JSUFYF: Something about millstones comes to mind...

1 At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? 

² And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, 

³ And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 

⁴ Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 

⁵ And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. 

⁶ But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

(Matthew 18:1-6)

And now today's example of causing little kids to stumble, as in filling their heads with noxious garbage which basically leads them to not only hate GLBT persons, but, in the future, will serve a hindrance to their normal functioning in a wider world where GLBT people are just seen as, well, people.

Here's the video, it's fairly repulsive.

Some smart person was able to figure out that this had been filmed at Apostolic Truth Tabernacle in Greensburg, Indiana. Here's a picture of Pastor & Mrs. Sangl.

They're a lovely couple. Mrs. Sangl's hairdo is giving me flashbacks to the 1970s, when I struggled to put my hair up like that and was unsuccessful because I had thin, fine hair. (Now I have thick, waist length hair and I have different problems.) Naturally, they've been receiving a lot of negative comments about this video and have reportedly left on vacation to an undisclosed location. They're also claiming "death threats," but I want to see the threats, because some people claim they're being threatened when all that's happening is that they're being challenged--two different things entirely.

My thoughts on this are as follows:

1. Because of the Internet, cheap videomaking and online social media, it's really possible for something obnoxious that occurred at a small church in suburban Indianapolis to go viral. In other words, it's not possible for something like this to be "done in a corner." (cf. Acts 26:26) I suspect that after a few more incidents like this, preachers are going to have to decide whether to put their sermons, off-the-cuff bloviations and results of toddler indoctrination sessions on the Internet. They're caught in a bind. They want to "preach the Word," but the fact is that the larger society does not see GLBT people the same as these guys do. I suspect that the "homo-hating" preachers will continue to "proclaim Christ" by putting up this pigswill, and will continue to experience bad moments as the videos are discovered and publicized.
2. Kids--you don't do this to a kid. That kid doesn't know what he was saying. What's worse is that there's video and it's on the Internet and it will live forever. If an adult wants to say crap like this, and they know the consequences (and think it a part of "following Jesus," well, then that's they're prerogative. But a kid should not be doing this--the poor little guy doesn't have the cognitive ability to be able to make a decision, but only wants to do what pleases mommy, daddy and all the people clapping in the pews. (And suppose this kid turns out to be gay? Ouch.)
3. Millstones--see above.
4. The real irony of this is that the pastor and people at Apostolic Truth Tabernacle would not be accepted as "Troo Kwischens" by both Protestants and Catholics because they don't believe in the Trinity. It's pretty clear from a couple of clues on their website (plus Mrs. Sangl's hairstyle) that this church is "Apostolic" or "Jesus Name Only." What that means is that they believe God's name is Jesus, who revealed himself in three different ways, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They follow Acts 2:38 and baptize in Jesus' name only. This is quite different from standard Trinitarian dogma. So, ironically, like the Mormons, the hardass Catholics and Protestants will make common cause and defend the Apostolic Truth Tabernacle people, but the Apostolic Truth people will not be accepted as "Reel Kwischens.""
5. The church's website says that they don't hate anyone, but they're going to cling rather tightly to their Bible beliefs. I fully expect more thwacking of the "poor, lost homos" from Pastor Sangl, as opposed to perhaps following Jesus, who said:  "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." (Matthew 5:44). Remember, Jesus said that's what his followers should be up to--and he didn't say anything about "homosexuals." Not a single word. It wasn't that important.

Pastor Jeff Sangl:  Because you not only allowed someone to teach a child an anti-gay song, had the child sing it in front of the church and didn't stop the hootin' and hollerin' when it happened, today, Tuesday, May 30, 2012, we award you the Jesus Facepalm with Crown of Thorns.

JESUS, SAVE US FROM YOUR FOLLOWERS!!!

VatiLeaks

Those of us living here in the God-fearing United States of America, coming off a long holiday weekend and, as a people, also generally ignorant and/or suspicious of pretty much everything that goes on outside our borders, probably missed this bomb dropped in the middle of Vatican City last week. And if we did hear anything, it was probably of the Pope's butler was arrested!!! type of article and not the implications of the arrest.

Basically, the Pope's butler, a guy named Paolo Gabriele (married, not a priest), was found to have secret Vatican documents in his home. But before that, an Italian journalist, Gianluigi Nuzzi, began publicizing similar secret documents he had received beginning in January. What Nuzzi exposed then was that one of the Vatican's administrators, who had been ferreting out corruption, was abruptly reassigned as ambassador to the USA. Monsignor Carlo Vigano was not thrilled at all about this reassignment and asked for it not to happen.

Then, in mid-May, Nuzzi published a book called "His Holiness," which included a lot more documents and hushed-up scandals. The Vatican came slightly unglued about it, because it aired out a lot of dirty laundry that the Pope and his people would have preferred to shove in the Tiber. The arrest of the butler is part of that whole drill. Some people think that Gabriele is merely the tip of the iceberg and the real "criminal" is one of the red hatted cardinals. Who knows?

Anyway, it's not likely this scandal will get huge coverage here in the USA, if only because we tend to cut religious leaders LOTS and LOTS of slack (not that they deserve it), but I'm sure my favorite English-language newspaper The Guardian (UK) will cover it at least in slightly more detail than the US papers. I will keep an eye on this since the Vatican and its deputies in the USA seem hell-bent on influencing OUR politics.

What this blog is about

Coming soon...