Howie Luvzus

Just hangin’ out with Shirley Jr under the Brown’s Dairy cow yesterday.

“DELCAMBRE, La. Mayor Carol Broussard said he would sign an ordinance the town council approved this week setting penalties of up to six months in jail and a $500 fine for being caught in pants that show undergarments or certain parts of the body.Broussard said he has nothing against saggy pants but thinks people who wear them should use discretion. “It’s gotten way out of hand out here,” he said.”

I wish that was our only problem. Guess I’ll buy a new belt and head for Delcambre.

In addition to voting for a resolution that calls for humility and Christ-Like behavior:

Titled “On Personal and Corporate Repentance,” the resolution also says that “we humble ourselves in individual and corporate repentance so that we may seek the face of the Lord, that He would become preeminent in our lives, and that the world would see a clear demonstration of His presence in our lives, churches, and denomination.”

Southern Baptists voted nearly unanimously for a resolution urging defeat of hate crimes legislation in Congress.

For a quick look at how Jesus dealt with a sinful woman see Luke 7: 36-50. For insight into how Jesus dealt with self-righteous “religious folks” see the same story or see Matthew 23.

Bush responded to the threat of a no confidence vote on Gonzales by saying this:

“They can have their votes of no-confidence but it’s not going to make the determination about who serves in my government,” Bush said Monday. “This process has been drug out a long time. … It’s political.”

Yep. It’s “your” government. Who cares what the American people want?

It’s idolatry plain and simple. It doesn’t matter that your administration has become a joke or that you can’t do ANYTHING right. What matters is that you get your way. As long as you can play on our greed and our fear, you can continue your reign of error.

At least you do understand that the government that you run is your own and not mine, I guess I can live with that.

The Southern Baptist Convention is coming up and I’m looking forward to what kinds of statements my Baptist brothers are preparing to make by means of resolutions. Here’s a brief history of Southern Baptist Resolutions concerning war:

Resolution on Peace

New Orleans, Louisiana May 1917

RESOLVED, (1) That we deeply deplore this awful and sorrowful calamity which has caused these leading nations to drench the earth in the precious blood of their own loyal citizens.
(2) That we reaffirm our faith in the righteousness of the Sermon on the Mount, and our confidence and infallible wisdom of him who has taught us to love our enemies, to bless them that curse us, and to do good to them that despitefully use and persecute us.

I love how they struggled with the issue of war here. WWI was a horrible event, however, Southern Baptists still struggled with war in light of Jesus’ command to love our enemies.

Resolution on War and Peace

Baltimore, MD June 1940

1. That we hereby express our utter abhorrence of war as an instrument of International policy and our profound conviction and belief that all International differences could and of a right ought to be composed by peaceful diplomatic exchanges, and, when these fail, by arbitration.

6. That while we acknowledge the right of national self-defense, our utter abhorrence of war and its attendant evils compels us to voice the conviction that even a defensive war should be waged only as a last resort after every effort has been made to reach a settlement of international problems in fairness to all the nations involved.

8. Baptists have always believed in liberty of conscience and have honored men who were willing to brave adverse public opinion for the sake of conscientious scruples. A considerable number of members of churches of our Convention, through their interpretation of the moral teachings of Christ, have reached the position of a conscientious objection to war that prohibits them from bearing arms.

The Convention ought to accord to them the right of their convictions as it accords to others the right to differ from them, and ought to protect them in that right to the extend of its ability.

9. Because war is contrary to the mind and spirit of Christ, we believe that no war should be identified with the will of Christ. Our churches should not be made agents of war propaganda or recruiting stations. War thrives on and is perpetuated by hysteria, falsehood, and hate and the church has a solemn responsibility to make sure there is no black out of love in time of war. When men and nations are going mad with hate it is the duty of Christ’s ministers and His churches to declare by spirit, word, and conduct the love of God in all men. In time of war it is our Christian responsibility to prepare for peace. We would, therefore, urge our churches to think and work toward a Christian social order in which a just and lasting peace can be realized.

Wow! Supporting conscientious objectors! War is contrary to the will of Christ? Imagine that!

The Korean War:

Recommendation Concerning World Order And Peace
Chicago, Illinois May 1950

1. Because we must have a renewal within our consciences of the basic incompatability of war with the moral principles and purposes of Christianity and because we need desperately to have new aspirations for world peace, we urge upon our people not to abandon the ultimate goal of peace and not to surrender to the inevitability of war as the only possible solution of international disagreements. We further call upon the President of the United States and upon those who determine American foreign policy not only to “keep open the door” to peaceful negotiations, but also to pursue aggressively every course that will lead us to peaceful settlements of international problems.

2. We recommend that our churches give serious consideration and study to all of the means being employed to promote world peace and that we give as Christians our prayerful support to the work of the United Nations Organization.

The War in Iraq:

On The Liberation Of Iraq
Phoenix, AZ June 2003

WHEREAS, Scripture commands individual Christians to love our enemies, but it also commands civil authorities to restrain evil and to punish evildoers through the power of the sword (Romans 13:1–5);

Crap like this is why the “Liberal” Baptists want Baptists to emphasize the teaching of Jesus over the teaching of Paul. It’s really hard to justify violence and war with Jesus’ teaching. With Paul, not so much. But even if this were a proper interpretation of Romans 13:1-5, (Which it is NOT!) all of the tension between having to go to war and the evil involved in it are gone. Not even a suggestion that war is contrary to the will of Christ!

A rich heritage of peace shot to hell. God forgive us. We don’t want to punish evildoers otherwise we’d be in Darfur spreading freedom. We want to protect our interests, but we are too blinded by sin and greed to recognize it. Maybe that’s why some people hate us. Southern Baptists not only have become a tool for the current administration, they have abandoned traditional Baptists beliefs and misused Scripture to do so! What a joke! It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad and sinful.

I hoped that my series on Dirty Stories about God would be successful and actually speak to persons in a way that they might not have thought about God before.

When I examine the hits that the pages receive,  I am sometimes encouraged. However, as I have examined the referral pages on the hits I have found a discouraging pattern.

Almost half of the persons who look at the stories have done so because they did a google search on “Dirty Stories!” So the reality is that half the folks who visit my site are perverts!

Welcome to my world you sickos! You are in good company. The other half of my loyal readers are probably sickos too! Please hang out and comment. Let me know what you think.

I saw Olbermann’s update of the Nexus of Politics and Fear last night and was deeply saddened. The report shows incident after incident where “bad news” is followed by an announcement of a terrorist threat in order to divert our attention. Even though Obermann provides a disclaimer at the beginning of the story, it’s hardly warranted. Fool me once…

The odds are too great. The fact that at Olbermann’s count at least 13 times the threat (in many cases not even justified) of terrorism has been used to distract Americans from what’s really going on seems too overwhelming to be a coincidence.

For example:

May 18, 2002, the first details of the president‘s daily briefing of August 6, 2001 are revealed, including its title “Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in U.S.” The same day another memo is discovered revealing the FBI knew of men with links to al Qaeda training at an Arizona flight school. The memo was never acted upon. Questions about 9/11 intelligence failures are swirling.

May 20, 2002, two days later, FBI Director Mueller declares that another terrorist attack is “inevitable.” The next day, the department of Homeland Security issues warnings of attacks against railroads nationwide and against New York City landmarks, like the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty.

Another example:

July 29, 2004, at their party convention in Boston, the Democrats formally nominate John Kerry as their candidate for president. As in the wake of any convention the Democrats now dominate the media attention over the subsequent weekend.

August 1, 2004, Monday morning, three days later. Tom Ridge declares, “It is as reliable as source—group of sources that we‘ve ever seen before.” The department of Homeland Security raises the alert status for financial centers in New York, New Jersey, and Washington to orange. The evidence supporting the warning, reconnaissance data left in a home in Iraq. Later proves to be roughly four years old and largely out of date.

I know these two examples aren’t convincing, but when you see the pattern, It’s pretty hard to deny that something is going on. It’s a compelling story. You can find the transcript here.

Olbermann also pointed out that the JFK Terror Plot was overblown by the Bush Administration.

The New York Times, JFK airport’s hometown paper, not only didn’t put the story of the alleged plot to bomb a fuel pipeline feeding that airport on its front page yesterday morning. It didn’t even put it in the A section of the paper, burying it in the Metro section.

This morning the story got even more curious, with the revelation that the informant in the case was a “twice-convicted drug dealer” who agreed to help in exchange for a lighter sentence. And the “unthinkable devastation” that U.S. officials say was so narrowly averted may have been exaggerated as well, with pipeline experts saying the explosions could have been contained by simply shutting off the fuel flow.

More curious, was that yet another terror plot was announced at a politically opportune time for the Bush administration — this time, the day before the Democratic debate in New Hampshire.

How is it that FOX NEWS would have missed something like this?

See the hilarious video of FOX showing video of Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) during its story of Dollar Bill Jefferson. Guess they all look alike to FOX!

This past weekend, I witnessed the death of a church.

Well, not really. It was the last service of Oakhaven United Methodist Church in Memphis, TN. Unlike many churches in Memphis that really do die, this church was simply closing its doors and putting the building up for sale. What’s the difference between Oakhaven UMC and churches that really do die?

Glad you asked…Many (most?) times in Memphis, churches close their doors because as neighborhoods transition from predominately white to predominately African-American, their congregations dwindle because African-Americans know that in Memphis they really aren’t welcome in “white” institutions. I know this from experience in churches in Memphis and in neighborhoods in Memphis as well. My wife and I were reminded of this a few years ago when we returned to Memphis for a visit and went to a restaurant that we frequented several years earlier. We were shocked to find out that since the neighborhood had “transitioned,” the restaurant had transitioned as well. We were the only non-African-Americans in the place. It’s really terrible there. Folks that complain about racism in New Orleans have no idea how much better we have it here.

Anyway. There were several former pastors and members of Oakhaven that testified about their great memories of the church. My favorite testimonies were about how  the Oakhaven UMC congregation responded to the practice in the 60s of when groups of African-Americans would “crash” white churches. The Baptist Church across the street and the Presbyterian Church next door made plans to keep the groups out of their churches. However, Oakhaven UMC took a stand and said that all were welcome to come to their church. What a testimony!

Years ago, the Baptist Church had closed its doors and had sold its facilities to an African-American congregation due to white flight. Years before that, the Presbyterian Church had done the same. This little church had struggled to reach out to all persons in the neighborhood. It had ultimately failed to sustain itself. It was closing, which was sad, but it wasn’t ending its ministry. Those little boys and girls who had grown up in the church had been shown what love is all about. They had grown up and moved to various places, but they were living witnesses for Christ. They had a treasured heritage.

It was one of the best weekends I have had in a long time.