A few rules #003

Here are a few more of my rules.

11 Cussing is for people who can't think of anything better to say.

12. Manners are easy, and free.

13. Belief is not a weak form of knowing.

14. Do what you're told, except when it conflicts with rule 1.

15. Anything worth doing is worth doing right. Not everything is worth doing.

I can't think of any others right now, but I'll add them as they come. Any other ideas for this blog?

An apology to Larry Hileman

A long time ago I was in the US Navy. One of my best friends on the ship was IC3 Hileman. One day he asked me what being a Christian was like. In a flat and entirely unconvincing tone I replied, "it's great."

Silly me. How would I know? I wasn't even one myself.

I was a devotee of what I now know was churchianity. Churchianity looks a lot like Christianity; it even feels the same from the inside. It's not, though. It was just acting moral ... when someone was looking.

Churchianity encouraged Bible reading, which was, after all, a Very Moral Thing. It discouraged believing anything I read, though, which would kick the legs right out from under it. It was fine with me going to church on Sunday, and acting like a jerk the rest of the week. Churchianity taught that idols were okay, as long as I didn't physically bow down to them.

I don't know where Hileman is now. I doubt he's reading this. On the off-chance he is, though, I want to say something to him:

I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't know what I was talking about. I'm sorry for giving a flip answer to a serious question. I hope you can forgive me.

Mine

'I first noticed it about fifteen years ago, People started sticking "my" onto things. You started to get it your way everywhere you went. Everything was customizable.

Some of these changes were good. You should be able to get a McDonald's cheeseburger without onions if you want. The problem comes when we bring that mentality into religion.

Guess what?  God can't be made to fit your preferences. The cafeteria mentality just doesn't work. Every religion is mutually exclusive,and only biblical Christtianity makes sense, the only somewhat customizable religions are Hinduism and Baha'ii, and the only way they can be that flexible by denying what they claim to believe.

The Bible is what it is. I've said before there are parts I would take out if I could. But it's not my book. It's his.

If I could get down on my knees and beg, I would

Here's a fact: you were made by and for God. That's not my opinion; it's an actual fact. If you don't believe that God made you, then all I can do is try to convince you. If you don't believe that you exist for God, then again all I can do is try to convince you otherwise. 

We've all done wrong and need reconciliation with God. The only way to do that is by believing in Christ; not just giving intellectual assent to certain facts, but trusting that he is who he said and can do what he said he would.

But whether you're atheist, agnostic, or think Jesus is just something you add to an already-full plate, I ask the same thing of you:

Please, please, please, be sure you're right.

A few rules #002

Here are a few more of my rules:

6. You don't have to say everything you know.

7. A = A.

8 Don't wait to be told to do what needs .

9. Try to leave a place better than you found it.

10. God is not an idiot.

I have some more, if anyone wants to read them.

My beef with Calvinism

Notice I didn't say "with Calvinists". The translation of the Bible I prefer, the ESV, was largely produced by Calvinists. Most of the best preachers and teachers call themselves Calvinists. Most of my friends would describe themselves that way.

My problem with Calvinism, as with so much else, boils down to one thing: evangelism. Simply put, I've never heard a professing Calvinist evangelize like one.

I've never heard that God may have elected someone to salvation before time began. I've never heard anyone told that Christ may have died for them, or if God means for them to be saved, they will be, whether they want it or not.

Instead, they talk like everyone else.

This doesn't make me an Arminiann or any species ofPelagian, either regular or semi-. It makes me someone who disagrees with a number of people I otherwise like and respect over an internal not clearly taught in Scripture.

Now let's win the world together.

There's something strange ...

The other day I saw a man in a "Vietnam Veteran" shirt. I thought there was something strange about identifying with a conflict that's been over for nearly four decades.

But who am I to judge? I identify myself with a Jew  almost 2000 years dead. Most of the people I know identify themselves as his followers. Everybody identifies with something.

Of course, the nation of Vietnam will likely not be there for you when you die. Neither will comic books, Voltaire, or a football team. I have good reason to believe that Jesus Christ will.

If I'm wrong, I promise to apologize  One minute after I die.

Fundamentalism (and me) defined, sort of

I'll quote the original post:

"Is 'fundamentalist' the right word? Probably not." 

I don't know what fundies believe. I only know that outside this country, my belief in the truth of the Bible labels me -- usually by people who have never actually read it -- as a fundamentalist. 

I also know that I won't debate anyone. This is partly due to simple physical restrictions; I don't have the time or energy to respond as you no doubt deserve. Partly it's because I just haven't got any interest in arguing. We're unlikely to convince each other, so it's just argument for its own sake, which helps no one.

A few rules #001

As I started thinking about the rules I try to live by,I quickly realized something:

I have a lot of rules.

Be that as it may, here are a few rules by which I try to live. Lora can tell you how often I've failed.

1. Do what is right, even when others don't.

2. Try not to be more trouble than you're worth.

3. Do what you say, when you say.

4. Man up.

5. Do what's expected of you, then a little more.

Notice there's nothing explicitly Christian in these. They're just the minimum, in my opinion, that a decent man does

You might like to call me a fundamentalist...

...not because I love guns (I don't), or because I think the KJVis the only Bible (it isn't), but because I believe the Scriptures. If the Bible says that God created the world in six days, then I believe it. I f the Bible says that a boy was raised from the dead, then I believe it. If the Bible saysThis  that a man walked on water, then I believe it. Do these things happen all the time? Of course not; that's why they're called miracles. The Bible has proven itself reliable in more historically-verifiable matters, so I have no reason not to trust it.

I'm not stupid; I read books on theoretical math for fun. I'm no Neanderthal; unless you're an actual astrophysicist, I probably know astrophysics better than you do. I also have an open enough mind to accept the thinhs listed above.

Is "fundamentalist" the right word? Probably not; the Muslims, along with certain professing Christians who wish to remain ignorant, have given it a bad rap. Yet I can't think of anything more fundamental than believing what I claim.

A primer on Locked-In Syndrome

Basically, I've got a perfectly good mind in a perfectly good body, with no connection between them. I still understand everything I see and hear--though it takes a while to read and to respond.

I can't move anything but my eyes, which is admittedly a big deal. I'm still incredibly blessed with the abilities to see, hear, think, communicate, and so many others. Since I was pretty much a mental creature before the stroke, I'm still the a same person, just a lot slower.

It better be good, after ten months.

I hope to get this blog up to three times a week. A Page a Day will come back after the first of the year, and A Chapter a Day will return between now and then. If Greg will let me, I'd like to write for COBRASAURUS!!!!!!, once I learn to type.

I pledge allegiance to no flag

We evangelicals in America have an amazing tradition of missing the point.  We allow all of our attention and energy to be focused on a particular tree, not noticing the forest just behind us.  We love to fight about peripheral issues while completely missing the real problem.

Reblogged #005: Pray for our president

Roy Ingle over at Arminian Today is one of my favorite bloggers.  He had a great post this morning reminding Christians of their primary duty toward our nation's leaders:  to pray for them.  It's worth a read, and more importantly, it's worth actually doing.

I admit I've been remiss in my responsibility.  I hope you'll join me in lifting up our leaders -- even especially the ones we don't particularly like -- and praying God's grace and mercy upon them.

Happy anniversary to the American Holocaust

This past weekend many in America celebrated the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that declared abortion legal in the United States.  I generally listen to NPR on the way to work, and this weekend they were having a ball trumpeting this landmark in "women's rights".

That's how it's presented:  as an issue of a woman's individual rights.  I'm not denying that women have certain inalienable rights, just as men do.  I'm not arguing that their rights are in any way inferior or subservient to the rights of men, or that their rights ultimately come from men.  All are created equal.

It's just that, as a man, I don't have the right to murder a baby either.

Instead of a review of "Bonhoeffer", a rant about "The Hobbit"

Rather than a review of Eric Metaxas' Bonhoeffer which is what was scheduled for today, and which I haven't actually written yet, I want to link to this article, which is a translation of the first interview ever given by Christopher Tolkien.  Tolkien is the son of J. R. R. Tolkien, and has devoted the last forty years of his life to his father's work.  Not coincidentally, perhaps, he hates the Peter Jackson movies.

Reblogged #004: Count von Zinzendorf and the Moravians

Great article.  Would that we all had such zeal, springing from such love.

A mighty and righteous stomp

'Many have missed the point of why Christian should let another person stomp on him. The reason is not that the Christian is a wimp, but that he has surrendered the job of vengeance to the Lord. If someone does me wrong, I am not to take the law into my own hands. Instead, I give it all to God in prayer, and if (in His perfect judgment) he sees fit to do so, He will stomp on the person who stomped on me; and he has a righteous (and bigger) stomp.' -- Ray Comfort, The School of Biblical Evangelism

I finally made a New Year's resolution

I generally avoid making resolutions, mostly because that seems to be the absolute worst way of ensuring that I do whatever it is I resolve to do.  I've found it works much better for me and my perverse self-defeating streak to just say that I'm going to try and do something.

Good (not) free music #011: Derek Webb again

I'll be upfront with you:  I'm going to tell you to spend money you don't have to.  A while back I told you that a acoustic version of Derek Webb's latest album, Ctrl, was available on NoiseTrade.  That was a very, very good thing.

Interpreting "Bangs"

First, listen to this:

Then read the interpretation here.

Who are we planning on shooting?

There's a lot of talk going around about guns right now.  The ones who hate guns are demanding they be severely restricted and eventually outlawed entirely.  The ones who love guns are demanding that the solution is more guns, not less.  Arm the teachers, they say, and anyone fool enough to attack a school will get what's coming to him.

Bringin' the stoopid #008: T in the D-T

"Bringin' the stoopid" is what happens when I stay up too late playing on the computer.  Readers should be warned that they will never get back any of the time they waste on this post.

No explanation.  Just give yourself to the magic ...

What does it mean to say the Bible is "real" to me?

This is the body of a response I wrote to a post on G+.  Enjoy!

Good free music #010: Paper Route

I downloaded this a couple of months ago, but for whatever reason didn't listen to it until last night.  That's a shame, because Paper Route's Absence (packaged here with the single ""Better Life") is a really good pop album.  They remind me more than anything of MuteMath, though more because they share influences (80s pop and post-punk) than due to any real similarities in their sound.

The album's available for free at The Source of All Free Goodness, NoiseTrade.

Bringin' the stoopid #007: R of LM

"Bringin' the stoopid" is what happens when I stay up too late playing on the computer.  Readers should be warned that they will never get back any of the time they waste on this post.

Review #005: "The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience"

Ron Sider is a big name in certain circles, due largely to his book Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, first published in 1978.  I have to admit that I've had that one on my "to-read" shelf for a year or so and haven't gotten around to it yet.  I have read his 2005 work The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience, though, and found it both bracing and very frustrating.

Five more books

One of my first posts on this blog was dedicated to five books that had a significant impact on me.  With my revived interest in writing fiction (see my other blog 365 Pages), I thought it might be a good time to revisit the concept.

Kindle freebies and cheapies, 01JAN13

Here are a few interesting free-and-almost-free Kindle books.  There's no telling how long they'll stay at these prices, of course, so get 'em while they're hot.

Doug Bender, Live Second:  365 Ways to Make Jesus First.  +Greg Harper recommends the heck out of this one, and it's $1.99 for the time being.

John MacArthur, Found:  God's Will.  Free!

R. C. Sproul, Abortion:  A Rational Look at an Emotional Issue.  Free!