My husband's conversion

[Dave Armstrong]

I get along fine with almost all Arminians I know. It is the Calvinist anti-Catholics who are my severest critics, by an exponentially greater degree.

[Dave Armstrong]

I did go and do a very enjoyable Bible study regarding the "vain repetition" thing, following the lead of the two passages David W. Emery mentioned a few comments above (doesn't take much to get me studyin' the Bible!). I was surprised how much I could find. I posted it in the Liturgy section of the forum:
    
"Vain, Repetitious Prayer": Biblical Examination of a Common Protestant Charge

Here's also a link to the "cleaner" and color-coded version on my own blog.

[Steven Barrett]

Even though you were as you described yourself, an "eclectic Arminian," the reason they have so many fond thoughts for you goes back to that old line "hell hath no fury as ...." Calvinists left to succor the wounds n' stripes caused by a present-day Catholic's "abandonment of pure orthodox anti-papal Christianity," not to mention their scorned feelings.   Of course, these are the same folks who'll still say that a parson who hid two of Charles I's regicides and top capos in Cromwell's gang did so out of his dedication to religious liberty. God has a way of rewarding such "dedication" over time, not to mention a very good sense of humor. When the congregation went belly up in the 19th century due to losing out to the more popular congregationalist church, this hidin' parson's church was purchased by P O L I S H 
 C A T H O L I C S, and unlike my Irish variety, we all know what the Poles produced in 1978. 

[Dave Armstrong]

It's like old Voltaire's house being bought later by some Bible society. LOL

[Steven Barrett]

Ayuh, the 19the century wasn't too kind for the purer than thou Bluebloods of my town or the nearby "hood" ... the Town Common. Just a few doors up on the west side a lad was born and raised only to go off to West Point and eventually become a Civil War general, none other than Joseph "Fightin' Joe" Hooker. Poor Joe, he's long been gravely linked with lending his name to a less than savory enterprise and actually blamed for not consuming enough of his favorite medicine (whiskey) before the Battle of Chancellorsville. You can only imagine the NOT so vain and VERY repetitious imprecations of many Yankee families after that battle which before he promised to "whip Bobby Lee."

"Fightin' Joe" redeemed himself by organizing (up to then) the largest logistical military move by railroads or other means enroute to TN where he soonafter won the "Battle In The Clouds" near Chattanooga. Ironically, his equestrian statue still stands outside the Statehouse on Beacon Hill, a not-so-incosiderable "victory" given the preponderance of peace-at-ANY-price-niks and professional feminists in this area known well for their tactical battle skills in the PC wars. Hmmm, maybe Joe's life is yet another display of the Lord's sense of humor on the Cromwellites of our times after all.   .