Reminiscence

Blogging has helped me grow in many ways and I figured it would be good to end this blog in a "looking back" kind of way. I'd heard many opinions of Blogging or otherwise sharing ones thought online. Some consider it almost to be part of a new communal consciousness; others consider it extremely dangerous to share any kind of information online. To me, this is an experiment of no true cost to myself and at the same time great gain as well. What have I lost by being honest? Nothing I was afraid to loose.
What have I gained…?

Well, having my inner thoughts and views subject to the scrutiny of any passing eye has lead me to act and think in a way that straightens a once crooked road, if you get my meaning. I certainly do not want to be thought of as irrational, uncaring, ignorant, hypocritical, or arrogant.

Additionally, this has refined my thoughts and the process I think by. It has helped in my vocabulary, my spelling (a little), and how I express myself on a number of wide range of topics. In a way, all this thinking and writing and being accountable for my thoughts has helped me mature by making me very aware of how I think, which I’ve noticed is something that many people don’t really attempt to learn.

Anyway, as much as I might love to do this it has to end eventually and I really have slowed to a crawl lately. So that is it for now, I'm signing off; it has been fun, thanks for playing, I hope you enjoyed it.

The archive on the left side of page will remain open to anyone who wants access to those 300+ posts. I will be checking back from time to time and comments will find there way to me, but a new chapter is beginning elsewhere...

Tough Talk (part 1)

In the last two weeks we have been addressing youth relationships in Sunday school. It is proving to be an eye opening process. We are not playing into the who should you date and what you should do on a date angle. Instead we are ditching the cultural dating of America for the historical and biblical model of courtship. This is likely going to be rejected, but they will be aware of the right way and why they ought to do it. The truth is that both the idea of “dating” and the idea of “adolescence” stem from evolutionary foundations and do not occur in any culture aside from the past 200 or so years. These two ideas have generated so much destruction in our culture in that time period and can be attributed with the some of the reason behind the horrid stats of divorce, abuse, teen pregnancy, and more in this country.

Simply put, adolescence was supposed to be the time in between childhood and adulthood where a child was allowed to partake in adult activities on a limited basis to learn adult things. But if a child does not need to accept the responsibility in order to gain access to adult things why mature? You can see as well as I that in our society the age range of adolescence has expanded as generations have been considered adult by their ages and not their maturity; they are able to act, but to not act as adults should.

This leads into the dating scene in America which is truly godless and selfish. In today’s dating world we teach that one should test the waters, gaining experience, and learn by trial and error. This has created a love’em and leave’em mentality and plenty of broken families or broken hearts.

The biblical models for these things are different and it pains me that the church has forgotten. The right way is not to think a child is ready before they are. You would not give your child a stick of dynamite and tell them to learn by doing, but you give your child the ability to enter into relationships without understanding and then encourage them to light the fuse? Where is the love in that methodology?

This brings me to a long lost topic below...

Tough Talk (part 2)

Not long ago I spoke with some people on a topic that has always been with me. In the past marriage and divorce have been topics to avoid here on the blog, but today in America divorce is something that effects the vast majority. With a topic like that how can you speak without addressing nearly all the hearts touched by it? Still, since the blog is closing down all bets are and some things ought to be stated despite the risks.

As with the earlier addressed topics of “adolescence” and modern “dating”, the topic of divorce is one that God’s people ought to take seriously, even if the godless world could care less. Yet, this is not the case all around me. It is fair to say that before a person was saved they may have married, divorced, and re-married. But it kills me that what seem to be rock solid Christians who are enjoying what the bible calls adulterous relationships. Let me glance over this for any wandering eyes.

Genesis 2:24 tells us that God created marriage to be between one woman and one man and even gives minor attributes to the state of marriage.

Mark 10:3-9 tells us that marriage is a life-long union and that Moses’ divorce concept does not override Gods works, marriage is life long.

Romans 7:1-3 tells us that marriage is a bond until death and we should treat it as such while claiming Christ

Matthew 5:32 tells us that divorcees can’t hold extra-marital relationships without invoking adultery as the original union remains

Luke 16:18 tells us that people who divorce must remain single or cause adulterous relationships.

1 Corinthians 7:10-11 tells us again that divorce is not to be done, but if it is done reconciliation abstinence is the only remedy.

Hebrews 13:4 tells us that marriage should be honored and kept pure as it was created and those considered adulterers (marriage corrupters) will be judged accordingly as it is a sin.

Unfortunately, people today misunderstand what divorce was and who created it. In this way they turn to the only allowable reason for divorce, which is unfaithfulness (Matthew 5:30-32). So today society thinks that divorce is a free pass, a clean start, but the divorce that Moses created was actually more like today’s legal separation; the vowels were still active, but the two parties didn’t have to deal with each other. The key point here is that the vowels are still active.

The point being, that while the church and the secular world both seem to think divorce is a clean slate, that is not how God sees it. A person can get a divorce according to God under one instance, but even then the union is still active until death. As sad as it may be for a divorced person to not be able to re-marry, ever, it is sadder still to think of the masses committing a life long adultery in the name of love because they failed to understand God’s true view of this heartbreaking topic.

Dragons and Unicorns

A lot of mocking follows where the bible believer goes these days. People attack the biblical pastor, biblical student, and biblical political figure with little discrimination. The reasons are varied and yet with all that variety one thing shines true; under a hint of scrutiny the reasons are steeped in confusion (often strengthened by emotion), not based in truth. Over the years I have developed a keen eye for interpretations, presuppositions, and other assumptions and it is wonderful, in a way, to be able to see the mistakes people make in reasoning. Still, I imagine if the people who reject the bibles account really knew that the bible held accounts of unicorns and dragons (some that breathe fire) they would all the more attack it under the assumption that such creatures are mythical because they were raised in a world that believed so.

To these mockers I imagine that Hollywood movies and special effects would flood their minds as they chuckled at the bible believer. Yet all the Christian needs to do is ask, “why not?” They might say that such animals are impossible or mythical, but the Christian could say “why” again. Point of fact, the Narwhal (uni-horned white whale), which has a single elegant horn on its head and the bombardier beetle which can squirt a chemical concoction from its backside which is both stinky and explosively hot. So it is fair that the bible believer asks why these creatures (large lizard creatures and uni-horned horses) which are spoken of in scripture are assumed mythical. Is it because they truly couldn’t have existed or because the unbeliever automatically rejected the scriptural account on baseless reaction from rebellion? It is a fair and provocative question.

In reality, a trustworthy eye-witness account such as the bible is not to be assumed as false without reasoning, even by the staunch unbeliever. In reality, animals such as the “electric eel” do not show signs of their special shocking gift in their bones so why would a fire breathing dinosaur? In reality, dinosaurs (“dragons”) walked with men from the beginning. And the possibility of a single horned horse is more than possible. Truly, our world is filled with wondrous things, but we must be careful to keep our assumptions and our facts separate.

Afterglow and Echo

I’ve been watching some episodes of Ghost Hunters, the sci-fi channel show, online. Compared to other shows of its kind this is quite professional, though its factuality is possibly in question I am treating it as real for the purpose of this post. I certainly have an opinion (if you can call it that) about Ghosts. Shock of all shocks, I hold to a predominantly biblical view of such things and while the bible doesn’t speak directly about "Ghosts" it has much to say about life, death, and “spirits”. As for life and death, they are the only two real states to be mentioned so the ideas like purgatory and hauntings are not truly biblical. A dead person can, God willing, be seen/heard here on earth, but the circumstances of those occasions do not place them under the standard definition of ghosts.

As for the term spirit, we know that God’s Word tells us about “spirits” in many ways. Some of the talk of spirits is in reference to a spirit of love or a spirit of enmity, but these are obviously meant to help portray the emotion or condition within a person. Some places the word spirit is in reference to human souls or the Holy Spirit, but never as a haunting. In other places the term spirit is referring to true spiritual entities though; separate from mankind and God. These are things that are not human and not God; the likes of fallen angels otherwise known as demons by most of us. The rule regarding these is that they are deceptive and dangerous to humans, not to be trusted or even trifled with by the average person.

Anyway, as I watch and listen to them I noticed over and over that they aimed to be empirical in their work; using meters, cameras, recorders, and thermal imaging equipment. They would go out and collect data from a location then bring it back and review it looking for signs of “Ghosts” or other paranormal activity. That in itself, dangers aside for the moment, is admirable. Instead of letting a camera chase them around a spooky location gathering only personal experiences, these guys try to debunk and get some form of empirical evidence.

However, and this is the point of the post, when they have personal experiences or when they have the data reviewed and in front of them it does not clear up the matter. They never come to a sound conclusion on anything, not because of the lack of evidence, but because they have no guide to help them interpret the data and experiences they have. While they seem to have interesting adventures and the equipment seems to do well as they use it, they only have blinking lights and ethereal voices at the end of the day. They come home from these adventures with a few pieces to a puzzle and begin the process of inferring (guessing as to) what is missing.

Using God’s Word they might be able to interpret their findings accurately. The spirits they find are not people who pass away nor are they residual emotion, but the deception of various dark spirits. The question is, would they accept the help that God has provided? If they were shown to be arbitrarily guessing at what was going on, would their search for answers really bring them to an acceptance of God? Or would they reject Him for rebellions sake anyway, choosing a faith in the confusion of unguided theories?

Stopping by...

So a lot has been going on and a lot of thoughts worth mentioning have come around the past month; yet none have made it to the blog here. Soon there will be several and what I expect to be a final post. I figure it is okay to finally shut down at post number 300. I'll leave this up obviously and maybe finish the archive on the right so it can all be accessed from start to finish.

In the meantime, I've been struggling with a lot these days; personal struggles and struggles in service mostly. It isn't that I am depressed or falling apart (nobody worry), but that life is simply not easy all the time. It does not matter how talented you are, how laidback or hard a worker you are, some times life pours it on. These are the times when we get to show ourselves though. A man's strength can't be seen until he lifts something heavy after all and the same thing goes with spiritual matters.

On the business end of things, I've got my hands full at church. Sunday school for the 15-18 year olds and youth group devotions for a rowdy bunch of 12-18 year olds. On top of that the new service is starting to pick up again with the addition of a new worship leader, but our sound tech is gone so I think I'm in charge of coordinating with the new leader. Also, if all goes well, the Small Group will be starting in mid October, but as is I don't know for sure.

Today I took a few minutes and re-read some letters I had written on youtube; they have me pining for the days of debate and discussion with people. I really miss that even though it rarely seemed to matter to them, but no time exists for more than re-reading old letters these days.

Perspective: "Religions"

The question is, “where did all the other religions come from”? It is a question that comes up often by inquisitive youth and elderly alike in Christian circles. The answer is linked to the tower of Babel and the flood of Noah much as cultures, skin colors, and languages also are linked to those events; I thought it would be interesting to go over. We should begin by remembering that between the flood of Noah and the tower of Babel all people on earth were derived from the line of Noah’s family and Noah himself was a godly man. (That is in fact why he alone was found righteous in all the world.)

From the “fresh start” after the flood, all people should have been instructed to worship God by the patriarch Noah, but the bible tells us that Noah’s descendants quickly turned to themselves and their own ability over a generation or two, creating the tower of Babel and the empire surrounding it. God eventually confused all the people around by making them speak different languages and so they gathered with like-speaking people and migrated away; forming the cultures and eventually defining the physical features in those cultures we see today.

As the newly separated people groups (cultures) pass their history through the generations they hold fragments of truth which can still be seen today. (For example most cultures still have a flood account that resembles the flood of Noah and most of these cultures also have an account o the tower of Babel as well.) However, they also had turned their hearts from the God of Noah and in doing so began deifying and worshiping both nature and themselves, which is a practice seen in all but a few religions today. The bible tells us in dozens of places how people who refuse the true God and their true history only grow in futile thoughts and confusion. Turning from God they worship the wrong things and end up making creation out to be god when that is not the truth (Romans 1:25). So with the historical account of the bible we have a witness of actual history that accounts for the fall, the flood, and the tower (most of which are all found in most world religions) and that allows us to know that the other religions are in fact warped views of history created by a series of fallen people groups post-Babel.

This is only a summary version of the whole answer of course, but consider how muddled and confused people are when they try to guess at historical events, be it recent or long ago; like having a few pieces to a puzzle and deciding to draw in the missing pieces by inference. Instead, why not use the written accounts God has painstakingly passed down to us? The bible is more than a set of spiritual lessons, it is our history. If applied, the answers are easily found. Give that old tome a chance to speak and it may tell you more than you imagine.

In stereo...

With this blog slowly falling into a black hole of its own I thought it would be good to at least stop and share a special find with all those music lovers out there. It is a place called stereofame which is set up almost as a game. The true point of the site is to gather unsigned artists to a community and let them share their works, but the site is set up also for listeners like myself. When you sign up you choose to be either a listener or an artist and then you earn points by either listening and reviewing or being reviewed and listened to, in a nutshell. You can check out stereofame or my profile here.

Oh and for those who are indeed musically interested, though perhaps not musically inclined, the old samich platter forums have been updated. We are no longer a gaming community, but a music community. So stop by and make some noise... (^_^)

Black Holes

Someone recently posed a question about blackholes and just after writing them on it AiG released this article, go figure. It, and many other astronomical phenomena, are truly amazing and sometimes terrifying. Black holes certianly fall into both categories, but what do we know and what should a Christian think of these monstors?

What we know is that up in the vast expance are many distortions and dark spots which we call black holes. We are lead to believe that these "black holes" are a consequence of the death of stars and their eventual compaction under their own enormous weight. Eventually, as the star "dies", it is unable to maintain a resistance to it's own gravity and so the mass of the star begins to colaps inward to the center where it is compacted and becomes very dense, creating what is called a singularity which acts as a kind of gravity well. (See Image) This is about the extent of what we can pretent to know for sure however, because each black hole has what is called an event horizon. This is a radius that, once inside, nothing can ever come back out; not even light, hense we cannot see inside of the "black hole".
A Christian Perspective:

Black holes are not directly mentioned in scripture and so we can't use a direct scriptural insight in that way, at least to my knowledge. We can however apply the biblical history to interpret the idea or reality of such black holes. Does the idea of a black hole fit Gods perfect creation? No, but it does fit a "fallen" creation in the same way disease, death, and pain fit a fallen creation and that does fit a Christian worldview. We are talking about a dead star, which is then caught in the grip of its own gravity. So, we know that they fit the idea of the fall which is accounted in the word of God. A fallen creation would produce a myriad of degrading processes from genetic mutations to dying stars which generate these proposed black holes.

Truly, a black hole is a frightening concept and yet is not hard to believe within a Christian worldview where God has removed His sustaining power and things are in a constant state of decay, fitting a biblical view perfectly.

Embrios

Now, I'm not one for motorcycles and I try to keep the grown-up toy spending to a minimum, but this thing is awesome and I would certainly want one if I wouldn't be pushing 45 years old when they become available for the general populace. I suppose it isn't very practical, but it would be so much fun to scoot around in assuming you weren't going too far and didn't need to carry anything significant wth you. It's called Embrio, or at least this model of it, but the uni-cycle has taken many forms since it was first concived. For some reason I've always paid attention to one-wheel transport.

This reminds me of the countless hours I used to spend sketching and dreaming up new (or new to me) inventions; new ideas for travel and new ideas for bio-mechanical equipment like prothstetics. On the other hand the name Embrio reminds me of the protestors standing outside the abortion clinic a few blocks away this morning.

Future Schooling

In addition to the future Bible study in September I've also been given a chance to continue to lead Sunday school this year. Previously I'd been leading Sunday school for the 18+ group, but most have either gone on to college or are working most Sundays now so it was decided, for now at least, that I'd let that group alone aside from normal contact. Maybe I can connect with them in some fashion online through sites like facebook and myspace; continuing the lessons, devotions, and discussions in that fashion.

The new Sunday school class is the 14-18 (high school) age bracket. These are all kids who have been in the youth group over the past two years so they are familiar to me. The interesting thing is that, because of their age, this could take many forms. I had been preparing a lesson about being "life-guards" as Christians, creating parallels between the attributes and practices of a pool or beach lifeguard and a Christians attributes and practices. Granted this would have worked better in Spring and Summer than Fall and Winter, but...eh...what can you do?

None of that matters though as I can keep it for later, right now the kids in that class have expressed a desire to get back to bible based lessons which is interesting. Specifically, the accounts in scripture that are often called "bible stories". Things like the burning bush, the flood of Noah, Joshua's two man army, the lamp that didn't burn out, wandering in the deset and passing through the red sea. Things like that and how they connect to us now; still being life lessons, but also being straight out of the bible. I'm glad to hear that this is what they want to do as it presents a unique opportunity for me. More on that later...

Sessions Past

Well the elective Sunday school session is over and so I'm on a hiatus from teaching for the time being. The sessions came together well, considering the size of the topics and the time constraints, and were very well received. Throughout the sessions we covered a great deal and ended on a great note. While many individual topics were covered such as understanding the topics of creation, the global flood, and dinosaurs through a biblical worldview.

That is the key to all of it, a biblical worldview; it is also the cause of the many compromises and confusions we suffer as Christians today. While we come and go each week, pressing towards repentance and bible knowledge and proper worship we fail to understand how to reconcile certain aspects of our lives between Secular understanding and the truth within Gods word.

Anyway, I'm not going to ramble about it as I've got less energy these days for blogging, but I wanted to mention that it went well and that a Bible study was requested by many on the same and many other topics. That bible study is proposed for early-to-mid September at the moment and I'm thrilled about it. So much to share...

Against the tide

So the new Sunday school venture is going well, but I will admit this is a hard topic to shorten into three hours. We're talking about the compromises the Christians and the church have made because of outside influences; namely secular science. Some of the topics we'll be covering are Dinosaurs (whether the secular history of them is true and whether the bible has anything to say about them), Noah's flood (whether it happened as the bible says and what the evidences of it is), and the 6-Day creation vs. secular timescale conflict (which is what we did this last weekend). For the later, it went well, and I think many recognized that the bible shouldn't be compromised to any authority, if nothing else. It seemed that the most resistance which came was as to whether it is important or not. Comments like, "well I think its important, but it isn't a big issue. It doesn't matter how God created so long as He created." I wasn't surprised to hear it, but I was hoping it wouldn't come because of the extent we went to overrun those very thoughts in the lesson.

Consider that we do know how God created, because the bible tells us plainly. He created from nothing because their was nothing. He created in solar 6-days because the bible makes that very clear. When He stopped creating nothing else popped into being. He created man last (day 6) and as His masterpiece, the centerpiece of creation. These are things we do know so why falter in faith here and then claim that faith is a must elsewhere? Either we trust Gods word or we do not and that is the truth of it. But their are many reasons to uphold the biblical creation, from a Christian standpoint.

1. Compromising creates a stumbling block to the gospel for non, new, and even old Christians.
2. To compromise is a degradation of Gods perfect word which is the foundation of our beliefs.
3. Altering the scriptures makes God untrustworthy, because we are saying the bible is not trustworthy.
4. It places death before sin (fossil record in the geologic column), which makes Gods punishment unwarranted as death is in the world because of Adams sin according the bible.
5. It erodes many foundational Christian doctrines and ultimately destroys Christian faith.

Are you going to tell me that these few (of the many not listed) consequences of adding secular ideas the bible are not enough of a reason? Many Christians are aware of scriptures like (Luke 16:13) "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." Obviously this was spoken to the context of money, but it applies to things of the spirit and things of the truth equally as well. Take a stand; gain wisdom and a reasoned faith through study and be faithful in all ways.

Cedar and Breeze

To start, apart from branches wide,
I'd fallen from heights unknown to me.
Striking hard the stone below,
barren earth from edge to edge,
no chance for me was all to see.

By water and sky I am taken
from once a seed among my kind.
Replaced within a company of many,
a harbor of Cedars and deep soil,
a new home in shade I would find.

Through season and soil, rain and light,
from seed among stone I had struggled.
I have grown strong to bear by forces unseen,
but it is the Cedar and soil that I hope in,
with my brothers in shade we now huddled.

Time has passed and we are found,
breaking through the ranks up high.
Time it is to take our place,
with those who have been our help,
standing one in a million now breathing a sigh.

With a pride and resolve we had planted deep,
reaching for heights to make our purpose.
In water and soil we had placed our hope,
in thickness of trunk and span of reach,
but here we stand and are made worthless.

The Cedars huddle to ponder their value,
unable to see what lay past the distant stream.
A peaceful whisper pours over these trees,
like something unseen, like forces before,
it is cool, fresh, and many give to lean.

As this wind stirs the canopy we shed our disease;
we shed of our death on the soft earth in shade.
Swaying begins though not with all,
this wind is not welcome with many;
with it comes a new life unlike what we had made.

As I bend before the might of a breeze,
today brings new resolve as roots pull free.
If ahead their be cutting, refining and pain, let it be,
let it be, for I can serve no greater cause
than what my maker has in store for me.

I am a Cedar, tall and strong;
yet today by a breeze I bend.

Calling: Salvation from Ignorance?

So I read today that their are an estimated 100 untouched tribes living in the jungle, one of which was recently found. This is the front line of evangelism and by evangelist I mean "willing" Christian. We are all called, but few will go. This raises a question and also provides a good reason to speak on a particular topic which is in the post below.

Question: Are those that do not hear the gospel saved through ignorance?

No. While our sensibility wants them to be spared it is not so and we well know it. From basic experience we know that ignorance of the law is not a way out of being guilty. Besides, the guilt people have is borne of sin (crimes or lawbreaking) which they have committed, not ignorance of the law. They are not guilty because they didn't know any better, but because they broke the law. Also, what was the point of Jesus telling us to go and making a point of informing us at all if understanding the gospel is what brings condemnation? It would be more appropriate in that case to leave us all in ignorance, but that is not what we have been told to do. The idea that ignorance is a form of protection is simply is not the reality of things. We must all follow a basic plan...

-Hear the gospel message (Romans 10:17)
-Believe on His Son (John 3:16)
-Confess Christ's name (Matthew 10:32-33)
-Repent of their sins (Luke 13:3, Acts 3:19)
-Have those sins remitted through baptism (Acts 2:28, Acts 22:16, 1 Peter 3:21)
-Remain faithful (Hebrews 10:26, Revelation 2:10, John 14:15, )
-Speak the gospel (Ezekiel 33:8-9, Matthew 28:19)

Calling: Theo-Jello

While the above is a high calling and one I should respond to as much as you should, I have a strong need to call "Christians" back to their first love. To call them from confusion and apathy to repentance and faith. That is where I have been led it seems, more so than to those who have never heard. The European nations have already fallen and the US is in the midst of the fall.

We have corrupted and lost sight of God. We claim as individuals and as a group to stand on the solid rock of God and God's word, but we stand on Theo-Jello as the image shows. We lack passion, endurance, appreciation, trust, and hope. What’s more we refuse to recognize this, offended that we are being criticized and afraid that we are possibly in the wrong in our faith.

What is the price for falling away? What is the price we are willing to pay?

“Ah, stubborn children,” declares the Lord, “who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin;" - Isaiah 30:1

Conversations with unbelief (Part 6)

I've been swamped and distracted, but I have something here that was interesting.

Unbelief comes in many forms and I'm aware of that, but this was an unusual one even for me. I have a video on "junk DNA" on youtube and a woman commented on it about her apparent belief in what we will call the "alien or fallen-angel seed theory". Where-by the race of mankind is seeded by aliens which were "mistaken" to be angels and deities. If that is not a blatant attempt at replacing religion of supernatural with that of a natural one I don't know what is.

In conversation I was pleased to be able to use a bit of presuppositional apologetics and its effect was that of an a-bomb. The discussion ended with, "Please don't send me any notes. I don't believe in your Myth of God or Christ. So spare yourself the time and energy." I wouldn't say this was a good ending, but the approach certainly hit the mark as accurate as a sniper and this harsh severing of the discussion was evidence of it. So I wanted to share some of the dialogue to share what this looks like in a conversation instead of just "on paper".

The overall plan in this approach is to show how nothing can be known with confidence apart from a belief in God. A belief in God is essential to drawing any conclusions at all. It can then be argued quite well that the God of the bible is the only one that makes sense, is logically consistent. A more specific version of this is the "transcendental argument for God" and like this it removes any ability to fight out of the opponent unlike the many other arguments for Gods existence.

So there it is "on paper" and in brief the post below is the ending dialogue of the above mentioned discussion. We barely broke into the talk before she refused to go further. So this is just broaching the topics themselves.

Conversations with unbelief (Part 7)

"Why must you think in terms of a Deity? A god?"

I think in terms of a deity simply because it is the foundation for everything we think and do, even if we do not realize it. A case in point would be truth (or morality, reasoning, logic, etc..). Without a higher authority who sets the standards for these things? You see if their is no set standard to appeal to then all appeals are arbitrary opinion. Even your disapproval of my belief in God is founded on arbitrary opinion if no higher authority guides you. The same can be said that without a higher authority to guide what is true and what is not your opinion of the truthfulness of your own claims is valueless. This, and much more, is why even you should consider the necessity of God in the world. What are our opinions based in if not an ultimate authority?

"If a being is different than us or perhaps more elevated, that does not constitute a deity. The idea is absurd! There is no suggestion that any single deity created anything whatsoever."

Only an ultimate being constitutes a logically consistent deity and that is what I was referring to; not simply a more impressive creature. By the logic implied their is an endless regression in your theory of things, but an endless regression is a logical fallacy by any standard. For instance, we (creature "A2Z") are created by creature "Cp9" which was created by creature "0Fr" which was created by creature "23w" and so on. What does this gain you? Especially in light of a non-eternal universe which requires an initial creation. Such a creation demands an ultimate deity, Ie. God.

As for suggestions of God I would list many if you are really interested in hearing them. From science to logic to eye-witness testimonies, even my own, God is clearly seen and so as the Word of God says, "...He is clearly seen...so no man is without excuse" when it comes to believing in Him.

"No single god is required....only in your mind!"

My earlier point negates your claim here in that you say this as if it is true, but you have no authority to appeal to for a standard of truth; their is nothing guiding you that is able to dictate truth which makes it your arbitrary opinion.

Besides this point, there are many ways that a single God is required. For instance the idea of an ultimate being requires a single being because if their are two or more separate ultimate beings which one is ultimate? Neither can be if they are equal. So a single ultimate is necessary...

You can see as well as I can that everything from the world we live in to our ability to reason requires a single ultimate God. Without an ultimate authority our search for truth and our current conclusions are in real danger of being arbitrary and pointless. So I maintain that when one comes to this conclusion, or is unable to argue it successfully, then it is time to consider what that very real God wants us to know.

Heart of the Debate

For those of you who have not understood the nature of this debate between Evolution and Creation, here is a very clear example of the foundational issues that lie at its center. One cannot believe both so a clear choice must be made. Each one brings its own consequences; a believe in Creation implies a creator, an ultimate authority we need to submit to, while a belief in evolution removes things like morality, hope, logic, and truth from that persons worldview. These are often thought of as side issues to bigger things, but the choice between evolution and creation is far more important.



While the nature of the debate is noted above, their are many consequences to be noted. Most of these are geared towards Christians who are struggling with whether evolution is important and whether it is compatible with their faith. The truth is that these are so utterly incompatible and these two videos are a very direct look at these issues.

Surviving...

Tonight I got to sit and watch an episode of Survivor; not a show I invest time in. This night on survivor a man whom apparently no body liked was in a position to gain temporary immunity through winning a contest. He could have done it, but opted instead to eat with those that obviously did not like him. Of course these people turned on him, though that truth was not fully realized by him at the time.

What I want to note about this show, is that while the groups on the show and countless viewers mocked and ridiculed him for making that choice and giving up that immunity, the truth is that he, in a fleeting moment, made the only wise choice available. He chose forgiveness, friendship, and trust over his financial gain. For a brief instant he chose to do the right thing, but the people who watched could only see failure.

On the surface his move was foolishness since he could have made a great safe stride forward to winning and gaining power over the game, but I dare say that he exhibited power over the game by making the choice he did. It is fair that his choice was foolish, if the right thing was to deceive and hurt in an effort to gain, but is it as foolish as being on a show like this in the first place? A show where the game is motivated by greed and self-validation, where snakes still whisper lies.

It makes me all the more sad, to think that this show, running for so many seasons, is so well loved and yet has so deeply confused its viewers. Having appealed to a deep seeded sin of mankind, it has won the minds of many. Now, I'm not saying that this guy was a good man. It is likely that he has backstabbed as much or more so than the next man, but for a moment an example was given and so few noticed it. Reminds me of another man who made a short example for all to see and how those who saw it turned away by and large. They are not remotely the same in impact or level of worth, but the concept is the same.

On Expelled

Well, while the battle rages on I want to swing by here and make note of a special movie. It is only playing in a handful of theaters but one of those is near my home. It is a documentary of sorts, called "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed". (The Trailer is below.)Not to explain the entire premise of the film, but it is set against the evolution vs. creation or science vs. religion debates. More specifically, the Intelligent Design movement vs. the evolutionary establishment’s dogmatic doctrines.

The host of the film is Ben Stein who many people will recognize and the film itself revolves around his personal journey to understand the issue which has been important to him for a while now. He begins a bit skeptically, exploring the fight between ID and evolution in academia. He tends to, as most have done, side with the majority vote which is evolution; believing that the majority of academia and science have claimed that it is simply sound teaching. Quickly he realizes that their is much more going on as he meets with evolutionists and ID proponents who have been ostracized or discredited simply for following where the science leads them; in those cases the science had led them to evidence for an intelligent designer.

Ben then starts interviewing both sides of the battle, many big name evolutionists included, to piece things together. Looking for truth, not to provide a one sided view, but to see which view is stronger and if their is truly a conspiracy of sorts in the academic circles. What he finds is the truth indeed, but it is a sad truth that many creationists and apologists have known for some time. The truth is our arguments, especially in science, go ignored and discredited with little hesitation or inspection by the evolutionist establishment.

Over the course of the film, Ben discovers many things; an academic world that functions more like a communist nation than the free world it claims to be. He also discovers just how utterly bankrupt the idea of evolution is and from the mouths of the evolutionists no less. Lastly he reveals what is long been known by some, that the nature of this fight is not in the science, but in the heart. If you can spare the hour and a half, if you can spare the 7 dollars, please see this and consider what it says. Ignoring a point and concluding on it is not a rational way of denying what it says and what it says is important to every single person. If not in the theaters though, at least rent it in a few months. Talk about it and pass it around if you can. This is important...

Disclaimer:
"Expelled is not a Christian film per se; its emphasis is not on the Bible, Jesus, or Christianity. However, we believe that Christians will enjoy the documentary, as it is very much pro-logic, pro-liberty, pro-life, and pro-intelligent design—which also means that it is very much anti-macroevolution." -ApologeticsPress

Big Valley View

In a welcome occurrence, one of the founders of the Big Valley Creation Science Museum has contacted me through youtube. Mainly to say hello and find out who I am since I have the Big Valley Creation Museum Promo on my youtube site, shown below. It is so pleasant to meet people like these in and among the crowd of ignorant mockers. "Rare" doesn't do the situation justice...

He was a teacher who quit his job to help found the creation museum in Alberta, Canada. It is a bit smaller than the one in Kentucky which AiG owns, but it is packed full of evidences for creation. Feel free to watch the video for a tour...



I asked him how it happened and let him know I was interested in making a move in the future as well. His advice was appropriate and encouraging.

"...put it off and procrastinated for a couple of years while working at the high school before I finally got down on my knees to fast and pray for a couple of weeks to sort out where I was going in life. Had my answer within fifteen minutes, and felt like a bit of a bonehead for missing what appeared to be the blatantly obvious!"

However, over the years, he has become painfully aware of the depth of the problem which infests even Christians in the field.

"...Actually, I've been running a course in "Starting your own creation ministry/museum" in Akron for the past two years. But I'm thinking I'm either going to switch it to invitation only, or not run it at all. Unfortunately, I've seen so much backstabbing of creationists against other creationists, that I'm hesitant to share in a "public setting" except those I have a chance to meet and discern."

As he notes, it is not so much that biblical Christians are without means or without understanding, but that even within the hearts of Christians their are many troubles. This is not a business for early believers, but of those maturing and tempered in faith. Hopefully he will continue as an independent researcher and lecturer if not also keep trying with this class of his.

Conversations with unbelief (Part 4)

It has been a long time since I was on a forum talking about God; mostly because of the time it requires. If you have been around you might remember a time when I was a member of the InfidelGuy forums. It was an in-valuable experience for me as an apologist. I stopped fighting others there just before the site fell. It was down for a short time and is now back up. InfidelGuy is run by a radio-host named Reginald; his aliases being InfidelGuy.

He has been around for some time and has made a name for himself among other infidels (unbelievers). I had never met the man, but only those who promote his agenda, until yesterday. He stumbled onto my youtube account and made a comment attempting to dismantle my video, it was one of the Dilbert videos I had used in this blog and so he was able to follow the links to that blog post. He then made another comment here on the blog to the same effect. Both comments seemed calm and perhaps showing a willingness to discuss the issue.

In my normal course of action I removed the comment from my youtube video and turned it into a PM (private message) discussion. One can't have much of a conversation in the little comment boxes on youtube, but the PM boxes are much larger. Besides, I want my videos to be clean of insults and trash talk. The videos are there for the sake of what they say, not to be used as a way to get noticed by making rude comments. Anyway, I PMed him and then addressed his blog comments. If you are interested in what the leader of a large scale atheistic radio-show would say on this blog or interested in my reply (which is also there) please go to Critical Thinking Part 1, at the bottom of the page.

While he has not returned to the blog yet to further discuss anything, he has made two very harsh and wholly unnecessary replies to me on youtube, revealing the heart of his agenda as well as the heart of an unbeliever, agressive and shrouded in darkness.

Conversations with unbelief (Part 5)

Here is my initial reply to his youtube comments, in letter form, attempting to have a discussion with him.

---

His reply after I attempted to turn into a private conversation for reasons mentioned above;
"Coward. I can destroy your flimsy response with ease, but you don't want anyone else to see. Typical. When I didn't see any responses.. I knew you were full of s***. Truth seeker indeed."

My response;
Call me what you will, Reg. Let God discern our intentions, let the Lord judge our hearts. In the meantime, I have written you, but don't see this epic response of power. I didn't see any better on your forums back in the day, perhaps things have not changed in the hearts and temperaments of unbelief.
Romans 1:21-22,
-Dan

---

His reply from a follow-up youtube comment he had left in the wake of the first;
"What a coward.. you didn't post my response. lol.. Typical."

My response;
What is typical is your insult and temperament. Indeed, what coward returns to his very attacker and says, "Would you like to talk about your assertions with me or did you just come to create spectacle with yourself in the middle"? So...Would you like to talk about your assertions...?

Normally, I don't post these things, but because it is short and because it is with a high-profile person, I wanted to expose our small meeting. I'm still waiting for his response.

Light Fantastic

Tonight around 7 I drove to Moe's for dinner. Taking a break from writing and working out I was blessed to see a devastating sunset. It's been a while...

This sunset was not full of colors. It did not swallow up the entire sky with its glow. It was not one of those neat inverted sunsets, but it was awe-inspiring. So much so that I wanted, even seriously considered, driving into it until it had set over the horizon. It was just the sun in the sky with clouds passing through, but as they passed the light came so boldly through that the edges of the cloud seemed peeled back by the light. Sometimes we forget the power of the light. That it is hardly understood and yet so commonplace to us we forget it's place in the world. When I think of light I think of God in this dark world. No less do I think about the scriptures on light; not the least of which is John 12:46.

"I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark."

Today, briefly, this verse took on a more tangible tone for me. It was wonderful. What do you think about in the sight of a sunset? Color? Vastness? Technicalities? These are all good, I think these things as well, but don't forget the artist; don't forget the lights creator.

Road-worthy

Today on my way to work the police were again setting up their new device for catching speeders. It is a great deal more crafty than traditional methods and has caught many already. I am not an emotional driver nor am I a impatient under most circumstances, but I am not a slow driver by any means. Putting it another way, I earn my tickets, but this is not about my driving ability or yours. This is about warnings. Another lesson from the road, on the heels of "signs and signs".

As I rolled past it again, during a lunch hour run to Wendy's, people coming the opposite way were making an effort to warn us about the speed trap. Flashing headlights signaling "danger ahead, look out".

I usually think that doing this is polite, but I tend not to warn others when I have the chance on the road. In my mind it is a warning from one criminal to another, saying "lookout impending justice is just around the bend." I don't want to help people get away with being bad drivers so I don't flash my lights anymore. Sure I will appreciate some one else’s efforts, but I would not be angry if they hadn't warned me and I got a ticket because of it. Point of fact, I wouldn't have gotten the ticket because of the lack of warning, but because I was breaking the law. I earned the ticket so how can I be angry at anyone else!?

For this reason I don't flash my lights to warn others, but today as I drove the ironic hypocrisy struck me. In the life of a Christian, warning others of impending judgment is essential! God has it so that judgment will come and we are all "speeders" in His eyes, but if I warn those I see they may not see that earned condemnation. So in a certain context I was humbled by those flashing lights. In the end thought, calling others to repentance and warning others of speed traps are two very different things. I do need to remember the importance of this lesson for a while, let it sink in, let it brew.

Just a thought for the road.

Self-Destructible

They say that children act indestructible and that they ignore or are oblivious of their limits. This is true. It is also true that as we grow we do not fair much better in our old age. I see this in my life and the lives of the general populace around me each day.

Now, I don't remember feeling or claiming to be invincible, but I recognize I had little caution and did not see my limits at the time. A lot of time has passed since those days; I no longer believe that I could beat up a ninja or one day have super powers and jumping off of tall objects now gives me visions of broken bones. As an adult I see my limits as temporary, but effective none the less. The specifics aren't important.

The point is that I see adults who show little caution to their current situation and imminent future. People have lost, or possibly never really had, the idea of consequence for their ideas and ways of living. Things of the spiritual world go dismissed or unheeded. How is this different than the days of our youth? Do you think each morning about the consequence of what actions you plan on taking today? Do you think each night that you might not have another morning to do the right thing? And isn't the real question, "Why haven't you acted on those questions?"

This is how we don't grow as we get older; we go on day to day, aware of the dangers we're in only half-way. Knowing that an end comes, but not acting as though it’s true. Knowing that our very souls are in danger, but dismissing it to get another item done on our list of things do to or worse, dismissing it to go back to sleep.

I don't have any ending to this blog, it is what it is.

Flabo-dynamic

Slightly obscure reference anyone? (^_^)

About a month ago, maybe two, I ordered a Bowflex machine. They are pricy, so I only ordered one of the low end models. Still, it does over 60 exercises and I've only been using about 20 of those so far. I purchased this after doing the math and considering the potential value in my health which was great. This has been on my mind for many years and is way overdue. So anyway, rambling aside I bought it and have been using it almost nightly.

It is nice to feel the way I felt in high school again. No, I don't mean healthy; I mean "in pain". It's nice to feel the "burn" and then ache for a few days. I know that pain and I know it means I'm growing again, getting stronger again. It will be a long time before I look like the guy on the box (Ha-Ha), but I'd settle for less.

Unfortunately, a weight lifting machine doesn't do much for fat burning in the problem areas and it doesn't help with cardio much, but that is manageable through other less costly venues. Health and fitness isn't something people would peg me for I think, but it has always been on my personal list of important things. Motivation is not hard to come by, but endurance in the long run is something else. We'll see...

Random Thoughts #383

Hello strangers! I've experienced a slight lull in forward motion the past few weeks; the posts below are all that were written over the past month or so. Reminds me of the times I had burned out before except that this time it is not a physical burnout. Not to worry, He gives me strength and passion to continue and things do seem to be on the mend again. God never does let me get too settled these days and so just as I feel like I've got a slight grip on the youth ministry thing (both at church and online) the focus is altered, again. More on that "direction" later…

I think part of the problem of this lull is the removal of a long term sin a battle that never ends has seen a turn of the tide. I have been shaken by scripture regarding it; it has a way of doing that when we let it speak. Has that ever happened to you reader? Among many verses the one that crushed me were Hebrews 10:26, 2 Peter 2:2, and 1 Peter 4:7. Events of the past month have been spiritually charged, but a war once waged in the mind has spilled over to the flesh and not just my own. People around me are waging wars previously not known. Perhaps what I'm talking about and what you are thinking are two different things, but for the care of others I can't say much here.

In addition to the above, I think the lull has to do with calling. Not just to repent, but to ministry. I've never flet so deeply wasteful then the past 6 months at my job. Part of that might have to do with the fact that I have little to no work most weeks. Part of that might have to do with the atmosphere here; I feel like Lot in Sodom and it disgusts me. The major reason though is that my job contributes nothing of value. Even if I worked with Christians and had interesting and abundant work, I'd still be doing nothing for God here. Last year this started to bug me and I said that I'd use this job as a way to fund my life in part-time ministry (and so I have done for nearly a year), but now I don't think it is enough. So I think that a large part of this lull has to do with the unhappiness in my career. Guess I'm ripe for change, but change to what?

Tooth and Claw 1

In dreams we are not so limited as in the natural world, but at the same time very few of us can make use of that freedom. Of course, people like me are bound to what random events and things our minds can conjure up in a dream. Sometimes, a dream will roll through that has obvious significance; I'll wake and not forget so quickly. On occasion, the events will linger and I'll be provided an insight. So I keep a record of certain dreams, detailing events and their sequence, detailing emotion and motivations, so I can remember later. Most of the time these insights provided are not ones I choose to share; involving people and topics I would rather not express about, though it would probably be an interesting read. Last night is hazier than most of these "special" dreams, but at the same time what is clear is clear indeed. Since it has to do with me alone, it is fair game.

So in an among events with no reason and hazy sequence walked a lion, roaming and beautiful. The likes of what you might see in a movie, it was large and strong, not worn by the weather or by battles past. At the point in the dream we met gazes I had been ushering another out of a house full of black bears and pet dogs. Stepping outside and looking to my left it galloped out from the side of the house and stopped, looking at me.

I turned to run to the right, knowing I couldn't fight this animal. Heading for a nearby building even though I knew I couldn't out run it on a long distance. I was right and wrong at the same time. As I opened the door it pounced and tackled me, but I managed to get into the roll, ending on top apparently stronger than I had believed. Staring into the face of it a new face took shape; this one more humanlike. It spoke in growls, but I did not understand the words or their meaning, looking not violent or angry it had reason in its eyes. We struggled for a long moment as it spoke and I pinned it to the earth by its neck.

Then I woke from what was one of a series of sudden and strange dreams I had that night. What insight can be gained though from something so random? That is the question isn't it...