I think I am so pure and holy, I have no friends.

There, fixed it.

you’ve got mail……

ra

In order to be Rick’s friend you need to pay him a tribute. He takes only cash, but on occasion a sheep or a goat will suffice… if your income is too low he might take a turtle dove.

But if you want to have him as a best friend, he will only take your first born as tribute.

Of course send all cash to me and I will facilitate the transfers through my Nigerian contact who will make sure we get that $4 million he emailed me about again today.

iggy

Back to Prejean, I just posted the following at Steve Camp, who just put up a great defense of Prejean in this thing:

MS: How godly is it now to bear herself before the world with nearly nothing on?

RAbanes: What is tragic here is how things like the skimpiness of one’s bikini, the presence of tattoos, the style of music one listens to, and similar things now trump far more damaging aspects of life.

I wonder how something like a girl in a bikini has been exalted to nearly the unforgivable sin — when in reality such a judgment is, in itself, just a HIGHLY subjective call.

Go back to the early 1960s. Were those swimsuits better? How about the 1950s? Better yet? If so, the problem is that those swimsuits were illegal until those decades. Ever see swimsuits for women from 1890s-1920s? THEY WERE FELL DRESSES! Now what?

Transport yourself back in time to the 1920s and ask this same question of the VERY FIRST 2-piece swimsuit ever seen, which by today’s standards would be a tank top and a pair of shorts: “How godly is it now to bear herself before the world with nearly nothing on?”

Even more serious, to me at least, are a whole lot of other questions:

“How godly is it to make accusatory attacks against a young woman who was misled by those who should have known better?”

“How godly is it to make accusatory attacks against a growing Christian who is seeking to be as godly as she knows how to be and actually put truth (as much as she knows) ahead of her own ambition and career possibilities?”

“How godly is it to contribute in the name of Christ to a media frenzy wherein the world is actively seeking to use a sister’s unfortunate mistake and errors of youthful judgment/experience to mock Christianity?”

I am seeing precious little love, understanding, compassion, true concern, forgiveness, and Christ-like-ness in far too many watch-bloggers who are using this controversy to just cause more trouble, negativity, darkness, conflict.

Too many posters in cyberspace thrive on such controversy, just like one of the alien beings I remember seeing in the old Star Trek series. It lived on and became more powerful through the negative feelings and hate generated between people and always sought to stir up conflict wherever/whenever possible.

Oh, Lord, help us stop! Whatever wrongs have been done by Prejean, I guarantee you they pale in comparison to what is going on now in response to those wrongs.

I can only praise God that when Jesus met the adulterous woman, there were not some of the bloggers there to hear him say, “He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone.”

I have a terrible feeling that our Lord himself might have been caught in a hail of rocks!

Richard Abanes

Neil: save the comment about “so-called” Christians…

RA:I’m just trying to stay biblical. I offer this poignant and insightful engraving, which can be found on the wall of a German cathedral:

I understand… just being diligent (if not obsessed) with being different from them in the issue of questing someone’s salvation