[Vision2020] a tutorial for Austin

[Austin Storm]

keely,

Thanks so much for responding. I was aware that the e-mail was about the
IBTA decision, but I thought Mr. Ferris' jab was about the boarding houses,
trying to point out a larger pattern of harassment?

If any of my friends says something like the apportionment thing or the
boarding house thing is harassment, I'm pretty inclined to believe them.
When I started my online business (www.skycowbooks.com) I was warned by a
friend to have everything in order, because I might be targeted for
harassment. At the time I thought that was ridiculous, but it only took a
month before I got a letter from City Hall telling me I had to get a CUP for
something that I know many in Moscow do (and without a CUP).

Regarding the IBTA decisions, I read them and they seem reasonable to me.
I've been following the tax thing and think I have the whole picture. If you
have anything that I'm missing, please post it on the list or explain
off-list why you can't.

I don't know how the gambling thing could've offended Moscow in the way that
you suggest. I don't find it to be the huge thing that everyone does. Young
men have a great capacity for foolish and unloving behavior that starts
small and quickly escalates and I'm glad that my church cared for those
young men in such a way that brought them out of that behavior while it was
still a pretty little thing.

I think the church was still pretty new to the handling of stuff like this,
and as such surely could have done better. By handling I don't mean
*handling*, I mean confronting all of the involved persons sins and
restoring them all to fellowship with the church and with each other. But,
if I had any questions about the thing, I can still get first-person
accounts from at least 3 of the guys that were involved (I think, off the
top of my head).

It seems like the charge of intolerance or bigotry is often leveraged
against the certain. I'm pretty certain about lots of things, and I find it
works better than doubting myself all the time.

I have never been told to hold the Intoleristas in disdain. I don't think
you're rag-tag _or_ organized. By myself I came to regard individual
Intoleristas individually... some I feel bad for, others I find amusing, and
others are completely bewildering. I am not bewildered about the existence
of Intoleristas, though.

I read an awful lot. In fact, I own a bookstore. =)  My first job was in a
library (I applied the day I could get my worker's permit) and I worked in a
Barnes & Noble for awhile. Barnes & Noble broadened my horizons
considerably, as I was one of maybe 3 conservatives in the whole store, and
the other outspoken one was all crochety. I've read lots of books from a
broader spectrum of Christian thought, and will no doubt carry some in my
bookstore. Brian McClaren is out, because his writing style annoys me.

I feel quite free to disagree with my pastor, and will do so now by way of
demonstration. I agree with the arguments John Frame puts forth in his two
books about worship regarding the legitimacy of so-called "contemporary
worship music" in contemporary worship. This is a hot-button issue, and
Credenda magazine ran a small debate between pastor and someone else a few
issues back. I found myself very sympathetic to the other chap. (sorry, I
don't have time to find the link). I don't buy the high/low/folk culture
distinctions put forth by this year's Ministerical Conference speaker, Ken
Myers, and I think they muddle the worship debate.

I wish I had written Reforming Marriage. I also wish that I had written
Critique of Modern Youth Ministry. It put into words something I had long
felt. I probably wouldn't have written Southern Slavery, but am glad for it
because now because of the whole thing we get kinists mad, and that's
amusing. Also amusing is how Mr. Metzler is willing to quote the kinists
when they say something bad about us.

What I'd really really like to know is the answer to the questions in the
first e-mail. Do you think the boarding house complaint was harassment? I
can find plenty of other boarding houses that aren't run by Christ Church,
starting with (I'm guessing) the people throwing the party across the
street. The difference is that they are all college-aged, and are not great
neighbors.

I would love to take you up on the beer thing, if we can both invite
buddies. Many of my peer-friends know more about the local goings-on then I
do, and 4 is more fun than 2 (you can bring a buddy, too). You can just buy
my beer. =)

Thanks,

-Austin

"It is not bigotry to be certain we are right; but it is bigotry to be
unable to imagine how we might possibly have gone wrong." --G.K. Chesterton

-- 
Austin Storm
Sky Cow Books
P.O. Box 9128 Moscow, Idaho 83843
208.596.5752 work | 678.550.5503 fax
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20060604/730e738d/attachment.htm