Fred Phelps, if you're reading my blog...

...here's an article from the Indianapolis Star that I'd like you to read:

Citing a verse doesn't make a partisan into a scholar

The next time a Christian partisan shouts a Bible verse at you -- as if citing Leviticus 18:22, Exodus 20:13 or 1 Corinthians 7:4 ended all discussion of homosexuality, abortion or women's rights -- shout back, "Acts 4:32-35!"

Oops!

Yes, that is the passage that might have inspired Karl Marx: "No one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common," and wealth "was distributed to each as any had need."

No free-market capitalism in that biblical economy. No "prosperity Gospel," either, certainly nothing as lax as a tithe of merely 10 percent.

Or you could shout "Exodus 22:25!" about not charging interest on loans, or "Deuteronomy 15:1-3!" about forgiving debts every seventh year, or "Leviticus 19:9-10!" about leaving grain in the field for gleaners, or "Luke 19:8-9!" about Zacchaeus giving half of his wealth to the poor.

You'd be shouting alone, of course. Partisans and politicians won't be quoting those Scriptures in the next campaign on so-called "social issues," even though excessive personal indebtedness, unconcern for the poor and concentration of wealth pose a greater threat to the American way of life than divergent patterns of sexuality and marriage.

Such Scriptures don't apply, modern folks will say. Utopian experiments never work. Without the ability to charge interest, no one would lend money.

Sabbath years of debt forgiveness would disrupt banking and real estate.

Gleaning is fine for ancient grain, but modern managers must maximize profit.

Maybe so. Maybe those Scriptures don't apply. Maybe early Christians were wrong to try communal living. Maybe a modern economy requires better management than the Torah can provide. Maybe Jesus didn't link everyone's salvation to generosity, just Zacchaeus'.

Likewise, maybe Paul's insistence that women be subservient to men applied to one claque of gossipy women, and otherwise he stood with Jesus in welcoming women as equals. Maybe partisans for "protection of marriage" are right to ignore Paul's counsel that believers not get married at all.

Sound biblical scholarship, you see, isn't content to find the one verse that proves a point. Sound scholarship considers the whole, the thousand-year trajectory of Scripture, realities of authorship and changing contexts, contradictions, new directions that emerged in the Christian era, changing manuscripts and evangelists' promise of more revelation to come.

Sound biblical scholarship takes effort and discernment.

Those who claim they are "defending the biblical faith" by demanding a certain doctrine or moral code based on a few convenient Bible passages that prove their point are actually undermining biblical faith in order to get their way.

It is unlikely that we Christians will abandon our 2,000-year quest for power. Like other people, we tend to believe that power, wealth and right opinion will make our lives safe and our days long. But let's at least be honest about our addiction to control and stop calling it faith.

As it is, in flinging carefully selected Scripture-bullets at one another, we sound like children playing: "I got you!" . . . "No, you didn't!"

Instead, we must sit humbly before God, our hearts open to grace and our minds open to God's ongoing revelation.

Tom Ehrich is an Episcopal priest, writer and computer consultant. His online site is www.onajourney.org.

"the 100 unsexiest men in the world"

from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12190404/from/RL.1/

A magazine in a Boston, Mass., has released its list of the ugliest male celebrities. The Phoenix arts and entertainment alternative newsweekly ranked the "100 unsexiest unsexiest men in the world."

i dunno if that extra unsexiest in there was a typo or not - "unsexiest unsexiest men"?

anyhoo, someone on fark made an interesting point - wouldn't people be all up in arms if an equivalent list of females was made? good question, i think...

now, i don't exactly agree with all the choices - hell, i don't even know em all - but i found it to be an interesting list...

i also find it rather amusing that #1 on the list is revelling in his win - you go, boy!

here's the complete list:

001. Gilbert Gottfried
002. Randy Johnson
003. Roger Ebert
004. Dr. Phil McGraw
005. Alan Colmes
006. Chad Kroeger
007. Mike Mills
008. Osama Bin Laden
009. Jay Leno
010. Don Imus
011. Michael Jackson
012. Wallace Shawn
013. Mike D. of the Beastie Boys
014. Richard Simmons
015. Jon Lovitz
016. Carrot Top
017. Jerry Seinfeld
018. Malcolm Gladwell
019. Chevy Chase
020. Raffi
021. Ron Howard
022. Clint Howard
023. Bill Gates
024. Paul Shaffer
025. Axl Rose
026. Tim Burton
027. Edward James Olmos
028. Gerard Way
029. Don Zimmer
030. Tony Kornheiser
031. Chris Kattan
032. Otis Nixon
033. Julian Tavarez
034. Christopher Lloyd
035. Willie McGee
036. Pat Cummings
037. Scottie Pippen
038. Larry David
039. Michael Moore
040. Al Franken
041. Paris Latsis
042. Rush Limbaugh
043. David Gest
044. Gary Busey
045. Nick Nolte
046. Leif Garrett
047. Andy Dick
048. Scott Stapp
049. Lyle Lovett
050. Ric Ocasek
051. Bill Wyman
052. Danny DeVito
053. Peter Jackson
054. Drew Carey
055. Newt Gingrich
056. Rob Schneider
057. Ed O'Neil
058. Bill O'Reilly
059. Clay Aiken
060. Joe Lieberman
061. Jim Gaffigan
062. Bill Maher
063. John Popper
064. Dennis Miller
065. John Madden
066. Robert Englund
067. Robert Patrick
068. John Ashcroft
069. Joe Gannascolli
070. Kevin James
071. George Steinbrenner
072. Grady Little
073. Harvey Pekar
074. DJ Qualls
075. Joey Buttafuoco
076. Garry Shandling
077. Meat Loaf Aday
078. Joe Walsh
079. Tom from Myspace
080. Art Garfunkel
081. Brian Posehn
082. Howie Mandel
083. Barry Bonds
084. Dick Vitale
085. Richie "La Bamba" Rosenberg
086. Jeff Van Gundy
087. Jimmy Johnson
088. John Clayton
089. Don Vito
090. Lemmy Kilmister
091. Jose Canseco
092. Bill Parcells
093. Ric Flair
094. Ralph Nader
095. Dennis Kacinich (sic) [isn't it Kucinich?]
096. Horatio Sanz
097. Dom DeLuise
098. Emeril Lagasse
099. Kevin Federline
100. Brad Pitt