Observed at the coffee shop today

“What do you say!” she barked loudly to her small daughter who had just received her do-nut. “Thank you,” the little one meekly replied.

I know I did that to my kids too back in the 1970s, which is probably why I noticed (could hear myself) but gosh, it grates on my old ears now. It kind of smacks of “Everyone look at me, I’m teaching my kid good manners (by being rude to her in public).”

We had a lot of help becoming the crass, rude, it’s-all-about-me people we are today. Here’s my own assessment.

Prayer and Bible reading were taken out of schools incrementally, which removed any thought that there was an over arching system of justice or wisdom above Me. Today you can’t even pass out red and green M&Ms at a school “holiday party.”

A War on Poverty was launched which drove men out of their children’s lives and diminished respect for marriage, which in turn removed tacit authority of parents. A single mom making $29,000 a year, can boost her income to about $69,000 through government benefits like housing allowances, EITC, SNAP, etc.

Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) took the Catholic church in a different direction, with much misunderstanding and craziness, and the Protestants just followed along. Happy clappy songs and sloppy loopy teachings have replaced sound doctrine and good liturgy in all Christian denominations.

With falling standards among Christians in the 60s and 70s, divorce, contraception and abortion became the trinity of free and/or marital sex and shacking up. What’s the point of modeling good behavior?

Boomers came of age—got themselves into all sorts of messes, including war protests and Marxism. Resulted in a lot of them becoming academics and passing it along to Gen-Xers and Next-Gen. They became sappy grandparents with low to no standards.

That’s a lot to read into a rude parenting style, but words have consequences to the 3rd and 4th generation.

Thank you!

Thank you, Brodie Taphorn, Eric Waters, Buff Delcamp, Paul Ulring, Scott Ford, Dan Clark, Dave Mann and Dave Drumel, who pastor our 9 services at our 3 campuses of Upper Arlington Lutheran Church.

Polygamists wait to see the outcome of gay marriage shift

Polygamists. They are waiting in line for us to change the centuries old rules for marriage. And why not? What's so sacred about the number two in sex and definitions of marriage? Many people are serial spouses now. Why not 3 or 4 men if 2 men is OK? It will just add a few pounds to the Social Security Handbook which already has 2700+ rules. So if you think your church has settled this issue , and you're patting yourself on the back because your congregation is so open and welcoming, think again. "Beneath the sensationalism, there lies a real question. If Americans increasingly value their rights to privacy and liberty above historical social norms, then why should the state not legally approve other unconventional domestic set-ups?" And of course, evenutally using the word "unconventional" or even "couple" would than become hate speech. [quote from Washington Post article, Oct. 5, 2012]

And after that hurdle, you'll need to be looking at age, and biological relationships. With contraception, abortion, artificial insemination taking the place of marital sex and the biblical purpose of marriage (children, procreation), why not marry your sister or brother, or your mother-in-law?