One Vote Away From Eternal Damnation ...

One Vote Away From Eternal Damnation ...
By Frau Budgie - Staff Writer
03/11/07

Another epistle from the higher eschelon of my own Methodist church, and I shudder every time some of the bishops make a proclamation; they're some of the wackiest group of people I've ever known.

Here's an example from the Institute On Religion and Democracy website:
A small group of United Methodist bishops and ministers is attempting to stop Southern Methodist University from accepting the Bush Presidential Library. Despite the fact that President Bush is an active member of Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, over 10,000 people have signed the anti-library petition. This list includes two active and twelve retired United Methodist bishops. Opponents of the Bush library at SMU have cited the Bush Administration's views on national security, war, global warming and same-sex "marriage" as reasons that make such a library unacceptable.

ACTION ALERT: BTW, the link to the petition is at the bottom of this page. There's also a little poll. If you're Methodist, and have feelings, please feel free to weigh in.

I'm Methodist, born and raised in the church, and I've raised my kids in the Methodist church. We've gotten to know several over the years. The church stucture is kind of set up to run without ministers, because the ministers covered vast amounts of territory by horseback, and weren't always there on Sundays.

The other thing about the Methodist chuch is that the congregation can request the minister be re-assigned. In some ways that's good, but about the time you get used to a minister, some body gets a "mad on," you get little groups saying unkind things in whispers, and six months later, you're looking at somebody else in the pulpit. Throughout my life, I'd estimate that the cycle lasts about 4 years.

Of course, the congregations vary. My biggest problem with the church we attended up north was that the roughest year we had as a family was the year the church made this major fund raising drive. I remember this "childen's project" where the children of the church, including mine, had to go through the congregation during services with little baskets to collect money from the crowd; my kids got a kick from extorting money from people they didn't know very well. It was a tough couple of years for my family. I went to church as I've always done in troubled times, for fellowship and spiritual comfort, but instead I found yet another sly weasly hand snaking into my wallet, which was a little lean to begin with. And using my kids to do it. The bright side was this warm, smart, supportive minister who'd call me, but they got rid of him after a year or so.

Then, I remember that my mother's church didn't have two dimes to rub together, yet the spirituality, the warmth and the spirituality was there.

The church we attend now is much, much different. The fellowship's there, they've managed to keep the minister for longer than five years, and I enjoy the comfort and spiritual perspective. I guess the lesson here is to get to know the nature of the congregation before you fall in love with one particular Methodist church or another. You need to know what the church elders are like, because they don't change, and they might get rid of the minister you like.

What's the basic goal of churches in general? Didn't Jesus say something like "Tend my flock, feed my sheep ..." When did He talk about liberal Democrat ideas.

George W. Bush is a Methodist; doesn't that make him part of the flock? It is enraging to see how some upper level Methodist church bishops have tried to disown him thru the years, because of the war in Iraq and "tax cuts for the rich." -- doesn't Jesus love Republicans, too?
The latest condemnation is over the SMU library. I suppose God wants the university to turn down millions of dollars for a worthwhile project.

What does politics have to do with religion, anyway? Didn't Jesus also say "Render unto Ceasar that which is Ceasar's, and render unto God that which is God's ..."

The latest incident is the furor over the proposal to build a presidential library. Predictably, the unversity staff opposed it, although alot of the students wanted it. The faculty's objection was that they felt "classified" documents should be included for their perusal. The students at SMU thought it might be a pretty good thing.

There were also property issues with the tiny area called University Park; part of the plan called for the University to expand into a "green belt" park. The University had been trying to get the area for years, for student housing and sports facilities. Then, there's the nutty story I heard a man relate on a local radio show -- apparently SMU owns all the buildings on a block next to SMU, except for one -- and if the deal goes through, they'll get that one building. I haven't been able to find a link to that one.

Methodist bishops, in their wisdom, have circulated petitions against the library, and announced awhile back that our President was not following true Methodist doctrine. There are now "anti-library" activists.

Here's the most troublesome thing: "Tend my flock ..." Bush is Methodist -- isn't he part of the flock? One of the things I like about the President is that he talks about praying, about prayer circles, and has been known to walk around Washington with his Bible under his arm. That makes me feel secure. I prefer a leader who prays, and who talks about it. I'm comfortable with it and I really like that a man who respects God, and prays, is at the helm. These days, I think the county really could use a little help from the Lord.

But, some of these Methodist bishops seem cruel and petty. And what does this have to do with tending the flock?

You hear folks talking about their Church Home. The church is a place to go where you get comfort, perspective, and spiritual guidance. Bush does this, and he's got the guts to talk about it in a time of PC hysteria. It enrages me to see the Methodist bishops pull the rug out from under him; it is a cruel, needless thing. Our country's at war, our President's under pressure and his church is pulling the rug out from under him. This is "tending the flock?" No, some Methodist bishops are just cruel, petty morons. Hey, if you have a problem with Bush, how about phone call and a counseling session. He'd respect you.

I used to watch the Arab newscasts on LinkTV. I remember one newsclip showing Bush strolling out of church, with his Bible tucked under his arm. The Arab newscaster said "With a prayer on his lips ..." The Muslims understand something about faith. Here in the US, we mock and ridicule faith. The Arabs fall on their faces five times a day to worship Allah. In the US, the ACLU punishes schools for having Christmas displays, and you can't mention post the 10 Commandments near a court room.

Now, assuming that there is an Almighty God, and I think there is, whose style of worship is going to be more pleasing to Him, and who do you think the Lord's more likely to lend a Hand to, or give a break?

Here's a link to the WND article way back but if you click here, you'll get a glimmer about the sheep the upper echelon of the Methodist really wants to tend; I don't mean to spoil the suspense, but it's gay people. There was the story awhile back about the lesbian Methodist minister who insisted on sharing information about her lesbian relationship from the pulpit. The congregation took up a petition, and also petitioned to have her "defrocked" but the upper echelon of the Methodist church not only affirmed her right to talk about her "special friend" from the pulpit, but also ruled that she could stay at that church.

::sigh:: of course, the problem is that Bush is Republican. I guess all of us Methodists are just one vote away from temporal disdain and eternal damnation.

Here's a link to the latest from the Annual conference of the Methodist Church. The first one is "Engaging With Islam ...' That scream you hear from N.Texas ways is likely to be mine.

ARGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!