Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee

[WCCO]

he Pride Festival kicked off in Loring Park Saturday. There were live bands, food and thousands of people. It’s now the third-largest gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender celebration in the country.

But there was some trouble there Saturday night.

Minneapolis Police arrested three people from Hayward, Wis. for trespassing. An amateur photographer named Aaron Bogle gave WCCO-TV video of a father, mother and son being arrested.

For 11 years, Brian and Doris Johnson have passed out free Bibles at the festival.

This year, they were not allowed to have a booth. Pride paid to rent the whole park and that gave them the right to choose which vendors they allowed in.

The Johnsons said they are born-again Christians and they believe homosexuality is a sin.

Read more here.

[From me]

They did break the law. I sure they knew something like this would happen if they showed up. Isn’t breaking the law a sin? Does protesting a something a person believes is a sin by sinning themselves make it right? Just wondering.

What do you think?

Yesterday following the Easter Service at church we were going to eat out with my family. My parents were in town but we found very few restaurants open. It reminded me of how it was when I was younger. When I was growing up in the South during the 1970’s and early 1980’s we had laws in called Blue Laws. What these laws were designed to do was force everyone to observe a Sabbath day of rest. Now if we were really going to observe a real Sabbath it should have been on Saturday.

But I digress. What these laws did was make it impossible to buy anything on Sundays except food at restaurants and gas and essentials at convenience stores.  Most of the southern towns had nothing going on on Sundays. Then about my Junior or Senior year of high school the laws were repealed in Alabama. All of a sudden Malls and other stores were opened on Sunday.  Many said this meant God’s wrath on our state. Others preached messages against it.  I worked at a fast food restaurant and had to ask off work so I could go to church.  I didn’t like working on Sundays.

I wonder if it really really helps our cause for Christ to force those who don’t have a relationship with God to observe our rules? But I also don’t want Christians to be forced to work on a day they would like to attend church. Where is the balance? Does forcing our convictions on the world make help us reach people for Christ or drive them away? 

What do you think?

[Christian Post]

For years, birth control pills were sold at discounted prices at colleges and universities with students paying around $3 to $10 for brand name prescription. This year, however, the price has jumped to as high as $50.

Providers fear this may lead female students to either stop using prescription birth control methods or use other less effective ones such as condoms or Plan B. The concern of conservative groups, meanwhile, remains the same. They say campuses are skipping out on offering young women the one sure method of protection.

Read about it here.

[From me]

Why are colleges in the prescription drug business in the first place? College is for education not partying. The only sure fire way to keep un-planned pregnancies is abstinence.

[From  ABC7]

A law passed this year allows Arkansans of any age — even infants — to marry if their parents agree, and the governor may have to call a special session to fix the mistake, lawmakers said Friday. The legislation was intended to establish 18 as the minimum age to marry but also allow pregnant teenagers to marry with parental consent, bill sponsor Rep. Will Bond said. An extraneous “not” in the bill, however, allows anyone who is not pregnant to marry at any age if the parents allow it.

Read about it here.

[From me]

If this wasn’t so serious I’d make a joke.  But there are some predators who will take advantage of families who want to get rid of their kids and allow them to get married.  This law should be changed immediately.

What do you think?

[From The Washington Times]

The words “natural family,” “marriage” and “union of a man and a woman” can be punished as “hate speech” in government workplaces, according to a lawsuit that is being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Read about it here.

[From me]

Huh? What’s next? Are we not going to be able to introduce our spouses as “husband” or “wife?” Will children be arrested for calling their female parent mom, mommy or mother? Will cops beat down the door when children refer to their male parent as dad, daddy or father? What can we call our children? Will we be required to call them “offspring?”

Does this mean that men can’t call their wives “the old ball and chain?” Can the term “trophy wife” be used? How about a wife referring to a husband as “Sugar Daddy?” Will terms like “gold-digger,” “cradle robber,” “sugar snookums,” “old man,” or “old woman” be added to the crime list?

How dumb is this nation becoming?

What other names will be outlawed? What do you think?

[From CBS News]

A woman was sent to jail for six months after failing to repay $56,134 to investors who were told they’d get rich with an invention that keeps outdoor Christmas lights hidden.

Kristine Mylonakis, 45, was accused of fleecing more than 70 investors by claiming she manufactured cylindrical trim that keeps lights concealed until they are needed. She had no such invention.

Read about it here.