#5 is sometimes the hardest

"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. Ex. 20:12

"'Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. Deut. 5:16

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and mother" (this is the first commandment with a promise), that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land." Eph. 6:1-3

No matter how hard I stare at those I can't find the escape clause I so desperately want to find. Something like, "until your in your 30's or so, or have a wife and kids of your own...especially if your father is an unbeliever or idolater." But no...there the law stands, exposing my sin and keeping me on the path (you have no idea how many things I had following "especially if your father is..." before I decided that was the safest way to put it).

I've even tried to think well, what if I can get him on Eph. 6:4 (Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.)? Focusing on the first clause, of course. Of course the whole 2 wrongs doesn't make a right thing comes into play...(but 2 lefts do, if I remember the teachings of Steven Wright correctly)

What brings on this little escape into loophole digging, you ask? Well first of all he's been made a board member of the state's Interfaith Alliance chapter (motto: Proving J. Gresham Machen right every time we open our mouths). Which I have to admit is a pretty nice trick...I can't imagine how someone who hasn't attended church regularly in 16 or so years gets to be on the board of a religious group--and hasn't been a member of a church for 4-5 years before that! Anyway, now, as an official mouthpiece, he sends my sister and I this email called, "I couldn't have said it better!" In it, he just copies and pastes the text of this letter from the Alliance's president on Terry Schiavo. First off, it reads like he's paraphrasing the Democratic party Talking Points memo on the controversy. But then he drags his clergyman status into it, as if that makes him infallible and someone that every Christian should listen to. God's a convenient tool when you want to make an emotional point, I guess.

Now, my gut reaction is to reply with both guns blazing...but I know that would only accomplish getting my inbox filled with more tripe like his (not to mention even more awkwardness than normal when we see my folks this weekend). And if I reply with diplomatic language, he'll miss my point and assume (as he always does for some reason) that we're on the same page.

So, I sit here stymied. Unsure what to do, and trying to not get bitter. Not sure it's working.