Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee

[Telegraph]

Nasty smells left by sweaty summer beer drinkers have left some Dutch bar owners pining for the aroma of cigarette and cigar smoke two weeks after a smoking ban came into force.

[Houston Chronicle]

The youth minister who confessed to a 1994 killing is being widely forgiven by members of his former congregation, who say they admire his courage in finally surrendering to police.  Calvin Wayne Inman, 29, remains jailed without bail since he was charged Wednesday with capital murder in the stabbing death of a convenience store clerk during a robbery. He was 16 at the time.

“He’s a hero, really,” said Kelley Graham, 24. “I don’t know how many people would do what he did. The Bible says you just need to confess to God. Calvin took an extra step.”

Inman went to authorities on Feb. 5 and admitted that he stabbed Iqbal Ahmed, 64, nearly 14 years ago in suburban Pasadena. According to police, Inman said he and a 13-year-old friend planned to rob the convenience store. When Ahmed asked to see identification before giving them tobacco, Inman stabbed Ahmed in the chest with a kitchen knife, police said.

Inman resigned from the youth job in December.

“The debt he’s paying to our society is teaching our young people to do the right thing,” said Cheryl Ellis, a member of the church’s youth staff. “To lock him away someplace and say he owes it to society is robbing the next generation of a mentor.”

“I am thrilled my son has a role model to accept responsibility the way Calvin has,” Thac said. “There are way too many men who don’t accept responsibility.”

Inmates at the Harris County Jail already were asking Inman to lead Bible study. “I’m praying God’s going to use him there in that jail,” the pastor said.

Read about it here and here.

[From me]

I am glad he took responsibility. I applaud the church for their support of him as a person.  Is a person a role model and hero when the confess to something they did nearly 14 years before?  This must be confusing for the students he was leading.  Obviously God was dealing with him for his past.  Maybe he is a hero and role model.  This one is tough.  It did take guts.  I can’t imagine the weight that must be lifted from his shoulders.

The more I read the story and think about it the more I think God will use this tragedy for good.   Mr. Inman was obviously a different person 14 years ago and now a transformed man.  The Apostle Paul, King David and Moses all killed people and God used them.  In fact, many of us look up to all three of them.

Yeah, as I work through this the more I think Mr. Inman has displayed  Christ-like attitudes and actions since he came to Christ.   He is a new person and that is obvious by his church’s love and forgiveness. Praise God!

What do you think?

[From Washington Post]

Would “Casablanca” have been rated XXX?

Depictions of smoking in movies will now be a factor when deciding what a film’s rating will be, possibly making a PG-13 movie R-rated, the Motion Picture Association of America said yesterday. The policy affects only new movies.

Along with violence, depictions of sex, adult language and other content considerations, ratings organizations will examine new releases to determine if they glamorize smoking or if it is pervasive through the films, even among adults. Underage smoking has always been considered when rating a film.

Read about it here.

[From me]

I certainly don’t like smoking. It kills people and is a bad habit. But you have to be kidding me! So if a movie like Atlantis shows that lady saying “we’re all going to die” with the cig in her mouth it gets an “R” rating?

Why don’t they go after the real ills of our country like immoral sexual content and perversion? Hollywood just doesn’t get it.

What do you think?