Setting aside the scandal caused by His Messianic claims and His reputation as a political firebrand, only two accusations of personal depravity seem to have been brought against Jesus of Nazareth. First, that He was a Sabbath- breaker. Secondly, that He was "a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners" -- or (to draw aside the veil of Elizabethan English that makes it sound so much more respectable) that He ate too heartily, drank too freely, and kept very disreputable company, including grafters of the lowest type and ladies who were no better than they should be. For nineteen and a half centuries, the Christian Churches have laboured, not without success, to remove this unfortunate impression made by their Lord and Master. They have hustled the Magdalens from the Communion-table, founded Total Abstinence Societies in the name of Him who made the water wine, and added improvements of their own, such as various bans and anathemas upon dancing and theatre-going. They have transferred the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, and, feeling that the original commandment "Thou shalt not work" was rather half-hearted, have added to it the new commandment, "Thou shalt not play."

By AMBROSE CLARK TEHRAN - Arab men are going wild over an outrageous new entertainment craze that's taken this city by storm - wet burqa contests! Drooling, cheering men are packing makeshift nightclubs where shapely gals get hosed down while wearing the burqa - which clings to every curve and corner of their bodies even though they're wearing a garment designed for the ultimate in modesty. Modeled after the wet T-shirt contests that show off America's most buxom young beauties, the burqa competitions award cash prizes in categories including Best Breasts and Butt. "No one ever said a woman in a burqa couldn't get wet and shake it," shrugs Mohammed Benradi, who runs the racy contests. "They tell us that women have to wear the burqa in public. That's what they're doing. "They're just doing a little more for us, that's all." You can find a wet burqa contest in at least six different locations in Tehran on just about any night if you know where to look - and whom to ask. Fear of reprisals by strict religious officials keeps the contest locations secret and ever-changing. "You have to work a little to find the party, but it's worth it," one man sighs during a break at one of Benradi's contests. "The girls are really built, and Mohammed uses so much water on them they might as well be naked! "But they're not naked, that's the wonderful thing," he adds. "We get all the fun of sinning, but we have not really sinned." It's not just men who are cramming into the sexy shows. Women are also lining up to compete. "Mohammed is very good to us - he doesn't let the men touch us or use bad language," says a 20-year-old contestant who identifies herself only as Resa. Resa says Benradi awards generous prize money: The equivalent of $100, which is an enormous sum to many of Tehran's poorer residents. "I have won three times," Resa says proudly, "and my family has been eating very well because of it. And no one can tell it's me under there, so I am not ashamed. "I'm glad Mohammed came up with this idea," she adds. "We've had to wear these awful things for years now - it's about time we got something out of it."

One of the blunders religious people are particularly fond of making is the attempt to be more spiritual than God.

The trouble oftentimes with religious people is that they try to be more spiritual than God himself.

Ideas are malleable and unstable, they not only can be misused, they invite misuse--and the better the idea the more volatile it is. That's because only the better ideas turn into dogma, and it is this process whereby a fresh, stimulating, humanly helpful idea is changed into robot dogma that is deadly…The problem starts at the secondary level, not with the originator or developer of the idea but with the people who are attracted by it, who cling to it until their last nail breaks, and who invariably lack the overview, flexibility, imagination, and, most importantly, sense of humor, to maintain it in the spirit in which it was hatched. Ideas are made by masters, dogma by disciples, and the Buddha is always killed on the road.

The Law is like the stakes you put in the ground to make your plants grow up straight. Eventually the plant internalizes the structure and becomes straight because of its nature - it no longer needs to be bound to the stake. In fact, if it tries to conform itself to the stake too tightly it will become twisted and won't grow to its full potential. {paraphrased}

...from a Baptist Seminary professor who i once heard say, regarding a response to a waitress offering wine, "No thank you. We are Baptists. We don't drink in front of each other."

Be Generous With Others and Stern With Yourself

The way others are to view your liberty is not the same way that you should view your liberty. Other Christians should let you do what you want unless the Bible forbids it. That’s how we guard against legalism. But you should use your liberty differently—you should be asking what the reasons are for doing it, and not what the reasons are for prohibiting it.