mother may have had a false-positive test. (I wrote a little about medical tests and odds here.) The student may have been a shoo-in for the scholarship--or may have applied for several and got one. But 2,980 students, some of whom surely prayed and had good attitudes, didn't get the scholarship. If one of them was more qualified and/or needy than the person in question, then this miracle was an injustice. And people die of cancer every day; I'm sure many of them pray for healing. If you have a lump or an odd mole or mediocre grades and dreams of college, you have a problem that needs to be fixed by something more than a positive attitude and begging for magic to happen. Suggesting that people rely on those methods is cruel. Sorry, Rev. Osteen. 1
mymistake Posted December 30, 2014 Author Posted December 30, 2014 That type of message keeps the 2,980 failures hoping. And it gets the 10 successes to contribute large sums of money to the ministry for the rest of their life. Osteen is no fool. 1
Guest Furball Posted December 30, 2014 Posted December 30, 2014 "Well because God want all nations to come to heaven." Not according to the bible. The bible teaches god only wanted a few people to go to heaven while predestinating almost the entire human race to hell. Well of course that is what the Bible words actually say . . . but this was a sermon that the Holy Spirit whispered into the ear of a pastor to tell Christians what the Bible actually means is something completely different. Don't ya know that is the very reason God gave us pastors? My humble apologies
Ellinas Posted December 31, 2014 Posted December 31, 2014 Lately she has been relying on me more an more. Today I was the only way she could get to church. I declined her suggestion that I attend the service. Anyway two hours later I pick her up again. To make small talk I ask her how was the service. She loved it. With great enthusiasm she told me today the sermon was about how God is not predjudiced. Yep, it turns out that God doesn't mind if interracial couples get married. My first instinct was to wonder should this be news? Is it 1945? Oh great, I live in the kind of town where the local pastor thought this would still be a thing? But then I saw an opportunity so I went for it. With a not-so-innocent tone I ask "So if God is not prejudiced about marriage does that mean gays can get married?" "Uh, well, no. Gee, I can't get over how much the weather has changed. It's so much colder now. I thought it was almost going to snow." "Mom, why do you say God is not prejudiced?" "Well because God want all nations to come to heaven." "Okay, and God wants gay people to come to heave too, right?" "Well God doesn't approve of their lifestyle." "Mom, gay people have a wide range of lifestyles. Different gay people live all kinds of different ways. Some even get married to someone of the opposite sex and have children . . . " "I just love how the leaves change colors. Those look gold and the ones over there look red. The leaves are so beautiful." For the rest of the drive back she didn't want to talk about the sermon, her religion or any of that. She kept changing the subject. I think I'm going to hell for that. Well that's one way to try to persuade her not to use you as her regular driver...
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