Not Perfect, Just Forgiven… September 1, 2008
Posted by BrewFan in Personal Experiences, Politics.trackback
I have not been a big fan of James Dobson for a variety of reasons. I don’t like it when Christians get too focused on trying to ‘reform’ the world. As Christians, I believe we are called to make disciples of all the nations. But we are called to do so by living the values we profess and by giving an account of the hope that lives within us. We are not called to try and make disciples by legislation or through political power. That doesn’t mean we can’t participate in the political process, it simply means that political power is not the means to an end. My knock against Dr. Dobson and the Don Wildmon’s of the evangelical world is they sometimes seem to forget that the Kingdom of God is not going to arrive via Air Force One (I stole that line from Cal Thomas but it expresses the thought better then my feeble mind could).
That said, Dr. Dobson has lots of influence in the sphere of evangelical Christians. So, when I read his response to the acknowledgement that Bristol Palin, the 17-year-old daughter of Sarah Palin, was pregnant I was happy he found the spirit of Christ in his heart:
“Being a Christian does not mean you’re perfect. Nor does it mean your children are perfect. But it does mean there is forgiveness and restoration when we confess our imperfections to the Lord. I’ve been the beneficiary of that forgiveness and restoration in my own life countless times, as I’m sure the Palins have.
“The media are already trying to spin this as evidence Gov. Palin is a ‘hypocrite,’ but all it really means is that she and her family are human. They are in my prayers and those of millions of Americans.”
One reason I was happy with Dr. Dobson’s response is because I have lived what the Palins are living right now; A too-young daughter who gets pregnant and has to grow up faster then a dad might like to see. I have learned what is important in life through the challenges God has put before me. Despite some heartache, He has blessed us with a good son-in-Law and two beautiful granddaughters.
I look forward to the backlash that is surely going to occur against those who see this as political hay.
Grandpa BrewFan and one of his angels (from New Years Day!) :
Update: And another angel and her grampy…
I look forward to watching those darling girls grow up with their Grandpa.
I hope they call you “Pappy”.
Cause I’m mean.
My kids call my dad Pop. Your girls are darling. And your mustache is all grey.
Nice post Brew. Taking his girls to the hardware store!
I have at times been critical of the evangelical movement, especially as it relates to politics. But these words from Dr. Dobson are profound and heartening, as were Brew’s words.
To me, this is one of the things I fear the most in about 13 years or so. I just hope that for all of my very public and admitted faults, my daughter will know what is right and wrong, but also know that she will have parents who will care for her and forgive her if she were to wander a bit off course.
But I am also pleased to see that the young Palin will love and raise the child instead of the alternatives.
I didn’t know the unabomber could have such a cute granddaughter.
Good thought, though. As a parent I sure hope it doesn’t happen, and we teach our kids that it shouldn’t happen. But I know it happens all the time.
That’s not grey KC, that’s ice.
KC, we were at the Toilet Bowl Parade. It was about 6 degrees!
Brew, I’m just tellin’ you as a friend, you have bad taste in sandals. Someone has to tell you.
The Lord has appointed all of us to our unique calling. I guess it is my calling to tell you, Brewfan, my Christian brother, that you have bad taste in sandals.
Otherwise, that was a really great post.
I still don’t get how a teenager living under his/her parents’ roof even gets the opportunity to have sex. But then, I also don’t know how you get drugs, how you purchase alcohol when you’re underage, or what arugula is. So, I am not representative.
Early this afternoon, I posted this over at NiceDeb:
Years ago our pastor and his wife came to the congregation with the news that their daughter was pregnant. Although she had been pressured to consider an abortion, the daughter and boyfriend chose on their own to get married, have the baby, and finish high school. The Pastor asked the congregation if we wanted him to resign from his call. ABSOLUTELY NOT was the overwhelming response. We are all forgiven, not perfect, people. The daughter became an awesome mother, all-round cool woman, and good example for us all to see how life can go on despite the “oops!” we face.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Brew. It’s a blessing.
And, those little ones are beautiful!
I still don’t get how a teenager living under his/her parents’ roof even gets the opportunity to have sex.
Double income families. Or single parent families. The average high school girl gets home around 4. The average working parent gets home around 6. Do the math — that’s two unsupervised hours after school every day. What could happen?
Oh. I guess if you don’t have after-school activities, don’t care about homework, and live near acceptable sex partners, then that would work out. I didn’t get home until 6 or 7. I started on homework as soon as I got home and considered myself lucky if I got to go to bed by midnight. And I went to a Magnet school, so I didn’t know the kids in my neighborhood, who were mostly gang members anyway. I also didn’t consider any of the guys in my high school acceptable sex partners, of course. Their conversational skills were somewhat lacking.
Beautiful granddaughters, Brew!
And the grandkids call my husband “Pappy”. Is that a Texas thing, Dave?
10:
Usually, I was like Mrs. P: I never got home before 7. I too had a shitload of homework, and the Jesuits didn’t care if you were busy. Plus, I was an outsider in my neighborhood as well, not joining the neighborhood children at the school they all went to. And being in an all-boys school kept the need to impress girls during the schoolweek to a minimum, though weekend get togethers were a different story, especially since most of my friends had parents who were always going out of town for work or recreation. It was a given that somebody we knew was home alone.
But I did know how to get booze, so that counts for something.
After Dr. Dobson went after Fred Thompson for not belonging to the “right” denomination (plus he was challenging Dobson’s favored candidate Newt Gingrich), I lost a lot of respect for him. This is great, and I’m glad he’s not leading a parade of torches & pitchforks to the Palin’s house to denounce their “whore daughter”.
Damn near all of us engaged in premarital sex of one sort or another. The Palin’s daughter just got “caught” and now has to grow up WAY too quick. Anyone who wants to denounce her or her parents for supporting her can just down a big ol’ cup of Shut The
Fuck Up for all I care.
This is about as pro-life as it gets. Supporting giving birth when it’s more convenient/less politically embarrassing to just sweep it under the rug, so to speak.
I just realized that my remarks could come across as critical of Brew and/or his daughter. I didn’t mean it that way. It’s just that it’s only recently that I’m starting to realize just how abnormal I have been and am.
(not fishing for contradiction. I don’t think I’m a bad kind of abnormal, except inasmuch as I’m not able to connect with normal people’s experiences [e.g., partying in high school].)
ok, tired. gonna go to bed. Y’all have a good night now, and Brew, those are some cute lil’ uns.
Brew:
Sorry I didn’t mention this earlier, but those are some sweethearts.
Mrs. P:
You’re not. I look back at how I behaved in school, and am amazed I am still alive. That, and I had a dose of reality with a daughter, thinking I’d blow a hole in any guy who tries to do to her what I wanted to do to a lot of the girls I knew in HS and College before I met my wife.
I’m also impressed by people who face great trials with courage and emerge victorious. So good on Brew’s daughter & son-in-law, good on Captain Ed’s son & daughter-in-law, and good on Bristol Palin for sticking to principle. I hope & pray that she, too, succeeds.
ok, bedtime for real now
Coupla cutiepies, Brew.
I’ve never liked Dobson. Nor just about any other well known evangelical leader of the religious right. As Brew says, we aren’t in this to bring Christ back by means of political power. We should render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s. I DO support using the power of government to establish boundaries of acceptable behavior by the power of law. That’s what society is all about. When someone tells me you can’t legislate morality, I tell them that, in fact, all legislation is an effort to legislate morality. The question is where does the consensus of a society lay in terms of what is acceptable behavior.
As to faith, I cannot make someone come to Christ. I can set the best example I am capable of, I can explain, I can witness, I can educate (rather poorly in all instances!). But only Christ can move the human heart to accept Him as Lord and Savior.
My niece had her first child at 17, and out of wedlock to boot. I suspect that she deliberately became pregnant, or was at best indifferent to the risk of becoming pregnant. I deplore that as a choice. It limits her options in terms of education and income. It makes her foolish, not evil.
If it weren’t for accidental pregnancies, half of my friends would have been born, half of them wouldn’t have gotten married and half of them (unfortunately) wouldn’t have gotten divorced.
Doesn’t change the fact that I make pretty good choices in my friends, and am impressed by all of their children.
Also, no “accidental” pregnancies, and there wouldn’t have been a wickedpinto.
Hooray for accidents. I was unwed and pregnant. Mr Kevlar and I struggled and had great difficulty. But we did it.
My little accident is almost 6 feet tall and still lets me fuss over him. I think he likes it. Despite the fact that he is an occasional hoodlum and a whiner, he brings me joy.
KING Kevlar?
Criminy! What is it with you gal’s!
And KC, I’m sure he DOES like it, he just wishes you wouldn’t do it in front of anyone, especially while filming it.
Brew, I’m just tellin’ you as a friend, you have bad taste in sandals. Someone has to tell you. Michael, could you be any more of a woman?
acceptable sex partners That’s what I call my wife all the time. It makes her want me.
Good post Brew. Enjoyed the pics. Makes me want to shake your hand and hug the babies.
I’m often humbled by the good things my friends do. Good for you Brew, and KC. God bless you both. If I know you two, you’ll tell me He already has.
Brew, any time Michael wants to razz you about your sandals, just tell him to check out Eddiebears… I swear, my retinas still haven’t recovered.
Ditto what Russ said. IMhO whether we stayed virgins, messed around, or got pregnant out of wedlock isn’t the issue. It’s what we do when we find ourselves in the moments of truth.
For me the rubrics are: Am I being honest with myself and about myself? Am I making choices that are congruent with my values, principles, fundamental beliefs? Am I considering how others will be affected? Am I honoring God?
It’s taken me gray hair and some years on me to have a clear picture about this. Kudos to those of you — Kevlar, Brew, Mrs. Peel, the Palin family, etc. — for doing the right thing when it counts.
And Xbradtc — I think you do a fine job sharing Christ right here, buddy. Keep it up. I like reading what you have to say.
Many thanks, Cathy. Just don’t peek at what I say over at The Hostages…
The worst part was when Boy Kevlar “did the math” between our wedding date and his birth date.
Talk about grey hair!
Brad:
Glad to oblige
Darling babies!
Congratulations Brewnabomber!
[...] BrewFan summarizes my thoughts on that. [...]
I still don’t get how a teenager living under his/her parents’ roof even gets the opportunity
Friend’s house.
I also don’t know how you get drugs
Recess (at my high school).
how you purchase alcohol when you’re underage
I never really managed to figure that one out, either…
or what arugula is
I’m pretty sure it’s a code name for an illegal drug.
Your grand-daughters are cute, Brewfan!
I’m not too keen on Dobson, either; I have a strong dislike for politicized religion. I like what he said about the Palin family, though.
Getting alcohol while underage requires having older acquaintances willing to suffer the stigma of purchasing Riunite and Boone’s Farm. So I’ve heard.
You can also have a younger brother replace a “lost” driver’s license with one with his photo but his older brother’s name and DOB. It must have worked well for a couple of years until he unknowingly tried to buy from a store checker who knew who I, I mean, the unknown older brother, was.
So I’ve heard. Speaking of perfect families . . . .
Excellent point. Or your younger sister can look enough like you to use your “lost” and replaced license.
The clerk gave younger brother the choice of cops or dad being called. He chose dad.
Good move removing the middleman, cause if the cops were called, dad would be called next.
Or, if you don’t have an older brother, ALLEGEDLY you could also find a wallet left on a counter at McDonalds by a guy who looks enough like you to be your fraternal twin brother. Said wallet just MIGHT have a non-driver ID that you could use until you turn 21, which is great because if you get caught using a fake ID to buy booze, you lose your real driver’s license for 6 months – but a non-driver ID doesn’t let them consider that ticket to be a “moving violation”, so you’d just get the fine & maybe some community service time.
I’m just throwing out hypotheticals here, of course….
Russ, why didn’t you, hypothetically of course, just bribe the clerk with bacon?
xbrad, let’s say, hypothetically, that I was speaking of myself there. If that DID happen to me, it might be correct to assume that I would have damn near worn the printing off the license over the next 2 years of using it to buy booze. In fact, if that hypothetical situation HAD happened to me, losing the fake ID 6 months before I turned 21 to a doorman in Ankeny, IA, probably would have been the best thing to happen to me, since it would have curtailed my drinking so that I could concentrate on homework during a paraticularly hard semester of school.
And bribe a clerk with bacon to buy booze? If you’ve got bacon, you’ll get the booze without having to bribe ANYONE. Bacon has that power.
Hey Russ,
I thoroughly enjoyed your post at Ace’s today.
Spot on brother.
Now, hypothetically speaking, you could have a friend who worked as a stockboy for a convenience store who would happen to leave a case of beer outside the back door from time to time. I guess.
Or, in the good old days, do what I did. Move to states where the drinking age was lower. I turned 19 in basic training. The drinking age in Georgia was, providentially, 19. I moved to Hawaii. Their drinking age was 18. They raised it to 21 with no grandfather clause, but the Air Force NCO club next door served E-4s 18 and up. Then I moved back to Washington. The age there was 21, but I was 8 miles from Idaho where the age was 19. Close enough for a beer run.
I got put on “double secret probation” for starting a blogfeud without checking with Godfather Ace first. Apparently, he thinks that just because his name is on the effing blog, he handles all the hassles with keeping it running, and he’s got to answer for all the complaints he gets from when a guestblogger goes off the reservation, he gets to decide when & where to attack a fellow conservative blog.
It’s not as if Ace came after me with pliers & a blowtorch. He just reiterated the “Godfather etiquitte” where you have to get the Don’s permission before you whack another “made” man.
Allahpundit was pretty cool about the whole thing. I had a bad day at work, so I got pretty huffy about his perceived slight on the headline @ Hot Air, but he explained what he was trying to do & now we’re cool. We might even have a few beers sometime. Who knows?
I would actually support lowering the drinking age. In general, I’d support a more relaxed attitude toward alcohol consumption society-wide. For example, people should be able to socialize with someone who’s drinking water without shifting nervously in their chairs and taking sidelong glances at the offending individual and her glass, until finally she rolls her eyes and orders a drink so they will fucking relax. Hypothetically, that is.
And college students should be able to have a drink without acting like it’s some Huge Deal. Back when I was a co-op, the other co-ops always acted like having alcohol at their parties was the Biggest Deal EVAH!!! They were always trying to keep it a Secret from the Grownups (i.e., the full-timers in charge of the co-op program). I just never got that attitude at all. Why would anyone care if some random co-ops, all of whom were 21+, got together for football, hot wings, and beer?
What was AP trying to do? Other than scare up some additional traffic.
From what he told me, he linked the article at Ace’s because he thought it was funny (in a good way, not “Ha Ha Ha, see what the retard wrote about me”) and he thought I made a good point about his pessimism. He gets beaucoup emails about his pessimism every day, and I guess this was just his way of giving his detractors an olive branch.
Don’t think he did it just for hiw own traffic. Actually, he sent THOUSANDS of people to Ace’s by linking my article, so that’s partly why my transgression in not getting a sanction for my hit piece isn’t a felony to Ace.
ah. I do like AP better than Ed (AP is actually funny, where the Cap’n is usually painfully serious), but I liked Bryan best of all and miss him lots. And See-Dub, too, of course.
But yeah, I totally agreed with your post. I get annoyed with the naysayers as well. You should have called out Derbyshire specifically. The other day, he wrote a post bragging about how awesome his pessimism is. I won’t even tell you what he said today, but suffice to say he’s a giant douchetool.
Oh, I don’t mind Derb that much. You kinda have to have a crank around. Just don’t let him run the shop.
I have an aunt and uncle who never would have been parents if it hadn’t been for “accidents” in birthing practices. They couldn’t have kids, and then they adopted, and they were blessed, through the vessels of anothers body to become parents.
The specifics don’t matter, but the idea that my aunt and uncle were ever bad parents, or that my cousins are bad, is foolish. In fact, I have a number of adopted cousins, and while flawed, like all of us, they are good people, and I am better for knowing them.
Thank God for forgiveness or none of would be here!
Enjoyed tripping upon your blog today. And yes, its commenting that’s hard to do and not sound sappy!
Thanks for visiting, Sonya.