A Review Series of Anonymous Tip, by Michael Farris<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nPp. 332-335<\/em><\/p>\nFarris starts this section by talking about the upcoming appeal in Seattle. Gail is appealing Judge Stokes\u2019 decision that Peter can sue child protective services for the search of Gwen\u2019s home. Peter is appealing Judge Stokes\u2019 decision that Peter can\u2019t sue over perjury\u00a0and tampering. Both have to file\u00a0opening briefs. I though this bit was interesting given what we\u2019ve discussed so far:<\/p>\n
Willet had much more experience in appellate litigation than Peter. All the rules concerning brief formats came easily to her. Peter spent three hours one afternoon doing nothing other than trying to master the rules which governed the size of paper, style and type to be used, spacing, format of case citations\u2014all the technicalities that trial lawyers rarely have to deal with.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
We\u2019ve talked before about the problems with Peter\u2019s decision to argue this case, given his lack of expertise in this area of law, and here we see the problems once again. Based on what\u2019s in the text,\u00a0Peter does not appear to have even considered passing the case on to someone more qualified to argue it. I\u2019m not sure why. It could be that Peter wants to maintain his closeness with Gwen, but I\u2019m not sure we can assume that given the lack of any mention of the idea that Peter should or could pass the case on in the text.<\/p>\n
Peter flies to Seattle and spends a day listening in on cases being heard by various panels of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Farris tells us there were over twenty judges and Peter would have no idea of knowing who they would get, or who would be good for them to get. It\u2019s unclear what Peter gained by spending the\u00a0day in Seattle.<\/p>\n
Farris says Peter spent hours every evening on Gwen\u2019s case, and that \u201cHis unfamiliarity with appellate work made him put twice as much effort into the case than might otherwise have been needed.\u201d See my point above.<\/p>\n
Finally, in mid-September, Farris meets with Pastor Lind (does he have a first name) about\u00a0whether it would be\u00a0biblical for him to marry Gwen. I\u2019m confused as to why he put this off so long, given that he first asked Gwen to wait for him in July. Pastor Lind is the pastor of his church there in Spokane, the one Gwen now attends, and was at his Labor Day cookout.\u00a0Pastor Lind is meeting with someone else when Peter arrives for his appointment, so he has to wait.<\/p>\n
A few minutes after four, a couple Peter did not know walked out of the Pastor\u2019s study. The wife had been crying. She was now clinging tightly to her husband\u2019s arm. Peter made eye contact with the husband, and both men nodded a quick \u201cHi.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Given what I know about how counseling works at churches like this, this creeps me out to the extreme. Was this marital counseling? Has the wife been told to submit to her husband, to be a good wife and obey him, and that\u2019s why she\u2019s crying? Why does Peter interact only with the husband, when the wife is right there too? I mean sure, on a second read-through it\u2019s possible the couple is there because they lost a child, or their home burned down, or some such, but I will never not be creeped out by the things that go on in these counseling sessions. And I should know. My parents made an appointment for me with our pastor once, so that he could set me back on the straight and narrow. To say that it was unpleasant would be a major understatement.<\/p>\n
Anyway, once Peter makes it into Pastor Lind\u2019s office, the two engage in small talk and then Peter says he\u2019s here to talk about Gwen Landis.<\/p>\n
\u201cAh, yes. Gwen. She seems like a very nice lady. Lynn Roberts tells me she is really growing spiritually.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I think I\u2019m just going to have to resign myself to finding everything about this meeting creepy.<\/p>\n
Peter explains that Gwen is divorced, because of her ex\u2019s\u00a0financial irresponsibility, and mentions the alcoholism (though not the creepy stalker tendencies). He explains that he has \u201cnever even kissed her, much less anything more,\u201d but that he is \u201cin love with her and would marry her in a heartbeat if I could get past this issue of divorce.\u201d So first of all, have we forgotten the prolonged hand-holding incident? And why the hangup on the physical? He may not have touched her (much) but he did lead her on and he has caused her emotional pain and turmoil, which is inexcusable given that he knew when he met her that his religious beliefs precluded him marrying her.<\/p>\n
Anyway, Peter says he sees three options\u2014either the Bible is clear that he can\u2019t marry her, or the Bible is clear that he can marry her\u2014in which case \u201cI probably am going to ask you if the church is free for next Saturday afternoon\u201d\u2014or the Bible is unclear, in which case he needs to abide by\u00a0what the Holy Spirit tells him. Pastor Lind says it sounds like Peter\u00a0has it all figured out, but Peter says the problem is he doesn\u2019t know which of the above options is the correct one.<\/p>\n
But let me tell you what I<\/em> am wondering. Peter says he is in love with Gwen and would marry her that Saturday if there wasn\u2019t the whole previous divorce Bible issue at play here. But let me ask you this: When have Peter and Gwen ever had a conversation about something other than this case, Gordon, or Casey? When have they just hung out, as two people able to be at ease around each other? The answer is never<\/em>. Peter came to dinner at Gwen\u2019s house once, and it is possible that they talked about other things there, but Gwen\u2019s parents were there too. Peter and Gwen ran into each other once at Aaron and Lynn\u2019s, but they basically just crossed paths on the way in and out. Gwen went to Peter\u2019s Labor Day cookout, but even if they talked about other things, it was amidst lots of people. Gwen has been going to Peter\u2019s church, but it sounds like she\u2019s been staying close to Lynn and it is unlikely that she and Peter have much time (if any) for private conversation.<\/p>\nPeter has what amounts to a schoolboy crush. He has built up an image of Gwen as this beautiful, godly, motherly, feminine woman who is sweet and needs protecting, but he does not actually know<\/em> Gwen. I mean on top of everything above, the tension between them over this question of Gwen\u2019s divorce prevents them from having any normal interaction to speak of. I\u2019ve often\u00a0told my younger sisters and younger girl friends, when they ask me for relationship advice, that they won\u2019t truly\u00a0get to know their partner until they get past the initial heat of the relationship to the point where they can\u00a0relax together\u00a0and let down their defenses.\u00a0Peter and Gwen are still in that first stage, where there\u2019s a certain amount of posturing. It would be extremely unwise for them to just hop into marriage.<\/p>\nAnyway, Pastor Lind says he believes that except for cases where \u201ca person has been divorced for the reason of the other person\u2019s adultery,\u201d remarriage after a divorce is not biblical. But he says he knows other men, \u201cpastors who are generally conservatives,\u201d who hold that if \u201cthe divorce was before they were Christian\u201d and \u201cthe divorced person was the innocent spouse\u201d it is acceptable for a previously divorced and now Christian person to remarry. He concludes that the third option Peter laid out is the correct one\u2014that the Bible is unclear, and that personal conviction must decide the issue for any given individual.<\/p>\n
(First, I am curious whether Pastor Lind would apply this same standard to the creation narrative of Genesis, making young earth creationism or theistic evolution a matter of personal conviction. Second, I\u2019m curious about how Pastor Lind would talk to a woman approaching him with a similar question\u2014would he suggest she should listen to her male authority for guidance? I\u2019m struck by how much leeway Peter is being given here when, as a young female Christian, I rarely received any such leeway from either my parents or my family\u2019s conservative evangelical church.)<\/p>\n
Peter is not happy, of course, because his personal conviction has long been that remarriage after a divorce is inappropriate unless there was infidelity. Pastor Lind suggests that God has already told Peter what to do, and Peter says he was hoping the problem was just that he was taught his view incorrectly in the first place, and\u00a0thus Pastor Lind could correct his thinking and show that the Bible is clear and remarriage in Gwen\u2019s case would<\/em> be permissible. But alas. Peter acknowledges that he only wants to change his position on this issue because of Gwen, and that is clearly<\/em> not appropriate.<\/p>\nPeter says its the hardest spiritual struggle he has ever experienced.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to be married to Gwen more than I have ever wanted anything. But I have to be willing to lay it on the alter like Abraham did with Isaac.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Wait, wait, wait. I\u2019m a bit concerned by this comparison. First, in that story, God ultimately stops Abraham from killing Isaac. In other words, Abraham does not actually have to give up that which is most dear. He only has to show himself willing<\/em> to do so. But second\u2014and I didn\u2019t know this until a few years ago\u2014there are Jewish interpretations that hold that Abraham made the wrong<\/em> choice and failed the test. The story isn\u2019t as black and white as evangelicals tend to think it.<\/p>\nAnyway, Pastor Lind gives Peter some books by pastors who hold the other view, telling him to listen to God while reading them. Peter says that if the books convince him to adopt the other position, he\u2019ll pass it by Pastor Lind first, \u201cso you can help me do a heart check to know if I am deceiving myself.\u201d Pastor Lind praises Peter for how well he is handling this struggle. The curtain closes.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s funny, I though the central drama of this book was going to be the conflict with child protective services, not our hero\u2019s struggle between his religious convictions and what he has in his pants.<\/p>\n
I have a Patreon<\/a>! Please support my writing!<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But let me tell you what I am wondering. Peter says he is in love with Gwen and would marry her that Saturday if there wasn’t the whole previous divorce Bible issue at play here. But let me ask you this: When have Peter and Gwen ever had a conversation about something other than this case, Gordon, or Casey? When have they just hung out, as two people able to be at ease around each other? The answer is never. <\/p>\n
Click through to read more! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":29786,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[469],"class_list":["post-29784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-anonymous-tip"],"yoast_head":"\n
Anonymous Tip: Booking the Church Next Saturday<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"But let me tell you what I am wondering. Peter says he is in love with Gwen and would marry her that Saturday if there wasn't the whole previous divorce Bible issue at play here. But let me ask you this: When have Peter and Gwen ever had a conversation about something other than this case, Gordon, or Casey? When have they just hung out, as two people able to be at ease around each other? The answer is never. Click through to read more!\" \/>\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\/lovejoyfeminism\/2016\/07\/anonymous-tip-booking-the-church-next-saturday.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Anonymous Tip: Booking the Church Next Saturday\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"But let me tell you what I am wondering. Peter says he is in love with Gwen and would marry her that Saturday if there wasn't the whole previous divorce Bible issue at play here. But let me ask you this: When have Peter and Gwen ever had a conversation about something other than this case, Gordon, or Casey? When have they just hung out, as two people able to be at ease around each other? The answer is never. Click through to read more!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2016\/07\/anonymous-tip-booking-the-church-next-saturday.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Love, Joy, Feminism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-07-22T12:57:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-07-22T13:00:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/166\/2016\/07\/Pastor_office.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"737\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"553\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Libby Anne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Libby Anne\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2016\/07\/anonymous-tip-booking-the-church-next-saturday.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2016\/07\/anonymous-tip-booking-the-church-next-saturday.html\",\"name\":\"Anonymous Tip: Booking the Church Next Saturday\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-22T12:57:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-07-22T13:00:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2\"},\"description\":\"But let me tell you what I am wondering. Peter says he is in love with Gwen and would marry her that Saturday if there wasn't the whole previous divorce Bible issue at play here. But let me ask you this: When have Peter and Gwen ever had a conversation about something other than this case, Gordon, or Casey? When have they just hung out, as two people able to be at ease around each other? The answer is never. Click through to read more!\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2016\/07\/anonymous-tip-booking-the-church-next-saturday.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2016\/07\/anonymous-tip-booking-the-church-next-saturday.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2016\/07\/anonymous-tip-booking-the-church-next-saturday.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Anonymous Tip: Booking the Church Next Saturday\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/\",\"name\":\"Love, Joy, Feminism\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2\",\"name\":\"Libby Anne\",\"description\":\"Libby Anne grew up in a large evangelical homeschool family highly involved in the Christian Right. College turned her world upside down, and she is today an atheist, a feminist, and a progressive. She blogs about leaving religion, her experience with the Christian Patriarchy and Quiverfull movements, the detrimental effects of the \\\"purity culture,\\\" the contradictions of conservative politics, and the importance of feminism.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/author\/libby\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Anonymous Tip: Booking the Church Next Saturday","description":"But let me tell you what I am wondering. Peter says he is in love with Gwen and would marry her that Saturday if there wasn't the whole previous divorce Bible issue at play here. But let me ask you this: When have Peter and Gwen ever had a conversation about something other than this case, Gordon, or Casey? When have they just hung out, as two people able to be at ease around each other? The answer is never. Click through to read more!","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\/lovejoyfeminism\/2016\/07\/anonymous-tip-booking-the-church-next-saturday.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Anonymous Tip: Booking the Church Next Saturday","og_description":"But let me tell you what I am wondering. Peter says he is in love with Gwen and would marry her that Saturday if there wasn't the whole previous divorce Bible issue at play here. But let me ask you this: When have Peter and Gwen ever had a conversation about something other than this case, Gordon, or Casey? When have they just hung out, as two people able to be at ease around each other? The answer is never. Click through to read more!","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2016\/07\/anonymous-tip-booking-the-church-next-saturday.html","og_site_name":"Love, Joy, Feminism","article_published_time":"2016-07-22T12:57:58+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-07-22T13:00:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":737,"height":553,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/166\/2016\/07\/Pastor_office.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Libby Anne","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Libby Anne","Est. reading time":"9 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2016\/07\/anonymous-tip-booking-the-church-next-saturday.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2016\/07\/anonymous-tip-booking-the-church-next-saturday.html","name":"Anonymous Tip: Booking the Church Next Saturday","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-07-22T12:57:58+00:00","dateModified":"2016-07-22T13:00:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2"},"description":"But let me tell you what I am wondering. Peter says he is in love with Gwen and would marry her that Saturday if there wasn't the whole previous divorce Bible issue at play here. But let me ask you this: When have Peter and Gwen ever had a conversation about something other than this case, Gordon, or Casey? When have they just hung out, as two people able to be at ease around each other? The answer is never. Click through to read more!","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2016\/07\/anonymous-tip-booking-the-church-next-saturday.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2016\/07\/anonymous-tip-booking-the-church-next-saturday.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2016\/07\/anonymous-tip-booking-the-church-next-saturday.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Anonymous Tip: Booking the Church Next Saturday"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/","name":"Love, Joy, Feminism","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2","name":"Libby Anne","description":"Libby Anne grew up in a large evangelical homeschool family highly involved in the Christian Right. College turned her world upside down, and she is today an atheist, a feminist, and a progressive. She blogs about leaving religion, her experience with the Christian Patriarchy and Quiverfull movements, the detrimental effects of the \"purity culture,\" the contradictions of conservative politics, and the importance of feminism.","sameAs":["http:\/\/patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/author\/libby"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/845"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}