{"id":463,"date":"2004-09-27T08:49:00","date_gmt":"2004-09-27T08:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2004\/09\/bastard-child\/"},"modified":"2004-09-27T08:49:00","modified_gmt":"2004-09-27T08:49:00","slug":"bastard-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2004\/09\/bastard-child.html","title":{"rendered":"Bastard Child"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p>I read some Thomas Oden the other day and he totally read my mail. He was trying to describe a group of Evangelical Christians and I thought his insight was worth sharing. All of this is a very loose paraphrase, so don\u2019t hold Oden responsible for my bull-crap! For the most part I\u2019m joking in my descriptions so don\u2019t get mad at me. I actually identify with one group, which one will be obvious. But I have great love for the other two groups as well. I just like to poke them both with a stick\u2026it\u2019s how I show my love.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size:130%\">GROUP ONE- THE FUNDIES<\/span><\/strong><br>\n<br><strong>HERETOFORE AFTER TO BE CALLED HOMOPHOBES<\/strong><br>\n<br>These are the guys who are hooked on substituinary atonement and who make Christianity a quest to get everyone to heaven and stop sinning so much. They are conservative and hold to biblical innerency. And in my opinion are a general pain in the a*%. This is a huge group that includes everything from the southern baptists, to the pentecostals, not excluding the tim lahay freaks, the beth moore-moms, prayer of jabez day-planner buyers, james dobson zombies, and everyone who has a subscription to CCM magazine. And just when you want to hate them, you realize they are the main ones actually <strong><em>doing<\/em><\/strong> what the other groups say they want to do.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:130%\"><strong>GROUP TWO \u2013 THE LIBERALS<\/strong><br>\n<br><\/span><span style=\"font-size:100%\"><strong>HERETOFORE AFTER TO BE CALLED TREE HUGGERS<\/strong><br>\n<br>OK, a quick digression, I saw this hilarious bumper sticker the other day\u2026 it read \u201cSomewhere in Texas there is a village missing an idiot.\u201d Whatever your politics\u2026that\u2019s just plain funny. These are the guys who are convinced that the mission of the church is about setting straight injustice. They have a generally low view of scripture and mess with central doctrines like the resurrection. They have really decided that to be Christian means to try to live life to diminish the suffering of others\u2026when you put it that way, it\u2019s a wonder why we\u2019re not all liberals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size:130%\">GROUP THREE \u2013 THE MIDDLERS<\/span><\/strong><br>\n<br><strong>HERETOFORE AFTER TO BE CALLED SPINELESS<\/strong><br>\n<br>this is the one I thought was interesting because it\u2019s totally me. This is the group of us who grew up in fundamental homes and churches. Then we went into the public school system and were taught by liberals. We loved our parents and sunday school teachers and we loved our teachers and professors. Our adult religious experience so far has been an attempt to reconcile the two influences. Oden says we can operate in either system without messing things up and that we hold great affection for the spirituality of our childhood but find a difficult time reconciling it after we stop taking our pastor\u2019s word for it and actually read books. The primary goal is to find communities of faith in which to work out all of the confusion of the past.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s when it hit me\u2026spiritually speaking, I\u2019m the bastard child of Billy Graham and Albert Schweitzer (does that make me Catholic?)<\/p>\n<p>-TS<\/p>\n<p>Ps. just in case you were wondering the \u201cLeft Behind\u201d series has topped 55 million in sales \u2013 congrats you\u2019ve officially soaked group 1.<br><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I read some Thomas Oden the other day and he totally read my mail. He was trying to describe a group of Evangelical Christians and I thought his insight was worth sharing. All of this is a very loose paraphrase, so don\u2019t hold Oden responsible for my bull-crap! For the most part I\u2019m joking in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bastard Child<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I read some Thomas Oden the other day and he totally read my mail. He was trying to describe a group of Evangelical Christians and I thought his insight\" \/>\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\/paperbacktheology\/2004\/09\/bastard-child.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bastard Child\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I read some Thomas Oden the other day and he totally read my mail. He was trying to describe a group of Evangelical Christians and I thought his insight\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2004\/09\/bastard-child.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Paperback Theology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=654515438\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2004-09-27T08:49:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tim Suttle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Tim_Suttle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tim Suttle\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2004\/09\/bastard-child.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2004\/09\/bastard-child.html\",\"name\":\"Bastard Child\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2004-09-27T08:49:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2004-09-27T08:49:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/#\/schema\/person\/63a7ffe567a014f809abae15ebfc44a6\"},\"description\":\"I read some Thomas Oden the other day and he totally read my mail. He was trying to describe a group of Evangelical Christians and I thought his insight\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2004\/09\/bastard-child.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2004\/09\/bastard-child.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2004\/09\/bastard-child.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Bastard Child\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/\",\"name\":\"Paperback Theology\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/#\/schema\/person\/63a7ffe567a014f809abae15ebfc44a6\",\"name\":\"Tim Suttle\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ce6d230b7d3a7d50e5fc4b6c265691fb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ce6d230b7d3a7d50e5fc4b6c265691fb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Tim Suttle\"},\"description\":\"Find out more about Tim at TimSuttle.com Tim Suttle is the senior pastor of RedemptionChurchkc.com. He is the author of several books including his most recent - Shrink: Faithful Ministry in a Church Growth Culture (Zondervan 2014), Public Jesus (The House Studio, 2012), &amp; An Evangelical Social Gospel? (Cascade, 2011). Tim's work has been featured at The Huffington Post, The Washington Post, Sojourners, and other magazines and journals. Tim is also the founder and front-man of the popular Christian band Satellite Soul, with whom he toured for nearly a decade. The band's most recent album is \\\"Straight Back to Kansas.\\\" He helped to plant three thriving churches over the past 13 years and is the Senior Pastor of Redemption Church in Olathe, Kan. Tim's blog, Paperback Theology, is hosted at Patheos.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=654515438\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/@Tim_Suttle\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/author\/timsuttle\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bastard Child","description":"I read some Thomas Oden the other day and he totally read my mail. He was trying to describe a group of Evangelical Christians and I thought his insight","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\/paperbacktheology\/2004\/09\/bastard-child.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bastard Child","og_description":"I read some Thomas Oden the other day and he totally read my mail. He was trying to describe a group of Evangelical Christians and I thought his insight","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2004\/09\/bastard-child.html","og_site_name":"Paperback Theology","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=654515438","article_published_time":"2004-09-27T08:49:00+00:00","author":"Tim Suttle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Tim_Suttle","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tim Suttle","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2004\/09\/bastard-child.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2004\/09\/bastard-child.html","name":"Bastard Child","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/#website"},"datePublished":"2004-09-27T08:49:00+00:00","dateModified":"2004-09-27T08:49:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/#\/schema\/person\/63a7ffe567a014f809abae15ebfc44a6"},"description":"I read some Thomas Oden the other day and he totally read my mail. He was trying to describe a group of Evangelical Christians and I thought his insight","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2004\/09\/bastard-child.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2004\/09\/bastard-child.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2004\/09\/bastard-child.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Bastard Child"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/","name":"Paperback Theology","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/#\/schema\/person\/63a7ffe567a014f809abae15ebfc44a6","name":"Tim Suttle","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ce6d230b7d3a7d50e5fc4b6c265691fb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ce6d230b7d3a7d50e5fc4b6c265691fb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Tim Suttle"},"description":"Find out more about Tim at TimSuttle.com Tim Suttle is the senior pastor of RedemptionChurchkc.com. He is the author of several books including his most recent - Shrink: Faithful Ministry in a Church Growth Culture (Zondervan 2014), Public Jesus (The House Studio, 2012), &amp; An Evangelical Social Gospel? (Cascade, 2011). Tim's work has been featured at The Huffington Post, The Washington Post, Sojourners, and other magazines and journals. Tim is also the founder and front-man of the popular Christian band Satellite Soul, with whom he toured for nearly a decade. The band's most recent album is \"Straight Back to Kansas.\" He helped to plant three thriving churches over the past 13 years and is the Senior Pastor of Redemption Church in Olathe, Kan. Tim's blog, Paperback Theology, is hosted at Patheos.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=654515438","https:\/\/twitter.com\/@Tim_Suttle"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/author\/timsuttle"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}