religion at jalapenos of sandfly

I never know just what will be the central topic of conversation.

Who would have thought that the Smiths & Kamerons Friday Fiesta would become an airing ground for views on religion?

Isn't that a topic that's usually verboten, as it might lead to hurt feelings?

And yet, that's what the headliner was tonight.

And yet, we still left each other with hugs all around.

How very nice that we were all able to do that!

(smile!)

The three men here - my brother Smitty, then Mark and Jimmy, the brothers Kameron - stayed out of that discussion, as they tend to do.

Tony, my other living brother, sat beside Smitty and very much participated in the talk.

The others who participated in the talk of religious matters were women.

Becca, down on the far end, did not, as usual.

However, Betsy and my two sisters-in-law, Mary and Laura, certainly did, as they usually do.

So, got the picture?

Most of the discussion was on my end of the tables.

How did it all start?

Well, partly, I think it was due to our waiter.

His name is Jesus, pronounced the Spanish way of "hay SOOS", rather than the English "GEE suss".

I pointed out that in Spanish-speaking countries, Christ's name is pronounced the same way as our waiter's is.

I think that started things off.

Still, when the topic arose of our youngest nephew's upcoming First Communion, that really got it going.

That's a Catholic ritual, so Betsy, being Catholic, was talking about the meaning of that in her church, and the transformation of the wafer and wine into Christ's flesh and Christ's blood.

Our youngest nephew is Tony's grandson from Hope.

He seemed a bit shocked that they are Catholic, but he and Laura are attending the ceremony for Gilberto, who goes by 'Bert', just as I had for his older brother two years ago.

[I cannot go this time, as I only received the invite yesterday and have Saturday plans to help Christina move out of Chris' house.]

Anyway, the issue arose about them being Catholic instead of Christian.

Nope!

As our Grandpa would have done, I objected and corrected that misunderstanding.

I explained that Christians are classified as those who believe Christ to be the Savior, with further distinctions of being Catholics or Protestants.

Furthermore, I said that Protestants include all the other classifications as Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, et alia.

Oh, no, no, no!

And you know what the major argument was?

With the word "Protestant" applying to "Christians".

Tony was not having any of that.

i thank You, God, for Laura.

She looked up the definition of "Christian" on her phone and found what I said was true.

Then she looked up the word "Protestant" and again found I spoke the truth.

I hope that will give Tony some topics to discuss with his new church friends, to give him a different, and broader, perspective on being a follower of Christ.

Thanks, Grandpa, for all the discussions we had when I was in high school.

Thanks to those talks with you, and to my being in the debate club at Jenkins, I know how to have a discussion without the need to raise my voice.

That helps keep things on an even keel, without anyone feeling they are under attack.

(smile!)

Now, time to enjoy "Penn & Teller: Fool Us"!

How amazing that they are still at the Rio in Las Vegas, the same place that Paul and Cathy saw them with me so long ago!

Seriously... that was in 2010!

Such good times!!!

(smile!)