A blog by Tom Sheepandgoats (aka Tom Harley)
Search topic, word, or Bible verse (Bible books may be abbreviated)
-
Some Stay and Some Leave
Last week, Birdness Buck got canned at Metro Megacorp. This week, he is starting a website entitled My Life at Metro Megacorp….the Real Truth. Question: Will the new website be kind to Metro Megacorp? (Hint: Not a snowball’s chance in you-know-where.) Last month, Bob Slickbottom quit Metro Megacorp. The next day he started a website entitled My Years at Metro Megacorp….the Real Scoop. What about…
-
You Got a Rotten Attitude and You Better Straighten Out!
My Bethel pal reflected on how frail people are today and how the old-timers must scratch their heads in wonder. Back in their day (the good old days) a person might be counseled this way: You got a rotten attitude and you better straighten up! And they would straighten up! And they’d say thanks for the counsel! Or maybe they wouldn’t. Maybe they’d decide to…
-
Gospel of Judas and the Breakaway Sect
April 2006, the National Geographic Society surprised us with the Gospel of Judas, (not to be confused with the Gospel of Howard) found in the 1970’s Egyptian dessert. Background on gospels: the Bible has four of them, each named after its author: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Gospel means good news. Did Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, write the Gospel of Judas? If so, he…
-
Oh No! Politically Correct Ancient Scribes!
Elihu listened to days and days of speeches, enough to make anyone antsy. When he’d heard all he could stand, he spoke himself. As it turns out, the young man was the only one who knew what he was talking about. A short summation of the Book of Job, the ancient exploration of suffering: Job, the account goes, was a wealthy and honored man, deservedly…
-
Who to Blame for Human Suffering…Katrina
Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans last year. People lost everything and they asked, some of them: where was God? Fundamentalist preacher Pat Robertson had the answer right away. God destroyed New Orleans, he declared, because of abortion and homosexuality. But the mayor, Ray Nagin, disagreed. Sharply. And at his own news conference, he set the record straight. God did not destroy his town because of…
-
Who Has Fought the Fine Fight?
When they hauled James Copp in for sentencing, he got to make a speech, which he enjoys doing. Copp, you’ll remember was the fellow lurking in the woods outside Dr. Bernard Shlepian’s Buffalo home, who fatally shot the man through his kitchen window, in full view of wife and children. He’d shot at other doctors, too, but Shlepian was the first one killed. Dr. Schlepian…
-
Like No Evangelist I’ve Ever Seen
I am a writer for the City! newspaper in Rochester. Only they aren’t aware of it. (Thank you, Garrison Keillor) A published City! article and unpublished response. Ding-Dong, heaven calling “Hello, my name is Angelina and I’m telling all your neighbors about the New Millennium.” She was young and unlike any door-to-door evangelist I’d ever seen: black leather jacket, sunglasses, thick black hair unbound, tight…
-
The Gospel of Judas and Howard
The folks at National Geographic are all abuzz. April 6, 2006 they gave us the Gospel of Judas, found in the 1970’s Egyptian desert . The Gospel of Judas (I kid you not) asserts things found no where else. Judas was not Jesus’ betrayer. No. Instead, they were the best of chums, and Judas betrayed Jesus only because Jesus asked him to. Not only that,…