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In the category of "Lamest Villain Group with the Best Look, Even if definitively dated in the '80's" -- Envelope Please! - We give you the U-Foes.

Lame for starters becasue they got their powers by trying to copy the FF. That's lame becasue how come it has not been tried a million times before? I mean Stan Lee struck gold with the whole mutant thing - he could mint powers with rapidity and without creativity, you would think this would be the same thing. There was nothing "freakish" about the accident that made the FF.

Lame because the U-Foes "motivation" for turning evil was just lame. It was a misunderstanding, and a reason for a great battle with the Hulk - but permanent descension into baddie land?

But look around you here. You have to admit the U-Foes look good. Frankly I think for the time they were invented (the late '80's) they are superb - the perfect combination of the best of Kirby and the best of Ditko - they are an homage to the progenitors without being slavish copies.

The first time I laid eyes on them, I wanted a much better story than I got - the look demanded a title all their own as far as I was concerned. I'd still like to see them rebooted and that title created. Maybe an alternate universe title? They'd be an interesting mix with the Squadron Supreme.

Oh and one other thing - they need to tackle the FF - I mean come on - as far as I know the most obvious match-up in superhero history has not happened. If they are going to stay onthe tack they are on now - Doom need, make that HAS, to hire them to front for him against Richards et. al. In fact it creates the perfect opportunity to showcase Reed.

And then when they get their shiny little booties kicked and Doom is grossly disappointed, he can send them off to that alternate universe where things can get really interesting.

Just sayin'.

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MMI shows a video of a simply tasteless stewardship- appeal. That's all it is really - tasteless. It's crude, it's manipulative, and most importantly it's objectifying.

There is a flip side to God's command to be a tither and that is the humility of those that receive the tithe. We must remember that even the Apostle Paul did not have the chutzpa to demand the charity which by his own admission he had a right to. Secondly, it's not all about money. I know way too many people who give generously of their money but are just freakin' stingy with themselves. It's not a good picture.

I could go on, and that is why I choose the word "tasteless" to describe it - it is about the only thing I can think of that encompasses the totality of the appeal. Which brings me to the bottom line.

Part of being a Christian is to be excellent. Tasteful is not faddish - is classy - it rises above the crowd slightly. That's how we ought to do things - just rise above the crowd slightly.

How do you rise above the crowd?

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Frederick Schmidt @ Patheos quotes someone from an AA meeting:

"Church is for people who want to avoid hell. Spirituality is for people who have been there."

He then goes on, rightfully, to confess all the church's wide and varied sins - but he OFFERS NO SOLUTIONS! That's in caps because it angers me. Such writings say nothing more than "The church sucks, but you have to go, get over it." I don't want to "get over it" - I want to fix the church.

I pay no heed to those that leave - been sorely tempted many, many times, but I am smart enough to know that God cannot work in my life in a people-less vacuum. But that does not mean I shrug my shoulders and say, "Oh well, church is just gonna suck." Confession without repentance and at least a strong effort to not sin again is empty and void.

There is only one time when Christ was angry - when He could no longer bear the sin in His Temple. Rarely if ever should we be destructive with such anger, but we are permitted it, it is fuel to fix things. I don't want my anger over the many evils of the church to quell, I want it to resolve.

Or at least I want a church that says something besides, "I'm an a**&^%$, get over it." I want a church that says, "I was wrong - help me be better."

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Jon Acuff asks "How To Scandal Proof Your Church." He has four suggestions:

• Create an environment where it’s OK for people to fail.
• Go first.
• Hold pastors accountable.
• Look out for Aaron lies.

This last point needs a bit of clarification:

No one wakes up on a Tuesday and says, “I think I’ll wreck my whole life, throw away my ministry and destroy my marriage.” We all take small steps toward the big, dumb decisions we make. And along the way, we justify the things we’re doing with the craziest excuses and lies.

Like Aaron telling Moses that he just threw gold in a fire and a calf magically popped out, we’ll create wild lies.

But I have highlighted the one that really matters - GO FIRST.

So often the church follows when it should lead. So often we concern ourselves with the message when we should concern ourselves with the actions. So often we point out the peck int he others eye while ignoring the plank in our own.

The church should go first to purity. The church should go first to financial accountability. The church should go first on confession. And that, of course, means that each of us should as individuals go first.

It's not like we are going first towards bad things....

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Joe Carter Links to Mark Galli in CT:

When we think of making a difference, we think about making the world a better place for the next generation, not taking care of people who have no future. This is one reason we are quick to push the incontinent into "managed care" staffed with "skilled nurses." No question that this is indeed a necessary move for many families—I had to do it with my own father, sad to say. But let's face it. A fair amount of our motive is mixed. How much skill does it take to clean up excrement from an elderly body? Mostly it takes forbearance—and a willingness to give oneself night and day to something that, according to our usual reckoning, is not all that significant.

When God chose to take on human form, be crucified and resurrected - we too, "had no future."

Some would argue, "But God saved ALL mankind." I would respond, "Yes, He is still doing so - ONE PERSON AT A TIME."

Think about it.

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Justin Taylor wrote about "tensions" in faith. Summarizing Piper:

• Yes, confrontation of the world! But also missionary adaptation.
• Yes, separation! But also cultural participation.
• No, not of the world! But yes, in the world.
• No, not conformed to this world! But yes, becoming all things to all people that we might save some.
• Yes, we are indigenous! But we are also strangers, pilgrims!

I need no more evidence that Christianity is a religion of reason than the necessity for living in tensions like these.

I have spent years trying to find a passage in Chesterton's "Orthodoxy" that I thought I read a long time ago where he talks about Christianity being the only thing big enough to tackle everything and yet small enough to save an individual soul. He was going on, I think, about the often vague stance scripture takes on some things.

The biggest tension we live in is the tension of how to become God's people - we want a pathway defined for us, yet the pathway is individualistic - we MUST discover it. Legalism is nothing more than defining the path for everyone, but some cannot take the That path.

The only way to live in these tensions is to let Christ remake us. There are no rules, there is only judgment and wisdom. Those things come from experience and life - hopefully a life that has been recreated by the Savior and the Holy Spirit.

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Rebecca Writes:

I’ve been thinking lately about the practical implications of the doctrine of the imputation of the righteousness of Christ to the believer. I may even write something about it—a list, perhaps.

[...]

It turns our sighing and mourning over the imperfections of our best service to God into rejoicing because our imperfect service becomes righteous service in God’s eyes based on the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to us. Rather than becoming discouraged over the deficiencies in our good works for God we become encouraged by their acceptableness to God, who sees them through the lens of Christ’s work.

I agree thematically, but I think it is deeper. Way too many people take statements like what Rebecca made here and use it as reason to not try. But nothing could be further from the truth.

You see, the imputation of Christ's righteousness also means we can be indwelled by the Holy Spirit and therefore have the capability to do things well. Still not us doing them - not by any means. Our approach to doing well must change radically - it is no longer about us, it is about Him - but nonetheless, that imputation gives us the capability for the first time in our lives to actually do well.

Our weakness, our humility becomes strength, though it is not our strength - it is the Holy Spirit's.

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