{"id":1975,"date":"2013-04-06T08:53:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-06T08:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/robert-ebert-has-passed.html"},"modified":"2013-04-06T08:53:00","modified_gmt":"2013-04-06T08:53:00","slug":"robert-ebert-has-passed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/robert-ebert-has-passed.html","title":{"rendered":"Robert Ebert has passed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

And Mark Shea<\/a> and Steve Greydanus<\/a> are gushing. \u00a0There is some truth to the fact that God prefers the son who listens even though he says no, to the son who says yes then ignores the father. \u00a0There is that tendency to point to the Rahabs or the\u00a0Uriahs of the past and show they could be the true child of God, while those chosen by God did unspeakable things. <\/p>\n

And yet. \u00a0When I have given my testimony, I mention that I became a Christian because of the\u00a0Protestants\u00a0I knew, but I became Catholic despite the Catholics I knew. \u00a0Of course I quickly follow up that since I\u2019ve become Catholic I\u2019ve met some of the most jaw droppingly awesome examples of holy living and Christ like devotion I ever thought possible. \u00a0But I had to\u00a0become\u00a0Catholic to meet them. \u00a0Most of the witnesses I knew before I entered the Church were the classic stereotypes: P-A-R-T-Y! \u00a0Why? \u00a0Because I\u2019m Catholic that\u2019s why!<\/a><\/p>\n

In college, we used to joke and say if you want to get lucky, don\u2019t date religious girls. \u00a0But Catholics were just as good. \u00a0I was friends with some kids who were Catholic, and at no time did their lack of devotion point me to\u00a0anything\u00a0to do with faith in Christ. \u00a0Usually, hanging with them, I felt vindicated for not believing.<\/p>\n

I remember one evening we were at our karate instructor\u2019s house. \u00a0He was a younger fellow, world champ and all. \u00a0Several of the younger students would hang out, play cards, drink, and watch him show us the latest exotic Asian weapon he picked up at the last world championship. \u00a0This particular night several of us were there. \u00a0Finally our instructor and his wife went to bed, leaving three of us left who decided we\u2019d had a bit much \u00a0for driving. \u00a0One of them was my childhood best friend. \u00a0He was Catholic, and his parents had a few things about the house pointing to the fact, though I don\u2019t remember them ever going to Mass. \u00a0He was usually quite available on Sundays, though perhaps they went other times.<\/p>\n

So we crashed. \u00a0Before we were out, he mentioned he needed to get up and go the church the next morning. \u00a0At that time, I believe, he was in one of his little \u2018kicks\u2019. \u00a0Every now and then he\u00a0would\u00a0suddenly\u00a0say \u201cI can\u2019t have pepperoni on the pizza!\u201d, or make some mention to current events and the end of days. \u00a0This may have been one of those times. \u00a0So we crashed. \u00a0Early the next morning I awoke, and noticed it was just past dawn. \u00a0I remembered what he said. \u00a0Even though I was quite the agnostic, I didn\u2019t begrudge others their own devotions, so I reached over and roused him.<\/p>\n

Groggily he asked what I wanted. \u00a0I reminded him that it was Sunday morning, and he said he wanted to go to church. \u00a0He mumbled something or another, then finally said, \u201cF-it,\u201d and rolled around and went back to sleep. \u00a0I can assure you that didn\u2019t say to me \u2018Dave, you must seek the truth behind this One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.\u2019 \u00a0Quite the opposite. \u00a0I had to chuckle that going to church seemed to mean more to me, a non-believer, than him a believer.<\/p>\n

And he wasn\u2019t the only one. \u00a0I can assure folks that the stereotype of girls had some truth to it. Fact is, there seems almost to be a swath of the Catholic Church that doesn\u2019t really care at all. \u00a0Time and\u00a0again\u00a0I\u2019m told this or that person was a Catholic, only to be shocked based on everything I knew about the fellow.<\/p>\n

Yes, we all fall short. \u00a0Yes, we should be glad that God prefers our actions to our intentions. Sure, I\u2019m thrilled for mercy and grace and all. \u00a0But I also want standards. \u00a0I want someone to call a spade a spade, say what is wrong is wrong. \u00a0Kick me in the ass if I\u2019ve gotten off the straight and narrow. \u00a0And that means in more areas than what my view on the Iraq War or waterboarding or on what our response to Iran\u2019s\u00a0nuclear\u00a0program ought to be.<\/p>\n

Ah, there\u2019s the rub. \u00a0For across the Catholic blogosphere, as we read gushing tales of pride and devotion of Mr. Ebert and his atheistic Catholicism, of a movie critic who firmly supported\u00a0the\u00a0sleazing\u00a0down of movies and typically had little good to say about movies attempting a more traditional, wholesome narrative, we will also be reminded that if you fall to the left or right on any one of a thousand geopolitical or social philosophies or strategies, then that \u2013 That! \u2013 is where the true cries for\u00a0vengeance\u00a0from God arise.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the thing. \u00a0If we are going to err on mercy, if we are going to say \u2018ah shucks, he was still a cool guy and I\u2019m sure God\u2019s just loving on him right now and it\u2019s good for all those atheists who hate religion but are still sometimes good people\u2019, fine. \u00a0I\u2019m actually OK with that. \u00a0I\u2019m OK with trying to find where people are and why they are there. \u00a0Why did Ebert become such a champion of so much of the muck and\u00a0cultural\u00a0mire that those Catholic praising him\u00a0abhor\u00a0 \u00a0The Andy Warhol syndrome I guess<\/a>. <\/p>\n

But if we extend it to those who live out a life apart from God, or even advocate hatred of\u00a0everything\u00a0sacred and holy, then we should do it across the board. \u00a0Even for those who disagree with us on things like Ayn Rand or whether we\u00a0should\u00a0waterboard prisoners. \u00a0After all,\u00a0consistency. \u00a0Plus, there\u2019s something about defining holiness as the right opinion about events that may not even impact me, versus holiness as something I live out and believe from my own little life, with immediate consequences and impacts on those around me.<\/p>\n

For me, it\u2019s better to remember mercy, and know that Roger Ebert is in the arms of a loving,\u00a0merciful\u00a0and just God. \u00a0A God who really knows Mr. Ebert, good, bad, and ugly. \u00a0Likewise, that\u2019s where I will be someday. \u00a0And it will do me good to raise the standard, rather than lower it, lest I fall. \u00a0Or, lest I become\u00a0convinced\u00a0that true worship is having a right\u00a0opinion\u00a0about\u00a0some\u00a0far flung\u00a0political crisis half a world away that doesn\u2019t impact me, while using God\u2019s mercy as an out to do and act and say anything I want whenever I want to. \u00a0Hold the standards high, remember that mercy is there, but also justice. \u00a0And remember that it\u2019s the person I see in the mirror, and what he does that matters most to my own pilgrimage. \u00a0And be consistent to how I approach everyone else outside the reach of my life\u2019s mirror.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And Mark Shea and Steve Greydanus are gushing. \u00a0There is some truth to the fact that God prefers the son who listens even though he says no, to the son who says yes then ignores the father. \u00a0There is that tendency to point to the Rahabs or the\u00a0Uriahs of the past and show they could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nRobert Ebert has passed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"And Mark Shea and Steve Greydanus are gushing.  There is some truth to the fact that God prefers the son who listens even though he says no, to the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/robert-ebert-has-passed.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Robert Ebert has passed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"And Mark Shea and Steve Greydanus are gushing.  There is some truth to the fact that God prefers the son who listens even though he says no, to the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/robert-ebert-has-passed.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Daffey Thoughts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-04-06T08:53:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dave Griffey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dave Griffey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/robert-ebert-has-passed.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/robert-ebert-has-passed.html\",\"name\":\"Robert Ebert has passed\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-04-06T08:53:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-04-06T08:53:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/9de3f33a0818ebc53727444b649c82a7\"},\"description\":\"And Mark Shea and Steve Greydanus are gushing.  There is some truth to the fact that God prefers the son who listens even though he says no, to the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/robert-ebert-has-passed.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/robert-ebert-has-passed.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/robert-ebert-has-passed.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Robert Ebert has passed\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/\",\"name\":\"Daffey Thoughts\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/9de3f33a0818ebc53727444b649c82a7\",\"name\":\"Dave Griffey\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546cf1ab64797c201cc8ad19185f2e57?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546cf1ab64797c201cc8ad19185f2e57?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dave Griffey\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/author\/dgriffey\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Robert Ebert has passed","description":"And Mark Shea and Steve Greydanus are gushing.  There is some truth to the fact that God prefers the son who listens even though he says no, to the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/robert-ebert-has-passed.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Robert Ebert has passed","og_description":"And Mark Shea and Steve Greydanus are gushing.  There is some truth to the fact that God prefers the son who listens even though he says no, to the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/robert-ebert-has-passed.html","og_site_name":"Daffey Thoughts","article_published_time":"2013-04-06T08:53:00+00:00","author":"Dave Griffey","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dave Griffey","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/robert-ebert-has-passed.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/robert-ebert-has-passed.html","name":"Robert Ebert has passed","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-04-06T08:53:00+00:00","dateModified":"2013-04-06T08:53:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/9de3f33a0818ebc53727444b649c82a7"},"description":"And Mark Shea and Steve Greydanus are gushing.  There is some truth to the fact that God prefers the son who listens even though he says no, to the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/robert-ebert-has-passed.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/robert-ebert-has-passed.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/robert-ebert-has-passed.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Robert Ebert has passed"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/","name":"Daffey Thoughts","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/9de3f33a0818ebc53727444b649c82a7","name":"Dave Griffey","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546cf1ab64797c201cc8ad19185f2e57?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546cf1ab64797c201cc8ad19185f2e57?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Dave Griffey"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/author\/dgriffey"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2805"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}