Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee

[These are my thoughts and not those of Campus Crusade or my parents]

 Here are the facts about religion and chaplains in the military:

1. In the military, there are Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish, Islamic  etc chaplains.
2. Each chaplain is free to share his faith beliefs all he wants within the military guidelines given him. They are not muzzled.
3. Each chaplain is responsible for providing for the spiritual needs of all the soldiers under him or her. Therefore they provide and announce:

• On Sundays, on many bases, there are different services available for Roman Catholic and Islamic and for any chaplain who chose to provide his.
• Buses pick up some to go off post to Synagogues, Mormon temples, Greek Orthodox etc.
• Even Wiccans can meet as a group as long as the meeting is open to anyone.
• No one is compelled to attend any meeting but can attend any if they choose.

4. Any chaplain can use volunteers to teach classes on Sunday morning as long as that volunteer teaches under his or her supervision.

• Chaplains can recruit their volunteers from the community.

5. All belief groups want to share their beliefs to the world. In the America, they are free to do this as long as they do it by the rules.

For some reason those who are not followers of Jesus have problems with Christian groups ministering to the military.  Here is what I want to know:

• I want to know if there are Pagan, Wiccan,  Buddhists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jewish and other groups who send missionaries to the military who raise their own financial support?
• Are their atheist groups who raise their own financial support to assist the military in their emotional and educational needs?
• Show me where the Military Ministry of Campus Crusade has violated the Constitution?   The Separation of Church and State was to protect the Church from the State not the other way around.
• What harm is being done to our military?
• Do those who have a beef really care about the military personnel or are they trying to make a political statement?

These are questions I want answered.  I’m tired of being called a “right-winged bigot” and a “fundamentalist” and every form of profanity in the book.  Personally I’m ready for the US to leave Iraq but I support or military and our leaders.  I’m a follower of Jesus who wants to fulfill the calling God has given me.  I follow the laws and I’m tolerant of other’s beliefs.  It’s time the “other” beliefs showed a little tolerance of Christ followers too.

What do you think?

[From AZ Central.com]

In big bold print, above a picture of the Lowe’s Christmas tree collection, are the unfamiliar words ‘family trees.’ Lowe’s is causing a stir, by taking the “Christmas” out of “Christmas trees,” and calling them “family trees” in their catalog.

Read about it here, here and here.

[From me]

Mistake?  Give me a break.  Corporations have too much money at stake to make that kind of “mistake.”  It is a Christmas tree. Retailers start Christmas after Labor Day and rake in billions of dollars. First they change it to “Happy Holidays” and Holiday Season. Now it is a Family Tree. What’s next are Christians going to be called “Familians?” This is more political correctness that is incorrect.

What do you think?

[Christian Post]

The Church of England has expressed fear over a newly proposed law that could allow homosexuals to sue the church if they felt discriminated against by religious authorities.  Under the proposal, a gay individual could sue the church if he heard a sermon that condemned homosexuality. The law is meant to protect homosexuals from hostile or humiliating “environments” as part of a revision of discrimination legislations.

The Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship in England further warned that an unrepentant, practicing homosexual could sue the church if it refused him membership under the proposed law.

England’s anti-discriminatory proposal is similar to the hate crimes debate raging in the United States.

Christian leaders and pastors in America are protesting the hate crimes bill in Congress that would add sexual orientation, gender and gender identity to the existing list of hate crimes protected under law.

Conservative Christian groups such as Focus on the Family warn that if a pastor preached against homosexuality and one of his congregants later commits violence against a homosexual, then the pastor could be charged for inducing a hate crime.

Read about it here.

[From me]

There are many groups in the US trying to get similar laws passed.   This is scary to me.  Why would someone want to join an organization that preaches the individual lives in sin.  I talked about this subject yesterday in my message on God’s design for family.  We don’t need the hate crime legislation because the ones who will be hated are Christians.

What do you think?

[CBC News]

Faith-based schools that teach creationism in science class won’t receive the public funding Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives have proposed, a party spokeswoman said.

“If there are schools that teach creationism in science class, they would not be eligible to be funded as part of this proposal,” Ingrid Thompson said Wednesday afternoon, clarifying controversial remarks made by PC Leader John Tory earlier in the day.

Read about it here.

[From me]

I guess tolerance only applies to those who are opposed to Judeo-Christian values.  Nothing like teaching a balanced curriculum.  All the more reason to homeschool.

What do you think?

[SF Gate]

Bay Area Outreach Ministries’ preachers are using a public address system to yell their message. The free newspaper, the Berkeley Daily Planet, recently published an article about how these fire-and-brimstone-spewing clowns are force-feeding their version of redemption to whoever crosses their sidewalk-blocking paths.

Local florist is Gwynn Coffee. And she is fed up with it all; it’s hurting business, Coffee said, and chewing up her work day.

“It’s not only putting a damper on things,” she said, “it’s also taking up my time. Nobody really wants to walk on that side of the street when they’re there.”

Larry Rosenbaum of the ministries group doesn’t see it that way. He said they’re just there “to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.”Rosenbaum said he doesn’t mean to drive away business, just preach Biblical teachings.

And he said it’s in the way of Jesus. “

I think Jesus, when he was on Earth, he did preach the gospel. He was very loud, because thousands of people could hear him at one time. So he must’ve been loud with his voice.”

Read about it here.

[From me]

Jesus may have spoken loudly but he wouldn’t ruin people’s businesses in the process.  If they really want people to listen to them why are they yelling?  If something is “good news” do you really need to scream?

What do you think?