{"id":2630,"date":"2012-04-30T14:15:00","date_gmt":"2012-04-30T14:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/04\/my-post-that-frank-weathers-banned.html"},"modified":"2012-04-30T14:15:00","modified_gmt":"2012-04-30T14:15:00","slug":"my-post-that-frank-weathers-banned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/04\/my-post-that-frank-weathers-banned.html","title":{"rendered":"My post that Frank Weathers banned"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
So I was wandering about an atheist blog when I stumbled across a post linking to Frank Weathers. Now I\u2019ve gone to Mr. Weathers\u2019 blog a couple times, usually because it was linked from other blogs. Nothing ever really kept me coming back. <\/span>But this post that linked to Mr. Weathers had a string of comments blasting him, the Faith, Christians, the usual. Well, I thought, I better get over there and see what\u2019s happening on the comments. Turns out, just praise and adoration. And plenty of folks saying we should love our enemies, pray for them, and do good to them. Fine. Nothing wrong there. <\/span><\/div>\n
But the more I read the article, the more I felt it was tilting things a bit. It reminded me, to be honest, of a young woman I knew in the early days of my Christian walk. One days she visited my house shortly after I was married. She had in her hands the latest book by Max Lucado, \u201cHe Still Moves Stones<\/em>.\u201d But when I opened it, I noticed she had crossed out some words. Any references to anger had been removed. I asked her why she did this. Because anger is wrong, God can\u2019t be wrong, therefore God can\u2019t be angry. Max was wrong and because she liked him so much, she couldn\u2019t stand seeing him be wrong. <\/span><\/div>\n
I\u00a0explained that anger can lead to sin, but it isn\u2019t, in itself, a sin. Not so she explained. We Christians, and we are called ever and always to love, Love, LOVE! You can love and still be angry, I said. Not so, anger is sin, it is bad, wrong, evil, the dark side, of hell, whatever. Therefore God cannot be angry. No matter how I tried, I couldn\u2019t convince her that while anger can certainly lead to sin, it is not ever and always sin, or even bad, or even a bad idea.<\/span><\/div>\n
Mr. Weather\u2019s post that more or less says all debate should display love and that\u2019s it, sounded reasonable upon first reading. But the more I read it, the more I got the impression it was missing something. It was missing the robust righteous anger that could come out in the Scriptures themselves. It was missing some cases where pretty strong language and imagery was used. It was not taking into account that sometimes reasoned answers sprinkled with love don\u2019t do it, and a strong slap in the face is what \u2018s needed.<\/span><\/div>\n

Of course, you don\u2019t want to descend into calling people Raca and Fool. No false accusations. No slander. No lying about them or putting words in their mouths. Nor do you need to insult them. But calling a ludicrous idea ludicrous? Laughing at a laughable statement? Calling someone wrong for advocating evil, like the eradication of religion from the world by whatever means possible? I just didn\u2019t see the problem, and felt his post could be missing the width and breadth of variety it takes to engage people in a real and hostile world. <\/span><\/div>\n
Not wanting to take up too much space, I condensed my response to this: <\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I suppose some examples of what not to say could help. After all, we follow Scriptures that boldly labeled a fool the one who says there is no God, a Savior willing to toss out such terms as brood of vipers, white washed sepulchers, and blind guides, and at least one apostle willing to suggest castration as a solution to the problem (even if he didn\u2019t really mean it). In short, there\u2019s fingers in the eye, and then there\u2019s calling a spade a spade<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

True, with the exception of the psalm, the others are directed at various religious individuals, and not at those outside the circle of religious debate. Of course Paul was rather calm and humble in addressing the learned non-believers in Athens. But there\u2019s a line I think. It\u2019s my nature not to run around making fun of people. But if an atheist says something patently laughable, showing it is so might help (and as a former agnostic, sometimes it was that bold willingness to engage that meant more than just telling me Jesus loved me since I didn\u2019t believe a lick of it). If an atheist is going total \u2018can\u2019t we just wipe religion off the face of the earth\u2019, humor can be a good retort. I think it\u2019s Mark Shea who is fond of saying that sometimes laughing at the devil is the best approach. <\/span>
<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/p>\n

So while I appreciate the sentiments of the post, I would want to qualify, if for no other reason than my own savior seemed to do so. For as he was wont to say, while on one hand he is gentle and humble of heart, he was known to mention on occasion that he didn\u2019t come to bring peace on earth, but a sword.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

And then I waited. And waited. And waited. I noticed that he reviewed all comments before posting them. Fair enough. Some do that. I imagined it would take awhile. So I moved on with life and checked back periodically. And checked. And checked. Soon I began to notice comments posted after mine that were on the blog. But not mine. <\/span><\/div>\n

Why he didn\u2019t post it?\u00a0 I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 It certainly wasn\u2019t vitriolic.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t even say he was entirely wrong. I merely pointed out that there are times, in certain conditions, where we have to get bold and prepared to turn the other cheek,\u00a0 rather than just walk away chanting All You Need is Love<\/em>.\u00a0 But it\u2019s Frank\u2019s blog, and he can ban and censor as he s
\nees fit.\u00a0 I will leave it to Frank, and from now on leave Frank\u2019s blog.\u00a0 FWIW, folks can comment here, even if they disagree with me.\u00a0 I won\u2019t ban anyone.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So I was wandering about an atheist blog when I stumbled across a post linking to Frank Weathers. Now I\u2019ve gone to Mr. Weathers\u2019 blog a couple times, usually because it was linked from other blogs. Nothing ever really kept me coming back. But this post that linked to Mr. Weathers had a string of […]<\/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-2630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nMy post that Frank Weathers banned<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"So I was wandering about an atheist blog when I stumbled across a post linking to Frank Weathers. 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