Sunday, July 22, 2007
Tammy Faye Bakker: Bless her heart
A moment, please, for the lady I once derisively called Tammy Baye Faker.
She ran the race to the end, holding her head high, while remaining true, in my view, although wavering (who doesn't?), to the humility that must accompany Christian faith.
In 1980, she penned a book that I count among the most influential in my life: "Run to the Roar: The Way to Overcome Fear."
It's not deep theology. It's not the best-written tome in history. But it hit me right where I needed to be hit once.
Way back in the day, when I was in high school, I sent $20 to the PTL Club, which then spent at least that much the next couple of years trying to get more. It's true. Jim Bakker got sidetracked. That's a fact, too, that he acknowledges now.
I don't have any real opinion on him these days. Whatever, Brother. But I loved Tammy Faye. She suffered but persevered. Bless her heart.
--ER
She ran the race to the end, holding her head high, while remaining true, in my view, although wavering (who doesn't?), to the humility that must accompany Christian faith.
In 1980, she penned a book that I count among the most influential in my life: "Run to the Roar: The Way to Overcome Fear."
It's not deep theology. It's not the best-written tome in history. But it hit me right where I needed to be hit once.
Way back in the day, when I was in high school, I sent $20 to the PTL Club, which then spent at least that much the next couple of years trying to get more. It's true. Jim Bakker got sidetracked. That's a fact, too, that he acknowledges now.
I don't have any real opinion on him these days. Whatever, Brother. But I loved Tammy Faye. She suffered but persevered. Bless her heart.
--ER
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What you say is very true.
An example today of God's Grace is Tammy Faye's life - let's remember her when our reputations are being dragged around in the dirt (whether rightfully or not),
when we don't appear to be the way others think we should be,
and everyone is laughing at us for loving a God who loves us in spite of our imperfections.
An example today of God's Grace is Tammy Faye's life - let's remember her when our reputations are being dragged around in the dirt (whether rightfully or not),
when we don't appear to be the way others think we should be,
and everyone is laughing at us for loving a God who loves us in spite of our imperfections.
# posted by 
: 7:19 PM
: 7:19 PM
Sigh. And yet a fellow blogger, after saying a kind word fopr her and her passing, can write this, a patina of Christian fellowship betrayed by his own personal judgmentalism! It just makes me ill.
"I sincerely hope she has repented. I believe she is saved, but what reward she will receive I can't say, I'd just as soon not even speculate-- that's between her and her Lord."
Yes, it is. Anbd thank GOD it's not up to any of us!
Then, he dares stamped "approved" next to Jim's name!
"I will say that I believe Jim Bakker to be a changed man. He has returned to ministry, and appears genuinely blessed of God, and genuinely humble and contrite about his past misdeeds."
THIS from a blogger who I've never seen humble or contrite about ANT of his own anger, judgmentalism or his false god of "dispensationalism"!
Sorry. FundaMENTALism is Christianity, I suppose, but it's not following Jesus. It's following one particular way of looking at the Bible -- all other be damned! -- and one judgeMENTAL way fo looking at people and life. How pathetic, for any human.
Thanks, Karen, and ... sorry for the outburst. Tammy Faye ruled. :-)
"I sincerely hope she has repented. I believe she is saved, but what reward she will receive I can't say, I'd just as soon not even speculate-- that's between her and her Lord."
Yes, it is. Anbd thank GOD it's not up to any of us!
Then, he dares stamped "approved" next to Jim's name!
"I will say that I believe Jim Bakker to be a changed man. He has returned to ministry, and appears genuinely blessed of God, and genuinely humble and contrite about his past misdeeds."
THIS from a blogger who I've never seen humble or contrite about ANT of his own anger, judgmentalism or his false god of "dispensationalism"!
Sorry. FundaMENTALism is Christianity, I suppose, but it's not following Jesus. It's following one particular way of looking at the Bible -- all other be damned! -- and one judgeMENTAL way fo looking at people and life. How pathetic, for any human.
Thanks, Karen, and ... sorry for the outburst. Tammy Faye ruled. :-)
Thanks, Karen, and ... sorry for the outburst. Tammy Faye ruled. :-)>
Your outbursts seem to be common place and erratic. You swing like a pendulum. Have you ever considered your attitude toward EL? I'm concerned about you and what makes you so erratic.
Your outbursts seem to be common place and erratic. You swing like a pendulum. Have you ever considered your attitude toward EL? I'm concerned about you and what makes you so erratic.
Mom2,
Uno. Who said anything about EL? ]:-)
Two-0. Keep your concern. This blog is erratic by definition: erudite ... redneck.
Three-o. I'm not sure something can be commonplace and erratic at the same time.
Quatro. My attitude toward EL's ideas (being careful here; I'm sure EL has a peaceful, thoughtful side, he just doesn't blog with it): The idea of Christianity as maturing into a kind of global triumphalism is the exact kind of thing he fears in Islam; both should be fought. And the elaborate construct of dispensationalism is hooey.
Uno. Who said anything about EL? ]:-)
Two-0. Keep your concern. This blog is erratic by definition: erudite ... redneck.
Three-o. I'm not sure something can be commonplace and erratic at the same time.
Quatro. My attitude toward EL's ideas (being careful here; I'm sure EL has a peaceful, thoughtful side, he just doesn't blog with it): The idea of Christianity as maturing into a kind of global triumphalism is the exact kind of thing he fears in Islam; both should be fought. And the elaborate construct of dispensationalism is hooey.
Tammy Faye was not a faker, she was a true believer.
There is a big difference. A faker runs for the woods when his cover is blown, or hides under the wings of his flock. To throughly mix my metaphors a true believe will always bite the lure no matter how many times they are harmed by the hidden hook there in.
In a way they are like the gambler who is addicted to the game. Yes that bait might have had a hook in it last time but I need to bite it so badly that I am sure it is real this time, I mean how can it be wrong?
It is sometimes hard to see the diference between a believer and a true believer. Except, Tammy Faye not only believed in Jim, but Max Factor as well.
There is a big difference. A faker runs for the woods when his cover is blown, or hides under the wings of his flock. To throughly mix my metaphors a true believe will always bite the lure no matter how many times they are harmed by the hidden hook there in.
In a way they are like the gambler who is addicted to the game. Yes that bait might have had a hook in it last time but I need to bite it so badly that I am sure it is real this time, I mean how can it be wrong?
It is sometimes hard to see the diference between a believer and a true believer. Except, Tammy Faye not only believed in Jim, but Max Factor as well.
Do what?
She was extended kindness, in Jesus' name, to those unlike herself, straight, gay, confused, church-going, Christian or otherwise. Which is more than can be said for most "televangelists," or evangelists even.
She was extended kindness, in Jesus' name, to those unlike herself, straight, gay, confused, church-going, Christian or otherwise. Which is more than can be said for most "televangelists," or evangelists even.
Say what?
Tammy Faye lived an oppulent life on money stolen $20 at a time from people who wanted to support God's work, but ended up giveing Jim $158 million that he kept for himself and Tammy Faye. Jim went to jail. Tammy got off scott free. Tammy got a divorce while Jimmy was incarcerated and then married Mr. Rich Christian Theme Park who also lavised $$$$ on her.
Say what?
Can we say "Celebrity", can we say needed to believe, can we say greed, can we say vanity?
Can we say she spent the millions of dollars at her disposal while extending her kindness?
Enlighten me. Did she just have bad press or what?
Tammy Faye lived an oppulent life on money stolen $20 at a time from people who wanted to support God's work, but ended up giveing Jim $158 million that he kept for himself and Tammy Faye. Jim went to jail. Tammy got off scott free. Tammy got a divorce while Jimmy was incarcerated and then married Mr. Rich Christian Theme Park who also lavised $$$$ on her.
Say what?
Can we say "Celebrity", can we say needed to believe, can we say greed, can we say vanity?
Can we say she spent the millions of dollars at her disposal while extending her kindness?
Enlighten me. Did she just have bad press or what?
No enlightenment here. I'm just not going to bash her. But, yes, she did get more bad press than she deserved. Absolutely. Not all the ridicule she endured was brought on by herself. And I'm pretty sure she owned up to her misdeeds. ... And I'll take garden-variety selfishness and vanity run amock over the outright destruction masquerading as Christian "leadership" in pop culture today.
Hey, Google "Christians United for Israel" if you want to see something worth condemning. Might give some perspective on the nonthreat that the PTL Club and the Bakkers were.
Hey, Google "Christians United for Israel" if you want to see something worth condemning. Might give some perspective on the nonthreat that the PTL Club and the Bakkers were.
I ain't condemming the woman. I'm just commenting on who she was. We are all most lucky that God doesn't actually balance the scales against the goodness of our heart like the Egyptian God Maat does. No as the parable of the workers shows he takes some of us into his fields for that last few minutes and pays us the same as those who have worked all day. "Grace", that is a peculiar thing.
Heaven's going to be full of a whole lot of people we won't expect to see there. You think the folks who knew the robber hanging next to Jesus expected to see him Up There when they died? No way. I suspect we'll all be a little surprised when that day rolls around for each of us -- and I agree with ER (somebody mark this on the calendar!) that the only evidence you need of God's infinite wisdom is that He didn't put any of us -- individuals or denominations -- in charge of who gets let in.
True enough, ER. Religion doesn't get you into heaven. Accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior does -- no matter what religion you may be when you accept Him.
Yes, and as a budding universalist, I wonder seriously whether salvation hinges on Jesus's sacrifice on the Cross, or one's knowledge and acceptance of same -- because they are different things.
Was I saved in the summer of 1973? Or was I saved at Calvary? It's a deep, deep question.
"Yes" is the only answer I know -- but "I don't know, yet I trust" is another answer.
I am not a universalist. But if one comes to one's knees before the Creator and throws oneself before the Creator in surrender, trusting that the Love of the Creator has saved oneself despite one's ignorance, one's desparation and one's pathetic hope -- tell me that the God we know and love would damn him, or her, for having never heard, but knowing intrinsically, the Gospel!
What initiates Grace is this: "I surrender."
Which does NOT mean that all the world's religions necesarrily lead to salvation through Christ -- but that salvation through Christ comes to those who surrender DESPITE their religions, and the construct, and traditions, and comforts of their faith -- EVEN Christianity.
Jesus saves. Not religion. Not. Even. The. Christian. Faith.
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Was I saved in the summer of 1973? Or was I saved at Calvary? It's a deep, deep question.
"Yes" is the only answer I know -- but "I don't know, yet I trust" is another answer.
I am not a universalist. But if one comes to one's knees before the Creator and throws oneself before the Creator in surrender, trusting that the Love of the Creator has saved oneself despite one's ignorance, one's desparation and one's pathetic hope -- tell me that the God we know and love would damn him, or her, for having never heard, but knowing intrinsically, the Gospel!
What initiates Grace is this: "I surrender."
Which does NOT mean that all the world's religions necesarrily lead to salvation through Christ -- but that salvation through Christ comes to those who surrender DESPITE their religions, and the construct, and traditions, and comforts of their faith -- EVEN Christianity.
Jesus saves. Not religion. Not. Even. The. Christian. Faith.
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