Category Archives: Uncategorized

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The Ego of Dave Ramsey – Where He Went Wrong

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Dave Ramsey
In this July 29, 2009, file photo, financial guru Dave Ramsey sits in his broadcasting studio in Brentwood, Tenn. Ramsey Solutions later moved to a new corporate headquarters in Franklin. (AP Photo/Josh Anderson, File)

I suppose Christmas Day isn’t a really great time to write this, but it’s on my list and I’ve got the time.

First of all, I’m not a “Christian-basher” in any sense. Although I haven’t gone to church since Mom died (I took her to her Lutheran church as long as she was physically able to go and arranged for the Pastor to visit her regularly after she wasn’t) and I don’t relate very well to traditional Christian doctrine, I understand that this is how currently the non-Jewish disciples of Jesus express their faith.

I should say that the people who are Christian bashers are out in force in social media, particularly X (formerly known as twitter). Consider Darwin, The UnVirgin Mary, Tori atheist, and Gregory Knight to name a few. These are people who not only don’t believe (and they have plenty of company) but who go way out of their way to insult and ridicule all religious people and particularly Christians.

I suppose they feel threatened. At least that’s how I read it.

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Clickbait

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clickbait
From a Woody and Buzz meme generator

I’m interrupting my “pie” series not only to share some information but to discipline myself.

I’m talking about social media in general and twitter/x in particular.

Among other things, the platform is just loaded with political and social content, both from the left and the right. Frankly, they’re all annoying, mainly because they say stuff like “My side is totally cool and the other side is literal Hitler.”

The one thing all these posters have in common is that their content is either incredibly provocative or gushing with praise. The other thing is, although these people aren’t well-known celebrities, politicians, or other noteworthy public figures, they have tons and tons of followers, at least in the tens of thousands and sometimes in the millions.

Here are some examples in no particular order (I’ve taken my examples from leftist posters but again, both sides of the aisle do the same thing).

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Whoever Is In Charge Controls The Pie

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pie
Meme from the internet

A few weeks ago, I wrote Yes, It’s A Pie, But Let Me Explain. It was a response to the meme “Equal Rights For Others Does Not Mean Fewer Rights For You. It’s Not Pie.”

While things like rights and access to opportunities shouldn’t be restricted, they often are based on who is doling out those resources. When some groups say they don’t have as much access to resources as other groups, it’s usually not because the resources or rights are limited so much as the folks doling out said-resources are restricting them.

In my prior article, I compared two very different groups: the LGBTQ+ community and PTSD sufferers. It’s an odd comparison but the month of June is both “Pride Month” and “PTSD Awareness Month.” In observing how each set of events were treated in news and social media and by the government, politicians, celebrities, and corporations, I saw that the former was highly marketed and praised while the latter was all but ignored.

The reason behind that is money. You can make more bank off of promoting goods and services to the LGBTQ community than you can by raising the public’s awareness of people who suffer from PTSD and other anxiety disorders.

It’s not that the real-world rights and opportunities of each group differed in the slightest. It is that the public gave rave reviews, devotion, caring, and attention to the former, but acted like the latter did not exist.

In other words, it’s a pie.

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Yes, It’s a Pie, But Let Me Explain

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pie
Meme found on the internet.

I know the phrase above sounds good. I mean especially in the United States, shouldn’t we all enjoy the same freedoms and rights? It’s one of our national ideals. And yet there are many, many groups (look at the color wheel in the image above and imagine what it represents) declaring that they suffer from a lack of rights.

Important Note: I’m not denying in any way the fact that some groups are regularly discriminated against and have certain of their rights denied. On the other hand, there’s more than one way to view the issue. I’m just holding up a different lens. Have a look.

I know this is supposed to be a religious blog, but bear with me.

So who isn’t getting their fair share of the pie?

According to the blog of Mark B. Baer, Inc (yes, a lawyer), lots of people.

I should say the article isn’t well maintained. It was published on November 7, 2021 but already some of the links used as resources are broken, including to one of Baer’s major sources Timothy D. Wilson and Nancy Brekke (if you clicked on it, I said it was broken) who supposedly “proved” bias could be avoided or eliminated.

Wait? Eliminated? I didn’t know human beings could be completely, dispassionately unbiased and objective.

The problem is the definition that Baer uses for bias. His source, which is also a broken link, defines bias as:

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Book Review: “Of Boys and Men” (2022) by Richard V. Reeves

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reevesI just finished reading Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do about It (2022) by Richard Reeves. I was inspired by what I had learned when writing my Defining Men series on this blog. I thought I might gain some further insights.

I was wrong.

I don’t doubt that author Richard Reeves is sincere in everything he’s written and that he actually is deeply concerned about the future of boys and men in our world. I just think he’s looking at the topic through a rather narrow lens.

I know when you read a book that has an extensive bibliography, it’s hard to impossible to say that the author was biased or misinformed. On the other hand, it really depends on which sources you mine and how you interpret them.

Reeves did state that both Progressives and Conservatives have, to one degree or another, not fully understood the issues involved in how males have become lost and without identity and purpose:

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Missouri Pastor Calls Autism “Demonic” – Where He Went Wrong

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rick morrow
Pastor Rick Morrow of Beulah Church in Richland, Missouri. | Screengrab: YouTube/Beulah Church

First of all, and hopefully I’ve said this before in the years this blog has existed. I’m not a theologian and I never will be. I’ve never been to seminary. I’m not a certified, official Bible teacher. I’m just a guy who has studied, mostly on his own, for a number of years (decades) and have come up with a few ideas. Most of those ideas actually belong to other people and sources. Take all of that into account when reading the following.

Oh good grief.

Periodically, a story will be posted in news or social media making Christians look particularly evil and/or stupid. This time, I found the story in The Christian Post so it’s not like I can accuse them of anti-Christian bias.

The article is titled Missouri pastor who called autism a ‘demon’ resigns from school board after backlash. The “Pastor” in question is named Rick Morrow and his church is Beulah Church in Richland Missouri.

That link used to go to their Facebook page which has been taken offline. They have no twitter account or website that I can find, which in their case, is probably a good idea. I’m sure they’re taking a lot of heat just now.

The article opens with:

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