{"id":1197,"date":"2015-05-06T23:45:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-06T23:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/2015\/05\/06\/the-hammer\/"},"modified":"2015-05-06T23:45:00","modified_gmt":"2015-05-06T23:45:00","slug":"the-hammer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/the-hammer\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hammer"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/span><\/span><\/b>See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no \u201croot of bitterness\u201d springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; Hebrews 12:15 ESV<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n


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In a book he wrote in 1966, the psychologist Abraham Maslow is generally credited with originating the phrase, \u201cWhen all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.\u201d<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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It\u2019s been attributed to others, including Mark Twain, but its true origin really <\/span>doesn’t<\/span> matter. It had probably been around a long time before it ever appeared in print.<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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On a seemingly unrelated topic, a pastor-friend\u2019s Facebook page will occasionally contain a Tweet from someone named, \u201cBitter Betty.\u201d (No offense intended to all the wonderful people in the world who are named \u201cBetty.\u201d)<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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As near as I can tell, \u2018Bitter Betty\u201d is a fictional character who somehow has her own Facebook page. Or wall. Or whatever term the Facebook faithful use for the place where all \u201cyour\u201d stuff is. <\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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I\u2019m not exactly sure about Bitter Betty\u2019s origins or the intent of the page because she has never accepted my \u201cFriend\u201d request. I guess that\u2019s not surprising, since she is, well, bitter.<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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She posts in exclusively Tweets and appears to be a caricature of the mean, crabby old \u201cchurch lady\u201d who is prone to criticizing and critiquing everything the church does. (Absolutely, positively no offense intended to the millions upon millions of wonderful, kind, caring, compassionate, beautiful, senior ladies of the church.)<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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T<\/span><\/span>his blue-haired character is particularly hard on the \u201cYouth Guy\u201d (Youth Pastor.)<\/span>  <\/span>In one recent Tweet, she accused the \u201cYouth Guy\u201d of making all his decisions with a Magic 8 Ball.<\/span><\/div>\n

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S<\/span><\/span>he also recently Tweeted,<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201c<\/span>Youth Guy, noticed you forgot to put your summer vacation time on the calendar. And by “summer vacation” I mean “youth camp.” <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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But it also appears that no one on the church staff is exempt from her scathing wit: <\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cChildren’s Director, I’m attending a children’s conference this weekend… A critique of your ministry will be on your desk Monday.\u201d<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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Or the worship band:<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cIn preparation for this morning’s music, the worship band will be discussing the cinematography of the new Star Wars movie. \u201c<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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Bitter Betty also appears to be adamantly opposed to anything in her fictional church (which is never identified) which may have changed since the demise of the steam engine. <\/span><\/span>(No offense intended to\u2026 well, to anyone.)<\/span><\/div>\n

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Above a photo of some used church pews on a trailer, she posted,   <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cA moment of silence, if you will, for another church that has been martyred in the name of “Contemporary.”<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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Oooo, that\u2019s a zinger.<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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S<\/span><\/span>ometimes, it just a joke that\u2019s so bad it makes you laugh:<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cHow much does it cost for pirates to get their ears pierced? … A buccaneer…\u201d<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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Or:<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cOnce had a friend named Joyce who died and her husband found a second wife named Joyce… He rejoiced. . .\u201d<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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But the one that really got me was:<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cAmazing grace! <\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
How sweet the sound<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
That saved a wretch like you.\u201d<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Bam! There\u2019s <\/i>the hammer. <\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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I know this is all intended in fun, and maybe the point of whoever thought up Bitter Betty is to make it obvious just how bad we sound when we complain about the church. <\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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If that\u2019s the case\u2014mission accomplished.<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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As one of my sisters in Christ said, \u201cWe may hold the hammer, but we know who took the nails.\u201d<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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<\/a><\/div>\n
Today\u2019s Praise <\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

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Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? Jeremiah 23:29 ESV<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no \u201croot of bitterness\u201d springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; Hebrews…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-21 13:30:55","action":"delete","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1197"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1197\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}