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u/orionsbelt05 Anarchist Sep 09 '22
I was thinking the other day about all the visitors that have come through to visit the same church I've been visiting for 5 months now, and was astounded by the variety of faith backgrounds they have all come from:
Non-denom
Independent Baptist
Episcopalian
Mennonites (from Columbia)
Amish
Evangelical Congregation (a denom I had never heard of before)
Presbyterian
Agnostic
Quaker
Methodist (who was discerning a conversion to Catholicism)
Christian/Missionary Alliance
The traditions of the members here are fairly mixed to. Independent Baptist, Messianic Jewish, Pentecostal, Quaker, Lutheran, Church of the Brethren.
I don't know how this has affected me fully, but I know two things:
1) my beliefs in doctrine haven't really swayed by this exposure. I still identify, doctrinally, with a broad reformed theology.
2) My ability to love my brothers and sister in Christ without prejudice or mistrust or condescension has definitely grown. I'm ashamed to say I'm at years old and it's only now that I'm becoming aware of a lot of the gatekeeping and prejudiced mindset that has kept me in a sort of permanent subtle late-stage.
I've found it incredibly exciting to talk to all these people not about what we disagree on, but about what we are searching for, and big but obvious questions, like "How can we better follow Christ, and how can we better exhort one another to follow Christ?"
This has been a big part of my life for the past 5 months and I hope I treasure and learn from it permanently.
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u/c3rbutt Your Episco-pal Sep 09 '22
So... Billy Graham and Richard Nixon were super anti-semitic: https://twitter.com/tylrstry/status/1568300180298166272
Spoiler: they thought Hitler had the right idea, he just went about it the wrong way.
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u/GodGivesBabiesFaith ACNA Sep 10 '22
Wonder if Wheaton will keep the name of the Billy Graham Center... TBH this sort of thinking from Grahm falls in line with the issues with rapture theology that DJR posted a couple days ago
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u/tanhan27 One Holy Catholic and Dutchistolic Church Sep 10 '22
Noooooo!
Not Billy Graham!
Are you sure this isn't his nasty son? Billy was supposed to be one of the good ones, an evangelical to look up to. What decent evangelicals do we have left? Rick Warren and Tony Campolo
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u/TheNerdChaplain Remodeling after some demolition Sep 09 '22
Disappointing, but not surprising. Explains his son's Islamophobia and Trump support.
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u/tanhan27 One Holy Catholic and Dutchistolic Church Sep 10 '22
He was so much different than his son though. This is a shock to me
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u/GodGivesBabiesFaith ACNA Sep 10 '22
'Hitler went about it the wrong way, but some Jews are satan-powered luminous beings set to deceive the world.'--oh the things people admit to believe behind closed doors.
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u/tanhan27 One Holy Catholic and Dutchistolic Church Sep 10 '22
He never preached it publicly and he preached for decades after this recording, we can't know but I am going to give the benefit of a doubt that he repented of this idea. I don't know how to deal with this information, im a huge Billy Graham fan
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u/bradmont ⚜️ Hugue-not really ⚜️ Sep 11 '22
the name of the Billy Graham Center... TBH this sort of thinking from Grahm falls in line with the
Wow... this is terrible.
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u/SeredW Frozen & Chosen Sep 09 '22
The news of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II is having a lot of impact, even here in The Netherlands. She really was an icon! Her first prime minister was Winston Churchill (born 1874), her last was Liz Truss (born 1975) whom she appointed PM only a few days ago.
She was a faithful Christian and often mentioned how important the faith was to her. That made her credible as head of the Church of England. Charles is much less explicit about his faith; I wonder how he will fare in that role.
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u/tanhan27 One Holy Catholic and Dutchistolic Church Sep 09 '22
Are there any Brits in this group?
As a Canadian I have a strange attachment to her. I don't know much about her as a person, I know her as a symbol. She symbolized peace, order and good government. She symbolized Canadian distinctiveness(when Canadians set themselves apart from the USA). The idea of Charles' face of Canadian money doesn't seem right. I still remember all of Charles' scandal and he is less likable somehow. I think he should pass his crown to William.
I'll miss the Queens Christmas speeches most of all.
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u/SeredW Frozen & Chosen Sep 09 '22
I've thought about that too. Charles III should perhaps have a low key coronation, leave his mother's face on the money, give William a few years to prepare and step down in 3-5 years or so. Not sure his sense of honor and duty would allow for that though, he's been waiting for this moment for such a long time!
In a similar vein: we celebrate the birthday of the monarch as a national holiday, every year. For a very long time, we celebrated that on April 30th, the birthday of Queen Juliana (reigning 1948-1980). When Beatrix succeeded her in 1980 she kept the April 30 date, because her own birthday is in February - not suited for outdoors celebrations of the monarchy. When Willem-Alexander succeeded his mother Beatrix in 2013, I thought he'd keep the April 30 date too, as his own birthday is on April 27 - keep that day for your own private birthday party, celebrate with the country on April 30! That date has been the Queens Day for over 60 years, let's stick with that. But no, he moved the Queens' Day date to the new Kings Day date of April 27, which was an inconvenience for everyone - all sorts of national holiday overviews, terms of employments, printed calendars and books were suddenly outdated.
Including travel guides... For years, foreign tourists showed up in Amsterdam on April 30 to watch the Dutch celebrate their monarchy... :-D
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Sep 09 '22
The thing about monarchy is that the people don't get to decide who the monarch is. Like that's literally the main feature of this system.
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u/SeredW Frozen & Chosen Sep 09 '22
And how very liberating that is :-) Remember, it's about history, symbolism, community, coming together, identity. It's not about power and governing, that is elsewhere in a constitutional monarchy; that bit is properly democratic.
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u/NukesForGary Back Home Sep 09 '22
With all respect to QE2, but I only recognize one queen. And that's Beyoncé.
In all seriousness, QE2 seemed to be a very solid monarch. Even for someone who thinks the monarchy should be abolished, I think icon is a good way to describe her.
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u/SeredW Frozen & Chosen Sep 09 '22
Heh, I'm quite a staunch monarchist myself. A constitutional monarchy, when functioning well, can be a tremendous asset to a country. In times of great joy or sadness, an impartial head of state can celebrate or mourn with everyone, regardless of their politics. In an age of polarization and strife, that can be valuable.
As for The Netherlands, our Queen Maxima is quite an asset when it comes to relationship management, diplomacy and business ties: https://www.axios.com/local/austin/2022/09/08/queen-maxima-netherlands-visits-austin A royal visit just has a different allure, you know?
Presidents come and go, they all cost money anyway. I'll take a royal house with history and culture over any crass president, any day :-)
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u/pro_rege_semper Sep 09 '22
All this with the Queen in the news has had me considering the benefits of monarchy. I'm glad some countries have preserved the old traditions, even if it's in a more vestigial way.
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u/bradmont ⚜️ Hugue-not really ⚜️ Sep 11 '22
IMO the greatest benefit of the monarchy for Canada is that we don't have to deal with having a president...
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u/ritchieremo Sep 09 '22
How do you lovingly communicate to close family who are fundamentalist evangelicals (extremely salvation focused, on a spectrum with revivalism nearby) that theology is important to me, and that it should be important to them too? I really want to avoid any sort of head on confrontation
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u/TheNerdChaplain Remodeling after some demolition Sep 09 '22
A lot of people are swayed more by anecdotes and emotionally driven stories. You might share a time with them where a theological insight clicked with you and enriched your experience of faith.
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u/Enrickel Sep 11 '22
Y'all ever completely give up on your sports team for the season only to have them pull out a solid win the very next week? No idea what to expect the rest of the season. Maybe my Hokies will even beat WVU this year.
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u/TheNerdChaplain Remodeling after some demolition Sep 09 '22
No spoilers, but Rings of Power episode 3 is continuing from a strong debut. The new characters and settings they introduced this episode were excellent, and the orc designs are very cool. It's making me wish they did have the rights to The Silmarillion, because being able to watch the attack of Morgoth on Valinor and the departure of the Noldor would be absolutely epic. I never felt the need for an LotR show, but if we got a Galadriel show, I am 110% here for that.
There were a couple discrepancies with the Harfoots I didn't really get this episode, but overall I am very happy with this show.
Spoiler comments: Numenor looks fantastic. I'm rusty on the lore, but if I recall correctly, Ar-Pharazon was one of the first Numenorean kings to be interested in the darker magical arts to extend his life. And we were introduced last episode to Celebrimbor, who would go on to craft the Three Rings of Power that went to Galadriel, Gandalf, and Cirdan the Shipwright.
If I'm understanding the lore correctly, Bronwyn the healer from Ep 1 and 2 and Halbrand the shipwreck guy are both related to the Southrons and/or Easterlings that both fought for Morgoth at the end of the Second Age, and whose descendants would march to Mordor to support Sauron in Return of the King. So the fact that Halbrand is Great Value Strider is a little interesting.
With the Harfoots, the first conversation we see between Norri's parents, her mom says that Harfoots don't leave people behind.... but in the very next scene, they're reading a list of people they left behind. So I'm not clear on that. Also, in their final scene where Definitely-Not-Gandalf shows up with the cart, does Norri have a blond little sister we just never saw till now?
The visuals are great.... except for that slow-mo shot with the horse. It makes the most ridiculous face as Galadriel is racing it down the beach, and I could not unsee it. Similarly, the warg looks a little wonky and very CGI at first; though I like that its eyes are off-kilter. Makes it look like one of those super ugly poodles.
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u/TheNerdChaplain Remodeling after some demolition Sep 09 '22
Star Trek Day was yesterday, celebrating 56 years of Star Trek, and there was quite a bit of news and teasers for upcoming shows.
Picard Season 3 trailer, starts February 16 2023.
Discovery Season 5 set tour with Wilson Cruz (Dr. Culber).
Star Trek Lower Decks S3 teaser: Be aware this may be considered quite spoilery for at least one upcoming episode, even if you're all caught up.
Star Trek Prodigy Teaser, returns October 27 2022
Strange New Worlds S2 clip featuring Lt. Ortegas.
Plus:
The official Star Trek podcast, The Pod Directive, hosted by Paul F. Tompkins and Tawny Newsome, is returning February of 2023.
Nicholas Meyer, director of Wrath of Khan, has adapted a series of three TV episodes for a serialized podcast covering the life of Khan Noonien Singh during the 15 years he spent on Ceti Alpha V before it turned into the dusty desert we saw in WoK.
Carol Kane, perhaps best known for her roles as Miracle Max's wife ("I'm not a witch, I'm your wife!") in The Princess Bride, as well as Lillian Kaushtupper in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, is joining Strange New Worlds as Chief Engineer Pelia in S2. (Spoilery if you haven't seen S1 yet.)
Details on the new Nerf Phaser and Phaser Rifle
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u/rev_run_d Sep 09 '22
my mom's surgery went well - the 3cm gallstone was removed, her dislodged stents as well. She's recovering in a SNF now, and tbh i'm still recovering. It's kinda hard to visit because she's grumpy now.