Person of the Day: Pastor Chad Holtz

It's been a while since we've had a Person of the Day, and today's Person actually legitimately deserves it unlike some of the ass clowns who've graced the title before. Chad Holtz was the pastor of Marrow's Chapel, a rural United Methodist church in Henderson, NC. That is, until he voiced his support of a book by evangelical pastor Rob Bell entitled "Love Wins" on his Facebook page. "Love Wins," released earlier this month by HarperOne, challenges traditional views of the afterlife, Hell in particular. The book and now Chad Holtz argue that the traditional view of Hell being an eternity of torture and misery following the death of one who deserves such a fate is not the correct view, and Hell is actually something we all experience while living right now on this earth in our every day lives.

As Holtz puts it:

"I think justice comes and judgment will happen, but I don't think that means an eternity of torment," Holtz said. "But I can understand why people in my church aren't ready to leave that behind. It's something I'm still grappling with myself."

Evidently Holtz was being just a bit too logical for the church to accept and within days he was relieved of his job. I suppose we really can't blame the church for firing him, as sticking to a set of silly beliefs is at the center of the whole operation. But it does take guts to do what Chad did and to go against the grain of his congregation for what he feels is the truth is something to be respected.

The truth is that Hell is probably one of the most ridiculous ideas we've ever come across and belief in it is in the same category as believing in the Easter bunny. The basic idea is that "good" people go to Heaven and "bad" people go to Hell. I argue that people are neither good nor bad, just as mountain lions and mosquitoes are neither good nor or bad, and volcanoes and glaciers are neither good nor bad. We're all a very small piece in the puzzle, and our surroundings dictate our actions much more than we effect our surroundings. Perhaps the idea of a God looking down and monitoring our thoughts and behaviors and deciding our afterlife fate is the result of our overinflated sense of importance.

People of the day: Firefighters

Today we are going to go over a very special group of people - the hard working risk taking firefighters who put their lives on the line every day to make sure others are safe. These brave men and women simply don't get the respect and honor that they deserve. If it weren't for firefighters, countless millions would be burned alive in their own homes. And firefighters play a much wider role than just putting out fires - they also arrive on the scene of bad wrecks and help the motorists get out of their cars, they make visits to schools and teach children about fire safety, and they get down cats from trees.

So where did it all begin? Firefighting goes all the way back to Ancient Egypt. Of course even before then fires existed which needed to be put out, but it took a while for people to be designated as professional fire fighters. Before Ancient Egypt, people were left to their own devices, and often did the wrong things to try to put fires out which actually made it worse. Deadly burns were very common back then, as it wasn't unusual for someone to try to put out a grease fire with water. What really kickstarted the firefighter movement was Augustus of Rome. Even though firefighters were around, they were working for private companies. If someone's house was burning down, the fire fighters would only come help if the owner was a paying customer. It was more like a business back then. Augustus called this absurd, as this meant the poor would never have any help putting out fires because they didn't have the money to pay private fire fighting companies. He then created a state funded firefighting squad that covered everyone. These firefighters, which were called Vigiles at the time, were trained, paid, and equipped by the state.

A lot of things have changed since those days, but one thing remains: the people who hold these jobs take the firefighter's oath to put out fire to the best of their ability, and they put their lives on the line every day for a cause much bigger than themselves.


Firefighters Oath:

I promise concern for others. A willingness to help all those in need.

I promise courage - courage to face and conquer my fears. Courage to share and endure the ordeal of those who need me.

I promise strength - strength of heart to bear whatever burdens might be placed upon me. Strength of body to deliver to safety all those placed within my care.

I promise the wisdom to lead, the compassion to comfort, and the love to serve unselfishly whenever I am called.

How often do you worry about getting killed in a fire and losing all your belongings? Probably not often. That's because with firefighters around, we feel safe, comfortable, and confident knowing that if disaster ever struck, there would be people much braver than ourselves to take care of it. And what's not to like about that?

People of the Day: Collections Agency Representatives

Today's people of the day are collection agency representatives. You'd be hard pressed to find someone that likes bill collectors, but that's just because people don't understand the important role that these people play in the economy. If you've ever ran up a couple thousand dollars on a credit card and then failed to pay your bill promptly, you've likely been called several times by a debt collector. Typically if a customer is just a little late on a payment, they will receive an automated call informing them to pay their bill. If a few weeks go by, a representative from the credit card company will get in touch with them. If months go by and the customer is still not making any payments, usually the bad account will get sold to a collections agency. These companies specialize in doing whatever they can to get that money back. They buy the customer's bad account at discount price, hoping that if the full amount is paid off, they will make a nice profit.

Ok, most of you reading this have probably gotten these annoying phone calls and probably thought debt collectors were the biggest scum on the earth. But guess what? If it weren't for a means to get the money back that you borrowed, they wouldn't have lent it to you in the first place. If nobody ever paid back their debt, nobody would be able to borrow money and very few people would be able to buy a home. How many people do you know that have $300,000 in cash just sitting around?

Think for a moment how annoying it is to get phone calls every hour of the day from bill collectors. Now try to see it from their perspective. They're having conversations all day long with pissed off people who want to strangle them. They also probably have a manager that screams at them all day long to "GET THOSE DEADBEATS TO PAY". Could you imagine getting up every morning to go get screamed at for 8-10 hours?

You want to know why we like collections agency representatives? Because they're people. And we like all people. They're just doing their jobs just like everyone else in the world is, trying to put food on their table for their families. They can be a nuisance at times but their role is very important. If you lent someone thousands of dollars and you never saw it back, what would you do?

If you're having a hard time wrapping your head around the idea that bill collectors are good decent people, try having a conversation with one of them. They are very colorful and are always good for sharing stories with. When I owed Discover Card $10,000, I often got calls from a representative named Betty. At first I would always try to get off the phone when she called, but when I found out she made a mean rhubarb pie, I actually found myself calling her more than she called me. It's all about your attitude and approach.

People of the Day: Scientologists

We're introducing a new feature here at People Liking People: People of the Day. Each day, we will showcase a type of person and talk about what makes them so likable. We feel this is a good chance for everyone to learn the importance of respecting one another, as there's something positive about each and every one of us.

Our People of the day for Feb. 25 2009 are Scientologists. Scientologists are often misunderstood, and often times the only thing someone knows about them is that they believe we came from aliens. Well there's a lot more to it than that. Scientologists work, eat, pay their bills, go out and have fun like the rest of us. The difference is that they also spend a lot of their time auditing and giving their money to Scientology.

I want to start by saying that some of my best friends are Scientologists, and they are some of the nicest people I know. Unfortunately many people see their ignorance as stupidity, and want to attack them for believing that a cult is the answer to their problems. At the end of the day though, you have to realize that everyone has something that's a little silly they believe in. Sure, most of us don't pay thousands of dollars as a result of it, but that just shows how committed Scientologists are to something they were lured into truly believing.

It's a common myth that Scientologists are these crazy psychotic people who really need psychiatric help, but have somehow got themselves caught up in Scientology. It's true that a lot of them are unstable people, but often times I've found they really just need a friend. One thing that many people probably don't know is that Scientologists are very good at cooking. My Aunt Susan is a Scientologist, and while we run and hide when she comes over, we all enjoy her brownies after she leaves. Oh, and we don't run and hide because she's a Scientologist. She has irritable bowel syndrome and anal leakage. We have to put sheets down on the couch before she comes down, but she does have a very good personality. One time she saved someone's life because she drove past their house and saw smoke coming out of the building. She immediately dialed 911 and the fire was able to be put out before anyone was hurt.

Scientologists really are great people, but one thing you should never bring up with them is politics. If you know not to go there, you can very easily make friends with a Scientologist.

Scientologists have this program where they send people out to problem areas where people are starving, or where a disaster has just struck. They comfort those people in a time of need. They use a technique called touch assist created by L. Ron Hubbard. I tend to think when he created it he was just looking for an excuse to touch all over the young boys and girls in the Church, but today it has many legitimate uses and has helped people all over the world.

We hope you have learned some things today; next time you see a Scientologist don't be afraid. Just be friendly and talk to him as if he were just a regular human.