Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee

[Smoking Gun]

Matthew Lincoln was attending an evening service at his nondenominational Tennessee church when he approached the altar where a visiting minister was offering individual prayers for parishioners. Assigned “catchers” were present on the altar in case congregants fainted, fell, or otherwise lost control. When the minister, Robert Lavala, slightly touched his forehead, the Knoxville-area man “received the spirit and fell backwards.” Except nobody was there to catch him, Lincoln charges in a $2.5 million lawsuit filed yesterday against Lakewind Church and its pastors. Lincoln, 58, claims that he fell backwards, striking his head against the “carpet-covered cement floor,” according to the Circuit Court complaint, which was first reported by Courthouse News Service.

A copy of Lincoln’s lawsuit can be found here.

[From me]

Man, you can’t make this stuff up! The worst thing that could happen in our church is someone falls in the baptistry.

What do you think?

[Daily Mail]

Goliath is a celebrity binge drinker, Eve is a sex-obsessed man-eater and Noah’s wife wants to kill him . . . welcome to the updated Bible.An Anglican vicar has rewritten the most famous biblical tales because he wants to make them more “accessible” to modern reader. The Rev Robert Harrison’s book, Must Know Stories, contains retellings of ten Bible stories and is out tomorrow. In the nativity story, Jesus is born in an overcrowded house instead of a stable, amid family conflict as Joseph’s aunt deals with the fact that he and Mary are not even married.

Mr Harrison, who preaches at St John’s in Hillingdon, West London, added:

“It’s better to tell the story controversially than not at all.”

Read about it here.

[From me]

I wonder if Rev. Harrison was drunk when he wrote this?

What do you think?

What’s up with this?  I nowhere near 50.   They even put my name on it.  Maybe I can leverage this for something.  What benefits can I get?

[SKY]

An American man is selling his soul on the internet for £500,000 - to raise money for Christmas. He says the winning eBay bidder will receive his spirit in a glass jar as well as a contract “relinquishing ownership”. He told buyers: “I’ve got no money for the Christmas holidays, and all I’ve got left to sell is my soul.

“I’m not really using it lately - and selling it on eBay is better than letting the Devil have it.”

Read about it here.

[From me]

Be careful what you wish for….

What do you think?

[SF Gate]

A man wearing nothing except what looked like a nun’s habit on his head approached three young girls in a Union City church parking lot Saturday and ordered them into his car before they fled the scene, police reported.

Read about it here.

[From me]

Only in California.