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ADF and BJC



http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispa ... wn_woman_/

I guess I’ll have to go see it to see if it is as meaningful and engaging as Courageous or poor drama like Fireproof which really should have been a sermon.

With a new addition to our family back in October, Alexis and I had not been to a movie in 6 months.

Then, last week, we went to see Safehouse. I love Denzel. I make a point of seeing every Denzel movie in the theater. Except for a few couples, we were the only folks at Safehouse. Quite possibly everyone that day was there to see either The Hunger Games or October Baby.

We went to our second movie in as many weeks today. We thought about seeing October Baby - but chose the more edifying 21 Jump Street instead

It was very very foul-mouthed but a pretty dang funny film. We needed to do something to help ease the disappointment over not winning the MegaMillions.

What is this thing about church people not winning the MegaMillion$$? Our former associate pastor at Fremont, Mona Chicks, was whining on Facebook about it a day or two back. Some Obama tie-in, too. Weird. I must have missed the ads in question.

What was your associate pastor saying?

Alexis and a co-worker stood in line or about 15 minutes on Friday afternoon to buy $5 worth of tickets. She seemed to have had a good time doing that. Buying a lottery ticket is not something we do and it appeared that was the case for many who bought a few bucks worth of tickets on Friday.

Then Friday night, we watched the numbers announcements on our local news. Another 15 minutes of a little fun at the end of the day and an uneventful Friday night.

A bunch of Facebook friends were bashing those who bought tickets, referring to the game as an "idiot tax." Whatever. I thought the $5 we spent on tickets was probably a better stewardship of our funds than the $10 we would have spent instead on a delightful ice cream treat at 3 Spoons. Healthier too.

I never complain when in line behind lottery ticket buyers at convenience stores here in GA because they paid for my three kids' college education. The lottery is aptly labeled a tax on poor and stupid people, although one cannot apply those labels universally to all purchasers. As the astute Weaver knows, poor people, less educated people disproportionately spend on the lottery.

And here in GA there are vast numbers of affluent folks whose kids attend college without paying a nickel for tuition. It is not uncommon for those parent to take the money they saved for their kids' college and buy them new cars, even condos.

I'm not a fan of the lottery. I'm also not a fan of paternalism. I'm not big on using the government to make the irresponsible less-irresponsible.

I remember growing up we had a Say No to the Lottery sign in our front-yard. That was in the early 1990s. A bunch of the SBC churches were asking folks to put those signs in their yard. We obliged.

Less than ten years later, I was going to UGA on the Lottery's dime. Free tuition and even a stipend for books. Incredible deal!

Would be interesting to lead an October Baby church youth discussion into a consideration of the Implications of the Hunger Games and see where that takes the Tea Party mindset of OBaby producers, The Erwin Brothers, whose Father Hank Erwin is a Christian Right Bama State legislator.

I saw the Hunger Games Friday Night.