And speaking of The Sheepcat...

Way back on Sunday, July 27th, I got to meet Alan live and in person at Lakeshore-St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church where he debated the Reverend Martha Daniels of Metropolitan Community Church Windsor on the topic of "[I]s homosexual practice 'contrary to the [G]ospel and inconsistent with a Christian lifestyle?'"

You can read about it at Alan's blog here and here.

I just want to add a few comments.

First, it was the most un-Presbyterian Presbyterian church I've ever been to, all seeker-sensitive and stuff (deplorable!), but the people, especially the pastor and his wife, were very good.

Second, it was great to meet Alan. I've enjoyed his blog ever since I first discovered it two years ago. He's as great a guy in person as you'd think from reading his blog. That was certainly the highlight of July.

Third, I also got to meet Dale and Heather Price of Dyspeptic Mutterings and Domestic Bliss Report, as well as the Price children, or, as CourageMan calls them, the Pricelets. Dale and Heather seem to be very fun people, and their children shocked me by actually eating food at the Mongolian BBQ. I cannot imagine my nieces and nephew being so not-picky! Dale also promised to remind CourageMan that I too live in the Detroit area when he (CM) visits them (Prices) this Christmas.

Fourth, the debate. Alan was stronger in the first debate than the second, but he was good in both. Here's a quote from his blog to demonstrate how good he was in the first:

"I can't resist recounting one anecdote: in the first debate Martha argued that homosexuality couldn't be against nature, as it had been documented in hundreds of animal species. Well, I responded, cannibalism is found in the animal kingdom, but we don't take that as a model of appropriate human behaviour. She didn't use that line of reasoning the second time."

I have to remember that one.

His limmerick at the end cracks me up! In both debates, he ended with it and then simply said "Martha?" as a way of handing it over to her. It's funny because this is how it went:

"Second Peter and Jude are akin
as they warn against libertine spin,
'Sodom's toast*, so beware
of the prophets who dare
to treat grace as a license to sin'...Martha?"

I'm not sure Martha liked being linked with the daring prophets.

You can get copies of both debates by contacting Lakeshore-St. Andrews. I don't know what the prices are. There's a free MP3 download of the first debate here.

*A contraction for "Sodom is".

The Story of How Mr. and Mrs. H and I lost contact...

...and Found Each Other Again after Several Years.

Mr. and Mrs. H and I used to attend the same church, the charismatic one I left because of the heresy being taught there. (In fact, I'll name it: Detroit World Outreach. It's under new leadership now, although it still teaches that Prosperity Gospel crap*, see point 10.) They left a year or two before I did. I'm not sure why. I probably should have asked them about that before I started this post. Like me, they were still Evangelicals for a few years after leaving DWO.

The church definitely had its problems with incorrect doctrine, but many of the smaller groups felt like family. For example, Mr. and Mrs. H. and I were involved in the College-and-Career ministry for a few years. And the C-n-C was indeed like a family. We worshipped together, served each other, ministered with each other, loved and discipled each other, and some of us even lived with each other: three other guys from the group and I rented a four bedroom house, and lots of people in the group were roommates in other places.

Mr. H. and I were pretty good friends. He and I are both of an intellectual bent, so it was good for us to be around each other: when we're together, neither one of us can pretend to be smarter than we really are. I was anti-Catholic in your typical Fundamentalist/Evangelical way, and Mr. H. was, too, but a bit more vehement in his anti-Catholicism.

So, after Mr. and Mrs. H. left DWO, we lost contact for several years. We both changed jobs, and went on with life. I left DWO, moved in with a friend from that church, and then lost my job. I was living paycheck-to-paycheck at the time (heck, I'm still doing that!), and so moved back in with my parents. I got a job with SYSCO Food Services of Detroit, and, for a few short weeks, was on the afternoon shift. I'd get up around 10am every day. One day I did so, and went to a Mexican restaurant within walking distance of my parents' for breakfast, (I don't like traditional breakfast foods). Mr. H. just "happened" to be working in that city and driving by the restaurant at the time that I was leaving it to walk home. He followed me there, rang the doorbell, and was I surprised and glad to see him! We only had a few minutes, so we exchanged phone numbers and chatted just a bit. He asked me "So, what's new?" Well, this was a mere two or three weeks since I'd decided to join the Catholic Church, so, although I was nervous to tell him about it (because, as stated above, he was more vehemently anti-Catholic than I), I told him about my decision to join the Catholic Church. He reacted exactly opposite what I expected. Instead of his countenance falling and him giving me a lecture on why Catholic teachings are un-Biblical, he got a big grin on his face and said, "Mrs. H. and I are joining the Church, too!" I could have fallen like a lead balloon! I couldn't believe it! We planned to call each other soon, and have a personal visit. We've been re-connected ever since, and they are much better friends to me than I am to them. And I still can't get over how God brought us together again.

*just so you know exactly how I feel about it!

My great friends.

In my last post, I wrote about my friends, my roomoate especially, driving me crazy. This post is positive. First, starting with my roommate: He's been a great encouragement to me in my struggle. He also has problems with chastity, and has been much more successful than I at overcoming them. He has pointed out to me good things about myself and tried to help me "love myself" in the Christian sense. Also, he charges me cheap rent!

In spite of the fact that I'm kind of a loner, my friend Larry indefatigably invites me over to his house to hang out, let's me know when the guys are getting together, and does his best to get me involved.

Marty is the most loyal person I know. He'll stick by you no matter what. He's like the grass: if you crush him, he gets right back to the business of growing. He prays for me and tells me he loves me. Here's a funny story about him:

Once, when I had just started being honest with myself and my friends about my sexual orientation, he asked me, a little nervously, whether I had found any guys in our church group attractive.* I told him I had, but had made a conscious decision not to lust after any of them because doing so would have warped my view of them. (I'd made that mistake at the last church I'd attended.)

Marty: "What about so-and-so?"

Me: "Oh yes, he's cute."

Marty: "What about ------?"

Me: "He's hot! But I still don't allow myself to lust after him."**

Marty: "What about me?"

Me: "Well, truthfully Marty, I am not attracted to you at all."

Marty (in a huff): "Well my wife thinks I'm attracive!"

I love that he got offended!

These are the guys I hang out with regularly. I love them. They're good friends.


There are a few friends I don't see very much because they moved out of town. I miss them terribly. My friend Danny, who was like a brother to me. I used to know him like the back of my hand (but not know in the Biblical sense; he's straight, after all). My friend Kim who was my best friend in high school. She tells me if I ever go straight to let her know because she'll marry me. Matt who was not afraid to share deeply shameful things about himself with me. My friend Steve who is the most intellectual of my circle of friends, although he's not comfortable with that moniker. He and I started learning about the ancient faith around the same time.

I'm thankful for each of these individuals. They're good friends. May God richly bless them!


*At this point I was still an Evangelical. I had attended for a few years a church which had a group, an excellent group, for twenty-somethings. I was not attending this church any more when Marty asked me this question. (I was in a different church, a few years away from being Catholic still.)

**And that can be difficult because this particular individual is HOT!