We here at the Funky Presbyterian have made no efforts to conceal our affiliation with the protestant reformation and it's outworkings. We are regrettably still protesting aspects of Roman Catholicism and are eagerly awaiting it's reform according to scripture.
That is all just a way of saying that we are "Presbyterian" and if we're gonna be presbyterians, then dang it, we're gonna be good ones! We should be quick to add that we are not Catholic haters. No, quite the contrary. We love Christ's Church in every stream of history and tradition where it is embodied. That means we love the Roman Catholic Church and it's rich (though often misguided) history- especially the really early years. We are glad that our own confession of faith (The Westminster Standards) no longer refer to the Pope as an anti-Christ. We were heartened to find Pope Benedict a staunchly conservative Roman Theologian who understands and preserves the distinctions between Geneva, Rome, and Wheaton. Afterall, if you;re going to be a Catholic, then be a good one, right?
But, if I needed an additional reason to continue in my protest of Papery and all it's accoutrements, I've found it in this photograph. This is the pope. Wearing a Santa hat. And looking... well... looking... evil.
What on earth could possibly more frightening than an evil looking pope in a Santa hat? Every time I see it I scream like a little girl. AHHHHHHHHHH! I just looked at it. GO ahead. Look at it. Scroll up there and peek. AHHHHHHHHH! See what I mean? Looks like fire is about to shoot out his eyes. Man, is that creepy.
All I'm saying is that if something that looks like that comes down my chimney, I'll probably beat it with a stocking and run down the street in my pajamas. I'm gonna have nightmares tonight.
AHHHHHHHHHHH! sorry.
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9 comments:
Not to all RC's. I didn't say the pope IS evil. I said he LOOKS evil in this picture. Aw come on! Look at it. He totally looks evil, don't you think?
Note to everyone else. Please don't take any of this too seriously. We here at Funky Presbyterian love everybody. Especially you.
MD:
Looks like post-Darth Vader Anakin.
nice. nice, when a leader of a church jokes about the Pope in this way. You can preface your little HAHA all you want with the cry of no harm, no foul, but look at how your followers react. they compare the pope to evil characters in fictional texts.
And it is not a santa hat. it is a traditional hat, known as a camauro, and was commonly worn by popes in the medieval period. i am sure this is the kind of traditional garb that you have a problem with - but as a church leader why don't you demonstrate some maturity.
He may look funny in that hat in that picture but your posting and posturing says more about you and your small-minded thinking than the picture and the hat says about the pope.
Are you willing to stand your faith up against his?
do you think the pope spends hours of his day posting to a blog and uploding pictures of Jeff Tweedy in strange musical worship?
i just have to say this again, because it bears repeating.
even when you prefcae something with "don't get me wrong i think we should love all people especialy (insert group about to be bashed)" and then you go on to say bad things about them, you undermine your credibility as a person, a thinker, and as a christian.
bad things said about groups of people - in whatever context, with whatever preface - only proliferates hatred and promotes conflict.
i don't know you or your work as a preacher - but from your blog and your bio it seems like you are a thirty something guy trying to stay "cool" or be "cool." it seems like if you spent more time trying to help the people in your community and less time listening to "hip" "alt" rock or whatever, you might be on a more rightous path, a path more aligned with what god would want from a leader of his chruch.
Sorry if I offended you. I meant no disrespect to you, Catholics or the Pope. In fact, I expressly communicated my appreciation.
Some things to consider:
1. If you're gonna throw rocks, don't post anonymously. Have some courage. We're actually nice people. We won't bite or harrass.
2. Read with a little more precision in your thinking. No one compared the pope with an evil character. It is the appearance of the pope that was said to resemble Gollum.
3. Did I say I have a problem with traditional garb? I have no such problem. I've even kicked around the idea of robes in the past.
4. I don't really want to stand my faith "against" anyone. I'm not really sure what you mean by that. If what you mean is, am I willing to hold to my faith over against the things the Pope believes, then yes. He does not believe we recieve justification by faith alone, but by a combination of faith and merit. In fact, the pope anathematizes me to Hell for my faith. (See Trent cannon 9). I have said no such thing about the Pope, and have in fact expressed appreciation for his rigorous integrity with respect to his tradition. I just happen not to agree.
5. I don't have followers.
6. You admit yourself that the pope looks funny in that hat. That, we can agree on, I guess. That's all I was saying, but trying to say it in a way that was more engaging and fun to read.
7. I don't spend hours a day posting. It actually takes very littel time.
8. I don't know what the pope's daily schedule looks like. But I'll bet he doesn't have a blog.
9. I don't understand what Jeff Tweedy has to do with any of this. But I hope we haven't offended him as well.
10. At the funky presbyterian we take God seriously and we take Christ seriously and we take the gospel seriously and everything else we don't take so seriously. Including oursleves. If you find reading this blog causes you to sin by being angry, please do not read.
11. Our intent is never to offend or to anger.
12. If offense was taken, please accept this as an apology.
13. Have a merry Christmas as you celebrate the birth of Christ (I'm assuming you're catholic?).
14. John 17:20-26
Grace & Peace,
FP
greg,
i like your move toward kittens. i think it's safe.
i'm not sure wheter the safty is a transition on the blog due to the impersonal and textual nature of the medium or overall in your life, conversations, thoughts, and preaching.
surely, thinking about nothing but kittens would be tiring, as well a church who's teaching was based on kittens would likely grow in numbers exponentially, it would also likely lose some of the maturity that a consistant Christ based message would produce.
anyway. it's hard to call whats good and bad. a real fine line. yeah, that picture creeps me out, but not cause it's the pope. it's that simple artistic principle of juxtoposing icons of tradidional well meaning, with something like the humans ability to interpret one frame of a facial expression a window to the heart.
i'll start this next paragraph off by saying, yes, i really like to listen to myself talk, and i like to read my own writing.
i think where the whole thing gets fuzzy is here:
"we love the Roman Catholic Church and it's rich (though often misguided) history"
it's hard to be a man who knows as much as you do (and i'm not being fecicious in the slightest) and yet also accept streams of thought and faith that you have good historical and biblical reason to distance yourself from.
But not everyone is as smart as you are. they dont know why you're saying what your saying. they're not sure why you seem to not like catholics (or charismatics) but they follow because they trust you. heck, i trust you a lot.
but especially on a blog, maybe a little browbeating from an anon poster could cause some kids like us to think about how people are picking up what we're putting down.
anyways. i hope you've made it this far. i'll miss hanging out over christmas.
tons of love and sprinkles and a bit of regret for even addressing this,
daniel
DF,
Thanks for the input. It makes me very sad to hear that I've given the impression that I don't like catholics. Nothing could be further from the truth. Same with charismatics. I married a charismatic. I don't know why anyone would say that I don't like them. I can't even think of a time that I addressed charismaticism on my blog.
I did say that RC's history was often misguided. I said that because I believe it is true. I hope people do "follow" me in that belief. I guess I don't see the problem with that. I've never addressed Catholic beliefs or views with disrespect on this blog. However I have challenged them. Is that wrong?
Peace. Have a Merry Christmas.
Greg
That is the funniest freaking picture I have seen in a minute. He looks like that evil gremlin villian from the sequel that bust out singing like Frank Sinatra.
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