Abortion and all that
Every summer I go to Pro-Life Music Festival in Warsaw to listen to amazing bands for free.
I didn’t realize until last year that this whole festival was to endorse Pro-Life legislation (well, duh).
The festival is very political. Very. I mean not only do you have abort73 (or whatever they’re called) come and hand out flyers about killing babies, but you get speakers stating that it’s “our job” to vote pro-life and I think Mitch Daniels came once. I think.
And yes, there are heathen-bashers (the ultra-conservatives that even moderates hate) and kiosks with Jesus junk. All the stuff that I cringe at.
Trust me, if Future of Forestry (eek! I got their autograph!!) and Flatfoot 56 didn’t come last year I probably would have rethought attending. Maybe (it’s a lot of fun if you ignore the politicking).
Wow I’m reallly wishy-washy.
Anyway, I was thinking about the concert today because, well, I wanted to know who’s coming. [I bet The Classic Crime will come. Or Needtobreathe. Or The Glorious Unseen. One of the three (or all of them!)] And I thought that maybe there wouldn’t be speakers about Pro-lifeism because the election had already passed.
Except that it won’t. [June is before November, Sherlock] We will be in the midst of the last few months of the candidates’ campaign. I bet this year will be the most political concert yet.
Hypothetically: Say it’s Obama and McCain running against each other. Since McCain is pro-life, I just know the whole festival will be a McCain-endorsing fiesta. (If that’s the case I plan on wearing a Barak Obama ’08 shirt.)
I wish I was exaggerating, that I don’t think this will happen. But I can guarentee it will. I’m worried that people will be naive enough to go to that concert and use it to decide on who to vote for. It shouldn’t be like that.
I am going to vote for Obama in the primaries, not because I think he’s rad or I just don’t want Hillary to be president, it’s because I’ve researched the candidate enough to know he’s eligible to receive my vote. I want everyone to do that (and more so).
And when it comes to the pro-life issue, I believe Obama himself said it best:
“I don’t know anybody who is pro-abortion. I think it’s very important to start with that premise. I think people recognize what a wrenching, difficult issue it is. I do think that those who diminish the moral elements of the decision aren’t expressing the full reality of it. But what I believe is that women do not make these decisions casually, and that they struggle with it fervently with their pastors, with their spouses, with their doctors.Our goal should be to make abortion less common, that we should be discouraging unwanted pregnancies, that we should encourage adoption wherever possible. There is a range of ways that we can educate our young people about the sacredness of sex and we should not be promoting the sort of casual activities that end up resulting in so many unwanted pregnancies.” [Christianity Today, Jan. 2008]
Yes, this is a very big issue (abortion). But I think that evangelicals aren’t thinking. There’s a deeper issue at large here: can the government make decisions for the people like this? Will it even stop abortion? (has it in the 25 years since Roe vs. Wade?)
Abortion is bad, so don’t have one. Abortion is bad, so warn people– don’t make it solely political. When social justice becomes just a political issue rather than a personal conviction, it loses its heart and we become hateful Christians who stand outside abortion clinics and harass women instead of loving them.
Listening to Mitch Daniels or a dozen pro-life organizations is not going to help me change the lives of women who believe they need an abortion. God calls us to take care of the refuse of the world, just keeping a failing law in place will not be enough.
February 12, 2008 2 Comments
Forget About Yourself
29-31“What’s the price of a pet canary? Some loose change, right? And God cares what happens to it even more than you do. He pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your head! So don’t be intimidated by all this bully talk. You’re worth more than a million canaries. 32-33“Stand up for me against world opinion and I’ll stand up for you before my Father in heaven. If you turn tail and run, do you think I’ll cover for you?
34-37“Don’t think I’ve come to make life cozy. I’ve come to cut—make a sharp knife-cut between son and father, daughter and mother, bride and mother-in-law—cut through these cozy domestic arrangements and free you for God. Well-meaning family members can be your worst enemies. If you prefer father or mother over me, you don’t deserve me. If you prefer son or daughter over me, you don’t deserve me.
38-39“If you don’t go all the way with me, through thick and thin, you don’t deserve me. If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and me.
Why is this so hard? We can not commit adultery, we can not use God’s name in vain, we can not murder, not even hate or steal…. but we can’t stop thinking about ourselves.
What’s so great about us anyways?
You know, we love Jesus when He’s a fad. Those “Jesus is my Homeboy” shirts were so cool for a few months… but honestly? (I cannot say this without sounding absurd) is He your homeboy?
God calls us to love the people that make our lives miserable. Not just like or tolerate… we are called to LOVE them. And He calls us to live in the world, not of it. (That means no drugs, filthy language, greed, p.m. sex, drunkenness, and the like).
We think that being a Christian is all about talking to our friends about Christ (which we’re too scared to do) and reading our Bibles (which has been collecting dust over the past few weeks). We love Christ when He makes our days good (an A on a test) and cry to Him when our day sucks (the car broke down, again).
But yet… what about obedience?
I mean this in a broad term: doing what God tells us to do. It means all the aforementioned things (talking to others, reading the Bible, praying) and more. It means being “blameless and pure children of God.”
I know I am guilty of this. I know it from the core of me. But why have I accepted it?
“It is simply absurd to say you believe or even want to believe, in Him, if you do not do anything He tells you.” G. MacDonald.
Annie wasn’t sure what to make of it. She expected promiscuity like that from Logan or a guy from school, but never from Kyle. These past few weeks he has been so devoted to God, well, it seemed that way at least. Annie was too afraid to pick up her phone, too afraid to do anything, but stare off… hoping that maybe it would all go away.
December 16, 2007 Leave a comment
Merry Christmas ’98!
So I found this story I had written in third grade. It was a pretty good concept had I not rushed through it. Maybe, oh yes maybe, I’ll revist this storyline…. (not.)
[Disclaimer: I couldn’t spell words like “coffee” and “pole” back in third grade so I corrected the grammar so no one would get confused.]
One Christmas Eve Santa was lost! Allow me to introduce myself, I’m Cupid. No, I don’t make people fall in love. I’m the reindeer. Yes, there is Dasher, Donner, Prancer too, but they’re on a coffee break and I’m gong to tell the story.In 1986, Santa was lost.
“Ho Ho Ho!” Santa said to Mrs. Claus. “Is my coat ready?”
“Yes, Santa. I’ll be right there!” Mrs. Claus said to Santa.
“Ma, I’m going to be laaate!”
And right then Santa disappeared.
Yes, you are probably wondering what happened to Santa, but my reading turns over, here is Comet.
Hi, I’m Comet. Ok, now Santa woke up and he was in the land of Oz!
“We’re off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz,” Santa heard. Santa talked to the strange people. And a few seconds later he was going to the Wizard of Oz too. When he got there, he wished to go back to the North Pole and he did.
Well, that’s the end of the story, bye!
Honestly, can you get a better story than that? come’on.
December 5, 2007 Leave a comment
The Sims mindset
I know I’m a fool, no one needs to tell me that.
We talked about pilgrimages today in English and it made me very pensive. I mean, very. To go into it at all would be confusing and overwhelming so I’ll save it for later blogs. Nevertheless, there is one thing I’ve thought about today. And that is dating.
Now, to how I got from pilgrimages to dating doesn’t make a bunch of sense, so I won’t bother. It all boils down to my overarching theme of the season: change. But like I said, I won’t go into all that.
I decided to fast from crushing. (That sounds awfully dorky.) I made a commitment that for at least 2 months I won’t crush on anyone. God helping, I hope to be crush free until next year. I’m learning a lot about people.
I hate admitting this because it’s not deep or anything, but I just started realizing what it means to have a guy friend. For my whole life (and I really do mean my whole life) I assumed that befriending a guy beyond being his acquaintance meant that I like-liked him. I call this the “Sims” mindset.
[Explanation: On the Sims, when a girl and guy Sim talks, their liking of the other person rises. It starts at aquaintance, then “warm,” then friends, then it jumps to in love.]
I have quite a few guy acquaintances and guy “warms.” Half the youth group is guys, I have no choice. But taking that relationship to the friend level has been impossible for me. I don’t really know why.
I’ve never really had a close guy friend. Well, I was close to Austin then we dated (psh, screwed that friendship up). And I want to be friends with Todd and with Luke but there are so many strings attached. Why does it have to be that way?
And I think I like guys hanging out with guys more than girls 90% of the time. Girls are dramatic, guys just take things as they come. But it is just so difficult because of the way people, and hollywood, put expectations of guy-girl relationships. [Segway into my AP English practice essay for this week!]
How many TV shows or movies show guy-girl friends that don’t end up in a dating relationship? Let me give you a hint: NONE. [Example: the couple in You’ve Got Mail, Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable, Nancy Drew and Ned, Ross and Rachel, the couple in 13 Going on 30, Lane and that one guitarist guy on Gilmore Girls, etc]
Maybe I am ignorant or something; maybe guys and girls can’t just be friends. It just doesn’t seem right. So I am going to defy all the laws of whatever and make more guy friends. No strings. No future dating. No secret crush.
November 28, 2007 Leave a comment
Another one of those days.
[[Disclaimer: If you have anything to do, don’t read this blog. I just wrote what I felt and sometimes what I feel is nonsense. But if you want to anyway, feel free.]]
Well, how do I begin?
My car… augh, someone backed into it… now it has a huge dent. (Yuck) Today has just been one of those days–not horrible (I mean, the night’s still young n’ all) but not exceptionally great. I just feel blah.
I feel like I have so many feelings inside of me that I haven’t really taken care of. Instead I have just suppressed them (they’re still inside of me) and I don’t really know what I’m going to do when they’re unleashed.
Two and a half months ago I ended a crush on a guy. But how do you just end a crush without the feelings returning? I read something in Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek that reminded me of this feeling in some way:
“…[A]s you look at a still-beautiful face belonging to a person who was once your lover in another country years ago: with fond nostalgia, and recognition, but not real feeling save a secret astonishment that you are strangers.” [80]
And maybe this feeling isn’t describing that “ex-crush” but a certain ex-boyfriend whose heart I mistreated. We are strangers. I guess that the “just friends” philosophy isn’t much of reality. Oh, I wish it were.
My heart aches. There are so many guys that I am better off befriending than dating. I regret dating Austin for that, uh, week and a half, just because it put a rift in our relationship. I talked to Austin like I had talked to no one before. Who can hold conversations for six hours and twenty minutes without getting bored?
I’m a lucky girl. I have great guys in my life (my brothers!) and an awesome best friend. I just wish that I didn’t take people for granted. That I just respected them and accepted them as who they were; that I loved them the agape way.
I guess my biggest fear right now is awakening feelings of hostility that I felt a year ago (toward my best friends) or unhealthy crushing over an unattainable guy… things that I thought by faith I had overcome. But have I? Or did I use temporary will-power?
Was it all for nothing?
I fear I’m going to wake up mad at my best friend for hating “him” or let myself crush over apple (oh geez, I know). I fear that what I thought was overcome through my relationship with God was just… covered with a bandaid.
The wound isn’t going to heal without exposing it.
So here I am. I’m not really that bad. I’m just pensive. Just, really pensive.
November 24, 2007 Leave a comment
kill the inconvenient truth
[Another attempt to find myself politically. Here’s to being a left-winger. *Cheers!*]
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
I’m on my dad’s 2000 IBM PC. Imagine what it was like to surf the web 8 years ago. Yes, it’s that bad. My dad, thanks to some neighbors who are tech-savvy, has upgraded to wireless internet. But still, it took about 2 minutes for Firefox to load. No kidding.
Nevertheless, I decided to observe my family as Annie Dillard might, with a careful and thoughtful eye. I guess I realized a few double standards–I’m not shocked or anything–but it just interested me. I will share those observations with you. (In light of Annie Dillard… the author of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek… my least favorite book at the time.)
My family is very conservative. Not like… Luke or Adam conservative (uh, make your own inferences off of that) but still, strong Lutherans. My dad’s sister-in-law is probably what I would call a Neo-Lutheran (not like old-fashioned Lutheran, but still conservative).
But my sister and I are more on the left-wing side. [Me? Not as much as her, but let me lump into her group for the time being.]
Okay, back to the story.
They are conservative, which is fine. I like conservatism. I believe in tradition, the occasional legalism when need be. (Again, I’m making unnecessary loopholes here.) BUT when conservatism meets coldheartedness, I get concerned.
And my family is really nice. My aunt, the “Neo-Lutheran,” is one of my favorite people. But, when liberal ideas are mentioned there are walls put up.
I hate the word tolerance because it gets such a bad rep. I don’t believe you should tolerate sin in your life. BUT, I think you should tolerate, or rather, accept other’s beliefs or ideals.
I heard a guy speak at an outdoor concert explaining how evolution was a delusional concept and that anyone thinking differently should be burned at the stake. He said that evolutionists are “ignorant” and according to him ignorant means “stupid.” (And He said that. I quote, “People who believe in evolution are stupid.” I was fuming.)
Stupid? Okay… Mr. Creationist, how’s this for a try, what if we decided that instead of saying all people who are ignorant are stupid, let’s say it is stupid to be ignorant about subjects and judge them anyway.
Did Mr. Creationist even study evolution? Does he not know that evolution IS real? (Microevolution, which has to exist if you believe in Noah’s ark!)
My point is this: if my conservative family can judge liberals without knowing them and Creationists can judge evolution without truly studying it, how are we serving Christ?
This is no longer a political debate, but a Christian one. How is our bigotry showing people the Freedom Christ offers? It’s not.
Hullo, did Jesus sit with his twelve at Seder and discuss why Caesar promoted idol worshiping? Did He sit around arguing against radical politicians or even vent about those “sinful Samaritans” over yonder? No. He loved.
And not only that (as if it weren’t enough) He didn’t even DISCUSS politics (not even once!) He told the story of the good Samaritan, and didn’t even judge the woman at the well. “Give Caesar what is Caesar’s….”
We like to remain ignorant about other people’s beliefs and it builds up walls. You don’t have to sell your Christian beliefs for say, Islam, just because you read the Qur’an.
It bugs me how quick people are to judge other people based off of their beliefs. I don’t want to be hated because I’m a Christian. (yes, I know that will happen regardless). I don’t want to be judged because I believe homosexuals should be allowed to get married.
I’ll only say this once, I promise, DON’T HATE HILLARY CLINTON BECAUSE SHE IS A WOMAN AND BECAUSE SHE ENDORSES PRO-CHOICE.
For crying out loud! Jesus loves her too!
People shouldn’t be judged for their beliefs (their faith in God or lack thereof) or their political party (donkeys or elephants) or anything else.
And now I’m ranting.
It’s Thanksgiving: learn to love. Forget about what people believe. Forget about whether they think its okay to have sex before marriage or if they go to church every Sunday or read their Bible or vote Ron Paul or Obama.
Love them all.
Show mercy.
Speak with love.
Oh, I’m trying not to rant…,
Ezekiel
November 22, 2007 Leave a comment
Grace vs. Truth (Part II)
I don’t know if I really want to glorify Grace over Truth. I mean, yes, I believe everything I have said about Grace: that it is the message of the New Testament and that Christians tend to de-emphasize it, but I guess there’s more to it than I had originally anticipated.
And I can go on a soapbox and talk about the ways Christians have forgotten Grace and have been hateful bigots (but I won’t). But I do want to talk about a thing called Obedience.
Almost everyone has a historical figure that they idolize. Mine is George MacDonald. He was an incredible thinker, almost like a philosopher, but a preacher as well. I love reading his stuff, but what I realized about him is that he has a strong belief in obedience. I’m reading an anthology of some of his writings right now and there seems to be an overarching theme of, and I’ll use his words here: “Go and do it.”
Obey God.
Do what you’re supposed to do.
And I know I just said how Grace is so important (it is!) but God wants us to obey Him too. Not to the point that we think we can deed our way into heaven, but God wants us to obey. MacDonald said, “It is simply absurd to say you believe, or even want to believe, in Him, if you do not do anything He tells you.”
And sin? Well, its hard to bypass. I mean, the Bible says that if you know the good you ought to do and don’t do it, you have sinned. (Talk about a standard!) I know I should be reading Annie Dillard right now instead of facebooking, so am I sinning?
That’s a lot to ask of someone, I know, especially since we’ve established that the Church seems to emphasize morality over anything. But there’s some good behind that. God wants us to obey. But should that be top priority?
No.
(Yes, I just turned around and started walking in the other direction)
A balance. I love to believe that God has a think or “happy mediums.” To paraphrase from a RELEVANT podcast, it’s good to have everything lukewarm ‘cept your faith.
And I’ve talked about this before, the way extremes are bad. I really mean that. It says in I Corinthians not to be mastered by anything. To be all this or all that isn’t balanced. God wants us to strive to be obedient in all situations, but rely on Grace.
I don’t think churches should emphasize Truth over Grace (in fear of breeding hateful Christians) but I don’t think Truth should be ignored either.
We can’t get to God without obeying Him or, you know, putting forth a good effort. (But that’s for another day)
ezek.
November 17, 2007 1 Comment
that thou art in the dark and hast no light;
Grace vs. Truth. Here we go.
At the very pit of me, the very core (the mean core, the ha… HARD core) is rather rude. harsh. I want to see justice served.
My first minglings with God started with me, on my own, reading my Bible. Not just the Gospels, not just the epistles, but the nitty gritty Old Testament old-law stuff. The dark meat of the Bible.
And with that Old Testament goodness came a lot of laws that seem ridiculous, but back in the BC days, made sense. Eye for an Eye. Stone an adulterer. ETC.
What I understood before I really became what I call myself now, a Christian, I had a good grasp on justice. I knew that God hated sin and so when people sin, they’re punished. It makes sense. I hate bratty kids… they need punished (no harm in that!)
But it doesn’t end there.
There is a second half of the Bible… one that is pouring, overflowing with Grace. (To quote Relient K) “The beauty of Grace is that it makes life unfair.”
Yes, it makes life unfair to the perfect, sinless, non-existing humans out there. Luckily we all get a good taste of Grace because we all screw up (at least once or twice).
And that Grace extends, folks. No really, it does. It means that not only does God show Grace to His followers at the pearly gates, it means that He shows Grace to the murderers, sex-offenders, greedy, bigots here on earth. Yes, I said it.
And we should do the same.
I am hurt when people are so quick to judge. I don’t like it when people don’t like a certain group because of their label. And I don’t like when people don’t put their heart into what they say.
And maybe I’m running around in circles here. I judge too, I’m harsh, I am so quick to get angry at people who are “out to get me.” Or something of the sort.
What about Grace.
What about it?
Show it. With every heartstring, with every ounce of power you can squeeze out of yourself… LOVE. Be merciful for goshsakes. This is to me as much as it is to you all. Grace is what the Cross of Christ is all about. God realizing that we are only human, and forgiving us. We repent, we devote ourselves to Christ and we get an abundant life.
Let God do the judging. Let God say who is or isn’t worthy of this or that.
It’s not up to us.
only a [wo]man,
ezekiel
November 13, 2007 Leave a comment
to love at all is to be vulnerable.
I love God and I love the idea of the Church. But right now, I’m not to fond of her.
I don’t want to say I hate Christians, because that’s not true. I’m a fan of church, youth group, college age, Sunday morning service, and the various ministries I find myself involved in. But I don’t like the facade the Church is putting on.
Remember when only the Pharisees hated Christians?
Even in the Roman Empire (around Nero’s time) Christians were hated not because THEY hated, but because they were RADICAL.
And now… what has she, the Church, become?
The top six traits Christians are known for are these:1. Hypocritical
2. Too focused on getting people “saved”
3. Antihomosexual
4. Sheltered
5. Too political
6. Judgmental
[according to Barna research]
How sickening is that? Number 3 kills me everytime. Never in the Bible does it say to HATE people. Remember that little slogan that Jerry B. Jenkins uses through his books… “Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin.” Period.
Why do people take that so much farther?
I don’t want to argue other points just yet, and really I should have kept my mouth shut about the antihomosexual thing as of now.
Right now I call you, yes you little Christian, to examine yourself. How do you act? Are you loving? joyful? peaceful? patient? kind? good? gentle? faithful? self-controlled?
Those are traits we SHOULD possess, according to Galations. Not these hateful anti-gay, anti-democrat, anti-cultured people.
So consider these facts, and I’ll get back to you ;-)
October 23, 2007 Leave a comment
who is number one.
I’m glad my view of politics have been shallow for the past few elections.
In fifth grade we had “mock-elections” for the 2000 presidental campaign: Bush vs. Gore. I remember my social studies teacher made Bush sound like this amazing guy and Gore, a bafoon who thought he invented the internet.
Needless to say, over 95% of the fifth grade class at Perry Hill Elementry School voted George W. as president of the United States.
That is why for six years I claimed to be a Republican.
Now, this isn’t a blog about politics, because I literally have nothing to say about that (VOTE OBAMA ’08!… ha, that was a joke), this is about extremes. In this case: Conservatism vs. Liberal-ism.
But I don’t want to end there.
See, this may be extremely obvious to some of you, but others not: EXREMES=BAD. [Let me define this version of EXTREME before you throw a few fits. I mean this: an extreme is something you believe and stand for with no knowledge backing it up (IGNORANCE I call it). It’s forcing those beliefs on people HARSHLY and WITHOUT LOVE. It’s a belief that you let get between you and God. And though you may CLAIM it draws you closer to God, that can sometimes be the opposite.]
Facism vs. Communism.
I’ve been thinking and thinking about this topic, not really sure how to even talk about it in a blog or elsewhere. I mean, usually when I have a belief I hang tight to it. Example: Jesus is Lord. Probably not going to change my mind about that one.
[But that’s not really what I’m going with either. God is an Absolute, a Constant in this equation so let’s not declare Him debatable… not right now.]
But we can discuss the Church. Church of God vs. Church of Christ. (One word difference yet, so incredibly opposites).
My point here is this: people search and search for their stand on one subject or another and once they believe one side, they don’t let up. Example: Abortion=Bad. So instead of thinking rationally, they jump off the deep end. Like a particular Pro-Life group who runs around the country protesting at abortion clinics but doesn’t take spend anytime loving. They don’t even pray for these women who go through this. They hate women who get abortions. They hate doctors who administer abortions. (hate=extreme)
I think probably the worst one ever, especially for Christians, is the gay marriage situation. Yes, the Bible says homosexuality is a sin BUT does it say to hate homosexuals? NO. Period.
I am using very contraversial issues, I know, and I know that I’m probably putting too much unsolicited opinion in here as well. But here’s the scoop: when there are extremes, there are footholds.
“And do not give the devil a foothold.”
It makes your chosen extreme first priority, or soon to be. God needs to be the Extreme, not this issue or that.
I remember back in fifth grade I made a conscious decision that I, Lauren Deidra Sawyer (10.5 years old) was going to be a Republican because George W. Bush didn’t claim to invent the internet.
Whenever I form an opinion on something I think hey, what’s the opposite view (the antithesis!) then I rule one or the other out. I’m pretty sure everyone does that one way or another.
And so we have a tendency to hang onto our beliefs… so hard. SO HARD. We are unwilling to let go. We believe gay marriage is so wrong that we exploit the image of Christ and claim no hope for them. We are sinners, but they are worse. Or on the other side, the opposite. We want to show God’s love to them SO bad that we “hijack” Jesus and ignore the passages about homosexuality in the Bible.
Neither are right. And both will give Satan leeway to do something not so cool in our lives.
Yes, yes, before Mrs. Pickett calls me on ranting (good thing she’s not reading this!) I will acknowledge the opposition. But faith!, you say. Faith? Devotion? Humility? Love? Aren’t those all extremes? Virtues: can’t those be good in huge amounts?
Yes, but consider this: too much of anything NOT God is bad. That means TOO MUCH humility can be bad. (Humility that, ironically, leads to pride in that way.)
As Uncle Screwtape put it, “All extremes, except extreme devotion to the Enemy, are to be encouraged.”
Now I don’t want my blog to be misread. I’m not saying it’s good to be complacent or lukewarm, I’m just saying know why you believe one thing or another. Know why you call yourself a Democrat or Republican, patriot or pacifist; don’t use it to hurt the opposition. Be courteous, respect each others’ beliefs.
And don’t give the enemy a foothold.
♥ezek.
“Then quietly and gradually nurse him on to the stage at which the religion becomes merely part of the ’cause’, in which Christianity is valued chiefly because of the excellent arguments it can produce in favour of the British war-effort or of Pacifism. The attitude which you want to guard against is that in which temporal affairs are treated primarily as material for obedience. Once you have made the World an end, and faith a means, you have almost won your man, and it makes very little difference what kind of wordly end he is pursuing. Provided that meetings, pamphlets, policies, movements, abuses, and crusades, matter more to him than prayers and sacraments and charity, he is ours–and the more ‘religious’ (on those terms) the more securely ours.” The Screwtape Letters
October 19, 2007 Leave a comment