What Happened to Church?

A few years ago I ran a blog entitled Retrotechnocracy for several months.  I was reading back over some of the stuff there, good stuff.

Anyway, I copied this snippet to pull into 2015, just because it bears repeating.

We did not have microwaves, garbage disposals, or television sets. Okay, okay. Finally when the oldest child was in fifth grade we bought a 19" b & w Zenith on which we could get two channels. We were no longer the only home on the block without this marvel, though we should have remained so. Two things I remember about this time frame. "Sky King" which we thought suitable for the kids after school; and Lorne Green and the Cartwright gang who changed the face of mid-America forever. How so? I hope you are asking.

To this time, most fundamental, evangelical, and even many of the old-line churches had Sunday evening services which typically were held at 7:30. Virtually all churches chose at that time one of two alternatives: move service up to 6 o'clock so everyone could get home in time to visit the Ponderosa; or, eliminate evening service entirely. Over the intervening years, many of those who chose the first alternative, eventually defaulted to the second, and churches all over the Bible belt sit darkened on the evening of the Lord's Day.

© 2010 David W. Lacy

Jeepster!

String Too Short to Tie

Willys-Overland Motors built the Jeepster for about three years, from 1948 to 1950. The mother of a girl in my high school senior class owned a jewelry store and curio shoppe downtown. The girl, Geraldine, drove a Jeepster. Many of us were green with envy, though we would never admit it. The four-cylinder engine provided sufficient power for cruising around, but the thing was no good of course at a stop-light challenge. Thus the car was dismissed as “girly.” Yeah, we were a sexist lot, acned, hormonal, and envious. But then, Gerry was a girl, after all. And if you were one of the truly lucky guys, you would actually have ridden in the Jeepster!

Scootering around Rockport yielded this old car spotting. The Jeepster is sitting next to a couple of old boats and between two buildings right downtown. As BBBH observed, “It’s been sitting there for a long time.” The grass is witness to that, and yet it has no flat tires. 

The last of the phaetons, and a nice looking old car.

Fishy? I Think Not

I wish to express my appreciation to Bob Warr for allowing  me to  use his blog as a platform for my posts for an undetermined length of time.  Thanks, Bob.

Sincerely,

vanilla

STRING TOO SHORT TO TIE 

Disclaimer: This article is for entertainment purposes only. It is not a theological treatise, nor is its intent to make fun of anyone’s practice of faith.

Fish on Friday

We protestants who lived north of the Arkansas River chided (read: made fun of) our Catholic friends who would drive south of the river on Fridays to partake of their evening meal, for there they felt free of conscience to eat red meat. It was widely believed that Catholics were to abstain from meat on Fridays as an integral part of the practice of their faith. Failure to do so made the offender a sinner in the eyes of fellow Catholics and a hypocrite in the eyes of the protestants.

The trip across the river had its roots in some medieval history. Because of their service in the Crusades, Pope Urban II granted a dispensation to Spanish counts allowing them relief from the meatless Friday rule. In 1571, Pope Pius V extended the dispensation to all lands under Spanish rule. Hence, Spain’s colonies in the New World were excepted.¹ Even though Spain had long since lost her rule in the New World, and even through domination by various peoples, and right on into the twentieth century American world in which I lived, the observation continued in those geographical areas originally dominated by Spain. In the West, the northern boundary of Mexico was the Arkansas River, and hence the Catholics of Texas, New Mexico, and a portion of southern Colorado considered themselves under the dispensation of Pope Pius V.

In 1951, the faithful in the area were advised that indeed they should follow the practice of abstinence from meat on Fridays, along with the rest of the Catholic world. Much confusion exists to this day, and Catholics generally believe that to eat meat on Friday is not sinful, but that Friday should be a day of penance as clarified by the Holy See in 1966.²

¹Michael P. Foley, Fish on Friday: The One that Got Away, Musings of a Pertinacious Papist, December 30, 2010.

²ibid.

Polygamy and Slavery

Polygamists in the family trees

Similarities in Obama and Romney’s roots.

Another teaser from the WaPo. But what has it to do with anything? Neither party mentioned practices nor condones the practice. So who cares? It is like making me responsible for the fact that my great-great grandmother was a slave holder. Oh, wait. There are those who make the claim that that is my responsibility. How ridiculous is that?

We may all be the product of our ancestors' choices, but we are not responsible for their choices.

President Cannot Be Serious

Say it isn't so:
President Obama offered a firm defense of his health-care law, saying Monday he remains confident that the law will be upheld by the Supreme Court and warning that "unelected" justices should not overturn the will of Congress. --WaPo, 4-2-12 (Emphasis added.)

Few days ago Bob was critical of "liberal" pundits, suggesting that they needed some lessons in civics. Now, oh, my stars and garters, the President needs to be spanked and sent back to school.

It probably is too late to ask, But what is the country coming to?

Update: Judge Jerry Smith of the 5th Circuit is "troubled" by this. He got it exactly right, and we should all be troubled. April 4

President Obama Waves...

...his magic wand, er, ah, pen. With the stroke of his mighty pen the president yesterday resolved the "drug shortage" crisis.

Remember that in 1952 President Truman seized the steel industry? (Like he could run the blast furnaces from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?) The Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the President had not the power to do this.

I wonder where the Supreme Court is today.

Curses!

School starts today in the hometown. The state has decreed that "cursive writing" is no longer required to be taught in schools. I suppose that at some point in the past it was decreed that cuneiform would no longer be taught; and look where that got us.

Who is D.B. Cooper?

The question has tantalized us for forty years. The FBI says it now has new information, and the identity may be revealed.

1. I prefer it remain a mystery; he will "live" forever as a legendary bad man about whom endless speculation will continue to fascinate and entertain.



2. I want to know every detail. Did he die? Does he still live? Who were his parents? What size hat does he wear? Yadda, yadda.

Vote (1) or (2)

Crystal Ball

87% of Americans think the government will never default on its obligations. 100% of the people who boarded the Titanic thought they were going to America.


Most of the statistics in this blog are made-up on the spot. In this post, the 100% figure, however, is accurate.