The divine Trinity _ “Father, Son and Holy Spirit” _ could also be known as “Mother, Child and Womb” or “Rock, Redeemer, Friend” at some Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) services under an action Monday by the church’s national assembly.
Delegates to the meeting voted to “receive” a policy paper on gender- inclusive language for the Trinity, a step short of approving it. That means church officials can propose experimental liturgies with alternative phrasings for the Trinity, but congregations won’t be required to use them.
*snip*
Besides “Mother, Child and Womb” and “Rock, Redeemer, Friend,” proposed Trinity options drawn from biblical material include:
_ “Lover, Beloved, Love”
_ “Creator, Savior, Sanctifier”
_ “King of Glory, Prince of Peace, Spirit of Love.”
Moderator of the 216th General Assembly, Rick Ufford-Chase
Send email to Rick Ufford-Chase
Subject:
Inclusive language for the Trinity
Message:
Dear Mr. Chase:
It is with great interest that I read the news of your Assembly’s decision about additional versions of the invocation of the Trinity.
I’d like to take this time to congratulate the Presbyterian Church (USA) for this bold move. After all, the letter of the law is death, but it is the spirit that brings life. Or something.
In any event, I wanted to take this opportunity to be of assistance as your denomination explores its faith journey as a community of hope.
As part of your outreach to contemporary people, may I suggest using “Paper, Scissor, Rock” as a valid invocation of the Trinity? After all, Christ does cover us in a new garment when we experience him in our hearts, much like paper. And of course, the Holy Spirit cuts through us to our deepest being.
Oh, oops. My bad. I see you’re not running this Assembly. Could you please pass this on to Ms. Joan S. Gray? I can’t seem to find her email address on your site.
God bless,
Tom
Your message to Rick Ufford-Chase has been sent.
On a side note, you people need to read Jimmy the Hand more. This is not a suggestion.
Earlier, I wrote about an piece written by some Canadian woman. Her name, for the record, is Lydia Lovric. Jimmy actually got her to reply in an online forum. TSucht is the power of Jimmy the Hand, folks.
Jth: Lydia, just for the record, you’re an idiot. Five minutes of research would have shown you that you are raising a heathen, not a heretic. YOU, dear lady, are the heretic (and an apostate, for that matter). Having been baptized, you are dissenting from the Church on a matter of faith and morals. Your statement is a textbook example of heresy.
Lydia: Sorry to disappoint you J, but I did not use the term “heretic” incorrectly. The Oxford English Dictionary describes heresy as the following:
• noun (pl. heresies) 1 belief or opinion contrary to orthodox religious (especially Christian) doctrine. 2 opinion profoundly at odds with what is generally accepted.
So, we are indeed raising or planning to raise a heretic.
That’s nice, but The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition is a bit more detailed in its definition:
Heresy:
#1. An opinion or a doctrine at variance with established religious beliefs, especially dissension from or denial of Roman Catholic dogma by a professed believer or baptized church member.
So why should someone go with the “American” Dictionary over the “English” Dictionary?
How about because we rule the world. As a matter of fact, you people are lucky we even let you still call the language “English” and not “American”. You’re about ten minutes away from us doing just that too, if y’all don’t get in line and stop ticking us off.
Or we can go with the less interesting reason that the second definition provides more context than the first. What that means is simple, no sane person would call a Jew a heretic (you can make the case for Muslims being heretics, according to one famous historian). Neither would you call a Buddhist or a Hindu a heretic. The reasoning for this is obvious, you have to be a member of a group to reject that group’s doctrines. After all, what would I care about Muslim dietary laws?
As we can see, membership is required to be what can be called a heretic. How does one enter the Church? Through baptism.
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Steve Terrell is a good guy. I don’t care what anyone else says, he’s a good guy.
He relays the following from some leftist New Mexican PAC (find it yourself, no traffic for you, NM leftists):
“The Black Balloon Fiesta represents a new mode of peaceful political action,” the site says. “In an era when progressives are, for whatever reasons, less inclined to take to the streets and protest, PAC505 is formulating new ways of providing them with a unified voice.”
Losing stinks, doesn’t it? I mean, back in the day you guys could get out there with your chants and your signs and meet 19 year chicks eager to…get back at mommy and daddy. Nowadays? Not so much, huh.
Then again, I’m sure there’s a logical explanation for nobody showing up at your little shindigs. I got it! It’s tough finding enough wheelchair accessible busses for all those geriatrics from the ’60s. And if the college whackjobs decide to get all, “Bush lied, kids died” their parents would want to come to the rally too. And what twenty-year old kid wants to be seen in public with his tye-dye wearing mom?
Anyhoo, I think we haven’t celebrated enough Zarqawi’s death, because the leftists haven’t gotten unhinged enough over it. Let’s crank it up a notch. (H/T Irish Elk). Bonus Question: Is that Jesse Macbeth’s uniform?
Rock the Casbah!
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Our baby is full of original sin. That’s right. Not yet eight months old, our daughter has yet to be baptized and will therefore never grace the gates of heaven. Some will no doubt rebuke our decision to turn away from the Catholic church. That’s fine. But reading the latest edict issued by the Vatican, my husband and I feel further justified in our resolve to raise a heretic.
The 1983 CIC (Code of Canon Law):
Canon 751: “Heresy is the obstinate denial or obstinate doubt after the reception of baptism of some truth which is to be believed by divine and Catholic faith; apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian faith; schism is the refusal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him.”
Winnipeg writer person, step away from the dog sled and parse that sentence with me, will you? Do you see the part that says, “after the reception of baptism?” That means by your denying your child baptism, the one thing you can absolutely guarantee is that that child will NOT be a heretic. On the bright side, you are well on your way to raising your child to be stupid, since you’re proving to be a sterling role-model for idiocy in action. I mean, if you’re going to make some big and splashy declaration shouldn’t you at least take a few minutes to make sure you’re nailing your ten cent terms?
I will say it again. It’s ok to be stupid; it is something else entirely to be painfully stupid.
UPDATE: A ten cent term, isn’t that like $25 Canadian?
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Al-Qaida in Iraq confirmed the death of its leader, Abu Musab al- Zarqawi, and vowed it will continue its “holy war” in a statement posted on the Web on Thursday.
“We want to give you the joyous news of the martyrdom of the mujahed sheik Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,” said the statement, signed by “Abu Abdel- Rahman al-Iraqi,” identified as the deputy “emir” or leader of al- Qaida in Iraq.
“The death of our leaders is life for us. It will only increase our persistence in continuing holy war so that the word of God will be supreme,” it said.
Anybody else remember that techno mix that would play “James Brown . . . is dead?” I think someone should come up with the Abu Musab al-Zarqawi remix. Of course the death of your leaders is life for you guys; now you’ve got nobody telling you to ram cars full of explosives into crowds of children.
Many people may be surprised to learn that Zarqawi apparently worked as a Sybase DBA in Sunnyvale, California during the dot com boom.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaida leader in Iraq who waged a bloody campaign of suicide bombings and beheadings of hostages, has been killed in a precision airstrike, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Thursday. It was a long-sought victory in the war in Iraq.
Mother Sheehan shows her concern for those who serve our country. (H/T: Beth’s minion John.)
Support the troops? I support only those who are NOT supporting the exploitation of the Iraqi people, and those who do not allow the war profiteers to carry on with their death and destruction all for the sake of an opulent lifestyle. I do not support those who are supporting a criminally insane and treacherous foreign policy.
I guess that’s why it took her so long to get Casey a headstone.
I’m sure most of you are familiar with the saga of Jesse MacBeth, the Wendy’s employee who claimed to have been an Iraqi-slaughtering Army Ranger. Personally, I’m waiting for Dan Rather to turn up a memo from his former CO, Dave Thomas, ordering him to commit the atrocities he detailed in some left-wing “documentary”. In any event, the thing had barely hit the internet when military folks started sending up all sorts of red flags. Folks who know about such stuff started poking all sorts of holes in MacBeth’s story based on how he wore his uniform in what was supposed to be an official photo. The short form is, the “uniform” he wore looked like something thrown together for an Andy Sidaris flick.
Jesse MacBeth
My question is, why did you people go to all that trouble? I didn’t even have to think about how his sleeves were rolled, or how he wore his beret, or anything of that nature. Heck, all I had to do was listen to his “testimony”.
Here’s an excerpt from a transcript, provided by The People’s Voice, or something:
Once I was in Baghdad, once I got there, my whole aspect of the country changed. When we were in Kuwait we got debriefed about our missions, about the Rangers. Our job over there is to strike fear in the hearts of the Iraqis. That is what they told us. They said do whatever it takes. We’re not going to hold anything against you, you’re not going to get charged for anything. Do whatever it takes to make them fear you; they told us to be brutal. They said we’re not there for them. We’ve got our own purpose. The Geneva Convention, it doesn’t mean crap. The Geneva Convention is something for political crap.
Ok, let’s go past the fact that you get “briefed” before you go to do something and “debriefed” after you’re done doing it; the words are almost interchangeable nowadays to some. Let’s look at something else Jesse said.
Our job over there is to strike fear in the hearts of the Iraqis.
Take another look at this guy.
Our job over there is to strike fear in the hearts of the Iraqis.
Riddle me this, was the A/V Club already deployed? Could they not scrape up a Girl Scout Troop to send to Baghdad? Somebody in the Pentagon said, “What can we do to really make those Iraqi’s fear us? I got it, send that Jesse MacBeth guy over! After the Chess Club and the SCA, he’s our last line of defense!” And then someone hit a big red button or something?
Come on, look again:
Our job over there is to strike fear in the hearts of the Iraqis.
Who on earth is going to be afraid after getting a look at this guy? Ok, ok, besides, “I’m afraid I might pass out from laughing so hard.” Really, you leftists must believe the Pentagon Halliburton is just a bit craftier than this, don’t you? Come on, you gotta believe we’ve got some really super scary Ranger/Seal/Recon ninjas that we could call up for missions like this. Maybe you guys need to watch an Andy Sidaris film or two and concentrate on the gunfights and explosions and not on the…you know…other stuff.
The documentary Jesse MacBeth was interviewed for was carried on a website called Socialist Alternative; I checked the site. While looking it over, I think I found Jesse an opportunity to be involved in another project they’ve put together.
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