Standards

Judging Others (For Doing Something You Love)

110 Comments

This tweet so perfectly illustrates the fundamentalist tension between loving something while being forced by your self-imposed standards to despise it at the same time.

“I love to be able to go to the buffet on Sunday after church and then go home and watch football! But those waitresses and football players should be in church instead of working on the Sabbath. But I love what they do! So I’ll just sit here and judge them while I enjoy the fruits of their labors.”

Fortunately, there are enough ungodly people left in the world to keep fundamentalists fed and entertained. Being able to judge those who do the things you love is just an added bonus.

110 thoughts on “Judging Others (For Doing Something You Love)”

  2. Is it even a fact that Tebow does not gather with believers on Sunday? Since football games are played in the afternoon, and church people have time to go out to eat and make it home to watch the game, doesn’t Tebow have time to make it to work after a service?

    1. Maybe, if the service is early enough. But those guys are usually at the stadium by 8 or 9 in the morning for a 1:00 game. So unless he’s hitting a sunrise service I doubt he’s going to church before the game, and probably not after, either.

      But in the end, does that matter? Who’s to say he’s not plugged into a small group in his hometown? Just because he might not be in church on Sunday doesn’t mean he’s forsaken the assembling of himselves together.

      1. I agree he is not forsaking. Missing 16 Sundays does not equate to forsaking. To some, forsaking = missing one time. But that doesn’t fit quite right when we are told to forsake sin. Does that mean I only have to refrain from the sin one time and I’m golden?

        2. I agree with Guilt Ridden, forsaking is a heart attitude. Fundies like to make it a “be-there-every-time-the-doors-are-open” or else you’re forsaking thing. 🙄

      2. I thought Gordy was kidding …
        For all I know, though, Tebow may go to worship services on Friday evening.

        … But I take Darrell’s point to be that it’s hypocritical to watch football games (or any entertainment) on Sunday, and then call out the players (and all the other workers involved in putting on the game and televising it) for working on Sunday.

    2. It may not be universal, but at least some NFL teams have an early morning chapel service for those who wish to attend. If on the road, they will sometimes have a pastor from the local area come in. The pastor of my church was recently asked to do this for the Rams.

      1. I was just thinking that I had heard something about most teams either having their own chaplain (not sure how common that is) or at least having a weekly service with a local pastor at the field where they are playing.

        It seems that fundies just assume that, if a church service doesn’t fit their prescribed pattern (Sunday school, morning service, evening service, all which must take place in an official church building under the thumb of a permanent pastor), it’s not really a church service. Ergo, football players don’t attend church. 🙄

    1. Apparently so.

      Football is the real religion of many Americans (and the other football, soccer, is the religion of man non-Americans).

      I have no quarrel with people who like football, but know that it’s just a game. When it is the source of people’s identity and sense of self-worth, and their reason for living, though, there’s a problem.

      1. George meant to write, “… the religion of manY non-Americans” (although the majority of soccer fans are male, I guess).

  5. Oh my goodness…this is SOOOOO typical. I wondered when Tebow-loving fundamentalists were going to start the “wait a minutes.”

    Incurring general hatred and ridicule for publicly giving honor and praise to God isn’t enough. He doesn’t go to church on Sunday. Heck, he probably goes to movies and dates girls who wear pants. Let’s not idolize the man! (And yes, I’m being sarcastic.)

  6. I had some fundy pastor from NY eat my lunch on Facebook over the same issue. This must be an “underground movement” among the IFBX to take Tebow down a notch. The ironic thing is that many sports (NASCAR, Baseball and the NFL) have volunteer chaplains who host services in the stadium prior to the games. I have a friend who used to be the chaplain for the Dolphins and I have multiple friends who work with NASCAR teams. I’m guessing that Tebow could conduct his own service with his teammates and deliver a more Scripturally-sound message than these critics. PLUS, Tebow was an active member of the First Baptist Church of Jacksonville when the Youth Pastor there was a graduate of none other than Hyles-Anderson (but he wasn’t a kool-aid drinker.) As is typical with IFB-Loonies, they can’t allow anyone to appear “more spiritual” than they are — so they have to criticize them. What a pathetic way to live.

  7. I posted about this topic before, how I worked at a restaurant with two Fundy churches within a couple blocks radius. They would come into the restaurant after church on Sundays and leave tracts instead of tips. When I told them I was a Christian I got the glare that said, oh no you’re not, you work on Sundays! Why did I work on Sundays? Because they came to eat on Sundays and a good deal of our Sunday crowd was these Baptists eating out after church on Sundays. How dare they judge us who were forced to work partly because of them?

    As for Tebow, possibly he has a service in the clubhouse on Sundays with the other Christians on the team. I know of Christian baseball players who did the same thing. They had to play on Sundays as well and accepted that, but it didn’t stop them from worshiping the Lord. Besides I thought we were to worship God every day not only on Sundays. 😀

    1. A lot of lot of years ago I used to work for the Rams. There were a few guys on the team who were Christian and they would have a little prayer meeting before the games. I guess it doesn’t count though if you don’t have a corpulent ego-maniac shouting at you. (Unless you can count the coach.)

    2. My mother, may she rest in peace, always said that if it weren’t for Christians nothing would be open on Sunday!
      Great post, Darrell.

  8. Typical fundy logic. Let’s throw the baby out with the bath water and then criticize the baby for being nekkid while in the bath.

  9. He has a link on how to start a new business in his tweets. I hope no one clicks that on Sunday.

  10. I love his picture. I was just reading my Bible in my suit and wha-? Somebody took my picture and caught me off guard.
    It’s like those news anchor intros in the evening news. Typing typing typing, look up and smile, back to typing typing…

  11. If you haven’t already, google “SNL Tebow” and watch the skit. Not saying one way or the other about Tebow, myself, because I think he’s sincere, plus he made it to the NFL, so yay, him. But I think the skit is perfect.

  12. First off the ignorance of the statement God’s House is leigon.
    1: God’s house on earth was distroyed in 70 AD.
    2: The brick and mortar edifices that litter the American landscape are not “God’s house.”
    3: God abides in the Tabernacles of his Children, “Living stones”, not in an inanimate physical building.

    Secondly, there is no such thing as the Sunday Sabath. The Sabath was Part of the decalogue and does not apply to New Testament believers… PERIOD.
    If one chooses to observe a Day unto the Lord that is their choice but they are not under any Biblical mandate to do so. Attending Church on Sunday, the First day of the week is a man made tradition. And if the Fundies really want to split hairs about it then it is actually established by the “Catholic” church. Let’em put that in their pipe and smoke it.

    Then there are the whole Welsh revival Legends. How the footballers were so over come with piety that they would not play on Sunday so the whole league shut down during the Welsh Revival. The piety of the Revivals are held up as the standard to which the fundies aspire. Revival is the Holy Grail of a Fundie Preacher!

    *While there were many whose piety are the stuff of Legends and I do not condemn them for their stand, for that is what their own conscience compelled them to do, it is just as wrong requiring everyone must act the same way and hold the same standard in order to be as “Right with God” or as Holy as those who rigoriously hold to some standard they have set for themselves. That is not Liberty but legalism.

    3. In Bahrain, in the Middle East, where I was stationed courtesy of the US Navy, all the churches and the chapel on base hold services on Friday. The workweek is Sunday through Thursday, so everybody works on Sunday.

  13. It’s my suspicion that most male fundies are actually Footballians, whether they realize it or not. That goes for most of the evangelicals as well.

    Because seriously, how many sermons have you heard starting with a football analogy? You can take or leave doctrine regarding foreskin, but don’t you dare touch that pigskin.

    1. “You can take or leave doctrine regarding foreskin, but don’t you dare touch that pigskin.”

      That’s such a great line I had to repeat it! I’m going to use it as often as I can.

  14. “Fortunately, there are enough ungodly people left in the world to keep fundamentalists fed and entertained.” LOL! Reading this immediately made me think of something. Namely, the fact that there ate also enough ungodly people
    Left to take care of the pets belonging to those who are carried away during the rapture. Hurry up and register your pets so they can be fed and cared for after Jesus comes! http://www.aftertherapturepetcare.com/

    1. I suspect it’s more likely my pets will be “raptured” and I’ll get left behind than vice versa.

  16. Amen to that brother, don’t even get me started on all those sorry soldiers, policeman and fireman that work on Sunday.

    1. Tell me about it. As a paramedic for 9 years, my wife has attended many services alone. Back when we went to a fundy church in SC, one older man in the church would always come up to her and ask where I was, then tell her he would pray for me since I was not in church on Sunday morning.

      “And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?

      And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go;

      And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?

      And they could not answer him again to these things.”

      2. I know this is an old thread, but I have to respond. I’m also a paramedic and while my pastor says he understands, I still get the cold shoulder from everyone (including the pastor) when my schedule puts me working every other sunday (especially during handshake time when people purposely pass me by to shake others hands who are ‘more faithful’). Thanks for posting the verses of Scripture, this was an encouragement I really needed to hear. Keep up the good work as a medic too!

        1. I’m sorry people have treated you that way because if they needed you on a Sunday, they would be happy for paramedics who were on call and ready to come help.

          I grieve that so many Christians default to condemnation not love. We who have been forgiven everything should be a lot more generous to one another. Blessings to you.

      3. Im a EMT…thanks for the encouraging word! I have to work 175-200+ hours just to make ends meet so yeah I miss alot of church.

    1. it is. But if the managawd uses his own slant on Mur-Kin Innlish, why I say it’s all right, Hay-men???

    2. “Step foot” seems to be a regional variation. I’ve always said “set foot,” but I’ve heard people from other regions saying “step foot.” It’s redundant, though: “step” means the same thing.

  18. As a kid I always wondered how the preacher could work on Sunday yet condemn anyone else who worked on Sunday.

  20. “One man considers one day more sacred than another: another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.” Romans 14:5-6

  21. Sabbath? Sunday is no sabbath. The Sabbath was only Friday evening-Saturday evening in the Old Testament, and it was only a type of what was to come: the spiritual Rest provided by Christ.

    1. True, the Biblical Sabbath is from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.
      Uh-oh, there went high school football …

  22. “step foot in God’s house” – that sounds so pious, haha
    I thought my body was the temple….I’m confused already. I guess that an IFB church WITH the right standards, mind you, AND the correct Bible, mind you, AND let’s see – guy on the platform is hollering, check; bus ministry so the world can see that we care, check; mission conference with free trip (guilt trip to get financial support, gee, not a mission trip!), check; plenty of suits and ties and skirts, check; godly piano music whether the piano stands on its last leg or not, check; standards being imposed on the teen group that you wouldn’t dare to impose on the members, check; a good Christian school because a good Christian education is soooo important (no, we’re not capable of running a school or keeping anybody on staff for more than a year, but still!), check; and why sure, we have a sound system, we just don’t care enough to have a sound check (unless my Asperger son was in the sound room, where he used to live)- so we generally don’t actually hear the first stanza of the special, but it sure was GODLY music!!!, check; and if you’re looking for fellowship, let me show you where the worker’s sign up sheet is, check; and so on and on to kingdom come, and yes, he might come back today, check, so if THAT’s where you find yourself , then that means you brought the temple of the Holy Spirit (your body) to “God’s house”. Got it??? 😆

  23. From BaptistBritt on December 13th:

    I love my wife. Been married about 8 months now, and each week gets better than the last. She is a woman who knows her role and purpose.

      1. (Whispering:) Psst, Britt’s wife! If you ever … you know … need a place to hide out or anything … look me up, OK?

    2. The language of a cult leader. 😥 And I’m sure there were a chorus of “A-men’s”
      Cult
      Cult
      Cult
      No mater how they dress it up, package it, perfume it, preach it and present it… it still comes out: CULT.

    3. her role and purpose – wait on Him (yes, I meant to spell that with a capital H), ask no questions other than Bible questions, be feminine (but no amount of vintage dresses gives you dignity! oops, sorry Taylor), anything baby is good, have them, babysit them, be the mighty leader of the nursery (and NEVER let them get a vaccination), and make Him look good. I like this piece of advise: “look at Him admiringly when others are around.” I can’t remember where that came from, but if you can pull it without cracking up, have someone take a picture and post it, pleeeze! 😀

    5. Did you see the Twit’s twit from a few minutes ago? “Ma’am, I make it a policy not to dispute with ladies. Thank you for understanding.”

      What a patronizing, sanctimonious moron.

      2. Sounds like a chicken to me. He won’t debate with a lady? Oh I’d like to have a few words with him. 😈

      3. I’m so glad Jesus was willing to discuss spiritual matters with the woman at the well! He didn’t hold Himself aloof from interacting with women.

    6. Ummmm the issue I saw with his marriage to “the greatest wife in the world” for “8 months” while “serving at the best church in America” making him the “happiest man on earth”, (what is it with fundies and their overuse of superlatives?) is that in those “8 months” they have a son. Not that I’m accusing him of anything, just saying the math seems a little off. Unless of course they’ve done an ultra-sound and she’s still expecting.

      2. I noticed that, too. Wondering if we’re missing something – previous marriage? Well, that’s considered just as bad.

        1. I think widowers generally get a pardon in fundyland, though, don’t they? It’s only those of us who get a divorce who are relegated to second-class citizenship.

    1. He is a football player. He is a Christian and (I am not sure what exactly he did, but) Christians are all a-flutter over it. Maybe knelt down and prayed on the field or something. I have only seen on facebook all the comments about it, and haven’t been interested enough to ask beyond that.

      1. He holds prayer meetings with the team, he makes a point of making his faith a public thing. All the Christians seem to love him since he’s the big Christian figure who’s having success. He’s a “golden boy” who’s supposedly better than the rest of the thugs in the NFL. Christians expect that his faith will translate into NFL success – because of course his skills won’t have that much to do with it.

        1. I don’t know too many Christians who think Tebow’s faith will translate into automatic success on the gridiron. That sounds rather simplistic, unBiblical, and actually superstitious to me. (Then again, I don’t hang around the “name it and claim it” crowd.)

          The believers I know appreciate a man who has become famous through football but who publicly declares his belief in Christ and his dependance on Him. I certainly don’t expect God to grant Tebow victory; I do hope that Tebow can display the fruit of the Spirit whatever happens on the field.

        2. I am probably over-cynical on this point, and I’d echo your hopes. But, my observation: [some] Christian’s attitudes toward Tebow is that Christianity has taken a big leap forward because this man can play football well. Or, to put it another way, I can feel better about being a Christian because a currently-successful NFLer is an outspoken believer.
          I see that attitude as jaded. If Tebow were not successful, if he fell flat on his face, Christians would start talking in consolation-prize terms: “No, he can’t play football well, but at least he’s a Christian…” And they wouldn’t be rooting for him. Football skills are the main part of the equation here, so I wish people would stop acting like they root for him because he’s a Christian. There’s lots of good NFLers, past and present, who are Christians, but who aren’t rooted for as such.

        3. @ I should be working – I am reminded of a very sad story about a well known UK footballer, Justin Fashanu, who became a Christian back in the eighties. Of course Christians got really excited as if somehow this validated their faith and the rollercoaster began for the man. Not too long afterwards he came out as gay, and later committed suicide.

  26. How does BaptistBratt know Tebow’s Sunday schedule? Almost all pro teams have an optional chapel for players on Sunday morning. How does he know that Tebow doesn’t go to church on Sunday evenings? Sanctimonious morons like this guy remind me why I’m so glad I’m not around them anymore. I’ve seen video of Tebow speaking about the good news of Christ’s gift in prisons, in other countries, and to just about anybody that would listen. He’s the son of Baptist missionaries and he proclaims his love for God every chance he gets. The fact that his job requires him to work on Sundays 16 times a year doesn’t make him any different than soldiers, doctors, pilots, or a plethora of other occupations that thousands of Christians do every week. But a Pharisee like BaptistBratt can always find something to criticize in another Christian.

    1. One of the things that always grieved me was the way so many people around me were always questioning other believers’ motives and assuming the worst. They claimed to be using discernment, but it just seemed so judgmental and unloving to me.

    2. People like this grieve the Holy Spirit, because of their judgmental spirit. How dare they question someone else’s motives? I am so sick and tired of this sanctimonious prig attitude. What happened to judge not lest ye be judged? How fortunate for him that his job doesn’t require him to work on Sundays. Other people’s jobs do. They need to make a living as well. I guarantee if his wife had some kind of accident or went into labor on a Sunday he’d want someone there to take care of her. “Oh sorry honey, you’re on your own because the baby decided to come on a Sunday and all the good Christian doctors and nurses are in the house of God getting preached at so they’re not available to help you. And you don’t want some unsaved doctor or nurse do you?” 👿

  27. I’m so glad this guy’s sole purpose in life is monitoring Tebow’s church attendance, thereby preventing us from breaking a commandment. How could the Holy Spirit do all that without him?

  28. Same goes for all those wicked nurses, police officers, fireman and utility workers that make for a safe and civilized society for us to attend church in.

  30. When I worked in retail, the time I hated the most was Sunday afternoon from about 12-4. Why? Because all the “Christians” came into the store wearing their “Sunday best” and they were the rudest customers, even worse than the old people on Senior Night.

    1. I can identify with Rose on this one. I also work in retail and am often disgusted with the so-called “holy” church goers. They have this sense of entitlement because they are so “holy”. After all, they are the ones racking up points for themselves in God’s record books while us heathens are working instead (how selfish). Religious people have a bad reputation in my store because of their attitude, making it all the harder for my unbelieving coworkers to give God a chance.

  31. He had a nice reply on twitter too. I think you were called a “scoffer” Darrell.
    Here’s my take. Where, chapter and verse, in the Bible does it tell us to meet at the “First Sanctified and Fully Separated Baptist Church..soul winning, KJV only, Bible teaching, 3 Services per week Church” at 9 AM on Sunday morning? I THINK it only says that we should be meeting together with other believers. How and when that happens is not important..

    1. Yup. I saw that tweet: he referenced SFL, then wrote, “You will stand before God one day, scoffer. Better start planning your excuses.” First, he immediately assumes someone who disagrees with him is scoffing instead of having a legitimate disagreement. And, honestly, I’m not planning on giving excuses when I face God but simply plead the blood of Christ.

      2. If we’re all going to stand before God one day, why does he hurl that as a threat? I mean, he started the “scoffing” first – why does he think he will have nothing to answer for?

        Why would anybody publicly tweet something that they DIDN’T want discussed? Sounds silly to me.

    2. I’m having a hard time believing Baptist Britt’s Twits aren’t a parody. It’s so over the top. Can anybody really be that self-righteous and that oblivious?

      Yeah, Poe’s Law and all. I know, I know. But still …

      Besides, if it is a parody, it’s a funny one.

  33. I didn’t know who Michael Britt was so I googled him. First entry that came up was “The Psych Files Podcast”. I suspect that’s not him.

    Or he’s leading a double life 😯

    1. lol. Looked on his twitter. Saw where he said that those godless hackers need… a broken wrist. It’s a good thing the bible never says that an overseer shouldn’t be violent, or anything.

  34. For how long has football been played on Sundays in the States? When I was young, it was only on Saturdays in Australia.

  35. I wonder what this guy thinks of the poor, ungodly schmucks who live out a groundhog day existence at a FOB in Afghanistan for six months at a go (every day is Monday). Even outside of the military, shift work has become more prevalent. When I was a kid, nothing was opened on Sundays but today, nothing is closed on Sundays.

  36. Boy, I hope this twit (is that one who tweets?), never stops at a traffic light anywhere on a Sunday because there is someone, somewhere looking after those lights and guess what, they are working on Sunday. I hope he never showers, goes to the bathroom or drinks water from a tap on Sundays either, because guess what? There is someone looking after the water treatment and sewer treatment plants on Sunday too. What about power? Lets not even go there…

    What I’m getting at is that these need to people stop being so angry. Isn’t that what being a fundy is all about? Being angry? I went to pensacola Christian college for 1 year and boy, I’ve never seen so many repressed, angry people in all my life.

  37. “Step foot in God’s house” == “Give the right foot of fellowship” == “Kick in the arse”

    Because, you know, the believer’s body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, so it’s God’s house alright.

    Let me continue: Tebow in fact kicks much arse, therefore he steps foot in God’s house. (There’s likely at least one Christian on every team the Broncs beat). Ergo, BaptistBritt is stepping foot in mouth. Except, most of us can’t tell the difference.

    1. Immaculate conception.

      Or, as someone here asserts, Fundies’ first babies only take 6 months to arrive.

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