Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee

We took a group of students to Gatlinburg to see our friend Bill the Mormon. (not really)  We are having a retreat at an unbelievable cabin in the mountains.  Mike Landrum is leading the Bible Study and Matt Oakley is leading worship.  They are doing a great job.   

This trip has had its share of 1sts.  This is the 1st time I’ve had a student show up that didn’t sign up. I had no idea he was going until he brought his stuff.  Thankfully we had enough room, but that was a crazy.  Then just before we got to Gatlinburg one of our students hurled all over the 3rd row seat in the van.

Then our cabin was trashed so we had to wait before we got to it but it is great.  However they didn’t leave us enough towels or sheets and I called 2 weeks ago to see what we needed to bring.  I hate incompetency! Above is a picture I took (yes while driving) of a truck that was advertising for drivers.  The ad says guaranteed home on weekends.  Does anyone else find it funny that it says that yet the driver is working on Sunday?  When did Sunday not be considered a weekend?

We will be having a great week here and maybe I’ll go see my friend Bill the Mormon.

[SignonSanDiego.com]

For 22 years, they’ve been singing hymns at a stone-sided building off East County’s Old Highway 80, not country and western songs. They’ve been drinking grape juice for communion, not wine and beer. County officials say that has to stop.

A county attorney told the Guatay Christian Fellowship it’s OK to sell beer and wine and host live events at the building in a trailer park, but it doesn’t have a permit to allow religious services.

Read more here.

[From me]

So let me get this straight.  A bar can sell alcohol to potential drunks who might go out and abuse people or drive drunk and kill someone.  But a church can’t meet to help people.  Makes a lot of sense.

What do you think?

[World Net Daily]

Christians will face prison for speaking out against homosexuality if Brazil’s Senate passes a bill approved unanimously by its House of Representatives. The measure is considered the country’s newest attempt to promote homosexuality, disguised as an act to combat discrimination, the Catholic News Agency reports.

If anyone prevents actions of “homosexual affection” in public or private locations open to the public, they could face up to five years in prison for doing so, the Association of the Defense of Life reports. The bill also seeks to penalize private and public school administrators with up to three years in prison if they refuse to hire openly “gay” teachers.

According to the CNA, the measure will force prison time for any “moral, ethical, philosophical or psychological expression that questions homosexual practices.”

The ADL claims the bill could spell disaster for churches and teachers.

“[A] priest, a pastor, a teacher or even an average citizen who says in a sermon, a classroom or public conversation that homosexual acts are sinful, disordered or an illness could be denounced and detained,” the association said.

Read more here.

[From me]

I realize this is Brazil.  However I got an email from Rick Santorum about the California Courts attempting to strike down the amendment on marriage being defined as a man and a woman.  If this happens according to Santorum those that oppose homosexuality are considered racists.  

OK, how is a follower of Jesus suppose to react to this?  Are we just to keep our mouths shut and say I’m not going to judge another?  I really don’t care what two adults do behind closed doors.  That is their business. But I don’t want my tax dollars going to pay for education to teach children that homosexuality is a normal lifestyle.  Is that being judgmental?  

My concern is that as a minster of the Gospel that I won’t be able to preach what God says about anything without the fear of going to jail soon.  Am I off base?  Is it really hate speech to tell someone what the Bible says?  Or are some going to argue that it is interpretation?

What do you think? 

[Washington Post]

When DMC Pharmacy opens this summer on Route 50 in Chantilly, the shelves will be stocked with allergy remedies, pain relievers, antiseptic ointments and almost everything else sold in any drugstore. But anyone who wants condoms, birth control pills or the Plan B emergency contraceptive will be turned away.

[Coffee Business Strategies]

In a move that directly contradicts the Starbucks’ position of “putting people before products,” the company is reported to be launching vending machines in place of baristas to serve coffee at grocery stores in 8 states.

Starbucks unit brews up self-serve espresso bars

Starbucks Corp. is experimenting with selling espresso drinks from a machine, sans barista.