Seriously, Steve?

[Maggie Mae]

Hey, I was right! It was "Purpose." 

Can he be any more cruel to "the elderly?" 

[fundiefan]

What about people with cognitive deficiencies? Physical inabilities? Both?  Even those with complete inability to think and/or act for themselves? And, yes, the elderly, who have lived full lives already and are slowing down and aren't capable of some predetermined purpose? Someone with Alzheimer's, young or old? 

Such a sad, simplistic, ridiculous life that little man lives. 

[anjulibai]

He's such a fucking asshole. 

[Hane]

4 hours ago, fundiefan said:

What about people with cognitive deficiencies? Physical inabilities? Both?  Even those with complete inability to think and/or act for themselves? And, yes, the elderly, who have lived full lives already and are slowing down and aren't capable of some predetermined purpose? Someone with Alzheimer's, young or old? 

Such a sad, simplistic, ridiculous life that little man lives. 

I once read a true anecdote about a devout elderly woman who had spent her earlier life in service to others. Being frail and disabled, she felt she no longer had any purpose, until a friend reminded her that she was still capable of praying for others. Of course, that dick Stevehovah would never be able to think up something that compassionate.

[Lisafer]

So the elderly have no purpose? Shall I tell that to my 85 year old grandmother who still lives alone, drives herself to church, crochets and embroiders gifts for grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and goes gambling once a week? Or my 79 year old grandmother, fiery Baptist, always at church, visiting family, out with friends, or going to movies?

I'm damn proud of the "elderly" in my family, and I want to be like them when I'm old, minus the church part. I want their strength, spunk, and courage. 

And Steve can go fuck himself.

[Palimpsest]

Of course the elderly have a purpose.  What would Steve do these days if he didn't have the Church of the Holy Nursing Facility to pastor?

And I can imagine that some of the residents get up on Sunday mornings and say to themselves, "Today I purpose to avoid the Community Room all morning.  Those bloody Maxwells take it over to sing badly and preach at us."

And Steve had a wonderful learning experience with his first car.  It was a 57 Chevy and he poured time, energy, and money into switching out its engine.  Or something.

However, 

Quote

 “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal” (Matthew 6:19). It is so easy to have our hearts pulled to the things that are not eternal.

Yeah, yeah.  Your wife and children are your eternal treasures.  Got it.

But Steve feels blessed.

Quote

I’m so blessed to be able to encourage dads who are serious and committed to their families. I am sure your wife is thankful for a husband like you. “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21).

I wonder:

1. how many dads subscribe to Seriously?
2. how many of the subscribers actually read these repetitive emails?
3. why Steve disables the comments on these posts?

Could it be that he's afraid to know how many people just delete the emails?  Or is it that he is afraid someone will argue with him? 

Edited November 29, 2018 by Palimpsest

[Lisafer]

6 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

Of course the elderly have a purpose.  What would Steve do these days if he didn't have the Church of the Holy Nursing Facility to pastor?

And I can imagine that some of the residents get up on Sunday mornings and say to themselves, "Today I purpose to avoid the Community Room all morning.  Those bloody Maxwells take it over to sing badly and preach at us."

 

If I was elderly and living in that nursing home, I'd purpose to get up on Sunday morning and see in what ways I could disrupt the Church of Stevehovah! Probably asking pointed questions after the sermon would be sufficient to send him into a tizzy...I'm pretty sure being questioned is one of his worst fears!

[Tatar-tot]

Steve tries way too hard to prove he has a happy marriage to Teri.  The matchy outfits. The always having to sit next to each other.  It is just too much for someone at his age in a happy content relationship.

Steve - we see right through you. You are a fraud.  You don’t cherish or love your wife.   I am not even sure you love or know God.  Please go away and let your family live.  Let the girls grow up and let Chris follow his passions other than sex with his wife.  You have done enough distruction.  Just Go away so your family can live.  

[DooDahDame]

Stevie, you will be one of the “elderly” sometime in the not too distant future and you better hope that you are not treated like that. Take a look in a mirror! In fact, while you are in front of the mirror, preach as if you were preaching to them. You better thank your lucky stars that you will have your three unmarried daughters there to take care of you. 

[grammyj]

Yup. Tatar-Tot has it right. Teri and Steve, Joseph and Elissa, and a couple others, every picture they are pretty much  grappling each other. I'll give John and Chelsey a pass as can still be considered  newlyweds. I don't know, there's something about that constant PDA that rings really false to me.

[mango_fandango]

I wonder if the sons get Seriously Dads. John isn’t a dad yet but he will be soon. 

[Palimpsest]

11 hours ago, mango_fandango said:

I wonder if the sons get Seriously Dads. John isn’t a dad yet but he will be soon. 

Of course they do.  They don't have a choice.  Steve has their email addresses.  He probably tests them on it when he sees them.  And John is a already a dad, although the baby is still in the womb, by Steve's standards.  He's been a dad-in-training ever since he was born.

[Palimpsest]

And we have Steve's Favorite Question in the latest Seriously.

"So Brother, how's that working for you?”

Presumably he only asks this question when the "Brother" in question is not following the Laws of Stevehovah to the letter.

Quote

For those who have worked for someone who consistently made poor decisions, you understand how demoralizing poor decisions can be for those who must live with the results.

Is that why you quit your job, Stevie?  Was it being forced to have business relationships with women who were not your wife? 

Quote

For those who have worked for someone fathers who consistently made poor decisions, you understand how demoralizing poor decisions can be for those who must live with the results.

FTFY.  And yes.

Quote

Frankly, quite often Teri and my hearts go out to wives whose husbands would resemble that employer just mentioned. At least with a job, you can look for another one, but that isn’t God’s plan for marriage. (God hates divorce. Malachi 2:16)

My heart goes out to Teri on a regular basis.  For the same reason.  And your God may hate divorce but sometimes it is the right thing to do.  For all concerned.  I don't think anyone should be forced to remain in an abusive marriage.

Quote

It is good to step back and consider the fruit resulting from a previous decision and perhaps re-evaluate. “But wisdom is justified of all her children” (Luke 7:35). Over time the fruit will prove the decision.

So Brother Steve, how's that excessive sheltering of your daughters working for them when it comes to getting married? 

Quote

Evaluate those situations. How did you get there? What might have been your motives in making the decision? Were you just trying to “make the pain go away” or earnestly seeking the Lord’s will, no matter what the personal cost?

Really, do evaluate those situations, Steve.  The personal cost is to your daughters who are still clinging to home and working for their brothers.  Were you just trying to control them and their experiences for your own satisfaction?   Perhaps you could admit you were wrong and try to encourage them to spread their wings professionally and engage in healthy relationships outside the family?   No matter what the personal cost to your pride.

Quote

“Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen” (Hebrews 13:21).

Steve's belief in his own perfection and arrogance in believing he should preach to others astonishes me every single time.

Honestly, Steve.  What is it about your life that makes you think you have the secret to success?   Be truthful.

 

Edited December 11, 2018 by Palimpsest

[Palimpsest]

And now Steve is preaching about lying.

Quote

I’ve yet to meet anyone who likes being lied to. How do you feel about being lied to? What if someone close to you lied to you? Do you ever lie? Do you ever lie to someone close to you?

Rufus, yes.  But I do try not to lie about important things or tell lies that will hurt people.   I haven't always succeeded in that.

 There are all sorts of reasons for lying and there are big lies and little lies.  There are polite lies and selfish lies.  There are lies to protect other people's feelings and lies to protect yourself from harm.   There are partial lies and there are lies by omission.  People lie all the time.  Sometimes intentionally and sometimes not.  There are studies that say people can't go 10 minutes without lying and that some people lie up to 100 times a day.  That is rather depressing.

Some people do lie more than others.  At the moment we have a US president who seems to lie every time he opens his mouth.   In contrast to that pathological liar (who wouldn't be able to tell the truth even if it bit him in the butt) I haven't lied much.  Nor do I lie every 10 minutes or 100 times a day.  I've never logged it but I can probably go for several weeks without needing to tell more than a polite fib.  And don't think I've ever told a massive whopper with the intention of misleading someone intentionally for personal gain or fraud.   

How about you, Steve?

Quote

If you answered “yes” to lying, shouldn’t that sin be dealt with immediately?

Mea culpa.  Mea maxima culpa.  Yes, I have told lies that I later regretted immensely.  And I have told lies that probably hurt no-one and I feel were justifiable.

Quote

Let’s assume your answer was “no,” you don’t lie.

If anyone claims they never, ever, lie - then let me introduce you to a bald-faced liar.

Furthermore, I consider the Almighty Stevehovah to be a liar, although he would deny it strenuously. 

Steve, it is intrinsically dishonest - and lying - to edit comments on your blog to leave out critical content and make the comments sound positive.  We've caught that happening on Titus2 in real time. 

And there have been countless lies by omission in Steve's narrative and the blog.  To say nothing of all those detailed and unlikely stories lies he tells about successful homeschooled kids buying homes debt-free with no problems at all. 

Or what about those conversations he remembers verbatim from long-ago chance meetings with homeschooling dads.  No Steve, literary license used to distort fact is lying if you claim the stories are absolutely true., 

Quote

Let me ask you another question. Do you ever lie to yourself? No? When was the last time you said you were going to do something but didn’t do it? Even if you didn’t tell anyone else, wasn’t that a commitment to yourself?

Oh, I'm really good at procrastination.  I don't lie to myself about that.  I'm procrastinating about wrapping Christmas gifts right now but I'll get around to it soon.

As far as important things I didn't do in a timely fashion - well I'm also pretty good at rearranging commitments when new things come up that should take priority.  That is not lying to myself - it is a skill.  What important commitments have I made that I have never followed through on?  I can't remember any off-hand.  I have let some projects go when I decided they just weren't feasible, however.  That is nothing to feel guilty about.  Again, it it a question of prioritising not lying to myself. 

Quote

If we excuse ourselves from keeping commitments, then it will be easy to excuse ourselves (lie) to others too. May we be men of integrity.

“Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him” (Colossians 3:9,10).

I've got a better quote for Steve. 

"And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."  Matthew 7: 3-5

Edited December 14, 2018 by Palimpsest

[anjulibai]

Oh fuck off Steve. Your family lies constantly on your blog! Any time you misrepresent reality (like posting a Mom's Corner article at the end of November but back date it to the beginning) YOU ARE LYING! 

Just fucking stop!

Oh, and they did it again this month with the Mom's Corner! That article was NOT out on December 4th. 

[Palimpsest]

16 minutes ago, anjulibai said:

Oh, and they did it again this month with the Mom's Corner! That article was NOT out on December 4th. 

Oh, yes, I'd forgotten that.  They have fudged the dates on the Seriously articles too.  Why bother?  No-one would care if they skipped or were late with an article.  So that's gratuitous lying.  

How about you deal with that sin immediately, Steve?

[Hane]

Stevehovah, there’s an actual commandment that says, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor,” and another that says, “Honor thy mother and thy father.” When you insist you weren’t raised in a Christian home (your parents’ obituaries say otherwise), you blatantly violate both of them.

Edited December 14, 2018 by Hane

[Lisafer]

I tend to mentally differentiate between people who lie (which is everyone) and liars (people who habitually and deliberately obscure the truth to the point where you can't trust them). In my opinion, Steve Maxwell is a Liar with a capital L. He lies by commission and omission for his own personal gain. His goal is to look good to the world and promote his way as the only way, regardless of how he has to twist the truth to do it.

It's actually quite disturbing to witness the disconnect in his brain when he pontificates about lying being a sin, while he's so guilty of it in his own life. 

It makes me remember how, as a fundie, it was always pounded into us that lying was a sin, even to protect yourself or someone else. For example, if somebody held a gun to your head and asked if you were a Christian, you were supposed to tell the truth, even if it got your head blown off. It was a ridiculous adherence to the letter of the law that substituted itself for actual honesty, because it's much easier to nitpick rules than really look at who you are as a person. 

[Palimpsest]

On 12/14/2018 at 7:50 PM, Lisafer said:

It makes me remember how, as a fundie, it was always pounded into us that lying was a sin, even to protect yourself or someone else. For example, if somebody held a gun to your head and asked if you were a Christian, you were supposed to tell the truth, even if it got your head blown off. It was a ridiculous adherence to the letter of the law that substituted itself for actual honesty, because it's much easier to nitpick rules than really look at who you are as a person. 

What I notice though is how many Fundies justify lying their brains out for Jesus.  They spin stories to make themselves look better (see Shrader as well as Maxwell).  John Shrader lies again and again.  And he even faked a "diploma" from his non-existent Bible Institute for his favored followers too.  But that was OK.  It was to give them credibility for Jesus in a country that wanted evidence of education from preachers.   That was a justifiable bit of forgery.

A lot of evangelical missionary organisations openly encourage people to lie and misrepresent themselves on visa applications to get access to "closed to missionary" countries.  See Derrick Dillard's "humanitarian" work in Nepal as just one example.  It is possible that John's super secret trip overseas a couple of years was to another closed country.  

But here's the latest from Steve.

Quote

HAVE YOU TOLD THEM?

Basically he wants all parents to din their salvation stories into their children.  You must tell them your salvation story, in detail, so many times that they can actually recite it back to you.

Quote

Are you saved? Do you know that you know (1 John 2:3) you are saved and will spend eternity with the Lord Jesus? I hope so. Does your family know you are a child of the King? Is it assumed, or have you told them your salvation experience? When is the last time you told them in detail about when you were saved? Do they know your account so well they can tell it back to you?

Only by doing this can you be sure they are fully indoctrinated.

Quote

Okay, why should that matter?

Good question.  Oh, because it is Christmas time.

Quote

Next week we celebrate Christmas. What makes Christmas worthy of great celebration is that God sent His Son Jesus, God in Man, to this world to redeem us.

Happy Birthday, Jesus.

Quote

What makes it real is when Dad and Mom tell the children how Jesus Christ changed them—what their life was before Christ and following. May there be no doubt in the children’s minds that Jesus Christ is real and changes lives. 

This presumes that their lives were much worse and that their personalities were even nastier before they discovered the fun-killing, intolerance, and judgemental qualities of Steve's version of Christ following.

And there has been evil done in the name of Christ.

I don't agree with all of this (I qualify most with "some versions of Christianity") but it is food for thought:

Quote

20 Reasons to Abandon Christianity

• Christianity is based on fear
• Christianity preys on the innocent
• Christianity is based on dishonesty
• Christianity is extremely egocentric
• Christianity breeds arrogance, a chosen-people mentality
• Christianity breeds authoritarianism
• Christianity is cruel
• Christianity is anti-intellectual, anti-scientific
• Christianity has a morbid, unhealthy preoccupation with sex
• Christianity produces sexual misery
• Christianity has an exceedingly narrow, legalistic view of morality
• Christianity encourages acceptance of real evils while focusing on imaginary evils
• Christianity depreciates the natural world
• Christianity models hierarchical, authoritarian organization
• Christianity sanctions slavery
• Christianity is misogynistic
• Christianity is homophobic
• The Bible is not a reliable guide to Christ's teachings
• The Bible is riddled with contradictions
• Christianity borrowed its central myths and ceremonies from other ancient religions

http://seesharppress.com/20reasons.html  follow the link and click on the headings to see the explanations.

Edited December 19, 2018 by Palimpsest

[SPHASH]

In this week's Seriously e-mail Coward Steve calls himself a lazy teenager, throws shade on his parents getting a divorce, and brags about how Smug Joe isn't a sports fan.

[mango_fandango]

Stop being such a dick about your parents, Steve. HONOUR THY MOTHER AND FATHER.

So what if they divorced?? That’s no reason to hate them for the rest of your life, even if divorce is a sin. Particularly as both his parents are dead. Grow the fuck up and accept that some people do wrong.

And your son isn’t a sports fan? Who fucking cares? It’d be something to brag about if your child had been exposed to the world and still chose not to participate in a sport, but Joseph has never had the opportunity. Even though he’s moved out and has his own family now, he still lives within a mile of the mothership and is still under Steve’s thumb. Steve has struck such fear of the world into his kids that they’d be far too paranoid to explore, and they’ve been taught it’s all sinful and wrong anyway. The Duggars manage to be sports fans and still live for Jesus. You are allowed other things to enjoy in life apart from Jesus, Stevie. You’re not going to get sent for hell just because you watch your local football or baseball team. 

[SPHASH]

1 hour ago, mango_fandango said:

Stop being such a dick about your parents, Steve. HONOUR THY MOTHER AND FATHER.

So what if they divorced?? That’s no reason to hate them for the rest of your life, even if divorce is a sin. Particularly as both his parents are dead. Grow the fuck up and accept that some people do wrong.

And your son isn’t a sports fan? Who fucking cares? It’d be something to brag about if your child had been exposed to the world and still chose not to participate in a sport, but Joseph has never had the opportunity. Even though he’s moved out and has his own family now, he still lives within a mile of the mothership and is still under Steve’s thumb. Steve has struck such fear of the world into his kids that they’d be far too paranoid to explore, and they’ve been taught it’s all sinful and wrong anyway. The Duggars manage to be sports fans and still live for Jesus. You are allowed other things to enjoy in life apart from Jesus, Stevie. You’re not going to get sent for hell just because you watch your local football or baseball team. 

So are the Bontragers.  Their beliefs are just as shitty as the Maxwells and Duggars yet they still cheer on the Iowa Hawkeyes a COLLEGE team.  They even play pickup football, basketball, and volleyball games.  Hopefully they will be a good influence on Stud John in that department.

[mango_fandango]

I don’t know very much about the Bontragers. I wonder if Steve knew about their sports-watching before John’s courtship. 

[SPHASH]

2 hours ago, mango_fandango said:

I don’t know very much about the Bontragers. I wonder if Steve knew about their sports-watching before John’s courtship. 

The Bonts are just as self righteous as the Maxwells, especially Chelsy which is why I call her Judgy, Becky, and Josh who has his own blog.  They also have a family band that tours in the winter and summer.  The big difference between the Bontragers and Maxwells is that their food looks and tastes better, are more stylish (no Amish Anna frumpers) and have fun!

[mango_fandango]

I knew the very basics about them, but not details. But yeah fun and good food must be a revelation to John.