News Weakly - 5/15/21

Historic and Revolutionary
Pastor Rick Warren and Saddleback Church had an "historic night" when they "ordained our first three women pastors." The term -- their term -- "historic" should have been a clue. Historically from the beginning of Christendom any reader of Scripture has understood that, while gifted and important in ministry in the church, women are not allowed to serve in the role of pastor (1 Tim 2:11-14). It hasn't been until the last hundred years or so that we've discovered that the Holy Spirit was a failure and the Scriptures were unreliable. One of the ordained women called this change in philosophy "revolutionary." Truly, a revolt against God's Word.

In Name Only
President Biden is a Catholic and a pro-abortionist. The two positions are diametrically opposed. So many in the Roman Catholic Church in America are pushing to block the president from receiving Communion. The Vatican says no. "We're opposed to killing babies in the womb, but certainly not in any meaningful way." If they were to actually take that stand, it would be "a source of discord rather than unity within the episcopate and the larger church in the United States." Sure, there is truth, even God's truth, but let's not get radical about it. "We're pro-life, but not if it makes anyone uncomfortable."

But, Of Course!
We are no longer able to define male or female and we are no longer concerned about biblical principles. So, if an Evangelical Lutheran church in California elects Megan Rohrer, the first transgender bishop in a major American Christian denomination, who would be surprised? As a hint to a basic problem, the story says, "The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, ELCA’s presiding bishop, praised the synod for recognizing Rohrer’s talents." Got it. The story is very confusing, partly because the new bishop "uses they/them pronouns." Apparently this guy got expelled from a church youth group as a teen after coming out ... as a lesbian? Or is Megan a girl who identifies as a guy but kept the girl name and ... oh, I'll never be able to figure this stuff out.

Pronoun Troubles
The classic line from that Bugs Bunny/Daffy Duck cartoon was, "Pronoun troubles." Instagram is solving it. They will allow users to select their pronouns. So we have the standard he/him-she/her stuff, but that's so passe. Now we have "they/them," "ze/zir," "xe/xem," and so on. If we're choosing pronouns, I'm going with "pthttt" and "your highness." Why not? It's just as useful.

Woke Rice
A gross injustice has been set right. We will no longer be regaled with racist derision of uncles who are black and work with rice. Gone is the brand, "Uncle Ben's," because everyone knows that black people can't be uncles and gone is the photo of the smiling black man because everyone knows black people don't have anything at all to do with white rice. Nonsense? You bet.

Silver Linings
Some good news, apparently. On one hand, reports are that Biden is thankful for the latest gas crisis because it distracts the nation from his inflation crisis, unemployment crisis, economic crisis, and border crisis. And, the story is out that Jimmy Carter is grateful for Biden because now Carter is hopeful that he won't be the worst presidential failure in his lifetime. Lots of silver linings!

Must be true; I read it on the Internet.