Ian

The last time a clergy-led movement got any meaningful legislation passed, both the cleric and the President who supported it got assassinated. Let’s take the Dobbs strategy and just lobby for enough Justices to declare gambling unconstitutional (it’s not, but the SC makes stuff up now, so…)

This is the part of the Reformation they didn't teach us in Seminary. But also...

Sexy Top Cute Bottom

The fact that the new ELCA bishop for DC is being installed at the National *Presbyterian* Church makes me chuckle.

It’s like a liturgy conference at a Quaker meeting house.

I wonder if the irony is lost on them.

I don't know what was in the water in the Theology Dept & Protestant Chaplaincy at Georgetown in the mid 2010's, but I know of at least 4 prot clergy/seminarians (including myself) plus a seminary-trained non-profit leader that this era produced. Mysterious ways, I guess.

These are some episcopalian-ass numbers, tho. $9.50 per day on coffee and $19 per day on lunch. I want to know who is actually spending almost $30 every work day on food.

Harper Collins Study Bible has the same metaphorical interpretation.

How is the NCC governance structured? Can member churches pass resolutions to force it to make a policy if enough churches do so?

I’m pretty sure that 90% of the time, if someone goes by Rev. Dr. Name instead of Rev. Name + post-nominal letters, it’s for the purpose of obscuring their credentials so people will believe they have a PhD equivalent degree.

I wish mainline Div schools in the US would offer a taught PhD/ThD that is hybrid-structured like a DMin. Like, I really want to do full doctoral work (all the classes, etc), but I don't want to quit my job for 4-6 years. But 8-9 years part time would be doable.

I’ve never seen a noticeable difference in the quality or success of pastors with a DMin vs just an MDiv. The payoff is really just personal enrichment, in my observations.

It’s a money maker degree for schools, it is able to be completed by pastors without them having to leave full time ministry. And it allows people to get a “Dr” title without the rigor of an academic or medical doctorate. It should probably just be a Masters level degree tbh.

A well balanced meal is never required by holy writ. So it can’t be *that* important, right?

I went to Costco once for just coffee and half and half.

I came out with a whole ass pie, 2lbs of brisket, and enough meat sticks to kill me.

The institution founded as King’s College has been waiting for the opportunity to submit to a monarchy since 1783.

Idk words but with my sermons it would be 1.5 pages, Times new Roman 14pt font, 1.5 line spacing. 1in margins.

Elon Musk’s Daughter Accuses Him Of Using IVF To Only Have Male Kids “How the f**k is this legal," Vivian Wilson questioned in a social media post.

It's going to be really interesting to watch this play out if the left wakes up to the ethically fraught nature of the way current IVF laws allow for gender selection & creepy eugenics stuff (and then all the other issues) because of Elon Musk's daughter's criticism
www.huffpost.com/entry/elon-m...

Holiness is cooperative. God absolutely must act, but we must also work out our own salvation (as Paul would say).

I would encourage you to try fasting in accordance with an established church body’s discipline to see if it will work for you.

I wouldn't think so. The punishment would be the missed opportunity itself to grow in holiness.

bsky.app/profile/revi...

The idea there would be that if we rely on earthly things like food (or anything else we're fasting from) to bring us joy, we will always fall short of the true joy that only comes from God despite our circumstances. It's not about the experience of misery, it's about looking to God for joy.

(The real reason is that evangelical publishers understand that we exist in a religious marketplace, whereas mainline publishers assume the liberal Christian Nationalism of the mid 20th cen where members will buy what they are told to buy, but the mainline isn't ready for that conversation)

Temptation and sin make us less like God; sin hinders our growth in holiness. To resist what is evil is to choose what is good - to choose to accept God’s grace and become a truer reflection of Christ.

It's not about the eating. It's experiencing desire for something and resisting it. We practice with food because it's morally neutral. If we succumb and eat, we haven't sinned. But it's still exercising the spiritual faculty of resisting desire.

The trade off is that it increases your spiritual health by strengthening your ability to resist earthly desires so that when a temptation to immorality comes, you have built up the spiritual muscles to resist temptation.

But just like any strength training, the regimen you use is important.

I think that may be your problem. Keeping the workout analogy, if you're not doing anything that trainers have found to be effective, but just loading up a bar with the heaviest weights you can and then just going for it, it probably won't be an effective way to increase health.

Are you fasting using a particular tradition's recommendations (i.e. Orthodox rules, Roman rules, etc)? Or trying to just not eat at all?

In modern terms, it's evidence-based and data-driven. You may be an outlier; but, like most forms of exercise, it is the repetition and consistency that yield results, not just a one-off super workout.

God didn't ask you to fast the same way your body never "asks or commands" that you exercise. Nevertheless, the scriptures and saints testify that it is a normative way to exercise resisting earthly desires and training your spirit to focus on God above all else.

Step two is: experience desire of the flesh, resist desire for the sake of God, build up spiritual fitness to focus on God above earthly desires.