A few days back, I suggested you be on guard for any triggered bolshevik behavior rising up in you.
Well, the full range of human emotion appeared in my inbox the last few days. Let’s have a look at the latest emails.
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From tears, to anger, to uncertainty, to “whiplash,” to jest, I saw the full range of human emotion appear in my inbox over the past day.
Which makes it a lot like the book in which the main character lives an amazing Christian life, screws up, and dies of AIDS — it contains the full range of human emotion.
Did I say AIDS?
I sure did.
Do I want to normalize the sexual immorality it took to place himself in that situation?
Absolutely not.
Somehow, I was able to get through decades of life (I’m a slow learner) without comprehension on how effective sexual immorality can be in hijacking a person and making him really hard for God to reach.
Sex is a gift.
That gift can really easily be abused to your tremendous detriment.
And that’s all part of the story of Lonnie Frisbee. A very powerful story of a man who God gave some amazing work to.
Join me in reading that here: https://realstevo.com/frisbee over the next six weeks. It will be a powerful conversation about a powerful book portraying a most conflicted individual. But in it, in that conflict, I believe each one of us will be able to find reflections of ourselves.
Without further ado, let’s pick and choose some gems from my inbox, and let the full range of human emotion begin.
A reader writes:
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Just signed on again for the Lonnie Frisbee book group reading.
Hope I don't get whiplash going from a somewhat stodgy German theologian to a wild California Holy Spirit-filled hippie.
-A Reader
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We are reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the book discussion group right now. His “jokes” are dry, so dry, dry like the Black Rock desert of Burning Man fame, except when it gets like half an inch of rain and does what ancient lake beds do when they get half an inch of rain. German theologians living through the horrors of Nazi times can get extra dry. Whiplash is ahead for sure for this reader.
Another reader shows up and pumps the brakes. Being “a brake” is the Slovak term for killjoy. Who knows. Maybe I’ll get her to join anyway.
A reader writes:
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Just chock it all up to denominational minutiae and paper over the very real differences and the apostasies against Scripture.
I dont follow men. Or women.
Particularly ones that practice ungodly lifestyles. Life is too short to be holding hands and singing KUMBAYA with the same.
Talk is cheap and a talented writer can make his heinous lifestyle seem intriguing or can make the reader forget what a heinous lifestyle he actually practiced in real life. I can think of a few in each category.
Also pseudo valid reasons will be offered as to why the reasonable person should overlook the heinous aspects of a person and his or her habitual practices in an attempt to be inclusive so nobody will mislabel him or her REACTIONARY or, even worse PHOBIC.
I'll pass. Not a Lonnie Frisbee fan
-A Reader
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Listen, I’m not trying to get you to marry him! It’s just a book reading group. I think it will warm the heart and inspire. The guy backslid many times in his life and did bad. And you know what, if I really had to come at it objectively, I think it was the church who did worst of all in the story of Lonnie Frisbee.
What responsibility does the church have in helping to pull a leader out of an ungodly lifestyle without helping to kick him down and leave him in the dumps. I think a lot. I’m not looking to play koombaya or to paper over.
Christians need to be there for hurting people, for messy people. To refuse to make yourself accessible yo God to do some of the messy work comes across as a particularly cruel brand of uncharitableness. Sure it’s got nothing to do with money, but it has much to do still with stinginess.
As for being a respecter of men — Thank you, also, for pointing that out. I seem to have crossed the line by being unclear in my communication on that…
Let me address that one in response to the next.
A reader writes:
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If I were Jesus Christ, I might be insulted by the implication that Trump might be anywhere near as credible human being as he had been during his much shorter time on the planet. It would be unlikely, given all of the indications made in the bible about human fallibility though. If that is all you think it would take for me to unsubscribe from your fine if redundant posts, you have misjudged me.
A Reader
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Uh-oh. I think I’m communicating an overly fawning attitude toward the 45th, 46th, and 47th president of the United States.
For anyone curious, Trump is my President, but Jesus is my Savior. And I think of that each time I encounter Trump Derangement Syndrome, because I know getting triggered about Trump, as mighty as the backlash is, involves maybe 0.001% of the “cope” and “seethe” (to use trendy internet-isms) that is the great derangement syndrome: Jesus Derangement Syndrome. Using the name of Jesus and his views with joyful abandon is the true way to get someone to shriek like a banshee.
Somehow, after yesterday’s email 35,000 did not unsubscribe. Only 3 did. I’m happy you are not one of them, dear reader.
A reader writes:
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Allan,
Thank you for the gracious and noble gesture on the next reading group.
I don't often have the time to read all the chapters for our discussion groups but the discussions are always engaging, thought provoking, and interesting. I must task myself to go back as far as Conceived in Liberty and read the entire book as I will the Fauci and Bonhoeffer books soon.
Although I could have read these books on my own, your facilitation and the group sharing is truly invaluable.
Thanks again,
A Reader
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Now I really like when people do their reading and participate fully in the book group (which usually comes from me choosing a book that is impossible to put down).
That was not Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book, Cost of Discipleship, which while excellent, in my opinion, can feel like being chased around by someone with a metal Lodge pan, ready to whack you — a little tenuous, somewhat masochistic to try to read cover to cover — because he speak a lot of very challenging words.
But this is part of the point of the book group — you can cheat a little. You don’t have to do the heavy lifting every day. You can get a lot out of it still even if you don’t make time to do that day’s reading.
You get to listen in to others and hear what’s on their minds when you don’t read the passage for the day. Each day with the first Lonnie Frisbee book, we will have about 30 pages of reading 3 times a week. That goes up incrementally with the slightly larger second and third volumes, but it is exciting reading — not James Bond style exciting, but really exciting spiritual talk. And it’s not philosophical but narrative. While Lonnie Frisbee is no Tom Clancy, I still think it’s kind of a page turner.
A reader writes:
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Good evening, Allan. I'm game once again!
I'm in " Grandma Training" and enjoying the time zone change. It's easier for me to participate here than on the West Coast.
Thank you for your generous offer.
-A Reader
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I bet those grandkids are so happy to have grandma around. That’s a great message to receive.
If the schedule doesn’t ever work for you, it’s worth keeping in mind that things are recorded, so you can come back and listen to the book conversation for the day as a recording.
A reader writes:
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Thank you. I will join, though I will not be able to attend all discussions, perhaps less than half.
I have not found time to read the Bonhoeffer .pdf yet either; I did not spend any time during my travels on things not related to the where I was visiting or the work I was doing. I have had other things to manage since I returned. I did listen to two of the discussions.
“You shall not criticize the position of another in theology until you can state that position with such accuracy, completeness and sympathy, that the opponent himself declares, ‘Yes, I could not have said it better myself!’ Then, and only then, may you criticize. For then you are engaging a real alternative and advancing a real argument. Otherwise you shed only heat, not light.”
I am very fond of this instruction. I would extend it beyond Christian theology.
Best,
A Reader
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The Hinlicky Rule has been is a truly beautiful insight in my life. I am happy to hear that you see the same value. I think these past few weeks have been the only time I have mentioned the Hinlicky Rule as relevant to theology. I think all of my writing until now on the topic feature an ellipsis (…) in place of the words “in theology.” That change has happened because I am finally getting more comfortable with God rather than embarrassed that others might not want to hear anout God.
In chicago it was often said “Don’t talk sports, don’t talk politics, don’t talk religion.” That was a phrase I didn’t encounter until I was quite on in years. In my home, in my community, in the people I encountered, that was simply never followed. The most important things got talked about when it was time to talk about them.
Unfortunately, that policy worked its way into me enough to shut me up about religion. Which might be good, since I didn’t have much of value to contribute to the conversation anyway. I was as insightful on the topic as a 15 year old who has just read Friedrich Nietzsche. I think that has changed. I think after doing some hard prayerful work, I have some value to add.
The removed and hopeless ennui of the NPR voice and its safe skepticism toward everything used to be the norm for me on the topic of religion. No more. Life is too short to live so safely.
Believe. Invest. Fail. Learn. Do it better on the next iteration. That’s an okay way to passionately engage life. It’s way better than the safe, skeptical NPR voice.
A reader writes:
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I have no idea who Lonnie Frisbee is. Maybe I should do a Yandex search to find out. Maybe not. Either way, I don’t need to agree with everything someone believes or says to find value in other things they have to say and offer. So, steady the course and keep straight ahead. We share enough in common that we can make fine traveling companions. Forge ahead.
-A Reader
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Please don’t do a Yandex search. Please leave your ignorance and innocence perfectly in tact. I suspect you will get a lot more out of it that way.
In yesterday’s invitation to join, I really spent a lot of time crafting to the critics of this conflicted fellow. I know I could have done it differently, especially for someone like me who six months ago knew nothing about Lonnie Frisbee. I only knew this — I really like a quote about him from a fictionalized movie.
He said that the youth of his generation wanted to find God, but all they found was the next high. And after living that lifestyle, he was committing his life to be there to help them find God instead of the next high.
And then that is what he did.
How deeply that statement resonated with me, for I know so many of my generation who hurt their minds with drugs but do so truly in a search to 1.) escape the worst that this world has to offer or 2.) in search of truth.
If the functionalized character in the movie was anything like the real thing, I knew he was going to be a special treat. It turns out the movie made the guy funnier, quirkier, cooler, and a better fit for the plot, while erasing a lot of his humanness.
You know what, I really, really love the flawed humans that God lets us be. The stories that people have lived and then are willing to bless me by sharing with me would never come from anyone “perfect.”
Though it isn’t “perfect,” maybe God was onto something when he made us able to choose to walk a good path or to diverge from the path.
The testimonies regular people have shared with me tell me that mountains really can step aside for him with great faith in God.
And Lonnie Frisbee was a regular guy, actually, kind of a below average guy, from below average beginnings, who had a lot less to offer the world than almost anyone I can imagine.
And boy did he let God use him for some special things. Which, I think, is the real reason so many hate that guy. If God can do so much with such a poor, white trash fellow, then my friend, what exactly is stopping you from giving your far more gifted life over to God?
That’s one of the most triggering things about Lonnie Frisbee. The fact that he died of AIDS is another matter entirely, almost an irrelevant distraction.
Now I save the best for last. This man got tearful on me. But it was not the kind of triggered tearfulness that I may have suspected. He has not tearfully unsubscribed. He instead tearfully appreciated the email that I was so hesitant to send.
A reader writes:
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Thanks, AL. Your email made me cry. That's a good thing. A blessed thing.
Regards, and thanks again.
A Reader
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I can’t believe I signed an email “your pal AL!” Lol.
Last night, I shared your email with another person. I am most grateful that you took the time to share this with me. Thank you, dear reader. Such feedback means a lot.
Before I wrap this email up…
If you want in on this Lonnie Frisbee adventure, get in now. Wednesday night, I will open it up to others who 1.) either aren’t on my email list or 2.) don’t know someone on my email list.
The price then will be 3.33 times what it currently is. So do me a favor and say yes (or no) before Wednesday at 11:59pm Pacific so I won’t have to stick by my word and squeeze you for money.
Also, if times are tight, have a look on the linked page for the “Jack Hochberger Memorial Scholarship.” It’s in memory of Uncle Jack, who I suspect would quite appreciate the idea.
Tap here to join https://realstevo.com/frisbee
Allan Stevo
Hey there Frisbee detractors I read with an open mind your concerns regarding Allan Stevo's next reading/discussion group on Lonnie Frisbee. I know nothing about Lonnie Frisbee other than what our facilitator (Allan Stevo) has offered in his emails. After reading some of the emails you sent Allan one might form an uninformed opinion of Frisbee. Some comments condemned Frisbee while others took a haughty tone, judging the man and his journey. To the latter, I would ask you if you have read Frisbee's books, and to the former who've chosen to judge, I would ask the same.
My father told me often you can learn something from everyone you encounter. As I look back through the years my father's assertion has proven true if I am being objective. I didn't take that instruction or interaction without some rationalization or discernment on the merits. And if I'm honest, I would admit I canceled some of those interactions based on unfounded preconceptions and biases.
If you've read Frisbee's books objectively and still have reservations or a harsh opinion I wonder if you might have learned something in the process or perhaps overlooked it. Like Frisbee, we are all on a journey and whether you believe in God or not none of us can ever really know what's stored in another heart nor the scars that formed along the way.
I have participated in three of Allan's reading/discussion groups this year. I can't offer one regret. I have met some compassionate, interesting, and intelligent folks who have offered insightful and engaging interpretations of our readings. I consider them my friends. Through the discussions and the readings, I have grown both intellectually and spiritually. Regardless of your reasons for the denunciation of Frisbee, at the very least might you gain a few more friends......