Ever since Ray Yungen and his legion of copy-paste clones took my article "Desert Youth Worker" and quoted it ad nauseum for their anti-contemplative campaign, I google my name once a month just to see what new shit is being slung in my direction.
Imagine my surprise when this month's search warranted a YouTube video. Imagine my greater surprise when I found out that I had written a "famous book" called "Disciplines, Mystics and the Contemplative Life." I guess I wasn't so much surprised that I'd written a book, as it's something I've always wanted to do, but I was a bit shocked at what a lackluster title I'd chosen for it. I'm also very chagrined that no one's sent me my contributor's copy...
Load this video up and scroll through to 7:54 to hear Richard Bennett mispronounce my last name and announce that I live in "Alberta, Canada" as though the province were the only geographic marker north of the American border to delineate my location (Hey Richard, I live in Edmonton, the capital city of the province of Alberta. You could have googled my name and found that out). Hear Richard Bennett quote my "famous book" and claim that I'm offering you all some sort of spiritual honey that is "... deadly, infected with the disease that Satan would have you imbibe and take into your system." Wowzers.
I really wanted to leave a comment, clarifying that yet again, the research has not been done, but the comment function was disabled. Big surprise. Can dish it, but not willing to take it? The same quote, likely copied and pasted, shows up...now missing a word. I have never written a book on this subject, just one article. And morons like Dickie Bennett take all the time in the world to string me, McLaren and our other evil brethren up, but don't seem to have the time to investigate our entire corpus of writing. How come I'm never quoted for my article on Dungeons and Dragons? Let's face it, if you want to crucify an Evangelical Christian, that would be your quickest route.
To quote Marvin the Martian, "they make me verrrry angry!" Maybe I should go meditate...
So where do you bottle your honey?
ReplyDeleteYou're imbibing it just by stopping by and reading!
ReplyDeleteWell, at least you're in the heretic company of people like Brennan Manning, Rob Bell, and Erwin McManus. Could be worse :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a kook!
Hey Gotthammer.
ReplyDeleteyou can post comments here on his channel page.. Did you notice he has 4 Friends
http://www.youtube.com/user/BereanBeacon
I think we should all be his friend. He needs a hug!!
I'm gonna watch the vid tonigh.
Hah... that's something.
ReplyDeleteRe: your d&d article though...
Last year, not a month into my current YP job it "came out" that I played D&D and there were "some questions" from the other pastors...
Thankfully I work with incredible people.
Guess whose article I gave them? I also showed them a walk-through of the actual gameplay. They found having an actual explanation (instead of just hype) was extremely helpful and it cleared things up. Amazing... Why can't they all be like that?
Mind you, I could give that article to some others who would fling back a heaping load of vitriol if you'd prefer,
Meredith, you do realize that your story just made my day! I wrote that article for people in your very situation. Huzzah!
ReplyDeleteAnd I'll take a pass on the vitriol. My doctor prescribed it for me once, and I canNOT recommend it.
So... when are you selling this book? Can I have an autographed copy?
ReplyDeleteSeriously, though, that's ridiculous. Apparently this guy is not in the least aware of the meditation practices of Christian monks of old...
Seriously, though, where was his scriptural basis for his attack? If some alleged Christian (I can not judge if he is or isn't) wants to attack what you've written, then they should start by studying the Bible on the topic rather than merely appealing conservative reason.
And if someone did seriously, honestly consult the bible about this (and by that I mean an absence of proof texting etc)... probably the worst they could dish out would be a critique of some sort of the bits where you may (or may not) have been off base.