Wade Poe

"Have you quit beating your wife?" Back in the 80's when learning logic, dialogue, debate, etc, we discussed how you have to unpack the question itself before you answer it or you're at the mercy of the person asking the question. The above question was one of the sample questions we unpacked because it had so many assumptions built it.  For example, it assumes 1) the person is married, 2) the person they're married to is a woman and 3) that they have been beating their wife. A person answering that question would need to confront and counter the misleading options or statements in the question, otherwise they're walking into a verbal trap. _______________ "If you don't go to church, how will you be spiritually fed?" One of the common things I hear from people on this journey over the past several months is that question.   It's not a bad question, but it assumes a lot of things.  Like the question at the top of the post, it's one of thos...

A blessing from God recently – I got to listen to a “hero of my growing-up-faith” speak at a local gathering of believers. 20+ years ago, I would have been hanging on each word, being led by the emotion of songs sung prior to the speech, feeling the social pressure of people who I likely wanted the approval of, and listening to the message with a personal interpretation of conviction and direction, etc.  This time it was a different kind of experience.  Don’t get me wrong - I am grateful for those who were encouraged and built up by that moment. I am glad that things of that nature are available for people who need them to move forward, day-to-day.  At least I think I’m glad for them. For me, it was very different in that it seemed like the same song and dance that I have ever heard in most every church message I have ever listened to growing up and yet I could hear it completely differently for the first time, without trying - it was just different. The message was “God ...

  A reflection from a year and a half out from walking clean away a “church job”. Do I wish I’d spent the last 30+ years in jobs that paid a nice retirement, etc? Sure, that would have been nice.  My religious tribe promised so much through our religious educational institutions. I worked for a “church” for 34+ years that promised a whole lot (you know, retirement benefits, etc that we had documentation for..), depending on who was on the governing board at the time - it just never “jelled” & so now I & others are on our own, as are so many “ministers” across the land who were sold a bill of goods with no backing over the years. I’m good w/ what God’s doing in life, even if I & my family die w/ nothing - knowing more, better, & hard to explain good things that he gives are present & still ahead.  Many blessings to the various incarnations of church leaderships that will come & go with the resources they have. Until the last few years, I had no idea...

To live between a rock And a hard place In between time — Cruising in prime time — Soaking up the cathode rays To live between the wars In our time — Living in real time — Holding the good time — Holding on to yesterdays… You know how that rabbit feels Going under your speeding wheels Bright images flashing by Like windshields towards a fly Frozen in the fatal climb — But the wheels of time — Just pass you by… Some of the lyrics from "Between the wheels", by Rush, during Spring of '84. Here it is being performed live  (copy and paste if link doesn't work - https://youtu.be/fm3lEo2awzQ?si=1LnU2Cj6zAKUTrxh) It's okay if you don't like it - it was written it a way to express the sentiment of the words, etc. They're the same guys who wrote Tom Sawyer . __________ Back then it was the Cold War, Carter and Reagan, the roaring, exponential opening up of culture - music,  media, movies, and more. The promise of so many good things ahead were balanced with the real...

We used to get tiny glasses of orange juice, IF we got any at all.  Remember the frozen can of juice you'd add to water in a larger pitcher?   And that was for the whole family.  It seemed as if we tried to dole it out to as to make it last for a few days, so you would get what seemed to be a shot glass full of juice and that was it.   It was like a scurvy prevention level serving of OJ. That is how I grew up thinking about God's patience, grace, and forgiveness with us.  You get a little and that's it!  And you better not waste it or not be really appreciative of it!   It's limited in supply and so very costly that you can only have a little so you better make it last. Much later, as an adult, I ordered a glass of orange juice at a restaurant, thinking I'd get the familiar shot glass of juice and, to my surprise, they brought a full sized glass full of OJ - and for a moment, I was like, "Is this for the whole table to share...?" __________ In Ephesian...

Synagogues weren't "authorized" by God.  Sometime in the days when Israel was in or just getting out of exile with Babylon, it developed - probably as a means of encouraging one another while they were "away from home".  They weren't allowed to offer sacrifices outside of the temple worship system and especially not outside of Jerusalem, so at some point synagogues came into existence - first as a gathering and then as formal locations with buildings called "synagogues". If you read through the Old Testament, they're not mentioned at all.  It's only when you get to the gospels you run into them being mentioned. Something developed to replace their temple worship, per se, after Solomon's Temple was destroyed.  And even after a new version of the temple was built, they continued on with synagogues in their various locations. God didn't say "make synagogues" but they did.  There's no indication they were condemned by God ...