Want a good laugh? Read the first page of Todd Starnes' book.

[Archae]

It's here:

Just Try to Get Through the First Page of Todd Starnes’ New Book Without Laughing

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/just-try-to-get-through-the-first-page-of-todd-starnes-new-book-without-laughing/

Yeah, the "Good Old Days" when only white, protestant men had any standing.

[shenmue]

1. Who pities themselves that much?

What kind of a weakling is he?

[joeybee12]

2. Now I know where South Park got Cartman from...at least

the shape of the head...

?w=300&h=225

[Swede Atlanta]

3. Despite its overtly Christian theme this is a nostalgia tour........

He is lamenting how things used to be. Well that may be a nice sentiment but reality dictates.

That is not how things are today so how does on conduct themselves? You can go on wishing for a bygone era or you can accept and embrace the present.

These so-called Christians believe they are persecuted (hoping in God's eyes to be the equivalent of the Christian martyrs that were thrown, literally, to the lions in the Roman Empire). Odd, I am a Christian and I don't find that my right or freedom to worship God in a manner of my choosing is in any way affected or challenged.

It must be that I don't have a need to denigrate, discriminate or publicly hate another person or group. Some of these so-called Christian groups believe that their freedom includes the ability to do just that.

That is where I draw the line and say, "no more".

[Warpy]

4. He's not old enough to have been there

and his whole notion of history was based on old 50s family sitcoms.

He's just another aging GenX idiot longing for a past that never was.

[OilemFirchen]

5. What the ever-loving fuck does this mean?

We're a peculiar people. That's how the Bible describes us. My uncle Jerry, from Coldwater, Mississippi, fancies himself to be an armchair theologian. He said the literal interpretation of that passage means "I'm an odd duck".

Who does the Bible describe? The Starnes family? Backwater inbreds? Slack-jawed mouthbreathers?

To what passage is Uncle Jerry referring? Is it in the Gospel according to Todd? Mississippi Revelations? The Genesis of Squeezin' Corn?

Well, quack, quack, quack, baby.

Indeed. Does he get paid by the comma?

[OilemFirchen]

7. I'm an old-fashioned kind of guy.

As in, not martini, like Don Marquis described. He spoke often of festering. My brother Fester, a semi-professional whistler, explained that he meant "extra dry, as in torpid".

So, you, sir, are, a, cockroach, too, baby.



I await my advance.

[TexasProgresive]

9. The New American Bible has it differently.

This passage by Peter is an extrapolation of Jesus' teachings in Jn 15:19 17:14–16 and by John in 1 Jn 4:5. If these RW pseudo-Christians really believed these words they would live totally different lives. They want their cake and eat it to0- they want to be in the world and OF the world.

9* But you are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises” of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.h

10 Once you were “no people”

but now you are God’s people;

you “had not received mercy”

but now you have received mercy.i

11* Beloved, I urge you as aliens and sojourners* to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against the soul.j 12Maintain good conduct among the Gentiles, so that if they speak of you as evildoers, they may observe your good works and glorify God on the day of visitation.

* [2 –10] The prerogatives of ancient Israel mentioned here are now more fully and fittingly applied to the Christian people: “a chosen race” (cf. Is 43:20–21) indicates their divine election (Eph 1:4–6); “a royal priesthood” (cf. Ex 19:6) to serve and worship God in Christ, thus continuing the priestly functions of his life, passion, and resurrection; “a holy nation” (Ex 19:6) reserved for God, a people he claims for his own (cf. Mal 3:17) in virtue of their baptism into his death and resurrection. This transcends all natural and national divisions and unites the people into one community to glorify the one who led them from the darkness of paganism to the light of faith in Christ. From being “no people” deprived of all mercy, they have become the very people of God, the chosen recipients of his mercy (cf. Hos 1 ; 2:23).

* [2:11] Aliens and sojourners: no longer signifying absence from one’s native land (Gn 23:4), this image denotes rather their estrangement from the world during their earthly pilgrimage (see also 1 Pt 1:1, 17).

[Iris]

6. I'm sure then Bible has very little to say about Coldwater, Mississippi. n/t

[HeiressofBickworth]

8. I recommend reading

The Way We Never Were by Stephanie Coontz. A review by Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
"The golden age of the American family never existed, asserts Coontz ( The Social Origns of Private Life ) in a wonderfully perceptive, myth-debunking report. The ``Leave It to Beaver'' ideal of breadwinner father, full-time homemaker mother and dependent children was a fiction of the 1950s, she shows. Real families of that period were rife with conflict, repression and anxiety, frequently poor and much less idyllic than many assume; teen pregnancy rates in the '50s were higher than today. Further, Coontz contends, the nuclear family was elevated to a central source of personal satisfaction only in the late 19th century, thereby weakening people's community ties and sense of civic obligation. Coontz disputes the idea that children can be raised properly only in traditional families. Viewing modern domestic problems as symptoms of a much larger socioeconomic crisis, she demonstrates that no single type of household has ever protected Americans from social disruption or poverty. An important contribution to the current debate on family values. (Oct.)"

[calimary]

10. And as I recall, Beaver and Wally went to public school.

So did Ricky Nelson on "Ozzie and Harriet." I believe it was Public high school and college. Ditto Dobie Gillis and friends - a show in which Dobie's Mom was hardly even seen, much less playing any role on the show. If anything it was Dobie's dad you saw, at the family grocery store. Hell, the running joke about "Ozzie and Harriet" and beyond was - just what exactly did Ozzie do for a living? He was always a fixture around the house!

Excellent point, HeiressofBickworth! Sadly, the people who mewl and whine and sob "I want MY America BACK!!!" are looking backwards through rose-colored glasses whose lenses are seriously fogged up. They only remember how it appeared to be from all those 50's family sitcoms.

That's why the Norman Lear stuff that came later, like "All in the Family&quot working-class white - GASP!), "Sanford & Son," "Good Times," "The Jeffersons,&quot working-class African-American families! GASP!) "Maude,&quot uppity "women's lib" woman! GASP!) and "One Day at a Time&quot single mom! GASP!) were all regarded as mold-breaking and, in varying degrees, socially controversial. It was no longer the standard lily-white suburban Dad-goes-to-a-decent-paying-job-at-the-office/Mom-stays-home-in-the-kitchen-and-living-room-with-her-trusty-vacuum-cleaner/irrepressible-school-age-kids/white-bread-neighbors format.

Hell, I remember when every mom hoped for a new vacuum cleaner for Christmas, my mom included.