JP Patches and the Simon Says Scam

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXYZLGKErNg

Somebody gets a little ticked when JP hands out suckers instead of $100 bills. Or better yet, what happens when JP Patches promises $100 to the winner of Simon Says and doesn’t pay out?

Note to the little kid who got pissed: You were right on. You should NOT have backed down. JP owes you $100 my friend. And a note to Mr. JP: You know most of us loved your show as a kid. You and Gertrude were the bomb. But come on now – this skit wasn’t funny. Pony up and pay the kid. I have spoken. Make it so….

Check it out at 3:30 when the kid yells “Liar”. JP says “he’s going to be an attorney” and asks for an apology. Kid – You’re my hero, your parents raised you right.

Things They Didn’t Teach Me About Luther in Sunday School

I have been doing a lot of reading on Martin Luther lately. The book HERE I STAND is a classic biography and THE WIT OF MARTIN LUTHER gives insight to his lighter and naughtier side. But the two shocking discoveries were his encouragement to use violence against peasants in the early 16th century as well as his vehement and bold anti-semiticism. I have spent many hours grappling with these events; trying to reconcile that this is the great Luther of the Reformation. The hero. The changer and uplifter of society and religion.

As of yet I have not been able to personally reconcile these events. It is a painful chasm in once again realizing the world that history is perhaps not the same as we were brought up to believe. Here are the thoughts of Nadine E. Ridley on the same issues. This is a sermon she gave on November 20, 2005 at The King Lutheran Church in Vestal NY called “Things They Didn’t Teach Me About Luther In Sunday School”.

She tidies up the end with a happy ending which I think can work well for a Sunday sermon. But the truth may be that in reality the end is not so tidy after all….

I was also raised Lutheran, and went to Lutheran Confirmation, attended Pacific Lutheran University and a summer at St. Olaf; was even an acolyte in the Order of St. John in my youth. And yet this side of Luther is nothing that I remember ever discussed. Thank God for the internet.

Continue reading “Things They Didn’t Teach Me About Luther in Sunday School” →

Maria Zarrt von edler art-Arnolt Schlick 1512-part I

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbjeR0Yk3N4

German Renaissance composer Arnolt Schlick

Continue reading “Maria Zarrt von edler art-Arnolt Schlick 1512-part I” →

Why So Much Poverty in 16th Century Germany?

In many parts of Europe the increase in population began to outstrip improvements in agriculture from about 1500 onwards and this process continued in many parts till well into 1540s. Different parts of Europe were affected at slightly different times within the period c. 1500-1550 and in many areas there were peasant uprisings which were usually suppressed with appalling savagery (with very cruel and unusual punishments for some of the leaders, for example). These uprisings sometimes became interwoven with the religious upheavals of the period.

Continue reading “Why So Much Poverty in 16th Century Germany?” →