There are some people in this world who have wondered how I got the handle St. Clinton. No, I did not pick the name, but it was forced upon me. Let me tell the story of how it came to be.
Before most people knew what the Internet was, I was using it and used a few different names. I used Red Dwarf, Supreme Master, Funkster and a few others. Now most of these were back in the days that BBSing was popular, and in order to get onto the Internet for most people, they had to go through one. The Web didn't exist, but people were able to connect with others through Usenet, which were message boards that focused on different topics.
One of the great things about the Internet then was that people would actually respect each other, and you didn't have to deal with people trying to sell you crap that you really didn't want in the first place. I had business cards that had my e-mail address on it, and people would ask me what that was, so I would explain it to them. Most people said that they would never use a computer or anything else in that manner. I have found it fun to remind those people now what they had said when they talk about going online to do something.
Anyways, I had given my God-Daughter a computer for her birthday, along with an Internet account. She was thrilled about it. Even though she lived around the corner from me, I didn't see her for a while, so one day I stopped by to see how she and the rest of the family were doing. Her and I would sit and talk. She went online and went to this place called MySpace. Now I had heard of MySpace, but had never been on it. She showed me around it and said that I should sign up. I signed up when I got home, and friended her, as she was the only one on there that I knew, and I figured that would be a great way to stay in contact.
After going onto it from time to time, I still wasn't impressed with it, but I was able to stay in contact with her. one day for some reason I did a search of the word "Episcopal". Up popped some groups, and I joined the biggest Episcopal group. Now I had no plans on ever saying anything in the group, as I was more interested in reading what my fellow Episcopalians throughout the USA were doing in their congregations. I went to the group over a few weeks on almost a daily basis. Some of the conversations were not friendly at all, as it was the "Liberal" vs "Conservative" fight going on. now this was back in 2004 or so. Much of the battle was over homosexuality and some other stuff.
I finally got tired of watching the battles go on, and jumped into one of them taking a Moderate position, as I am actually a Moderate. I brought up both the good and bad points that both sides had, and was shocked that both side for the most part agreed with much of what I was saying. I continued to do this over time.
In one topic, one of the conservatives said something to the effect that Jesus brought us a New Testament and the point that the Liberal had said did not apply. This stuck in my head. The topic of Homosexuality then came up (again) with the conservatives saying how it was wrong and against the Bible. Their mistake was that the verses that they used from the Bible had come from the Old Testament. I pointed out what had said about the Old Testament which made their argument invalid. I then asked them what Jesus had said about the issue, and they replied back with something else from the Old Testament. I guess it was during that time that people on both sides realized that I both defended and argued both sides.
After a bit, someone took a picture of St George and replaced it word George with Clinton (the picture above.) After that point regardless of how hard I tried, nobody would stop calling me by that name. When I would go to other sites where some of them were, that is the name that they would refer to me as. I finally gave up and have been using it ever since.
I am FAR from being a Saint, but for some reason people continue to called me that even if they don't know the history of it with me. So hopefully this explains how I got the name.
One thing that I do want to make clear though, I am a Christian before I am an Episcopalian. My ministries are not to benefit the church, but to the benefit of the Holy Trinity. Even though people keep saying that I should be ordained a Deacon, and even though I have seriously thought about it, I can't do it until I feel that the church is putting the Holy Trinity above ALL.
