I got a couple of new emails recently, and I want to post them for your enjoyment.

Couv Operator writes:

Did you see King of the Hill this week?  It was a great take-down of mega-churches.  Peggy was trying to sell Hank on switching to a new church.  She was talking about the coffee bar, dry cleaning, cafe, music store, book store, and on and on.  Hank had the comeback of the year.  "If I wanted to go to a church like that, I'd just walk around the mall and think about Jesus."  I had to hit pause, I was laughing so hard.

To quote Homer Simpson, "It's funny because it's true." Also, you know the Pastors at City Bible just read this and were like, "Dry Cleaning! Genius! Why didn't we think of that."

Lastly, an old college friend, who is also a recently ordained Methodist Minister, found my blog and wrote me the following email:

Mr. Morton-

First of all, I have to say that I am impressed with your online ministry.  You have quite the ragamuffin bunch of disgruntled Christians following your writings.  In all seriousness…your critique of the church is very prophetic, and in the midst of the sarcasm and biting wit, there is also quite a bit of compassion.

(I just looked back at what I wrote.  It makes me feel like I need to give somebody a group hug.  Sorry for the sappy tone- but I am impressed with the ideas you express on the blog.  I'll be a reader in the future.

"Ragamuffin bunch of disgruntled Christians" is an excellent description of this blog. I may try to post that phrase permanently.

I meant to get to this subject last week but have been swamped at work. Nevertheless, since this blog has a lot of intelligent, theologically trained readers, I am curiuous what they think of this new Book of Judas.

Key quote:

The text's existence has been known since it was denounced as heresy by the bishop of Lyon in A.D. 180, but its contents had remained an almost total mystery. Unlike the four gospels of the New Testament, it describes conversations between Jesus and Judas Iscariot during the week before Passover in which Jesus tells Judas "secrets no other person has ever seen."

The other apostles pray to a lesser God, Jesus says, and he reveals to Judas the "mysteries of the kingdom" of the true God. He asks Judas to help him return to the kingdom, but to do so, Judas must help him abandon his mortal flesh: "You will sacrifice the man that clothes me," Jesus tells Judas, and acknowledges that Judas "will be cursed by the other generations."

There is also this opinion from Larry Hurtado in Slate Magazine:

The Gospel of Judas has genuine historical value—as one of several bits of evidence showing the diversity of early Christianity, like the writings of such figures as Irenaeus, the bishop of Lyons in about 180 A.D. The text's depiction of Judas as the disciple to whom Jesus gave unique mystical revelations is not itself really unique. It somewhat resembles the portrayal of Thomas in the Gospel of Thomas. Nor is there evidence that the Gospel of Judas ever enjoyed much popularity as an alternative to the canon of the New Testament or was considered for inclusion in that canon. This text reflects a profoundly elitist viewpoint, claiming a specially conveyed revelation of religious truths withheld from ordinary Christians and their leaders.

I find the process of cannonizing the Bible fascinating. And to me The Gospel of Judas is just more proof that Christ exists, and yet at the same time, maybe we should not take the Bible literally.  

Howard and I have decided to meet face to face to finish our conversation. Now, I tried to take this site back to it's CBC bashing roots. I wanted to include you all in the discussion, but hardly anybody wanted to talk. Fine. I'm taking my blog and going home.

For those of you wanting to entertain yourself with a "Religion" related link click here: http://www.cafepress.com/larknews. It's Larknews.com's latest T-Shirt designs. They're funny and they're real.

Enjoy.

(I'll let you know what Howard has to say)

Dear Frank, Mark, Jack, Ken, Robert, Howard, Doug, Rich, Isaac, Asim, Scott, and wives,

Many people have asked me if I have told you how I feel in regards to my experience at CBC. For some reason they feel this will add legitimacy to "the blog" (thank you all, by the way, for making City Business Church "the blog"). I always respond to these comments the same way… "OF COURES I'VE TOLD THEM HOW I FEEL, I've told the whole world how I feel." Unfortunately, most people seem to think that the reason you are supposed to "talk to the person who offended you" is so that they can hide it from everyone else; I however, feel the reason to bring it up is so that the offender has a chance to work things out with the offended. That being said, here is your chance.

I have carefully documented all of my feelings here on this weblog. Please feel free to peruse through the many posts I have written and, if it makes you feel better, add "Dear _________ (insert your name)" to the beginning. I would specifically like to draw your attention to the "Why we blog"" section. In it you will find key insights to help answer the questions "WHAT HAPPENED" and "WHY".

Most recently I posted a comment titled "Well & Grace"; in it I address many of the concerns I have with your church and specifically list an instance where "Biblical Mandate" was not followed. This would be a great place to start.

You may use the comments section below or, if you choose, you can send an emailed response to mortonjp14@hotmail.com. I would also like to state that I would be more than happy to meet with anyone to discuss things face to face.

Please do not ignore my request. Despite the constant sarcasm you may find on this site, there is much truth in my words. DO NOT BE AFRAID OF ONE MAN'S OPINION.

I look forward to your response.

Couv Operator sends over a couple of links from fellow Oregonlive blogger Steve Duin.

Steve links to a NY Times article discussing Joel Osteen. Evidently, Joel has taken to autographing Bibles and is a big believer in making lots of money. Surprise. Surprise.

The best part of the article is the end, where Joel defends his position on prosperity by arguing,

"I don't believe I ever preached a message on money," he said.

Of course Joel doesn't need to preach about money. He has his wife do it for him:

Before the collection was taken, Victoria Osteen urged generosity as a way of drawing God's favor. "He not only wants to enrich you but do things for you you know nothing about," she said. "Let him breathe the breath of life into your finances and he'll give it back to you bigger than you could ever give it to him," she said. To which the congregation, said, "Amen," and the buckets went around.

I really believe that if Jesus went to Joel's church, He'd snap and start turning over coffee carts and book tables.

Steve later links to an article in Harper's Magazine which challenges all Christians to live better lives. (I prefer to focus on Joel).  

Jack just emailed me this story about a youth pastor who attacked a teen during an intense game of dodge ball. From what interaction I have had with youth pastors, I find they are often highly competitive. 

Or perhaps this was just the youth pastor's way of preparing his youth group for the Dodgeball Championship in Vegas.

If you can dodge a wrench (or a kick to the goin) you can dodge a ball.