What are we, Protestants, really celebrating today?

I don't want to sound like a historical revisionist, but Jim West has been writing very interesting pieces about when did the Protestant Reformation really started. Lutherans love to think that everything started with Martin Luther. It is well known that the usual phrase "Justification by faith is the article by which the Church stands or falls" is not from Luther, rather, from Johann Heinrich Alsted, dating from 1618. So, after some 400 hundred years, it would be a good thing to start giving praise where it is due.  Also, the Lutheran project did not go as well as it was intended, but it did quash other movement, as the Anabaptist movement, and condemned Zwingli for rejecting the Luther's understanding (misunderstanding more like it) of the Lord's Supper.

Well, this is how Jim started his posts about the date where the Reformation really started:

And yes, it's just Lutheran Reformation Day.  Luther was 2 years late as the initiator of Reformation- Zwingli having begun work in that direction in 1515.  So, congrats, Lutherans- just as was true at Barmen- while the Lutherans slept, the Reformed worked.

And the next one:

The Lutherans are celebrating what they call ‘Reformation Day’.  They like to delude themselves with the unfounded belief that were it not for Luther, there would have been no Reformation. 

Alas, poor things, they seem totally unaware that Reform had already commenced further south, in Switzerland, where Zwingli and his colleagues had been lurching towards true Reform since 1515. 

To be sure, Luther matters.  But he doesn’t matter as much as his followers would like the world to believe. ...... 

Luther didn’t teach Zwingli either the Gospel or the proper understanding of the Supper of the Lord.  Zwingli knew and taught both before anyone had ever heard of Luther. 

So, dear Lutherans, enjoy your awakening day.  It’s ok with the rest of us if you were a bit late to the party.

Very revealing, indeed.

When the Prom ceases to be what it used to be. Lesbians proclaimed Queen and King of the Homecoming

Once again, if you are gay, you get attention by merely being gay, thus making your sexually the most important thing about you. Now we find that there's a "couple" of girls who have been proclaimed king and queen of their school's homecoming.

Two California high school students became one of the first lesbian couples crowned homecoming king and queen in the nation this weekend.

Rebeca Arellano, a senior at Patrick Henry High School, was made theschool's first female homecoming king when her name was announced Friday at a pep rally.

"They were chanting my name and it was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had," said Arellano.

Just like I posted here some time ago about the Presbyterians, chanting because they had elected a gay minister, this young people have succumbed to the wrong way of seeing reality.

I really like what Jim West has to say about this turn of events:

I'm not applauding.  And it isn't because I 'hate' gays or am a homophobe.  It's because she isn't a male and she can't, therefore, be a 'king'.  Furthermore, why is she singled out as someone worthy of attention when there are, across the country, tens of thousands of young men and women who lead worthy-of-attention lives but are never recognized merely because they aren't living deviantly? 

Gays and Lesbian activists insist constantly that homosexuality is more than mere sex and yet any time the issue IS sex (sexuality)(gender) it's trotted out as a parade example of what gay can be. 

If this young lady were really an upstanding example of humankind, why is it necessary to mention her sexual orientation?  When 'straight' Homecoming Kings across the country are crowned I guarantee not one of them will be feted because of their heterosexuality.  You won't see a single report on the Huffington Post declaring 'Heterosexual male crowned homecoming king!' 

Why do gay activists make everything out of sexual orientation if it isn't the only aspect of their being that defines them? 

I hope Miss Arellano has a good life and that it turns out to be about more than just her sexual orientation.  Because at this juncture, that's all it's about. 

I totally agree with Jim about how being gay, supposedly makes a person unique this days. You never hear about heterosexual homecoming queens and kings making front page news, unless there's a scandal of sorts. This sort of thing, I have given a name, heterophobia, or the fear that is manifested in proclaiming or insinuating that being gay is better than being straight.

And in the following sentence from the original news post, I find reason to believe that this is happening:

Arellano said one of her teachers told her, "Today school is a bit better because of you girls."

What? So all the heterosexual children at school never made the school special? Giving a lesbian couple the honour of being homecoming queen and king makes a school better? How about when a heterosexual couple wins such a price, that makes the school then, average?

But these girls are savvy. Look at her response to other girls who don't agree with her being crown homecoming king:

"We have a lot of support, but there are also a lot of people who are angry about it," she said. "Anonymous Patrick Henry students are saying they're embarrassed and that it's wrong for a girl to take the spot of king. But there's no other way for us to run as a couple. It's not really fair for us not to have the right to run as a couple."

Arellano posted a statement to those who opposed her on her Facebook wall that read: "For all the girls who think tradition should be continued, go back to the kitchen, stop having sex before you're married, get out of school and job system, don't have an opinion, don't own any property, give up the right to marry who you love, don't vote, and allow your husband to do whatever he pleases to you. Think about the meaning of tradition when you use it in your argument against us."

My answer to this diatribe would be, why do you yourselves adhere to a tradition, the proclamation of the homecoming queen and king, while you want to reject other sorts of tradition?

This is just another example of people wanting to make their own reality, at the expense of everybody else. You may have had made the headlines, but your worth as a contributor of mankind (yes, mankind), is still to be seen.

How the world got to 7 Billions and other interesting facts

The Christian Debate Over Halloween

October 30, 2011 3:12 AM
Jim Roope

For many American Christians, Halloween is innocent, harmless and fun, and they trick-or-treat, carve pumpkins and don costumes with gusto.

For others, though - especially for some conservative and fundamentalist Christians - Halloween is a celebration of evil and has no place in the life of a believer.

"We don't endorse that or we don't celebrate that," said Joe Hernandez, pastor of Worshipwalk Church in Los Angeles, which belongs to the conservative Pentecostal tradition. "People are celebrating the devil's holiday."

Halloween's roots are believed to date back 1,400 years, to the Irish-pagan New Year's celebration. The Celtic New Year began on November 1. People would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts and evil spirits.

Some Christians, like Hernandez, believe Halloween's pagan roots can open the door to evil. That's why Worshipwalk is hosting a harvest festival in its church parking lot on Monday, with kids' games and face painting.

Hernandez calls it harvesting hearts for God.

Some conservative churches go a step further, attempting to co-opt the holiday with haunted houses - called "hell houses" - that are designed to give a glimpse of eternal damnation in hopes of strengthening faith.

"There's Satan's lies and there's Jesus' redemption and there's a message that will change your life," said Keenan Roberts, who says he is the inventor of the hell house, which people walk or call through, just as they would a haunted house.

"It's designed to reach the 'sight and sound' age," said Roberts. "The message is sacred but the method is not."

Hell houses can be graphic. In Roberts' hell house - which he markets through his Hell House Ministries - live actors depict scenes of abortion, rape, suicide and murder, though the journey through the house culminates in scenes of redemption through Jesus.

Pastor of the fundamentalist New Destiny church near Denver, Colorado, Roberts said that his ministry has received a lot of criticism for what critics say is "going too far."

But he said today's kids are so desensitized that he will do whatever it takes to get the message of salvation to take root.

Sermon James 1:1-18 Endurance through God's gift of wisdom

This Sunday Sermon

Does Joel Osteen Not Know, or Does He Not Care?

By now, it is clear that Joel Osteen’s carelessness is deliberate and calculated.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
By Albert Mohler.

Here we go again. Joel Osteen is in the news once again, this time for saying that Mormonism is just another form of Christianity. Osteen, pastor of “America’s largest church,” as the media repeat over and over, was speaking toThe Washington Times in an interview that covered a variety of issues. It was the quintessential Joel on display.

Speaking to the newspaper on Monday, Osteen said, “I see faith in America at an all-time high.” His comments came just as a major research project detailed a significant loss of vitality in America’s Christian congregations. That loss of vitality can be traced, among other things, to a loss of theological and biblical conviction. Joel, of course, is proof positive that you can build a crowd without building a church. He is not inclined to deal in much theological conviction.

In the interview, he distilled his message in these words: “Part of our core message is that seasons change, and when you believe, if you don’t get bitter, and you don’t get discouraged, you may not change overnight, but you can get peace.”

That message includes some truth, of course — but it doesn’t even come close to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Hell will be filled with people who bloomed where they were planted.He also told the newspaper: “People need to be reminded that every day is a gift from God, and bloom where you’re planted and be happy where you are, and to make that choice to get up every day and be grateful.”

On Mormonism, Joel said:

“I believe that [Mormons] are Christians . . . . I don’t know if it’s the purest form of Christianity, like I grew up with. But you know what, I know Mormons. I hear Mitt Romney — and I’ve never met him — but I hear him say, ‘I believe Jesus is the son of God,’ ‘I believe he’s my savior,’ and that’s one of the core issues.”

“I’m sure there are other issues that we don’t agree on. But you know, I can say that the Baptists and the Methodists and the Catholics don’t all agree on everything. So that would be my take on it.”

Osteen just stated his belief that Mormons are Christians. He then expressed the thought that Mormonism “might not be the purest form of Christianity, like I grew up with,” but he affirmed Mormon statements that Jesus is the Son of God and that He is Savior.

Evaluating Osteen’s boyhood understanding of Christianity would be a project unto itself, given the shifting theology of his preacher father, the late John Osteen.

The main point of concern in Joel’s latest comment is the lack of any biblical standard of judgment and the total abdication of theological responsibility. He relegates doctrinal disagreements between Christians and Mormons to the status of theological debates between Protestant denominations and then includes Roman Catholicism. There are plenty of issues there, and the issues are not the same when comparing Baptists to Methodists, on the one hand, and Protestants and Roman Catholics, on the other. Comparing any form of Trinitarian orthodoxy with Mormonism is another class of question altogether.

Joel reminded the paper’s staff that he has never attended seminary. This is true, of course, but there are thousands of preachers who never had the opportunity to attend seminary who have a sufficient grasp of and commitment to biblical truth that would prevent such carelessness.

By now, it is clear that Joel Osteen’s carelessness is deliberate and calculated. This is not the first time that he has encountered the question of Mormonism. Back in 2007, he told Chris Wallace of FOX News that Mormons are indeed Christians:

“Well, in my mind they are. Mitt Romney has said that he believes in Christ as his savior, and that’s what I believe, so, you know, I’m not the one to judge the little details of it. So I believe they are.”

The little details of it? Mormonism does not differ from historic biblical Christianity in only the “little details,” and a faithful Mormon would be the first to point this out. Mormonism begins with a plurality of gods, not with the monotheism of the Bible. Jesus Christ is an exalted man — not the incarnate Word. The list of categorical doctrinal differences continues throughout the entire belief system.

The very essence of Mormonism is the claim that historic Christianity is fundamentally in error, and that true Christianity did not exist on earth from the time of the Apostles until Joseph Smith. Mormonism can hardly be charged with hiding their movement’s teachings — the Book of Mormon and the other fundamental texts of the Latter Day Saints are published in plain sight.

In a remarkable exchange with Chris Wallace, Osteen muddied the waters further:

WALLACE: So, for instance, when people start talking about Joseph Smith, the founder of the church, and the golden tablets in upstate New York, and God assumes the shape of a man, do you not get hung up in those theological issues?

OSTEEN: I probably don’t get hung up in them because I haven’t really studied them or thought about them. And you know, I just try to let God be the judge of that. I mean, I don’t know.

Here we face a fundamental dilemma. When Joel Osteen hears a summary of Mormon belief that mentions God assuming “the shape of a man,” does he lack the theological discernment to hear how that differs from biblical Christianity, or does it not concern him? In other words, does Joel not know, or does Joel not care?

In the end, we have to conclude that he does not care enough to know, and that is the greater tragedy for a Christian minister. He doesn’t “get hung up” on doctrinal issues, nor has he “really studied them or thought about them.” His own words indict him.

Evangelical Christians are going to face many questions in this season, and the question of Mormonism is now front and center. It will call upon all of us to do what Joel Osteen proudly has not done — to study and think about these issues. In this political moment, we will have to think carefully and act judiciously without confusing the theological questions. We will need the full wealth of Christian conviction.

We will also need deep doctrinal discernment mixed with urgent spiritual concern. The Latter Day Saints include some of the most wonderful and kind people we will ever meet. They put a great emphasis on character and on the moral values of our common concern. They talk freely and passionately about their own beliefs, including their beliefs concerning Jesus Christ. Furthermore, they put action behind their commitments, sending their young people on mission and fueling a worldwide movement that remains one of the fastest-growing on the planet.

But their beliefs concerning Jesus Christ are not those of historic Christianity, and their understanding of salvation differs radically from the message of the New Testament. It is the responsibility of every Christian — and most certainly every Christian minister — to know this.

Joel Osteen told The Washington Times that he is constantly “looking for new ways to influence the culture.” Our culture admires those with low theological commitment and high emphasis on attitude. In Joel Osteen’s case, it is the secular culture that has influenced the minister, and not the minister that is influencing the culture.

Answering to Bart Ehrman accusations and lunacies

Not a Single Christian Church Left in Afghanistan, Says State Department

Thank you very much, War on Terror.

By Edwin Mora

October 10, 2011

(CNSNews.com) -- There is not a single, public Christian church left in Afghanistan, according to the U.S. State Department.

This reflects the state of religious freedom in that country ten years after the United States first invaded it and overthrew its Islamist Taliban regime.

In the intervening decade, U.S. taxpayers have spent $440 billion to support Afghanistan's new government and more than 1,700 U.S. military personnel have died serving in that country.

The last public Christian church in Afghanistan was razed in March 2010, according to the State Department's latest International Religious Freedom Report. The report, which was released last month and covers the period of July 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010, also states that “there were no Christian schools in the country.”

“There is no longer a public Christian church; the courts have not upheld the church's claim to its 99-year lease, and the landowner destroyed the building in March [2010],” reads the State Department report on religious freedom. “[Private] chapels and churches for the international community of various faiths are located on several military bases, PRTs [Provincial Reconstruction Teams], and at the Italian embassy. Some citizens who converted to Christianity as refugees have returned.”

In recent times, freedom of religion has declined in Afghanistan, according to the State Department.

“The government’s level of respect for religious freedom in law and in practice declined during the reporting period, particularly for Christian groups and individuals,” reads the State Department report.

“Negative societal opinions and suspicion of Christian activities led to targeting of Christian groups and individuals, including Muslim converts to Christianity," said the report. "The lack of government responsiveness and protection for these groups and individuals contributed to the deterioration of religious freedom.”

Most Christians in the country refuse to “state their beliefs or gather openly to worship,” said the State Department.

More than 1,700 U.S. military personnel have died serving in the decade-old Afghanistan war, according to CNSNews.com’s database of all U.S. casualties in Afghanistan. A September audit released jointly by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction and the State Department’s Office of Inspector General, found that the U.S. government will spend at least $1.7 billion to support the civilian effort from 2009-2011.

According to that report, the $1.7 billion excludes additional security costs, which the report says the State Department priced at about $491 million.

A March 2011 report by the Congressional Research Service showed that overall the United States has spent more than $440 billion in the Afghanistan war. Christian aid from the international community has also gone to aid the Afghan government.

Nevertheless, according to the State Department, the lack of non-Muslim religious centers in Afghanistan can be blamed in part on a “strapped government budget,” which is primarily fueled by the U.S. aid.

“There were no explicit restrictions for religious minority groups to establish places of worship and training of clergy to serve their communities,” says the report, “however, very few public places of worship exist for minorities due to a strapped government budget.”

The report acknowledged that Afghanistan’s post-Taliban constitution, which was ratified with the help of U.S. mediation in 2004, can be contradictory when it comes to the free exercise of religion.

While the new constitution states that Islam is the “religion of the state” and that “no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam,” it also proclaims that “followers of other religions are free to exercise their faith and perform their religious rites within the limits of the provisions of the law.”

However, “the right to change one’s religion was not respected either in law or in practice,” according to the State Department.

“Muslims who converted away from Islam risked losing their marriages, rejection from their families and villages, and loss of jobs,” according to the report. “Legal aid for imprisoned converts away from Islam remains difficult due to the personal objection of Afghan lawyers to defend apostates.”

The report does note that “in recent years neither the national nor local authorities have imposed criminal penalties on coverts from Islam.” The report says that “conversion from Islam is considered apostasy and is punishable by death under some interpretations of Islamic rule in the country.”

Also, in recent years, the death punishment for blasphemy “has not been carried out,” according to the State Department.

According to the State Department report, the United States continues to promote religious freedom in Afghanistan--even though the country no longer has even one Christian church.

“The U.S. government regularly discusses religious freedom with government officials as part of its overall policy to promote human rights,” according to the report.

According to the State Department report, more than 99 percent of the population, estimated between 24 and 33 million people, is either Sunni (80 percent) or Shia (19 percent) Muslim. Non-Muslim religious groups, including the estimated 500 to 8,000 strong Christian community in the country, make up less than 1 percent of the population. Other non-Muslim groups in the country are Sikhs, Bahais, and Hindus.

A Lecture about the King James Bible

If you want to hear about how this bible came about, and its impact, listen to this lecture.

2011 is the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible. All of us are aware of the religious and theological significance of this great work, but it has also had a wider and lasting impact on our language and culture. Sir Winston Churchill said of this translation that 'the scholars who produced this masterpiece are mostly unknown and unremembered. But they forged an enduring link, literary and religious, between the English-speaking peoples of the world.'¹

"As part of Theological Libraries Month, the Westminster library hosted a special lecture by Dr. Carl R. Trueman on the historical background to and the translation of the KJV entitled “Throwing the Book at his Enemies: James I and his Bible.” Dr. Trueman is Professor of Historical Theology and Church History and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Westminster."

You can listen to this lecture at this address. 

What I think about Halloween

Take a virtual walk through the Jerusalem Temple

Pat Robertson Attacks Extremism by Republican Candidates

Wow, this is like "from an extremist to another extremist".

Pat Robertson, who recently made headlines for saying that if your spouse has Alzheimer's you are free to divorce them, has come back with a harsh critique of the way some Republicans, and some in the Tea Party, are going about in their politics.

Apparently, even Pat Robertson, an extremist himself, is afraid of the extremism found in the Republican Party. This is what he says about this issue:

“Those people in the Republican primary have got to lay off of this stuff. They’re forcing their leaders, the frontrunners, into positions that will mean they lose the general election.”

As an example of the extremism found in the Tea Party, the article points at some practices by them.

Robertson is right about that, at least. Just ask Barry Goldwater. Tea Party denizens today are very fond of carrying signs at their rallies that quote Barry Goldwater’s famous phrase from his 1964 speechaccepting the Republican presidential nomination: “I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.”
They should also be reminded that Barry Goldwater lost that election.

I am very worry for the USA. Obama is not looking good, but when I see the Republicans, they are a threat as well. Democracy is based on free choices, but in the USA, they only have two. Not much democracy if you tell me.

Well, at least, is good to see that some of the most extremist people can see that their own people will not be able to win the election, if they carry on the way they are going.

Jesus in Continuum

I wish I could buy this book, just that the price is a bit out of range right now. On the other part, I see this as a good development, placing Jesus in the transition from 1st century Judaism to early Christianity.

Ed. by Tom Holmén

One of the central characteristics of the latest historical Jesus research has been the attempt to locate Jesus plausibly within first-century Judaism. Less emphasis has been placed on the question as to whether or how, if at all, the image of Jesus within the Jewish context also suits and accounts for the history of the influence and reception of Jesus in early Christianity. Tom Holmén urges that the Christian reception history of Jesus be given a proper role in research. He argues that the scrutiny of the reception should not be a mere appendage to the more careful study of Jesus within Judaism. Instead, the reception should be given equally serious attention and form an integral part of scholarly pursuits. As a result, one no longer studies Jesus “within Judaism” but “in continuum,” namely in the continuum from early Judaism to early Christianity. The articles of this volume outline a continuum approach to the historical Jesus. They are divided into three areas exhibiting different aspects of the continuum approach: theoretical aspects, Jesus meets Christianity, and Jesus from Judaism to Christianity.

Episcopalians want to reinstate Pelagius

Well, my Reformed friends will not stand up to this, but neither can't I. What in the world is happening in the Episcopalian Church? First, they went against Scripture ordaining a gay bishop, now, they are even contemplating reinstating Pelagius?

Here it is a bit of Pelagian "Christianity" for those who may not be familiar with it, from a section of the article I am citing regarding this atrocious attempt.

Pelagius taught that the human will, as created with its abilities by God, was sufficient to live a sinless life, although he believed that God's grace assisted every good work. Pelagius did not believe that all humanity was guilty in Adam's sin, but said that Adam had condemned humankind through bad example, and that Christ's good example offered humanity a path to salvation, through sacrifice and through instruction of the will. Jerome emerged as one of the chief critics of Pelagianism, because, according to him, sin was a part of human nature and we couldn't help but sin. 

Allison in his book notes that Pelagianism teaches that the human will has the power to break the bondage of sin. It is best understood as a theological synonym for "nagging," or confidence that the law requires no more than humans can do. Therefore Pelagian Christianity is characterized by exhortation and scolding. Confidence in the power of human will leads to confidence that the defeat of sin can be effected by means of fear. The underlying confidence in the power of the human will to make one sinless is Pelagian."

Just see the logic then, from the Episcopalian side. Sin is not following the example set but by Jesus now, it's not something inherit in us. That's why, if somebody is a homosexual, as one of their bishops, it doesn't matter, because the important thing is that he follows the example of Christ by loving others.

But don't take my reasoning for it. Look how the article puts it so plainly:

A tongue in cheek activist layman in the Atlanta diocese said, "It's delightfully revealing that Bishop Alexander's last diocesan council will consider a resolution to memorialize, which is the first step toward official institutionalization, an infamous heretic. Revealing, because now that civil rights, women's ordination, and same-sex marriage are TEC sacraments, giving blessings to recognized heresy just makes sense and shows how much vitality and forward momentum that transformative change still has in TEC."

So I will be waiting what Episcopalians come up next in their eventual degeneration into a pagan religion.

Luis A. Jovel

Karzai finally reveals his true colors

This is what Karzai has said, in his own words:

"God forbid, If ever there is a war between Pakistan and America, Afghanistan will side with Pakistan," he said in the interview to Geo television.

Can we still trust the Afghanistanis?

So while we are told by Julia Gillard, by Bark Obama, and all those war mongers, that these people need our help, and the lives of our troops, he is happy to say that if there's a war against Pakistan, they will side with the new enemy.

But if you look at the picture, what's to be surprised about? You can buy friends, for a while, but not forever. That's something that Bush, or Obama, or Gillard didn't learn during their university years apparently.

Rick Santorum has guts and sees reality as it is

Our Prime Minister and political leaders should pay attention to this man, and get our troops out of Iraq, and Afghanistan, not until December, NOW!!

Ten wrong predictions of the end of the world and other events

To me, this is more like a death wish, the end of the world. Why can't people just wish their own end, but have to include the rest of us, is beyond me.

Well, Time has published its Top 10 Failed Predictions. It would be a good idea for the rest of us to read them, and to see how people can get things wrong, and still be so unrepentant as Harold Camping.

But the predictions don't stop with the end of the world. There are plain flat denials about how the world works and is. Take for instance, The Flat Earth Society.

The last wrong predictions, number 10, is telling of how the Western historical narrative is so wrong. The the fall of Communism in Easter Europe and the Soviet Union, Francis Fukuyama thought that society and civilisation was in a path of evolution, being democracy and capitalism the pinacle of that evolution. The small article points two things out, that there's a great discontent in our liberal democratic countries, yet, undemocratic China is on the rise. The system that doesn't work for North Korea or Cuba, apparently works very well in China economically.

Well, interesting read. I commend you to read the ten worst predictions. Of musical interest, see prediction number 5, where the Beatles were dismissed as washed up before they hit it big.

Luis A. Jovel

I teach theology. That means…

• …half the time I don’t even know where my Bible is, let alone read it.

• …I think reading a verse in context means finding it in my favorite systematic theology book.

• …I get paid to start fights.

• …deep down I wish I had a cool-sounding German name.

• …my only friends have all been dead for 1000 years.

• …I’m right. Always.

• …I enjoy sucking all the mystery out of life.

• …real people confuse me.

• …I’m not even sure what “exegesis” is.

• …I spend most of my time thinking up alien categories to impose on the text.

• …I’m not even sure what ministry is.

• …I’m not truly happy until I’ve confused someone.

• …I think the fruit of the spirit is arrogance, strife, certainty, intelligence, perseverance (in study), loneliness, literacy, irrelevance, and stubbornness.

• …my favorite books are…never mind, you wouldn’t understand them anyway.

• …I’ve been trained to speak unintelligibly whenever possible.

• …no one likes me but I’m so bad with people that I don’t notice.

• …I think anyone who disagrees with me is a pagan, heretic, unbeliever, Cowboys fan, or some combination of the above.

• …I confuse belief with knowledge and speculation with reality.

• …if you saw how I dressed you’d swear I was colorblind.

Via Marc Cortez.