B-A-C
Loyal
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2008
- Messages
- 12,067
Now I know sometimes the word "bast**d" is used as a curse word. However I'm not cursing anyone here.
I looked up the definition of this word.
Bast***: (of a thing) no longer in its pure or original form; debased.
An old friend of mine is from Mexico. He was born in Mexico. You could say he came over to the US in somewhat questionable circumstances.
But he has been here over 30 years. He is a farm worker. He speaks English, not perfectly, but "good-enough". I've been to his house. He has
a Mexican flag on his living room wall. He is Roman Catholic and also has "the Virgin Mother" paintings and statues of Mary.
But this thread isn't about him being a Roman Catholic. It's about being from Mexico.
One of his children turned 20 last year. The other will turn 20 this year. They grew up in schools in the United States. They speak English much
better than their father. The father is proud of his Mexican heritage. He has a book with the names of his ancestors and where they lived in Mexico
for a few generations back. He has some old black and white pictures of his parents, and even himself as a young child in Mexico. In one picture
he is on a small pony, dressed up as Pancho Villa, with (toy) pistols in both hands.
He is sad because he says his children aren't truly Mexicans. In his words they are "bast*** Americans". He didn't mean that as a curse word.
What he meant was... they aren't truly 100% Mexicans. They are of mixed culture. Half Mexican, half United States, but really not all of either.
He tries his best to make sure they know and remember their Mexican heritage, but the truth seems to be, they are more interested in their
United States heritage. I guess it makes sense, it's where they are today. I'm told they've never been to Mexico.
..so, what does all this have to do with anything?
I grew up in a specific denomination of a church. It was the only denomination I knew of until I was in the 20's. Since then I've moved around
quite a bit (I've lived in 14 states, some more than once). Because of this, I've gone to number of different churches.
I've been Methodist, Foursquare, Assembly of God, Church of Christ, Lutheran, Baptist, Apostolic, and a few others over the years.
They've all had a little bit of influence on me. My original church has something called "Our 16 core doctrines". They still have today on their
website. It hasn't changed, but I have.
I've found I'm not alone. In every church I've ever attended long enough to get to know people pretty well, I've heard something very similar to..
"Even though I attend this Baptist church, I don't believe everything 100% exactly as the church does". You could replace the word Baptist in this sentence,
with just about any denomination. "Even though I go to this Assembly of God church, I'm not 100% in agreement with everything the church believes".
I've heard this sentence for just about every single denomination. In fact in most cases, most of the church (unlike me) grew up in another denomination
and carried part of the core beliefs of that church over to the new church they are attending now. We all believe there are certain core things (like the deity of Jesus)
to be non-negotiable. But other things like whether water baptism is required, or speaking in tongues, or pre/post trib don't matter that much.
It also doesn't seem to matter all that much what the church claims to have as "our core doctrines and tenets". Because few, if any, in the church believe all of
them anyway.
Unlike my Mexican friend, I'm not so sure this is a bad thing. Maybe a little Ecumenism isn't so bad. "until we all become in unity of the faith".
But having said that, I don't think Ecumenism is more important than certain non-negotiable truths.
I looked up the definition of this word.
Bast***: (of a thing) no longer in its pure or original form; debased.
An old friend of mine is from Mexico. He was born in Mexico. You could say he came over to the US in somewhat questionable circumstances.
But he has been here over 30 years. He is a farm worker. He speaks English, not perfectly, but "good-enough". I've been to his house. He has
a Mexican flag on his living room wall. He is Roman Catholic and also has "the Virgin Mother" paintings and statues of Mary.
But this thread isn't about him being a Roman Catholic. It's about being from Mexico.
One of his children turned 20 last year. The other will turn 20 this year. They grew up in schools in the United States. They speak English much
better than their father. The father is proud of his Mexican heritage. He has a book with the names of his ancestors and where they lived in Mexico
for a few generations back. He has some old black and white pictures of his parents, and even himself as a young child in Mexico. In one picture
he is on a small pony, dressed up as Pancho Villa, with (toy) pistols in both hands.
He is sad because he says his children aren't truly Mexicans. In his words they are "bast*** Americans". He didn't mean that as a curse word.
What he meant was... they aren't truly 100% Mexicans. They are of mixed culture. Half Mexican, half United States, but really not all of either.
He tries his best to make sure they know and remember their Mexican heritage, but the truth seems to be, they are more interested in their
United States heritage. I guess it makes sense, it's where they are today. I'm told they've never been to Mexico.
..so, what does all this have to do with anything?
I grew up in a specific denomination of a church. It was the only denomination I knew of until I was in the 20's. Since then I've moved around
quite a bit (I've lived in 14 states, some more than once). Because of this, I've gone to number of different churches.
I've been Methodist, Foursquare, Assembly of God, Church of Christ, Lutheran, Baptist, Apostolic, and a few others over the years.
They've all had a little bit of influence on me. My original church has something called "Our 16 core doctrines". They still have today on their
website. It hasn't changed, but I have.
I've found I'm not alone. In every church I've ever attended long enough to get to know people pretty well, I've heard something very similar to..
"Even though I attend this Baptist church, I don't believe everything 100% exactly as the church does". You could replace the word Baptist in this sentence,
with just about any denomination. "Even though I go to this Assembly of God church, I'm not 100% in agreement with everything the church believes".
I've heard this sentence for just about every single denomination. In fact in most cases, most of the church (unlike me) grew up in another denomination
and carried part of the core beliefs of that church over to the new church they are attending now. We all believe there are certain core things (like the deity of Jesus)
to be non-negotiable. But other things like whether water baptism is required, or speaking in tongues, or pre/post trib don't matter that much.
It also doesn't seem to matter all that much what the church claims to have as "our core doctrines and tenets". Because few, if any, in the church believe all of
them anyway.
Unlike my Mexican friend, I'm not so sure this is a bad thing. Maybe a little Ecumenism isn't so bad. "until we all become in unity of the faith".
But having said that, I don't think Ecumenism is more important than certain non-negotiable truths.
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