Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee

[Yahoo]

A British woman is divorcing her husband after discovering his online alter-ego was having an affair with a virtual woman in the fantasy world of Second Life, media reported on Friday. Amy Taylor, 28, said her three-year marriage to David Pollard, 40, came to an end when she twice walked in on him watching his online character, Dave Barmy, having sex with other virtual women.

Second Life enables players to create online lives in which their virtual alter ego, or avatar, can socialize, develop relationships, buy property and set up businesses in an imagined world using the game’s virtual currency.

The couple met in an internet chatroom in 2003 and married in real life and in a fantasy tropical setting in Second Life.

However, Taylor always had suspicions about Pollard’s online loyalty. At one point she hired a virtual detective to test whether his avatar was cheating on her, after finding him at the computer watching his character having sex with a prostitute.

Pollard passed that honeytrap test but earlier this year Taylor found his character in a compromising position with another virtual woman.

“He confessed he’d been talking to this woman player in America for one or two weeks and said our marriage was over and he didn’t love me any more,” said Taylor, who filed for divorce the next day.

“The solicitor wasn’t at all surprised — she said it was her second divorce case involving Second Life that week.”

Source

[From me]

O my. I don’t see how anything good can come from a website like this. Hiring a “virtual” detective?  People need to get a life! A real life!

What do you think?

Ever since the Mitchell Report came out a few months ago we have seen numerous ways of responding to the charges made in the report.  The report claims that many baseball players have used illegal performance enhancing drugs improve their playing and make their career last longer.  

Most of those named in the report acknowledged that they did use the drugs.  Some apologized. Others have kept quiet.  But Roger Clemens has gone on the attack to clear his good name.  I want to believe Roger.  I was never a Red Sox, Blue Jay or Yankee fan but I admired the way he played the game.

When Roger was named in the Mitchell Report there were many people who said he should come out swinging.  And swinging he has.  He has gone on 60 Minutes, made a You Tube video, held press conferences and testified before Congress that he did not use performance enhancing drugs.  He came across to me as believable.  But here is the problem.  His best buddy Andy Pettitte who was named in the Mitchell report and was trained by Brian McNamee.  Pettitte admitted that he used HGH.  But Roger flatly denies that he has taken drugs or any performance enhancements.  So what is it?

Then Roger files an anti-defamation suit against Brian McNamee.  Now team McNamee are pulling out all of the stops.  They are saying that Roger Clemens had a long time affair with Mindy McCready, a country music singer who has had her own illegal drug problems.  Truth is stranger than fiction.  You couldn’t write a more juicy story in Hollywood.

Here is the problem for me.  If Roger had admitted he took the performance enhancements would this have just blown over?  What if he had just kept his mouth shut?  Instead he makes a big deal and I think it is making him look worse.

What does this mean for us?  I usually can tell when my kids get defensive about something, they probably are guilty. When they calmly deny something, they usually are telling the truth, but when they get vocal, they are “usually” guilty.  It is probably the same for me.  How many times to we angrily argue with the police when we get pulled over for speeding (hypothetically, of course)?  I’ve found myself getting defensive with my wife and my kids and usually it is when I’m wrong.  I’m ashamed to admit that but it is true.

So what do we do?  I think the Bible gives us the best advice.  We should share our sins with one another.

James 5:16

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

Had Roger just said, yes I took the HGH and steroids this story would have probably passed.

Sometimes it is best to keep our mouths shut.

Proverbs 18:2

A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions.

Proverbs 10:10

He who winks maliciously causes grief,  and a chattering fool comes to ruin.

Proverbs 17:28

Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.

Had Roger just kept quiet the rest of the junk about his personal life would probably stayed out of the news.  This whole incident is sad because he is married and has children who are probably hurting.  

What do you think? 

[USA Today]

Gov. Eliot Spitzer, the nationally known do-gooder who suffered a jaw-dropping fall from grace this week after being accused of frequenting a high-price call girl ring, announced his resignation Wednesday. In a short appearance before reporters, Spitzer said he had always demanded others take responsibility for their actions.

“I cannot and will not ask no less of myself,” he said. “For this reason, I am resigning from the office of governor.”

“For the past few days I have begun to atone for my private failings with my wife Silda, my children and my entire family. The remorse I feel will always be with me,” Spitzer said. “I cannot allow for my private failings to disrupt the people’s work.”

Spitzer, 48, said he was “deeply sorry I did not live up to what was expected of me,” and apologized to “every New Yorker.”

Read about it here.

[From me]

I’m not here to dump on Mr. Spitzer.  This whole story is tragic.  Not because he had to resign as Governor but for his family.  He has a beautiful wife and 3 daughters.  How tough this must be on them.  It is bad enough he had an affair on his wife, but to spend $80,000 on prostitutes is unbelievable.  Think about the diseases his wife could get.  Think about how this will tear apart a family.  I wonder how Mrs. Spitzer is able to stand next to him during this tragedy?  I guess we never know until we are in a situation.  I will pray for their family.

What would you do?

[AP]

In Australia, Anglican ministers accused of cheating on their spouses may be included on a proposed church database of child abusers and sex offenders, a church official said Tuesday.

“The church has always had a high expectation, a scriptural expectation, that members of the clergy and church workers lead moral lives,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

“Often people that come in touch with clergy are vulnerable because they’re in a pastoral situation and the minister is, in a sense, in a position of power,” he added. “We just want to make sure that whenever people come in touch with the church they are safe.”

Read about it here.

[From me]

Harsh?  Maybe, but it just might keep some people in check.  I think it might be justifiable when a minister takes advantage of a person they are counseling.

What do you think?

 [Houston Chronicle]

Leroy Greer meant to say it with flowers to his girlfriend, but his wife heard about it too, and now the whole arrangement is in federal court. Claiming 1-800-flowers.com made his life considerably less rosy, Greer sued the flower delivery company, alleging it made his divorce case thornier by faxing his wife a receipt for flowers he had sent his girlfriend — along with the romantic words he wrote for the card.

The suit, filed this week in Houston, asks that the company pay for his mental anguish and for the increased amount he figures he’ll have to pay in his divorce case, pending since 2005 in Fort Bend County, because his wife has new evidence against him.

Read about it here.

[From me]

Tough luck dude.  You should have worried about your note before you broke your marriage vows.  The only breech and mental anguish is for your poor wife.  I can hear Tammy Wynette singing DIVORCE.

What do you think?