Today's Sermon: This 'Living Like Jesus Stuff'

I kid you not. Megachurch Rev. Ed Dobson claims he spent a year "living like Jesus."

Would someone who really lived like Jesus say this?:

"I'm getting up every day not worried about what doesn't work; I'm getting up concerned about how do I live out this Jesus stuff."

Priceless. Note the reporter getting sucked into the story:

The retired megachurch pastor and one-time architect of the religious right has spent the last year trying to eat, pray, talk and even vote as Jesus would. His revelation: Being Jesus is tough.

"I've concluded that I am a follower, but I'm not a very good one," Dobson said. "If you get serious about the Bible, it will really mess you up."

The creepiest part: In Dobson's mind, if a Jew can live like a Jew for a year, so can he... even if it means no burritos for a while.

He decided to devote a year to living like Jesus after reading "The Year of Living Biblically," A.J. Jacobs' best-selling account of obeying Bible commands as literally as possible. If a non-religious Jew could do it, Dobson decided, so could a practicing Christian.

That meant following Old Testament laws about eating, clothing and behavior, since Jesus was a Jew whose followers created Christianity. Observing kosher dietary requirements to not mix meat and dairy products, Dobson gave up his beloved chicken-and-cheese burritos.

"I can't wait to order it for the first time" in the new year, he said with a chuckle.

I'm so sure that Dobson only dined on legally prepared Kosher and Pareve foods, aren't you?

What a crock.

How many Kosher kitchens were responsible for Dobson's year of meals?

In Kosher-observant kitchens, there are actually two sets of dinnerware, one strictly for meat meals and one for dairy meals (including pots & pans & knives & every other utensil used). They are NEVER mingled. Period. Even the ingredients are usually stored on different shelves and in different cabinets. The dishes aren't even washed together.

I don't believe for a minute that this Dobson fellow lived remotely like Jesus. Had he really done so, would he now be boasting about how difficult it was?

Ahem.

The Pharisee stands by himself and he prays and he says, "God, I thank you that I am not like other people. I am not a thief. I am not a rogue. I am not an adulterer. I am certainly not like this tax collector over here. I fast twice a week. I give away a tenth of my income."

That is his speech. He goes on interminably like that. Then the tax collector says (he won't look up to the heaven; he looks at his shoe tips), "God be merciful to me, a sinner."

Then Jesus says, "I tell you this man (the tax collector) went to his house justified rather than the other for all who exalt themselves will be humbled and all who humble themselves will be exalted."

Thus endeth today's sermon.

Go forth today and beware the Pharisee.

I mean it, damn it!



"For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities, and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are."
-Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)



Best bar bet in the world: Delilah didn't do it.
Judges 16:19-- And she made him (Samson) sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head.