Strippers Vs. A Church

Every weekend for the last four years, Dunfee and members of his ministry have stood watch over George's joint, taking up residence in the right of way with signs, video cameras and bullhorns in hand. They videotape customers' license plates and post them online, and they try to save the souls of anyone who comes and goes.

Now, the dancers have turned the tables, so to speak. Fed up with the tactics of Dunfee and his flock, they say they have finally accepted his constant invitation to come to church.

It's just that they've come wearing see-through shorts and toting Super Soakers.

You can read the rest here.

Some questions:
-Are these tactics "the Church" should employ?
-How do you think this situation should be handled?
-Is speaking the truth in love more powerful than speaking the truth in judgment?
-How can this issue be resolved? Or can it?
-If Lola repents, was this situation of God? Was it all worth it?

A Condom With Teeth

Rape-aXe

Once [the device] lodges, only a doctor can remove it -- a procedure Ehlers hopes will be done with authorities on standby to make an arrest.

"It hurts, he cannot pee and walk when it's on," she said. "If he tries to remove it, it will clasp even tighter... however, it doesn't break the skin, and there's no danger of fluid exposure."

You can read more here.

Some questions:
-Do you think this will help prevent rape or just infuriate the male during rape?
-Do you think girls/women will utilize this as an object of payback? If so, what legal consequences should be in place?
-Do you think this is a good invention or like the article states- an enslavement to women?
-Do you believe this to be a device of vengence?
-If you are a woman, what are your thoughts on this development?
-If you are a man, what are your thoughts?

Friends Don't Let Friends Fat Talk

Some questions:
-Does being a size 0 carry the same stigma as being obese? If not, why?
-Do you think obesity is a cultural problem systemic in America?
-How do we battle obesity? Should we?
-Should obesity impact our health insurance rates? Should anorexia?
-Do you think pledges like this video promote actually help change cultural norms?

Stone Studded Gold Grill

In the market for a set of used grills once worn by a perp? Well, Tennessee cops may have some gold for your cash. The Nashville Police Department is auctioning a confiscated "set of custom made teeth grills,"

You can read the rest here.

Some questions:
-Would you ever wear a grill?
-Would you buy a used grill?
-Why do they call it grill?

Russian Cloud Anomaly?

"Theories range from it being an alien mothership, proof of Russian weather modification technology - a weather weapon - or even a sign of the end of the world."

But meteorologists rejected theories of the supernatural calling it an optical effect.
The Moscow's weather bureau said several weather fronts had passed through Moscow as the sun shined from the west to cause the effect.
A spokesman for the bureau said: "This is purely an optical effect, although it does look impressive.
"If you look closer, you can see sun rays coming through that cloud. Most likely, the sun was setting when the video was being made."


You can read more here.

Some questions:
-Do you buy the UFO theory?
-Do you buy the "sunray's from the west" theory?
-What would you pose for a theory?
-At the end of the day, does this really matter?

Montauk Monster Killed By Kids

A slimy, glob-like creature dubbed Gollum has terrified children after it slithered out of a lake and clambered over the rocks towards them.

The young teenagers were playing by the waterfront in a Panama lake near Cerro Azul when the bald beast emerged from a cave behind a waterfall. They started screaming as it shuffled out "as if to attack them".


You can read more here.

Some questions:
-Do you think this is real?
-Do you think this thing was a mutation of a sloth?
-Do you think there are more?

Relativism's True End

A Las Vegas man (Jonathan Weaver) tied up and abandoned his girlfriend's two children so he could watch the NBA Finals at a nearby bar, police said.

The children are 1 and 2 years old.

Police said Weaver didn’t think leaving the children was a big deal “because they have had campouts inside” the garage.

You can read the rest here.

Some questions:
-Why? Why would anyone think this is okay? Really, why? Even if one tried to convince themselves that there is no ultimate truth to which we are subjected, surely something within that person would have to tell them this is "wrong" yes?
-If you are the pregnant girlfriend Amy, what is your next move in this situation?
-What should his punishment be?
-Why do some elevate sports watching to such a level that things like riots happen and people tie up and gag children in their garage?
-If you had 15 minutes with this guy, what would you tell him?

Filed In: Overly Understated

“The young naked man approached her with this poodle, and she immediately realized something peculiar,” Mast said.

Ya think?!

You can read the whole story here.

Some questions:
-I got nothing.

Savior Obama

I don't quite understand the messiah complex that has been bestowed upon President Obama. He seems like a nice guy that has the privilege of holding an office that can do much good or much evil. I pray that he will do much good and that what he does will be of benefit to the people in this country and around the world; but this guy, Julio Osegueda, takes it to an extreme!

Marriage & Family Student Auctioning Off Virginity

A student who is auctioning her virginity to pay for a masters degree in Family and Marriage therapy has seen bidding hit £2.5million ($3.7m).

The student who has a degree in Women's Studies insisted she was not demeaning herself.

Miss Dylan, from San Diego, California, USA, said she was persuaded to offer herself to the highest bidder after her sister Avia, 23, paid for her own degree after working as a prostitute for three weeks.

Then she goes on to say: "It's shocking that men will pay so much for someone's virginity, which isn't even prized so highly anymore."

You can read more here.

Some questions:
-Do you find any irony in the last comment she made above concerning virginity?
-Do you find any irony in the fact that she is auctioning off her virginity to pay for her Marriage & Family masters degree?
-Do you think her parents are proud of her and her sister?
-Would you go to her for marriage or family counseling?
-If she came to you for counsel on this proposition, what would you say to her?

Facebook Entry Leads To Death

A husband who hacked his wife to death with a meat cleaver in fury over her Facebook entry was jailed for a minimum of 14 years at the Old Bailey today.
Wayne Forrester, 34, drank alcohol and took cocaine before driving 15 miles to the family home to attack wife Emma as she lay in bed.
The couple had separated four days before the murder in February and Forrester later told police he had been provoked by his wife changing her marital status to "single" on her Facebook entry, the court heard.

Priorities. This guy's priorities were not on working to keep his family together, but on what to find to make himself mad enough to kill his wife... who knew a facebook entry would be the straw that broke the camels back? Oh what a terrible sin pride is indeed.

You can read more here.

Hillary Clinton Supporter Hates The N*&^% Obama

Redneck Woman Rails on Obama - Watch more free videos

Bigotry is a sad thing; especially when it is based on caricatures.

Baseball Fight Video

There's apparently more than one way to win a fight.

I Don't Celebrate This &$%@. I'm Black.

*** Expletives Present***

In a video posted on YouTube, the swingman [Josh Howard] is shown at Allen Iverson's charity flag football game in July. When the national anthem is being sung, various participants are shown mugging for the camera. When the camera gets to Howard, he says: " 'The Star-Spangled Banner' is going on. I don't celebrate this [expletive]. I'm black."

Howard goes on to make a difficult-to-discern comment that includes a reference to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

You can read more here.

Some questions:
-Why do those in sports seem to be "role models" more than hard working fathers & mothers?
-What changed that allowed for sports to be more appreciated and respected than a man that puts in a hard day's work?
-Do you think that being black is a reasonable defense to not participating in the national anthem? How does being black even enter into the equation of not participating in the national anthem?
-Overall, what are your thoughts concerning the video?

Satanists Sacrifice & Eat Four Teenagers

Image courtesy of http://fatpenguinblog.com

Four teenagers were horrifically slain by Satanists — stabbed 666 times each and then eaten. The gang of Devil worshippers butchered their victims and roasted them on a bonfire before devouring their flesh.

The pals, three girls and a boy aged 16 or 17, were all Goths. They were lured one by one to a cottage and forced to get drunk before being butchered. Hair from them was found in the embers of a fire the gang lit under a tree. Police believe the teenagers were cooked in the flames before their flesh was devoured. Their private parts had also been cut off in the sickening ritual in a rural area of Russia.

After police arrested eight suspected members of the ring, one boasted how they had previously dug up the grave of a newly-dead girl and eaten her heart. Another said he did not expect to be punished, saying: “Satan will help me to avoid responsibility. I made lots of sacrifices to him.” And a third said he had got fed up with God for not making him rich and that “things improved” after he started praying to the Devil.

You can read more here.

Some questions:
-Do the parent's have any responsibility in this?
-Why do you think these satanists believe Satan will protect them?
-If their world view is such that they believe God is at fault for not making them rich, how beneficial would it have been if they would have sought out why as opposed to turning to Satan for worldly gain?
-I wonder if when they were younger, before teenage years, if they ever thought they would have done such a thing?
-How do you rehabilitate people like this so that they can enter back into society? Or do you rehabilitate?
-Can Jesus save those that sold their soul to the devil? If no, why not?

Insight For Living: Belonging To A Church

Locally we have a pastor in our area that produces little snippets for the local radio station (a very popular station that is local news and talk all day every day). He has titled it Insight for Living.  Today as I was driving to the office his segment came on and it was talking about how some men from his church recently helped him move and there was no grumbling or complaining, just smiles.  He stated that they were not just doing that because he was the pastor as they helped several others in his church move and they demonstrated the same love and joy in helping.  He went on to make his point and it was this: Anybody can be a member of a church all you have to do is show up on Sunday mornings, but it takes a lot more to be a part of a family.  At his church, it is like a family.  

I want to ask you, can anybody be a member of a church?  Is it just as simple as showing up on Sunday mornings?  This did not set well with me as I heard it as I believe his statement is unbiblical and hurtful to the cause of Christ however unintentional.  He seems to elevate this "family" mentality over and above that which is stated as necessary for Christians in scripture: the Church.  The Church is made up of a body of believers that are commanded to be actively growing in sanctification; that is, Christ-likeness.  Being a member is not equivalent with showing up.  It is much, much more and scripture outlines this in Ephesians and I Corinthians 12 when Paul, led by the Spirit, makes a comparison between a body and the church.  What is more, the entirety of the epistles demonstrates the believers need for the Church (and a healthy Church at that).  

I find that these kinds of statements (usually unintential) tend to groom minds to think in such a way as to be careless with their words.  If what he says concerning the church is true, then I might as well pack up, abandon the church and spend some time with my family, afterall, anyone can be a member of a church but not everyone can have a "family".  

In light of that, we have just began our new book studies for this semester at Church.  I am teaching through a book called What is a Healthy Church Member? (geared for the lay person) It is the flip side of the coin of 9 Marks of a Healthy Church. (geared for the pastor/elder)  I have already found this book to be very instrumental in helping us, as a body of believers, to understand what it means to be a part of a body and to seek after our corporate health as much as our individual health as we have a responsibility to the body and to our Lord to be healthy.  This is a totally different view of what the Church is and what it is about.  Church is so much more than just showing up on Sunday mornings and without the gospel preached, proclaimed and heralded both from the pulpit and each individual member's lives, it is nothing more than a social club or a "family" gathering.  

I have included a link to a comparative summary between the 9 marks of a healthy church and the 10 marks of a healthy church member below as well as links where you can read online versions of the books.  If you have not heard of either of these books, I would urge you to pick them up and read them.  

9 Marks of a Healthy Church is available free online here. (pdf)  

What is a Healthy Church Member is previewable here.

A comparative summary between the two can be found here. (pdf)

Happy Happy Joy Joy!

I was looking around over on the Said at Southern blog and came across this video. After watching that, I had to find more. It is kind of like the old potato chip comercial: you can't "watch" just one. When I tell you that my wife was singing this very song last night, I kid you not.
Here is one portion of the lyric: Once I tried to run, I tried to run and hide, but Jesus came and found me and he touched me deep down inside. He is like a Mountee, he always gets his man and he will zap you any way he can! It is very catchy and just plain fun :)



All joking aside (she really did sing along though when I showed it to her), it is produced (as is the one in the link above) by a cult.

You can visit their site here.

Common Sense Is Not So Common Anymore

A 10-year-old boy here has been suspended from school for having something most students carry in their supply boxes: a pencil sharpener.

So, let me get this straight. A student with no past record and no signs of aggression owns a pencil sharpener. No doubt the pencil sharpener was on the list of "Back to School" items on the approved list for his fourth grade class. He uses it a few times and the "made in China" pencil sharpener breaks exposing the blade. Now he has to make a decision. Do I A. Dissappoint the "go green" crowd and allow this to be yet another piece of non-eco friendly waste that will fill our landfills and destroy the earth. Or B. Do I continue to use it (it still works and allows me to be fiscally responsible)and bank on the fact that my teacher and the administrators are smart enough to recognize that a school approved pencil sharpener is being used for sharpening pencils.

The ever-trusting fourth grader chose to stay friendly with the "go green" crowd, show fiscal responsibility in not having his parents to buy him a new made-in-China pencil sharpener, and to trust in the common sense of those who are entrusted to educate him. Boy was that a wrong decision. Now he has to endure two days of suspension and possibly more disciplinary action for what? His parents buying a piece-of-junk pencil sharpener sold at Wal-Mart and made in China because they can make them cheaper and faster and Wal-Mart can continue to lower prices. You see what is going on here don't you? This is all part of the plan. Wal-Mart and China are in cohorts and due to our lack of common sense and our inability to put political correctness in its proper place, we will all have our children spending the entirety of their school age in suspension where they will be unable to learn and once they enter into the workforce the American economy will collapse and our nation will crumble. That is when China will move in and eradicate us to make way for their citizens to start having 2 children per marriage. After all, they will need the space and everything they need will already be sold at a Wal-Mart near them.

Ridiculous.

Here is the link.

Bigfoot Claim A Hoax

I posted on this last week and thought I would share the widely under-publicized admittal of a hoax.

The body turned out to be rubber, and the two men who claimed they found it, Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer, have admitted it was a costume, said a posting Tuesday on the Web sites of Searching for Bigfoot Inc. and Squatchdetective.

You can read more here.
You can read my initial post on it here.
The "confession" can be found here.

Some questions:
-Should there be any sort of retribution concerning this hoax?
-Were any lawas broken?
-What do you think their motive was?
-If you are one who believes bigfoot exists, does this change your view?

Bigfoot: Several Found Alive In Georgia

A policeman and a former corrections officer say that on Friday, they will unveil evidence of what they claim is their biggest capture ever: the body of Bigfoot.
Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer, a pair of Bigfoot-hunting hobbyists from north Georgia, say they found the creature's body in a wooded area and spotted several similar creatures that were still alive.

The carcass of the furry half-man, half-ape is 7 feet, 7 inches tall and weighs more than 500 pounds, they say. However, the two are not disclosing the exact location of their discovery in order to protect the remaining creatures
.

You can read more here.

You can visit the website of those that found it here.

Some questions:
-Do you believe this to be the body of a bigfoot?
-What ramifications would come from finding a living species of bigfoot?
-What would this discovery (if proven true) do to/for the scientific community?
-What would this discovery (if proven true) do to/for the religious community?
-Would finding such a creature affect your faith in God one way or another?
-If this is proven to be a hoax, what should become of the hoaxers?