Big Jake, after pulling his son off a horse
and throwing him in a mud puddle.

" You can call me Dad, you can call me Father,
you can call me Jacob and you can call me Jake.
You can call me a dirty old son-of-a-bitch,
but if you EVER call me Daddy again,
I'll finish this fight. "

A scene from "Big Jake" starring John Wayne . . .

This clip was used in a sermon yesterday
to demonstrate the masculine side of God
and why the church is ineffective today
because we've been under the feminine
side of God for too long.
Now i appreciate a good movie
and i love the trend of using movies
to demonstrate spiritual concepts.
i liked westerns as a kid
(who didn't want to be a cowboy or cowgirl?)
i even liked this movie as a young kid
but watching this clip yesterday
i remembered what i didn't like about the movie
even as a young boy.
The plot is that Jake and his estranged wife's
younger son is kidnapped
and the ransom is a million dollars.
Now the Mother(the female side of God)
is a very wealthy ranch owner,
but she needs a real man to deliver the money,
Guess who she calls ? The Duke, of course !
Just as Jake is ready to leave
and deliver the ransom, his older son shows up
and wants to go with.
Jake hasn't seen his son in ten years
and when he does, he publicly humiliates him
and threatens to beat him up.
Jake also thinks his wife has turned "his Boys"
into a bunch of wimps.
Well, Jake grabs his guns, opens a can of whoop ass,
straightens out the boys and gets the girl.
Happily ever after.
Now i believe Jesus walked the earth
and was a real man but he was no John Wayne,
The Duke would never lay down and die
without kickin' ass and taking names.
i also believe Big G God is referred to as
Father even as Daddy (sorry Jake)
but He/She is really a Spirit and has no gender.
Having said all that, what really gripes my ass,
(ooh, the man in me is coming out)
is when believers still try to reconcile A Raging God Of War,
with a Wimpy God of Love.
Do we really believe we need a
"dirty old son of a bitch" of a God
who would abandon his wife and kids,
complain about how the single mother raises them,
come back into their lives,
threaten and humiliate them
and claim to Save The Day ?
We can see that crap on
Jerry Springer and Jenny Jones every day.
i choose the Wealthy, Generous, Wise,
Sharing, Patient and Loving, Daddy.
in fairness, i've only known the man
that gave this sermon a short time
and i'm sure he's a great guy,
so i'm going to take some pills
and have a chat with him
to hear more about this Male/Female bashing stuff.
i love when my kids call me daddy,
they never tried dirty old SOB . . .

i'd have to kick their ass . . .