Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Desperate Housewives: "The church isn't a place for questions..." ;)

Saw this over at on coffee a few weeks ago. I've perhaps watched a grand total of 5 minutes of Desperate Housewives in my life (including this 3:22 clip) (I much preferred Teri Hatcher's role as Lois Lane in Lois and Clark and Jamie Denton as Mr. Lyle in The Pretender), but I thought this was rather revealing. :)

(caution: a tiny bit of 'language' in one part)
Posted by Joel Brueseke at 11:00 AM
Labels: , ,

19 comments:

  1. Church is a place for answers. But how do you get the answers if we don't questions?

    Very reasonable, logical point! I would suggest to keep your brain, logic, reasoning, sound mind outside the door before you enter...

    It's pathetic!

    The "Unitarian" comment was hilarious! :)

    Thanks for the laughs!
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  2. Great video and so true. I was impressed with the same quote that Bino picked out. The bottom line is we're not supposed to understand; we're just supposed to accept. As Bino suggested, that works well if you leave your brain parked outside with your car.
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  3. Well now isn't that just how it goes..........quench the passion right out of the one seeking truth and turn 'em into a robot!!! Pooh!!
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  4. That was a very interesting clip, 'try the "Gospel" church by the airport' LOL! Anne and I have been talking alot about the say Amen and agree no matter what mentality in the churches we have been to, this is a hilarious addition to our conversations on the subject. I agree with Lydia Joy, its very "Stepford Christian" Thanks for sharing that :-)
    Ron
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  5. Joel,
    This was a great clip! Thanks for posting it. So sadly true about the mentality of "never question." As well, I thought it interesting when the preacher told her to "visit their Bible study" to bring up questions, BUT he didn't invite her to personally visit with HIM sometime at his office or home to individually talk about her questions. Hmm...shirking personal intimacy there?

    Anyways, great clip, Joel!

    Blessings,
    ~Amy :)
    Author of "Orphaned Into Belonging"
    http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=2551659
    http://amyiswalkinginthespirit.blogspot.com
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  6. Great comments, everyone! Yep, just leave your brain checked at the door and you'll fit in fine in many churches. "Quench the passion." "Stepford Christian." It really is so sad that there's so much reality to all this.

    I noticed the pastor playing dodge ball as well. Want answers? Um... try something else, but just don't ask ME!

    In other cases, I suppose some pastors would love the opportunity to answer questions. Just as long as they accept his answers and don't press too deeply!

    I don't mean to point fingers here. I'm sort of having fun with this, and also pointing out that this is truly real in many places. From having interacted with so many people who have been through things like this, I know it's real.
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  7. Oh my friend...how funny your mind would be on the same page as MINE! Our church actually just finished a series called "Ask ANYTHING!" based off of this episode of Desperate. It was refreshing to see the church take on the tough questions that were asked. Our pastor did a great job. For anyone who would like to read some of the questions and the answers given, go to http://www.clovishills.com look for blogs and there will be a link for the ask anything blogs. The blog is based on questions that the pastor didn't have time to address in church. To hear the questions that he did cover in church, you can find a link to listen to the weekly lessons at the same website. They were great! I keep telling you my friend, you would actually like our church! LOL Have a great one!
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  8. Really funny clip- lol
    (sad but true- have you noticed how it's always the seekers who are the most real and honest; they haven't been "broken in" by stupid church traditions)
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  9. That was great. Remember when we new and excited and all asked questions and got smacked down so that we wouldn't anymore? Wasn't that just super-duper?

    Ah... those nostalgic memories....
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  10. Carianne,

    That's quite refreshing to hear - that they would intentionally take the tough questions. However, do they answer the questions correctly??? ;)~ LOL

    I'll check out the ask anything blogs, and if anything needs correcting, I'll be sure to tell 'em. Again, just kidding!!

    Seriously though, when a church doesn't just simply get up there and preach, but allows people to ask all those questions, that's very commendable.
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  11. Manuela,

    Such a great point! You're right, it's sad but true. It's amazing how we can just get settled in in our traditions and never think to ask questions, or to think critically.
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  12. Tyler,

    Yes, you're bringing back some memories with your comment. Hehehe. In my case, I had grown up in one church background, but didn't pay a whole lot of attention. Then, when I began to take things seriously I came into a completely different system, and while some things sort of bothered me at first, I took it as "this must be the way it's supposed to be," and I quickly assimilated into the whole system. In other words, instead of asking questions, I simply went along with it all.

    But then a few years later, when I began questioning things on the inside of me, and things weren't making sense anymore, I truly did get shot down when I tried to bring up various things. Seems I ruffled a few feathers, without even really having had the opportunity to at least talk some of it out with others.
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  13. Yeah, so sadly true that that's how we're often taught. Just sit down and shut up. No questions please. I like that gal's style (the one raising her hand).

    Very telling clip. Thanks.
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  14. What I found interesting, and I have never watched the show, is that when we next see the little troublemaker, she has a headscarf on that makes her look like she has cancer. I found it interesting because obviously her friend saw her presence in church as a cancer to be cut away and set down the the baptists by the airport.
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  15. Free Spirit,

    So true. I like her style too. I was gonna say that she 'broke from tradition,' but really she had no tradition to break free from. She simply asked what was on her mind.

    Tyler,

    You know what's funny is that while I was home sick with the flu for the past couple of days I was flipping through the channels and I came across a couple of episodes of this show. I only watched about 15 minutes altogether, but at the beginning of one of the episodes the narrator was talking about how several secrets had been revealed in the previous episode, and one of the secrets was that the woman in this clip had cancer.

    Anyway, I also observed how this show could easily be addictive to people. It's well-written, and it seems to have one twist after another. It's too sleazy for my tastes, but I can see how it keeps a captive audience.

    As for your comment, that's a great observation! It's kind of like, 'we're a clean, pristine, pure church and we don't want to have to deal with anything unclean that comes our way.'
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  16. LOL

    Well as a person that was not around the Church or knowingly around Christians till I became a follower of Jesus in my late twenties I had a zillion questions and would never have gone to Church to ask the questions or even to Christians (I didn’t trust either of course not understanding at the time that they are both the same “group”)…fortunately I purchased a Bible…and also books written by atheists to rip the Bible apart…their arguments were pitiful and took far too much faith for me to trust whereas the Bible time and again had the ring of authenticity and authority…

    It seems much of the Church oscillates between ultra dumbed down and dry as dust intellectuality…(much not all)
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  17. LS,

    I think your "Reasons to Trust the Bible" series is off to a great start, and will be very interesting. I really enjoy hearing your story of coming to Christ from a path of atheism, through actually reading the Bible, and not listening to what Christians had to say!

    I also like what you said here about reading books written by atheists to rip the Bible apart. In a different way (but similar), I grew in my faith through reading literature and discussing theology with people who belonged to psuedo-Christian cults. It all caused me to dig deeper into the scriptures, very prayerfully, and through that I came to discover some wonderful truth!
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  18. You're such a cynic! lol I'll lend you one of my red pens so you can start editing the responses my church gave. You may be pleasantly surprised!
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  19. Carianne,

    They let you in... so they must be a bunch of heathens! Just kidding!
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