Friday, August 04, 2006

Is It Warm Out Here Or Is It Just Pat?

Today it’s being widely reported that the warmer than usual summer temperatures have gotten hold of Pat Robertson. Like the sailors who got scared and fed Jonah to the big fish, there’s nothing like a little natural theology to help a guy rethink some things.

Here are a couple of his statements –"We really need to address the burning of fossil fuels…if we are contributing to the destruction of this planet, we need to do something about it."

Huh.

So now that Mr. Robertson has succumbed to the growing threat of far-left environmentalism I became inspired and found this article on his organizations website – “The Growing Threat of Far-Left Environmentalism”.

This is his July 2005 interview with US Senator James Inhofe. The money shot is James saying, “You know, I was so excited that we were winning all of these things [gay marriage, abortion, etc.], and now we have this far-Left group coming in trying to capture the evangelical Christians. We can’t let it happen, Pat.” The emphasis is mine.

It is not being reported that Senator Inhofe telephoned Pat yesterday asking if he knew what the temperature in hell is.

I’d like to offer some starter tips to Pat as he tries to get his head around what it’s really going to mean to “address the burning of fossil fuels.” I doubt that these come anywhere close to what is necessary but it’s a place to start. Besides, you can’t change everything all at once. That would just prove to the addicts around you that you really are crazy.

MinusCar – drive less Pat. Ride your bike. Ride the bus. Walk. A funny thing happens when you do that…especially on the bus. You get to sit next to poor people…you know, the kind of people that make up the vast majority of the world. This will also give you some time to stop thinking about the angry millions “out there” having abortions and gay sex and gives you time to focus on the guy next to you…who may in fact be one of those having gay sex or abortions.

MinusHouse/AC – how big is your house Pat? Do you heat it and cool it? Where’s your thermostat Pat? I haven’t downsized my home yet but we put our thermostat at 80 this summer (six degrees warmer than previous years) and bought a fan. A funny thing happened when we did that…the house got warm. So we went outside. You know, like those people in the scary section of town sitting on their porches…yeah, guess what, intentional or not they’re doing something about fossil fuel consumption.

When the temp was above 105 last weekend we rewarded ourselves with a trip to the pool. The community pool…the one with the all the different languages and all the different colors. The Boy 4 was climbing down the ladder into water well above his head. I couldn’t get in ahead of him to protect him. An African-American man, seeing my distress, wrapped his huge hands around The Boy and lowered him into the water. The Boy turned to see who was holding him and seeing his distress I reassured him…”you’re ok, it’s ok.” I don’t think that incident fixed anything but I do know that I want more of it.

MinusTV – how many millions watch your show Pat? Tell them to turn off their TV, turn off their AC and walk outside and meet the neighbors. Some of those neighbors might be the ones whose behavior you’d like to change.

Good luck Pat.

15 comments:

Snakebite said...

amen to this - perhaps pun intended.

The Old Bag said...

excellent

Anonymous said...

Why the concern with the environment when it is evident the end times are near. The concern should not be in saving gas but in saving ourselves.

mytzpyk said...

Anon - assuming your question is serious. Print this post, take it to a local ministerial type person, and ask them which parts are about saving gas and which parts are ummm...not.

Feel free to report back...but I encourage you to "choose an identity" when you post comments...it's takes a bit of the mysteriousness out of the equation and makes it feel more friendly.

Anonymous said...

You just don't get it minus car! You need to find a bible believing church and learn the truth. You spout these anti-christian talking points but they just don't make sense. They might sound intriguing, but they are surface level arguments and don't hold up to any deep thinking truth. Also, its great that people post anonymous. Why don't you respond to the argument rather than the fact that some of us don't waste time creating blogs.

Anonymous said...

But instead of wasting time creating blogs you waste your time reading them. To be anonymous.....that is the question.
What do we have to fear but fear itself. My comfort is knowing that I don't have to worry or fear. Live life to its fullest enjoy the moment in anticipation of what is to come next! Smile everyone!

mytzpyk said...

You're correct; I don't "get it." But I'm trying.

I need to "learn the truth"...don't we all.

"They just don't make sense"...this might not be the blog you’re looking for.

Please be careful about calling them “anti-Christian” talking points. That might not be correct. Dobson and Robertson do not get to define Christianity and are not above questioning…and I try to only question when it relates to global warming.

I wholly agree they are "surface level arguments." Where’s the logic in calling them “talking points” and then a sentence later expecting them to hold up to “deep thinking truth?”

It's tough to go much deeper with all the anonymity on the internets, and if all my blog posts needed to hold up to deeper thinking I wouldn’t have time for much else. I’d have to drive my car places because I wouldn’t have time to ride my bike.

"…it's great that people post anonymous" - it's tough to go much deeper with all the anonymity on the internets. You don’t have a face and your motivations are not known. This puts the blogger at a huge disadvantage…which you surely enjoy and I surely don’t.

The last sentence of your comment was a little contrived and makes little sense (sorry) but I'll take a stab at it...

1. the whole thing about wasting time creating blogs I think might be a jab...that's good...it's easy then to talk about people wasting time reading blogs, especially if they’re looking for deep thinking. Neighbors are better for that. Would you like to have lunch? Indications are that you’re from around here.

2. The “argument” you’re inviting me to respond to seemed to be a question even though admittedly there was not a question mark. My response assumed the best in the anonymous commenter and invited the anonymous commenter to enter a relationship with a ministerial type person. I think it's pretty tough to argue with that response.

If the anonymous poster was actually suggesting I find my own salvation, like you seem to be doing, I suggest the anonymous commenter write with more clarity. Furthermore I invite you both to remove your masks. Did Jesus say “go ye therefore and anonymously make disciples of all the nations”?

If it was an argument…sentence #1 (the question (?)) -

1. This is The MinusCar Project blog therefore it WILL be about less use of the automobile and the environment in general. If it was named something else then it could be about something else.

2. The fact that current times seem to indicate that the end times are near does not make it so. Making decisions about how to live based on this being the end times is dubious theology and probably unbiblical. For 2000 years people have believed there is evidence that the end times are near.

3. My concern over the environment is explained in my True Confessions post or the De-motorize Your Soul website. And I don’t think this concern came by accident.

If it was an argument…sentence #2 (the argument (?)) -

1. The idea that we should be about saving ourselves sounds selfish to me and in part un-biblical. Perhaps that’s not exactly what the poster meant.

2. In my response I invited the anonymous commenter to ask the question – which parts of the post are about saving gas and which parts are ummm…not? Of the parts that aren’t, what are they about?

Oh yeah…and it takes too long for deeper thought on the internets and gets very little payoff and nobody really reads this stuff anyway.

PS – when you start your own blog don’t put gay sex in any posts. That’s too common a search term.

PPS – just when I was wrapping up a third anonymous commenter came along. The problem with anonymous commenting is it makes everything so schizophrenic.

mytzpyk said...

Shoot...I was so busy playing defense I didn't notice the compliment.

"they might sound intriguing" - thank you. I appreciate it. Intriguing enough to keep you coming back even.

Lets look at your use of the word might -

How many times a month do you visit? Better yet, how many times a day do you visit when you can't wait to see how (or if) I'll respond to one of your argumentative comments?

The invitation to lunch was genuine.

Anonymous said...

"You need to find a bible believing church and learn the truth. You spout these anti-christian talking points but they just don't make sense."

The few devout Christians with whom I interact in print insist on over-the-top capitalizations of certain words related to the faith, even in the middle of a sentence where other words would be lowercase (I also learned this to be proper when I was in Sunday school as a kid). When referring to the deity figure, many of the most devout capitalize not only the first letter of Lord or God or Him, but the entire word - LORD, GOD, and HIM. I refer to the Bible or Christianity by capitalizing the first letter, not because I am religious (which I'm not), but because they are proper nouns. Notice that the anonymous commenter has neglected to capitalize even the first letters of these proper nouns. Perhaps this person simply doesn't have capitalization skills. Given the otherwise good grammar, spelling, sentence structure, etc, of the comment(s), I don't believe that a lack of skill or attention to detail is evident - it seems obvious that anonymous is skilled at using the language.

So then why doesn't anonymous capitalize words that are of importance to the Christian faith, like, um, "Christian(ity)", or "Bible"? Perhaps anonymous simply doesn't interact with over-capitalizing Christians as I sometimes do, or didn't learn this in Sunday school as I did. Or maybe anonymous isn't really even that concerned about Christianity, and just gets his/her thrills by tormenting people on their blogs.

In any case, this person is obviously a masochistic weirdo. Why would anyone continue to read a blog containing (apparently offensive) points that "just don't make sense"? I don't read Pat Robertson's blog (if he has one) because I think I would probably find it to be nonsensical, offensive, unintelligent, pandering, bad, etc.

Anonymous said...

Wow! Not sure where to even start commenting but mytzpyk is winning this debate in my book. (Sorry, it's a thin book w/ lots of pictures)

mytzpyk said...

(shhh…listen…the sound of one hand clapping)

Now that we've all had a day or more to review the argument I'll make a statement and offer a few options for an out:

On being anonymous – the anonymity isn’t the problem. The problem is that you’re anonymous, you think I need to find a bible believing church/salvation, your comments are not constructive AND you are obsessing about The MinusCar Project.

Option 1: The lunch - at any Christian church within 50 miles of SF: me, you, and any verifiable clergy member. I’ll buy. I'll tell my story, you can sit in quiet or noisy non-anonymous judgment and listen or try to save my soul or whatever it is you feel you need to do. If it's outside of SF there will be time constraints because it takes a while to ride to places when they're far away. If Anon #1 and Anon #2 know each other let’s save time, you two work together, and we’ll do the lunch all at once.

Option 2: Both Anon #1 and Anon #2 answer the question about how many times a month you visit The MinusCar Project. I'll confront your addictive behavior by publishing where you rank among all my readers. I’ll blather on about the sort of vulnerable position you’re putting me in by being anonymous and deconstructive, and you’ll agree to either pick another blogger to torment, uncloak and be constructive, or start your own blog and open yourselves up to the same vulnerability. www.pluscar.com or www.minusminuscar.com are still available.

Option 3: You agree with me that we live in a society where there are a wide variety of opinions and a wide variety of ways to express those opinions. You agree to stop obsessing about The MinusCar Project. You agree with me that whether or not global warming is real or hype, there are millions of people with real concern about it and that simply pointing them to websites doesn’t even come close to helping most of them. After agreeing with all that, naturally you’ll decide to stop your obsession and you’ll begin to post helpful or thoughtful comments.

Option 4: You remain silent and/or anonymous. I provide actual data demonstrating your obsession/addiction to The MinusCar Project. I write a post that surveys your comments going back to early June, including the ridiculous comments you attached to my first guest writer T-Shirt #1…an essay that sounds (if you have eyes to see and ears to hear) to me a lot like pick up your nets and follow me. From now on every anonymous comment gets followed up with a link to this Pat Robertson post and the yet unwritten post I’m describing above.

Anonymous said...

Checkout www.worldmag.com

Here's what they are about...
"We like to report good news but we don't make it sticky-sweet. We also report bad news because Christ's grace becomes most meaningful when we're aware of sin. We want to be tough-minded but warmhearted.

We are dependent on God and independent of any political faction or interest group. We don't let advertisers influence news content. We don't print glorified press releases. We like George W. Bush but often criticize his administration. We criticize corruption, even when (sometimes especially when) it erupts among Christians. We avoid sourcery, where unnamed sources spin the news their way.

We look for provocative and evocative news stories that are the result of pavement-pounding rather than thumb-sucking. We don't want anyone to read WORLD out of a sense of duty. We like family feuds over who gets to read a new issue first. We want our readers to enjoy the world God has made, full as it is of nooks and crannies and weirdness.

We stand for factual accuracy and biblical objectivity, trying to see the world as best we can the way the Bible depicts it. Journalistic humility for us means trying to give God's perspective. We distinguish between issues on which the Bible is clear and those on which it isn't. We also distinguish between journalism and propaganda: We're not willing to lie because someone thinks it will help God's cause.

We believe that our purpose is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever—and forever begins right now. We like sex, within marriage. We're not amoral hedonists, but we're not stoic moralists either. We like the vines and fig trees God gives us. We read novels, go to movies, and listen to classical music but also jazz. We prefer ice cream to cotton candy. We cover movies, yoga, artists and travel; we aren't Christians with rules against anything that's fun because God made fun, too.

We cover all aspects of the news: national, international, and cultural; politics and business; medicine, science, technology, and sports. We have feisty columns and religious reflections. We even have cartoons and a page with funny or strange stories of the week. But what matters the most is this: We believe in a God who tells the truth and wants us to do the same."

mytzpyk said...

Why?

Anonymous said...

I don't quite get the intent of the last anonymous post about WORLD magazine. I subscribed to WORLD for about 7 years and enjoyed it immensely. I just let my subscription go in a cost saving effort.

I find it ironic that an anonymous poster is laying WORLD mission statement (or whatever) on us that says in part, "We avoid sourcery, where unnamed sources spin the news their way." (emphasis mine)

mytzpyk said...

Or better yet, I did once. Here are the results.

My favorite part was when I wrote, "If “Mega-pastor Rick Warren” and the Evangelical Climate Initiative have fallen for something on the far left then I’ll be the first to take off my clothes and frolic naked in the cornfield during his address at LifeLight this fall. And while it might be convenient to try to fit these people into a Green Party political box, that says more about World Magazine’s needs than the Evangelical Climate Initiative."

Of course there's at least one regrettable statement in there too but you're going to have to find that by earning it.

8 visits in one day just to see if I've responded to you is too much. I'm not that important and nobody else visits that much.

Additionally, while your most recent comment appears to at least want to be helpful and add to the conversation, the reason Noel got a response when he left me the article links in the post above is because Noel has a name and I figured I could guess his motivations.

Yes, I know him. We had lunch yesterday. I'm pretty sure he found what I wrote about World Magazine to be as challenging as you do.

mytzpyk@yahoo.com