Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from July, 2007

Spiritual Gifts - Call Me Thomas

Having experienced Christianity in a number of denominations and cultures, there are more then a few bad teachings regarding spiritual gifts floating around out there. They come in three types. 1) NONE - The gifts do not exist since the apostles died. Any supernatural activity in the church, is of the Devil. 2) EXTREMELY RARE - They are not something that you have, or can even predictably enjoy as part of your faith, they are something that God sends when he darn well pleases.... and that is not very often. Or they exist, but we don't know how to use them. 3) WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU IF YOU DON'T HAVE THEM? - The "Everybody has them all" and your faith is so low you can't operate in them... or worse yet, you are not even saved! All three positions, in my view, are biblically off. There is just too much information about spiritual gifts in the Bible for this issue to end up in one of the above named "catch alls". If we look at all this scriptural informa...

Jay Leno Hoax - An Actual Message Worth Reading

Even though the following is a hoax, the actual column is worth reading. http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/hitnail.asp If you're not a Jay Leno fan read what he wrote anyway. My respect and esteem for him has really increased. "The other day I was reading Newsweek magazine and came across some poll data I found rather hard to believe. It must be true given the source, right? The Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed and 69 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the president. In essence 2/3s of the citizenry just ain't happy and want a change. So being the knuckle dragger I am, I started thinking, ''What we are so unhappy about?'' Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter? Could it be that 95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job?...

One If By Sea, Two If By Land - Light On Our Lives

I watch enough forensics shows to know that the use of alternate light sources can reveal evidence unseen by the naked eye. DNA tests can reveal the identity of virtually any perpetrator. The entire science of forensics, from gas chromatography to scanning electron microscopes, make it hard to hide anything from criminologists. I also find it amazing that in the city of London there are thousands of video cameras on which all types of activity can be watched on virtually any street. Undersea remote submarines equally amazing. They have ruined the myth of the Titanic and exposed the secrets of the Bermuda Triangle by finding ships that "supposedly" vanished. Those very mysteries, along with the illusions of Harry Houdini, intrigued me when I was in fourth grade. Even more intriguing is the NTSB as they reconstruct an airliner from a crash site. It is astounding how they seem to find all the pieces, let alone reassemble them! Have you ever thought about the thousands of yea...

What the Hell!?!

20/20 hosted a special on Hell and it's many "versions" Friday, July 13th. Maybe people feel Hell is unlucky... I don't know. The commentator, Bill Weir, presented what I am sure he thought was a balanced view of the subject. What always amazes me about these intellectual and supposedly educated exposés, is that they don't really present the Biblical view. They don't quote any scripture and hence, we get a biased, uneducated worldview which is simply a collection of people's thoughts on Hell. I am sure the average viewer found it enlightening to hear 21 different religious and secular views of Hell. That, I guess, would allow them to make an educated guess of what Hell is to them. A friend of mine thinks that it is always good when we are confronted with eternal issues... I am always concerned that people will believe a lie and miss the real thing. Here is a quick list of the thoughts presented: Hell is a place for evil people only, hell is reserved for th...

The Coming of the Age

A few days ago I went and test drove a few cars as I am pretty sure that I will need to replace my 12-year-old one sometime soon. While I was looking, I just decided that I should take a spin in some of the more exotic 2-seaters. After all, I can always look for a used Honda some other time. What's the big attraction for me? I guess they have always been exciting and I simply decided that this was my opportunity for a little fun. They were cars that I have always wanted to own, but I haven't been able to afford. As I looked past the Estimated MPG window stickers(which was 12 on the 427R Mustang!) at a luxurious and sporty cockpits, I was in another world. In the end, I was impressed with the Corvette, an American automotive legend. The Crossfire, well that was underwhelming to say the least. I really liked the Mustang. It is amazing how the Mustang and Corvette have come of age in 50 or so years. It appears to have taken a long time for the automakers to return to their roots i...