It's ice pelleting out. Very noisy. Glad I got my cat food/litter run in earlier. I don't expect surfaces to get that bad, just the drivers.

Man, I don't get Calvinism at all.

Ugh, msbelle. That sounds like a difficult conversation.

Interesting article in the Times Magazine this week about a pastor at a church in Seattle. The article kind of half focuses on his style and half on his theology. His style -- swearing, tattoos, a "hyper-masculine" Jesus, indie rock, and so on. His theology -- Calvinism. Fire and brimstone, predestination, and all that

He's a sexist tool who is running a cult. I kind of pray for a massive scandal to pull his ass down, because he's begging for a fall.

DylanW wrote a cool post about him on the Seattle Metro blog a while back. [link] and a follow up later [link]

I'd be more upset that a "restaurant" had a tv on at all (pet peeve of mine, unless it's a sports bar or pub, in which case there can't be too many), but wow on the Spanish language aspect being troubling to her.

But it's pretty judgmental (and not understanding at all of the sacrifices you've made to have Mac in your life) for her to comment on his tantrums. I'm sorry that she's not more supportive of you; you deserve help, not admonishment.

She bought VEAL.

Oh... Oh, Theo. I'm sorry, but this just had me giggling. In that incredibly well-intentioned but utterly wrong sort of way.

So, just got back from Nate's first flag football game of the season. His team (Da Bears) won! YAY! He paid attention and ran his routes (YAY) was a little slow getting back to the huddle, which I got on him for and the one pass thrown at him was half batted down, half he didn't quite hang on.

Poor kid, not the most athletically gifted boy on the planet, but he does try and he enjoys it and he's getting fresh air and exercise, so that's all that really matters.

I'm very relieved that the parents for our team seem pretty mellow and laid back. Which was in huge contrast to our opponents today who had on their sidelines:

"The Yeller." This is the guy who thinks he can coach better than the coach. Who knows the names of all the kids on the team and is telling them what they should do. Loudly.

Then there was "The Mom." This was the mom who was part coach, part ref, but primarily focused on her own kid, who finally embarrassed the poor boy to the point where he yelled from the field, just prior to a play, "Are you the coach, Mom?"

And finally, my personal favorite:

"The Yeller, v. 2.0" This is the parent, in this case a mom, who knows better than the refs, who questions every call in the opposing team's favor, every score the opposing team makes, pretty much anything that doesn't go her team's way. The beauty was, today's edition was so loud and obnoxious, the ref finally got fed up midway through the third quarter and yelled at her, "We have striped shirts available if you'd care to volunteer."

Thank goodness we only play these guys once unless we meet them in the playoffs. I hope the other teams are better.

He's a sexist tool who is running a cult. I kind of pray for a massive scandal to pull his ass down, because he's begging for a fall.

The article briefly mentioned the sexism, and did mention the cult-like tendencies, but kind of made them seem like part of Calvinism, which did seem odd to me.

Damn, brenda. I'm so sorry. Much strength and peace to you and Lucy.

Calvinism *is* sexist, right? Or am I mixing something up?

Calvinism *is* sexist, right? Or am I mixing something up?

A literal interpretation of the bible is sexist; it's not restricted to just Calvinism.

That article freaked me out, because -- with 2 differences -- it could be my ex-FAC: (1) mine was in Ohio; (2) they don't (didn't?) preach Calvinism. (Although they came very VERY close.) But they do the whole thing of "Look at how culturally relevant and hip we are with our tattoos and piercings and swearing and smoking and drinking and indie rock! Woo!!! Our pastor wears jeans and t-shirts when preaching! Woo!!! PRAISE HIM!!!"

Actually, my ex-FAC was a lot like the church that Bobby Hill joined (for one episode) in King of the Hill.

Don't get me wrong; there's nothing wrong with a church being culturally relevant. If people don't see how a faith from a nearly 2,000-year-old book can fit into their lives, that's problematic. (Although lots of non-hipsters *also* don't see how faith fits into their lives. So a tattooed, pierced, swearing pastor might freak *those* people out even more.)

What bothers me is not their attempts at being culturally relevant; my problem is how they *boast* about it and make a huge deal out of it, instead of just living however they live and doing their thing.

Calvanism had that whole "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" thing, right?