Ollie’s Follies

Of course I don’t always like the book better than the movie. “The Third Man,” for instance is much better as a movie. “Casablanca” is my favorite movie. It never was a book, but if it was, I would still think the movie was better. Nevertheless, in nearly all cases the book is far better, for me anyway, because it comes with Instant Replay.

You know what I mean by Instant Replay. It is what saves the day for you when you are watching a football game and somehow you watch the running back go off tackle when actually the quarterback bootlegged the ball. Instant Replay is what allows you to see what happened, whether on the TV at home or on the Jumbotron at the stadium.

When you’re watching a movie, though, either on the TV or at the theaer, there is nio Instant Replay. It is up to you to Pay Attention, as Patricia continually reminds me. Be prepared. Go to the bathroom before the movie begins. Then, during the show, listen carefully to each line, and scrutinize each scene, for details, like “Rosebud,” which yes, I managed to miss. I’m sorry, but somehow I have been gifted with the talent to Misinterpret, whether a road sign or a lyric. Even if I scrutinize the scene and attend the lines, I have a God-given ability not to see what the artist was driving at. (In a weak self-defense I can say that is also a trait that means being fair, being able to see more than one side of the question. The lady left town to get married. Two years later, she came back for a visit without her husband. Did that mean she had divorced? That is what was meant, Particia says. I say maybe her husband was busy and just couldn't make the trip.)

Anyway, whatever the reason, whenever I begin to watch a movie I know in my heart I’m going to miss something somewhere. That is why the book is better. When you realize you can’t figure out what’s going on, you just go back, find the critical passage, and read it again. it is Instant Replay. This, in a nutshell, is why for me the book is always better than the movie.

The Financial Base

The lifeblood of the mainline church is the Financial Base, defined as the minimum funding required to pay staff, support worship programs and maintain facilities. The mainline church considers achieving the Financial Base to be its most important objective. The money it allocstes to activities other than those supported by the Financiakl Base is the excess over the Financial Base.

The Financial Base determines the social nature of the church. Both staff and lay persons strive to attract members of this same social set as those who contribute financially, especially the most generous givers. This effort is called “evangelism.”

Mantaining the Financial Base is easy in a prosperous, growing community into which new high-income families are flocking. When high-income families stop arriving in flocks, attracting new members of the sort required to maintain the Financial Base becomes difficult.

The Church As a Business

A church is like a business in that both demand sound financial management, but the church is quite unlike a business in that the two have totally different objectives. The object of a business is to earn a profit;the objective of a church is to do the will of God.

A church and a business ought to be exactly the same in that both ought to solicit anyone as a customer. The mainline church, though, is careful to choose its customers on a socioeconomic basis.

The Church As a Person

Jesus commanded each human being to love God and his neighbor. Mainline churches should do the same, but some falter in the matter of loving their neighbors.

Making Disciples

“Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations” is the Great Commission. Mainliine Christians parrot it often. Jesus meant, “Proselytize pagans, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and the like.” Paul literally did this, but the mainline churches do not. Instead they target the “unchurched.”

The Great Commission is obscure because the word “disciple” beggars definition. For instance, some say that a disciple is one who accepts Christ and then completes a “journey to discipleship.” But what is the destination, and how do we know when we have arrived there?

Reaching the “Inactives”

All churches have “inactive members,” not a formal distinction but a valid one. Active members contribute money, attend worship more than twice a year. or take part in other church activities. In a typical large mainline church, roughly a third of the members are “active,” and by difference the other members–sometimes over a thousand of them–are “inactive.”

Mainline churches generally overlook inactive members. Do they complain? At times. The first complaint is “The only time someone calls on me is during the annual financial campaign.” This is valid but typically ignored. The other one is, “When I was recovering from surgery, no one frrom the church came to visit me, or even sent me a card.” The church staff is quick to defend itself: “You did not let the church know.”

All churches should minister to their “inactive” members, but rarely do they have enough time to do it.

For the disadvantaged kid, school is a dream world where the teacher talks different and where kids have to read and do math problems. In the child’s world outside of school, people don’t talk like the teacher does, they don’t read, and they don’t do math. It is difficult for the disadvantaged kid to take an interest in a dream world in which what he or she learns appears to be of no practical value in real eveyday life. The information of the dream world may In fact be a hindrance. For example, the other kids will mock the child who uses correct grammar in their comjpany.

The preacher says, “if we do what you’ve always done, we’ll get what we’ve always got.” The prophet says,”If we do what we’ve always done, we’ll get it.”

The Bible is laced with passage that don’t make sense to the average reader. Usually such passages aren’t clear to scholars either. Each scholar argues for his or her own interpretation.

When the average reader comes across one of these passages, he or she just skips it. As my old friend Doug used to say, “What the hell difference does it make?” Well, Doug was right some of the time, but most of the time we ought to take a closer look.

Interpretation is not a concern for priests and preachers because they are pledged to support their church’s version of the meaning.

Glamor girls die twice, the first time on the day that the mirror issues its definitlve opinion.

‘09 has gone, as we all know—
The question is, “Where did it go?”
The clocks have chimed 2K plus 10—
Tomorrow, back to work again.

Tempted by another man’s wife, Joseph made the right decision, David the wrong one.

Joseph protested to Potiphar’s wife that yielding to her would be a betrahyal of her husband and a sin against God. Both reasons were valid, but above all, Joseph knew that if he yielded, Potiphar would soon find out and have him executed. Joseph’s refusal led him to prison, undeniably the lesser evil.

David eagerly yielded to Bathsheba’s attempt to seduce him, thinking (if indeed he thouight at all) that no one would find out. Whether he gave any thought to the Ten Commandments is not reported. As it turned out, David ordered Uriah’s execution in a futile attempt to prevent anyone’s finding out the truth.

Did Bathsheba intentionally attempt to seduce David? Consider the following:

• Bathsheba was lonely. Her husband had been long away from home and was unlikely to be back soon.
• She knew that David was powerful, wealthy and lusty.
• She knew that her house was next door to the king’s palace. 
• She chose to bathe in a spot where the king could ogle her.

If it weren’t for me

You wouldn’t be.

We are God’s children. We consider some of our siblings to be, as a group, indolent, unintelligent and thieving. 

God calls upon us to love even these, although it goes against human nature.

The first step is to say “Hello” to a member of the group.The next step is to learn the person’s name, so we can go on to say “Hello, Richard,” or “Hello, Ann.”