friday's feast

Appetizer
Who is the easiest person for you to talk to?

well, if you make me stick to a human being it would be my wife. if you don't limit it to that i would say it was God.

Soup

If you could live in any ancient city during the height of the quality of its society and culture, which one would you choose?

it would have to be spain.

Salad
What is the most exciting event you’ve ever witnessed?

the birth of both of our children.

Main Course
If you were a celebrity, what would you do for a publicity stunt?

i would shave my head and fast to raise money to help feed the people in the world who go hungry every day.

Dessert
What do you consider the ideal age to have a first child?

ideal age... to me it is more about how long to be married before you have kids. i would say that you need to be married at least 5 years before having kids. that way you can travel and do stuff that you can't do after you have kids.

gay funeral cancelled

here is something interesting that happened recently. apparently there was a funeral going to be held at a texas church, but when it was made public that the man was gay, they cancelled the funeral the day before it was to happen and basically said that you can't have a funeral for a gay person in this church... rev. gary simmons (the pastor of the church) said:

"This decision was not based on hate, or discrimination, but upon principle and policy, We cannot glorify homosexuality as a lifestyle. The Bible does say it's wrong, You wouldn't go to someones house who doesn't smoke and smoke there." (here is the official statement from the church)

so, there are some links at the bottom of this post about this, BUT first i want to ask you a question:

"so, does that mean they wouldn't allow funerals for fat people in their church because gluttony is a sin and a sinful lifestyle and the Bible does say gluttony is wrong?"

oh, and is there a difference between a gay funeral and a straight funeral?

just asking.

what do you think? comment on your thoughts... i am curious.

links:

here is a link to a news story about the cancelled funeral and this is another link from another news source

here is a link that shows some of the family pictures that the church called "in-appropriate"
(i do agree that the "crotch" shot was in-appropriate for a funeral, but it was not a "gay" shot... the two men are brothers, not lovers)

one good post, from back in the day

i just want to link to something that "real live preacher" wrote back in 2005. i have been reading his blog since about 2004. this is by far one of my favorite blog entries ever... after you read the specific post that i am referring to then i invite you to read some of his other stuff... enjoy:

this is the link to the specific post called, "martin luther, diet coke and canned soup" (read this first).

this is the link to his main page

but, i would love for you to read the "martin luther" post and leave a comment on how you liked it or if you just want to comment on something else from his blog.

learned (pronounced learn-ed)

i am not a universalist (although some people think i am, but i am not), but it is nice to see some people of the christian faith understand that there are things that we can learn and take from other religions/traditions... also it is nice to see those folks understanding that as human beings we are very complicated spiritually and that God speaks in different ways to different people... i don't know a lot about these folks but i like most of what i have read so far...

click this link to go and see what i am talking about.

"h" "e" double hockey sticks

alright, you christians out there: what do you think the bible says about hell? who it's for? what's it like?

non-christians, agnostics, buddhists, hindus, etc...: does any of your faith traditions have it's own kind of "hell" doctrine/philosophy?

i have done a semi-in depth study of the subject of hell in the bible and i would like to see what you all have to say about it. i would also like to see what i can learn from non-christians from their faith tradition of "hell" if there is one... or just what do you think about "hell" and what it might be like?