Subscribe to
Posts [Atom]
Saturday, January 09, 2010
Being a well-dunked Southern Baptist, and a graduate of a West Texas Baptist college to boot, my ears always vibrate a little when the Southern Baptists make the news (HT: James at BlueNC).
Labels: Southern Baptists
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Would-Be Book-Burner Threatened with Fine for Polluting the Air
Update on Rev. Marc Grizzard of Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Bethel, N.C., and his announced plans to burn a whole bunch of Bibles that aren't King James versions and other literature similarly inspired by the devil, including tomes written by Christian mullahs like James Dobson, and so-called Christian music by the likes of Amy Grant et al.
Previously.
Today's development.
Previously.
Today's development.
Labels: censorship, Christianity and politics, Southern Baptists
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Fahrenheit 3:16
The Canton, N.C., Amazing Grace Baptist Church will hold a good old-fashioned book burning on Halloween night. Every version of the Bible which is not the 1611 King James Version is scheduled for the flames. (How did that old pederast King James I of England get so privileged?) You have to check out Pastor Marc Grizzard's own high-octane website to believe all this, which is NOT, evidently, a hoax.
And just to keep the flames licking, the church is planning on adding in all the country music and Southern gospel they can find, among other musical genres, and pretty much the entire gamut of "Christian" books written by fake, Satan-worshipping frauds, like Rick Warren, Billy Graham, Mother Teresa, James Dobson, Chuck Colson, and the Pope:
The Big Question for this huge congregation of 14 would be ... how many of these documents will that group be able to amass from their vast libraries or from the bookshelves of their alarmed neighbors? Or should this be more properly regarded as a Wish List?
Nothing sez "Prince o' Peace" like a book burning!
(Incidentally, the Pastor's website is a veritable smorgasbord of Christian dee-lites, though the hyperbolic, screaming colors may induce corneal searing.)
And just to keep the flames licking, the church is planning on adding in all the country music and Southern gospel they can find, among other musical genres, and pretty much the entire gamut of "Christian" books written by fake, Satan-worshipping frauds, like Rick Warren, Billy Graham, Mother Teresa, James Dobson, Chuck Colson, and the Pope:
...We will also be burning Satan's music such as country , rap , rock , pop, heavy metal, western, soft and easy, southern gospel , contempory [sic] Christian , jazz, soul, oldies but goldies, etc.
We will also be burning Satan's popular books written by heretics like Westcott & Hort , Bruce Metzger, Billy Graham , Rick Warren , Bill Hybels , John McArthur, James Dobson, Charles Swindoll , John Piper, Chuck Colson, Tony Evans, Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swagart, Mark Driskol, Franklin Graham , Bill Bright, Tim Lahaye, Paula White, T.D. Jakes, Benny Hinn , Joyce Myers, Brian McLaren, Robert Schuller, Mother Teresa , The Pope , Rob Bell, Erwin McManus, Donald Miller, Shane Claiborne, Brennan Manning, William Young, etc.
The Big Question for this huge congregation of 14 would be ... how many of these documents will that group be able to amass from their vast libraries or from the bookshelves of their alarmed neighbors? Or should this be more properly regarded as a Wish List?
Nothing sez "Prince o' Peace" like a book burning!
(Incidentally, the Pastor's website is a veritable smorgasbord of Christian dee-lites, though the hyperbolic, screaming colors may induce corneal searing.)
Labels: censorship, Christianity and politics, Southern Baptists
Monday, June 22, 2009
Down the Primrose Path
That's George W. Bush in 2005, addressing the delegates to the Southern Baptist Convention, the wholly owned subsidiary of the national Republican Party.That call & response cheerleading may be a contributing factor to why the Charlotte Observer says this a.m. that the Southern Baptists have awakened to a perceptible decline in their numbers. Writes Yonat Shimron:
Having pushed out moderates and liberals during its decades-long revolution, the convention, which gathers in Louisville, Ky., on Tuesday, is finding itself losing members and performing fewer baptisms.
Although the losses are not dramatic -- membership in the SBC fell by 38,482 people, about 0.2 percent, in 2008 -- they are particularly painful for a denomination whose singular reason for being is to make converts.
In other words, if you're a Baptist and not nailing new pelts to the cabin walls, you're certainly a failure if not something of a disgrace. At least that's what they used to tell us kids in Sunday School. (So I'd march right out and try -- unsuccessfully -- to convert my nearest neighbor, who bought her likker from my own bootlegging great-aunt. I never attempted to convert that aunt, given the odds ... and the personal hazard.)
Anyway, reporter Shimron works the margins of the whole big problem of a major American religious organization getting itself so thoroughly associated with a now failed politics, and what the fall-out from that association might end up being.
Labels: religion and politics, Southern Baptists
Thursday, April 23, 2009
The Greening of the Baptists
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary is hosting a one-day environmental seminar tomorrow in Wake Forest, the first such gesture of detente toward tree-huggers in Southern Baptist history (or something).
Lest anyone gets the idea that the officials at the Southern Baptist seminary have gone all gay over environmental sensitivity, Southeastern President Danny Akin quickly said, "We're not jumping on the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Al Gore bandwagon. We're using a more cautious, responsible approach."
"More cautious." We got that. But beware. We hear that Druid impulses are awfully hard to keep a lid on, once they get some air.
Lest anyone gets the idea that the officials at the Southern Baptist seminary have gone all gay over environmental sensitivity, Southeastern President Danny Akin quickly said, "We're not jumping on the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Al Gore bandwagon. We're using a more cautious, responsible approach."
"More cautious." We got that. But beware. We hear that Druid impulses are awfully hard to keep a lid on, once they get some air.
Labels: environmental issues, religion and politics, Southern Baptists
Monday, July 14, 2008
Nearer, My Assault Rifle, To Thee
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
"Blessed are the low on ammunition, for theirs is the corner gun store.
"Blessed are those who scorn, for they shall have liberals.
"Blessed are the cliques, for they will inherit the militias.
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for assault rifles, for Windsor Hills Baptist Church shall satisfy them, though not necessarily this year."
The Church Militant: "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places, which means we need our teenagers to be packing some serious heat."
After Jesus comes, they're gonna miss not having anyone around worth shooting.
"Blessed are the low on ammunition, for theirs is the corner gun store.
"Blessed are those who scorn, for they shall have liberals.
"Blessed are the cliques, for they will inherit the militias.
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for assault rifles, for Windsor Hills Baptist Church shall satisfy them, though not necessarily this year."
The Church Militant: "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places, which means we need our teenagers to be packing some serious heat."
After Jesus comes, they're gonna miss not having anyone around worth shooting.
Labels: assault rifles, Southern Baptists
Monday, June 30, 2008
Men Beat Their Wives in the Pursuit of Holiness
Friday, June 13, 2008
The New Face of the Southern Baptists
The Southern Baptist Convention, meeting this week in Indianapolis, elected Johnny Hunt as its new president. He's pastor of a suburban Atlanta mega-church. He's closely identified with the "fundamentalist" wing of the church. And he also happens to be a Lumbee, which is fairly significant for the world's largest Protestant denomination with the world's sorriest record on acknowledging the national legacy of slavery.According to Christianity Today, Pastor Hunt is also a leading opponent of Calvinism. Calvinism? Yep. Apparently there's a flaming out-break of predestinationism, right here in River City.
INCIDENTALLY
The comment string on the Christianity Today article linked above contains this exchange:
Poster: Jesus died because he was a conservative.
Counter-Poster: No, Jesus died because he was a liberal.
Other Voice: Jesus was not only a liberal. He was a radical liberal.
Labels: Rev. Johnny Hunt, Southern Baptists
