{"id":243,"date":"2011-09-15T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-09-15T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.195.124.95\/~redletu4\/who-needs-the-party-pooper\/"},"modified":"2011-09-15T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-09-15T12:00:00","slug":"who-needs-the-party-pooper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/who-needs-the-party-pooper\/","title":{"rendered":"Who needs the party pooper?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u201cOne man\u2019s theology is another man\u2019s belly laugh.\u201d<\/span><\/em>-Robert A. Heinlein<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I was recently reminded by an old friend of some old sins of mine \u2014 some things that I did a long time ago. In my past I\u2019ve lied, stolen, cheated and by association,\u00a0committed adultry and murder. \u00a0I have lived out the consequences of those failures, admitted them and taken action to prevent a reoccurence. This is what God calls \u2018repentance.\u2019<\/p>\n

But all of that wasn\u2019t enough for this person. For them, true penitence is a lifetime of failure, of regret and shame \u2014 for everyone else of course.<\/p>\n

There are far too many dour \u2013 yet sincere \u2013 Christians, who only know the life of sorrow. They are permanently prostate \u2013\u2013 repenting of unknown sins, confessing long-forgiven attitudes and humbled because their own humanity.<\/p>\n

Jesus says to them, \u201cGet up! I have come to give you joy. I have come to give life \u2014 in abundance.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Photo by\u00a0Seb !<\/a><\/i><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

God didn\u2019t save a wretch like me just to keep me a wretch. He took me, wiped the crud from my eyes, scraped the ugly crust from my heart and put my smile on my face.\u00a0He put me in a seat next to him at the table and told me to eat up.<\/p>\n

He gave me this world and told to relish its wonders. He put people in my life and told me to influence them with his power and his grace. He put other people who fail in my path so I could love them and show them a better way.<\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.\u201d<\/em><\/span>
\u2014 Jesus Christ, John 16.22<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The Grace Party is a raucous party. It\u2019s full of people who have begun to live again. It\u2019s a party other sinners are drawn to, because they too want to live. If you aren\u2019t sure you\u2019re a legalist, just look at your face? Look at your friends faces? Look at\u00a0your parties<\/a>. If there is no joy, no life in them, then its time to put away your rule book and find the authentic Jesus.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be a party pooper.<\/p>\n

Care to comment?<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

Please, share with a friend if you feel moved.
\nRead all past issues at http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cOne man\u2019s theology is another man\u2019s belly laugh.\u201d-Robert A. Heinlein I was recently reminded by an old friend of some old sins of mine \u2014 some things that I did a long time ago. In my past I\u2019ve lied, stolen, cheated and by association,\u00a0committed adultry and murder. \u00a0I have lived out the consequences of those […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2375,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[466,620,627,719],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-joy","category-party-poopers","category-penance","category-repentance"],"yoast_head":"\nWho needs the party pooper?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""One man's theology is another man's belly laugh."-Robert A. HeinleinI was recently reminded by an old friend of some old sins of mine -- some things that\" \/>\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\/davidrupert\/who-needs-the-party-pooper\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Who needs the party pooper?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\""One man's theology is another man's belly laugh."-Robert A. HeinleinI was recently reminded by an old friend of some old sins of mine -- some things that\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/who-needs-the-party-pooper\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"David Rupert\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"www.facebook.com\/davidrupert\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-09-15T12:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-J21qamw08pQ\/TnHordTXCeI\/AAAAAAAABi8\/TafEVkhgtlA\/s1600\/clown.jpg.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Rupert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@rupzip\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Rupert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/who-needs-the-party-pooper\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/who-needs-the-party-pooper\/\",\"name\":\"Who needs the party pooper?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-09-15T12:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-09-15T12:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/1ee971d3244e1f67a487a31f55d37c81\"},\"description\":\"\\\"One man's theology is another man's belly laugh.\\\"-Robert A. HeinleinI was recently reminded by an old friend of some old sins of mine -- some things that\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/who-needs-the-party-pooper\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/who-needs-the-party-pooper\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/who-needs-the-party-pooper\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Who needs the party pooper?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/\",\"name\":\"David Rupert\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/1ee971d3244e1f67a487a31f55d37c81\",\"name\":\"David Rupert\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47e7c27dc78a66ace4b19bb00da8bccc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47e7c27dc78a66ace4b19bb00da8bccc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"David Rupert\"},\"description\":\"I am a communication professional who has a passion for people. I dream big and with that comes even bigger prayers.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.redletterbelievers.com\",\"www.facebook.com\/davidrupert\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rupzip\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/author\/drupert\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Who needs the party pooper?","description":"\"One man's theology is another man's belly laugh.\"-Robert A. HeinleinI was recently reminded by an old friend of some old sins of mine -- some things that","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\/davidrupert\/who-needs-the-party-pooper\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Who needs the party pooper?","og_description":"\"One man's theology is another man's belly laugh.\"-Robert A. HeinleinI was recently reminded by an old friend of some old sins of mine -- some things that","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/who-needs-the-party-pooper\/","og_site_name":"David Rupert","article_author":"www.facebook.com\/davidrupert","article_published_time":"2011-09-15T12:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-J21qamw08pQ\/TnHordTXCeI\/AAAAAAAABi8\/TafEVkhgtlA\/s1600\/clown.jpg.jpg"}],"author":"David Rupert","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@rupzip","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"David Rupert","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/who-needs-the-party-pooper\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/who-needs-the-party-pooper\/","name":"Who needs the party pooper?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-09-15T12:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2011-09-15T12:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/1ee971d3244e1f67a487a31f55d37c81"},"description":"\"One man's theology is another man's belly laugh.\"-Robert A. HeinleinI was recently reminded by an old friend of some old sins of mine -- some things that","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/who-needs-the-party-pooper\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/who-needs-the-party-pooper\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/who-needs-the-party-pooper\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Who needs the party pooper?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/","name":"David Rupert","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/1ee971d3244e1f67a487a31f55d37c81","name":"David Rupert","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47e7c27dc78a66ace4b19bb00da8bccc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47e7c27dc78a66ace4b19bb00da8bccc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"David Rupert"},"description":"I am a communication professional who has a passion for people. I dream big and with that comes even bigger prayers.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.redletterbelievers.com","www.facebook.com\/davidrupert","https:\/\/twitter.com\/rupzip"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/author\/drupert\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2375"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}