BelongingMy older sister's blog
Blibby's BlogMy little sister's blog
Gixxer For ChristMy brother's blog
Grantian FlorilegiumDr. Grant: literary, bibliophile, wordsmithy, and professor
Blog and MablogPastor and professor in Moscow, Idaho
A Proverb A DayShort daily expositions and applications of a Proverb
The Evantine AbbeyMy former landlord, self-proclaimed futilitarian
Roots by the RiverThe elder Wilson, providing practical encouragement to Christian living
Christus RexHe's masculine during the week and feminine on Sundays
Trozzort's TalesGot married, cut travel time to church by 75%
Blog of NashThe Nashes like football and their kids
Joy in the Journey
Has cute kids.
Pointyshoes87Those funny stories aren't made up
Filled With TruthAdventures and thoughts of a Christian country girl
Danger BlogSeeing the glory of God in the ordinary
Sacra DoctrinaTheology and family of Joel Garver
A MinorCommunity-oriented blogger
This Classical LifeYoung family living the classical life
A Cup of RichFellow Celto-phile
Sir JakeHe's happily taken
UnrivenThe writer, student, and Chicago style pizza lover
Gulf CoastalBeside the sea
The High PostClever Christian chaps, triumvirate of family men
Wittenberg HallDiscussing Christianity and beer
Weighing GlorySomewhere chasing his hat
Down To A Sunless SeaWhen Florida and Minnesota collide
Crash Into MeNo problems with authority
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 T u e s d a y , O c t o b e r 3 1 s t
10:50PM | Christian Articles On Halloween
 n blogs across the web, there are several good articles on the origins of Halloween and Christian perspectives on Halloween. I will link to just a few, not all of which agree with each other.
Dr. George Grant explains how Christians "stole" some celebratory and superstitious practices from pagan cultures and re-made them as possessing Christian meaning, and how Christians came to standardize their holidays to occur at the same time as competing, older pagan holidays. Jamey Bennett links to several good articles on his blog:
Home For Halloween by John Fischer
What About Halloween by Bob and Gretchen Passantino
Halloween: A Distinctly Christian Holiday by James Jordan
Whatever your position as a Christian on Halloween is, let's remember to be charitable to those who hold different views of Halloween, whether embracing it or shunning it, and not judge a brother unjustly for their opinion of the holiday.
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9:32PM | Reason To Celebrate?
 hich is uglier: the Reformation, which split the church and led to denominationalism and essentially the institutionalization of warring among Christians, or the domination of the Roman Catholic church that preceded it, with all its bishopry games and lack of Bible knowledge among the laity of those times? I ask not so much because I really want you to consider it and give me an answer, but as a hat tip to the Cool Kids of Criticism who like to point out the Ugly in everything, and remove any reason to celebrate on a holiday (unless they like candy).
I mentioned in the previous post that I have poor calendar awareness. This goes beyond hardly knowing what day or month it is, which is bad enough in itself. Holidays and holy days sneak up on me unawares until it is too late and they are past (the minor ones anyway). Is there a widget or such like that can reside on my desktop and notify me of upcoming holidays and/or special days from the church calendar, preferrably at least a week in advance? There should be.
Currently geeking around with: Google Analytics.
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 Currently listening:
Electric Ladyland
by Jimi Hendrix
12:26AM | Halloween Costumes
 aturday night I forgot to turn my clock back an hour, and so I arrived at church an hour early and ended up driving around town for an hour to pass the time. Which is more of a waste of that "extra" hour: sleeping in an extra hour, or driving around town on a sunny Sunday morning? Are either a waste?
If I weren't such a slacker and inept at keeping track of calendars, I would have had time to prepare to dress up for Halloween at work tomorrow. I can't think off the top of my head what I would dress up as: all I can think of is disguising myself as Joe Mauer, because I have been told by someone (one person) that I look like him. Looking for a picture of Mauer to reference, I found the funniest baseball spoof photo ever: a photo of the New York Yankees' A-Rod during the baseball playoffs last year in which he cheated when running the basepaths, knocking the tag away.
What are/would you be dressing up as for Halloween?
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 Currently listening:
Storm
by Assemblage 23
T h u r s d a y , O c t o b e r 2 6 t h
10:23PM | The Suez Canal Crisis And Today's America
 his weekend marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Suez Canal Crisis, in which, after Egyptian president Nasser indicated that his country intended to nationalize the Suez Canal, a hitherto secret alliance of the French, British, and Israelis invaded the Suez/Sinai peninsula in an effort to forcefully defend their interests in maintaining their share of control of the economically strategic canal. This event is remembered in history as clearly marking the end of Britain's role as a world superpower: no more the imperialistic power it once was. This was already becoming evident, particularly in Africa where Britain was losing control of its colonies, but the massive attention that the Suez Canal invasion brought upon Britain manifested the fact that Britain was no longer a top world power. They could no longer go it alone, as evidenced by the fact that once the United States found out in surprise about Britain, France, and Isreal's coalition, the United States protested vehemently, leveraging its power by refusing a loan against the struggling English pound - and within a few days the coalition troops withdrew. Britain was no longer a top-level power in the world, subject to the attitudes of a nation that was more powerful than it.
As for France, the French were rather upset that the United States put down its food and told them that, in the United States' opinion, France had no business warring with Egypt. Apparently the bitterness remains, because ever since then France has opposed every major United States military operation on foreign soil.
Here on this fiftieth anniversary, reflecting on the Suez Canal crisis, I can't help but wonder if maybe Iraq is America's Suez Canal. The war in Iraq has shown that the United States is dependent on the cooperation of other nations in its foreign militaristic operations, and also limited in action by the body known as the United Nations. Poor performance in Iraq leading to talks of the necessity of a staged withdrawal, supported even by President Bush's party, and the ineffectiveness of the United States military against changing military tactics from its opponents makes me wonder if the United States is not the superpower it has sometimes been perceived. I think the United States could probably be more imperialistic if it wanted to, if it was willing to disregard the United Nations, but the rise of advanced and massing armies around the world and their capabilities enhanced by technology could be an effective guard against the United States.
The United States' inability to act decisively without the support of other major nations is also evident by our reliance on cooperation from China, Russia, and Japan regarding anything that the loose cannons in North Korea might do, as well as the influences of the same on whatever policy our country takes towards Iran.
Perhaps the United States was never a power equivalent in might to empires or imperialistic nations of the past, and Iraq only made this blatantly obvious to the world.
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M o n d a y , O c t o b e r 2 3 r d
11:16PM | Fasting
hen you think of the Christian practice of fasting, what do you think of? I've always equated fasting with self-deprivation, specifically of food, for the purpose of focusing one's time on intent supplication and prayer to God. Fasting is a fine way of realizing our weakness and dependency on God, because we soon find out that we cannot make it on our own long without daily mercies, and we learn that God cares for us and daily provides for us, answering prayer daily essentially. And so, I have considered a period of fasting as a rather somber time of devotion to prayer and humbling oneself on his knees before God. But according to the word of the Lord through Isaiah, that's a very restricted interpretation of fasting.
Isaiah 58: 3-11
3 'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and You have not seen?
Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?'
"In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure,
And exploit all your laborers.
4 Indeed you fast for strife and debate,
And to strike with the fist of wickedness.
You will not fast as you do this day,
To make your voice heard on high.
5 Is it a fast that I have chosen,
A day for a man to afflict his soul?
Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush,
And to spread out sackcloth and ashes?
Would you call this a fast,
And an acceptable day to the Lord?
6 "Is this not the fast that I have chosen:
To loose the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the heavy burdens,
To let the oppressed go free,
And that you break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out;
When you see the naked, that you cover him,
And not hide yourself from your own flesh?
8 Then your light shall break forth like the morning,
Your healing shall spring forth speedily,
And your righteousness shall go before you;
The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
You shall cry, and He will say, 'Here I am.'
"If you take away the yoke from your midst,
The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
10 If you extend your soul to the hungry
And satisfy the afflicted soul,
Then your light shall dawn in the darkness,
And your darkness shall be as the noonday.
11 The Lord will guide you continually,
And satisfy your soul in drought,
And strengthen your bones;
You shall be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
Interesting. The Lord here says that my idea of fasting is only halfway complete, and that merely making oneself humble and praying is not the entire point of fasting and lends itself to the danger of fasting in appearance, but not from the heart. Fasting involves action, not closeting oneself away in private prayer; in privately (not for show, praise, or pride) depriving ourselves of, say, food, we are doubling our efforts in providing the same things, and other good things, for the needy. As the fasting Christian extends mercy to those in need, the Lord responds in kind and demonstrates his mercy to us and our requests. The Lord does not let the Christian off so that he can just pray and drink from the fountain of mercy: as the Lord shows us mercy, He expects us to do the same for others. This is a dialogue; this is worship.
Lest we think that this is only a singular example for a specific time and place, or that Isaiah snuck this passage into Scripture, we can consider the example of Christ. He fasted many times; the New Testament makes frequent use of the phrase "fasted and prayed". Christ would go off into a solitary place for a time, but this was always immediately followed by and accompanied by merciful ministry to others: whether feeding a multitude, healing sicknesses and physical afflictions, or the greatest earthly gift of all: imparting some of His wisdom to those whose ears were open.
My church is attempting to reinstitute the discipline of fasting, on a voluntary basis, among its members and at designated times where we can corporately fast. In light of what is revealed in Isaiah 58, the requirements of true fasting is something interesting that I will have to seriously consider if I am to commit myself to fasting, and care to do it rightly.
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10:57PM | Americanized DPRK Soldier
 ook at photo number eight in this series. Is that North Korean soldier wearing a Livestrong bracelet? Surely not, or his days among the living will surely be short once Kim Jong-Il finds out. Lance Armstrong is an evil American, and the great leader of North Korea thinks all Americans should have cancer! (I made that up, but it's probably true)
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S u n d a y , O c t o b e r 2 2 n d
2:51PM | Fine Autumn Weekend
eekends are definitely more valued by me now due to my new job and new schedule. The late October season certainly enhances the enjoyment as well.
Friday night I tested various web design techniques, something that I have neglected for too long and previously enjoyed regularly. I finally got around to testing and implement sIFR, which if you choose to download, I would recommend the updated multi-color version. What is sIFR? Basically it's a tool that without much processing enables a web designer to create rich text headlines, forcing fonts to display that aren't necessarily installed already on a visitor's computer. This is achieved through Flash and Javascript, and takes only a fraction of a second so no page-loading time is lost. You can now see sIFR utilized in my blog entry headlines. I also added basic Javascript randomization, for random quotes and images each time you visit this blog.
I mentioned that October enhances weekends. While it is a little chilly and rainy outside, I can sit comfortably indoors with a host of football games on television, followed by World Series baseball and more football later at night. I sit here watching football, the aroma of beef, potatoes, and onions roasting, and a good dinner to look forward to.
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S a t u r d a y , O c t o b e r 2 1 s t
10:14AM | A Trip To The Mountains
 poem from myself for autumn days in the Applachians.
Hank Hoover
One crisp and cloudless autumn day
Hank Hoover packed a lunch and said
"I'm off to the mountains not far away"
He tipped his cap and sped away
Don't worry, I'll be coming back.
A winding highway lined with pine
Oak and elm and clinging vine
Red, orange, yellow, and blue
A tale of beauty he found true
Don't worry, I'll be coming back.
He stood atop Mount Mitchell's peak
Could see a hundred miles or two
And thought he even spotted you
"Ya'll should really see this view"
Don't worry, I'll be coming back.
Hiking trails and entering caves
Leaping rocky bubbling streams
Chasing a deer into a meadow
He recognized a land of dreams
Don't worry, I'll be coming back.
The night was chill, the sky was clear
Upon his back beside the wheel
He gazed upon a sky well lit
With stars that streaked unto the cliffs
Don't worry, I'll be coming back
Crossing the fair Virginia line
He married a charming country bride
He built a farm, they had two kids
And a home on leafy mountainside
Don't worry, I'll be coming back.
Winter fell, the ground was ice
From the mountains none could pass
Huddled warm inside their homes
The fiddle cheered their freezing bones
Don't worry, I'll be coming back.
A romp in the woods before even-tide
He tripped a root and fell headfirst
And that is how Hank Hoover died
Who even as he fell did cry
Don't worry, I'll be coming back.
They gathered to honor the one who died
The coffin tipped, Hank Hoover sighed
He scared the parson out the door
Alarmed the church who thought he said
Don't worry, I'll be coming back.
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T h u r s d a y , O c t o b e r 1 9 t h
9:21PM | The Threat Of Nuclear Weapons In Perspective
re you afraid of nuclear weapons in the hands of aggressors who might use them, such as North Korea and Iran? The Lord, once the waters of Noah's Flood had melted away, promised never again to bring such calamitous devastation on the world again; can an aggressive government with a nuclear weapon do what the Lord will not, or make His promise void? The world will not end or be completely destroyed by nuclear warfare: the Church will always remain. The Lord Himself has said so:
"Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth a weapon for his work; and I have created the destroyer to destroy. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from me, says the Lord."
- Isaiah 54:16-17
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8:13PM | Quick Comments On The New IE
his morning I upgraded to the new release of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, version 7.0, and played around with it before going to work. Observations thus far:
- When first launched, the most surprising thing was the toolbar. The default toolbar was too long (an entire row was dedicated to displaying one little icon, a Norton Antivirus icon) and the familiar menubar with "File", "Edit", "Tools" etc was no longer there (by default... it can be added in the options when right-clicking the toolbar) and the familiar Home, Stop, and Refresh buttons were scattered. The textual menubar that was so familiar was now a series of pictoral icons in the lower right corner of the menubar, and the Favorites were little icons in the bottom left corner of the menubar.
- The most visible best advantage of upgrading to IE7.0 is the new feature borrowed from Firefox: tabbed browser. You can open different web pages as "tabs" within the same window, so that your toolbar does not become cluttered. What impresses me is that Microsoft achieved tabbed browsing in a way that excels Mozilla Firefox's. New tabs are easily created by clicking on a small half-tab (you'll know what it is when you see it), and the "close single tab" trigger is in a more intuitive location. I especially appreciate the Quick Tabs feature, which is like a static Alt-Tab, making many tabs very manageable and navigatable.
- The default font is a better selection, more modernized. Looks especially sharp when you use the easy Zoom feature in the right-most portion of the status bar. From what I can tell, IE7.0 is very responsive and friendly to the best and latest of CSS.
While on the subject of upgrades, I really like Yahoo! mail's new Outlook-ish interface. Very intelligent and works well, even better than Microsoft's attempt with Hotmail Beta of making Hotmail more like Outlook in its operation. I tried Hotmail beta and switched back to traditional Hotmail primarily because at the time of my trial spam could not be deleted without first opening and viewing its contents (unless multi-selected with the previous and following e-mails, which is something I usually don't want to do if those e-mails are keepers... it's a pain anyway) and because features and links mentioned in the Help section did not exist at all.
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 Currently listening:
Nomad
by Jesse Cook
 W e d n e s d a y , O c t o b e r 1 8 t h
8:03PM | Not All That Unique
 ecause I know you want to know...
HT: Moseleys
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T u e s d a y , O c t o b e r 1 7 t h
9:40PM | Fearsome Yet Loving
he certainty with which the Lord confidently proclaims His power, particularly when speaking against those with whom He is angry, can be quite chilling. Isaiah 52:15 is a good example: "So shall He startle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at Him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider."
The Psalms are particularly full of such examples (and rather graphic, too), as are the warnings in the messages to the seven churches in Revelation 2-3.
Something interesting from Psalm 89 that I read today... speaking of the seed of David (God's people, the fellow-heirs with the Son of David, i.e. us Christians), the Lord promises "His seed will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven" (v. 29). And yet many Christians fear that things will grow worse for us in the world, as the majority of it slips away in rebellion and disaster and the church gets stuck suffering in the midst of it and teetering on the brink of distinction. God's promise is quite clear: there is nothing to fear. Yes, there will be difficult and bloody times for the church, but Psalm 89 addresses that a little later. These difficult times are brought about with the Lord's leave, not because the forces of Satan are winning a battle for this world. Verses 30-32 explain that this is judgment for God's people departing from following and trusting Him. But verses 33-34 assure that such judgment will not be our final state in this life.
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S u n d a y , O c t o b e r 1 5 t h
11:43PM | Cerebral Vocabulary 5
anguage and alternative phrases for the Genteel, the Refined, and the Learned - Part Five.
Technology that takes initiative
There is a sense in which technology takes initiative. What I mean is not that technology has the capacity for decision making based on inclination or disposition; rather, this initiative is something that is engineered or designed into the piece of technology by its creator or inventor. There are two kinds of initiative-taking amongst technology - one good and one irritating - and I will provide examples of both.
The good kind of initiative possessed by technology is that in which the machine performs some ongoing, essential task so that I don't have to. This is of great service to me, and without this background work that it does on its own, the technology would be useless to me. For example, just as my heart beats and pumps blood without me consciously having to expend effort every half-second to tell my heart to do its thing, so also the tubes and other gizmos that comprise the working innards of a television generate the picture, the color, and the sound and keeps it there after I hit the power button on the remote. After I turn on the television, I don't have to station myself at a crank, constantly turning it in order to keep the color and picture from fading out. Manual intervention and management of the technology is not necessary: the technology is programmed to take the initiative and accomplish all this for me. Similarly, the thermostat regulates room temperature for me and adjusts air or heat output to regulate the indoor clime to a target temperature. I am the king and electronic processes that run behind technology is my proxy. That's the way it should be.
The other category in which technology takes initiative is irritating. I am talking about the kind of initiative that causes technology to do something that is not essential to its primary task, something that attempts to force its will upon me. As a real example, one of my afflictions in this regard are the sliding drawers beneath the sink in my bathroom. These have been engineered in such a way that if I do not remember to pull the drawers out as far as they can go, they will take it upon themselves to slide back shut without my prompting or without even seeking my leave. If I find myself desiring to remove two items from the drawer and cannot grab both as a single handful, I will find to my chagrin that on my hand's return trip to the drawer, it is snapping shut and I have to open it again. Now, while the need to reopen the drawer demands no excessive action on my part, the fact that the drawer decided to take certain action on its own, rather than serving me in the full capacity in which I desired of it, makes me wroth.
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 Currently reading:
Gilead
by Marilynne Robinson
W e d n e s d a y , O c t o b e r 1 1 t h
7:57PM | So You Think You're Better Than Me, And You Want To Tell Me About It?
his article came across as if the writer thinks that there is an "off switch" for sexual sin once a body gets married, and that sin decreases after marriage - or at least married people aren't prone to the same sins as single people all are, nay, are perceived to be all enslaved to. I'm not old or clever, but I confidently throw the theory out there that people don't find themselves subject to sexual sins because of their state of being married or not. No, the problem is a little more involved than that. It starts often at a very young age, let's pretend for example at 14 years old when our hypothetical boy really starts to be confronted by sexuality. Something happens at this point as he becomes exposed to avenues of satisfying his sexual desires: he 1) learns and exercises self control, 2) he succumbs for a time and at some point gets himself back in control, or 3) he fails to exercise self-control and is like a city without fortifications when sexual temptation assaults (pun intended) him.
If a man is prone to giving in to sexual temptations and is weak in self-control, this is something that won't (at least not always... maybe not most of the time?) suddenly disappears when he gets married. In fact, the consequences could be much worse.
Sins don't disappear with marriage, not all the time. Let's say I, a single guy, have a problem with pornography and regularly indulge in seeking it out. When I get married, yes, having a wife will help in satisfying my sexual desires and her presence and my vows would add a conscience-nagging deterrent to continuing my habit. Maybe. Or maybe when I find that my wife isn't always around when I want sexual satisfaction, or isn't always ready to provide it when I want it, I will return to my old habit. Worse, maybe we'll both find ourselves watching porn together. There are a mess of sexual sins that can spring up, fester, or devastate within marriage.
Sin will tempt you no matter what state you find yourself in: marriage or singleness. You have to confront and deal with it in both. It's easy to point to the sins of the opposite (for the married, pointing to the single; for me, pointing to the married), but we do so in self-righteousness or to try to turn people's attention away from our own sins. We need to confront and deal with our own sins, and be gracious, forgiving, and generally Christ-like to the "others" (not a LOST reference).
Though single for now, I do believe that marriage is a treasure and a happy thing for those who have it. I might even marry one day, but currently that's not on my clock. However, good as I think marriage is, and acknowledging that it is a good choice for most people, and not wishing that the majority of (Christian) people would want to remain single forever, I still don't think there is a strong biblical basis for saying that it is a "better" state than singleness, and that singleness should be scorned and held in contempt (the Bible is very clear about which human conditions are to be scorned, and the list is very limited). But it's fun to toot our own horns, and I can do that with Debbie Maken all day.
In the end, it just won't profit anybody.
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T u e s d a y , O c t o b e r 1 0 t h
9:03PM | A Little Bit Of Everything
 offre at the High Post linked to this trailer a couple weeks ago. It looks like this will be one of the greatest movies ever. The Mother Of All Trailers.
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M o n d a y , O c t o b e r 9 t h
9:19PM | Everything You Need To Know About The Alluded To Controversies Between Christians
hether it be the personal antipathy between Michael Metzler and Douglas Wilson, or between Frank Vance and Tim Dick, or whichever flavor of the week is burdening you, all you need to know regarding these issues are directly spoken to in God's Word.
We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whoever hateth his brotheris a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
1 John 3:14-15
If the accused are truly guilt of defrauding their brothers in Christ or any other such offense against the church or a fellow-Christian, these verses speak to them. If any of their accusers continuously delight in attacking their perceived foe, never letting go, mercilessly harboring a grudge, not willing to forgive, then these verses apply to them. If I hate or disdain the accusing brother, or the brother who purportedly (based on accusations) performed some unkind deed to another Christian, then this verse applies to me as well. As children of God, young ones striving to grow in Christ-likeness, we must practice and model the difficult attribute of Christ's unbounded and self-sacrificing forgiveness. Even if we do see a brother who is doing something wrong and in need of correction, there are proprietous ways of taking action, but in the end judgment and reward are the Lord's concern. Life is too short and there is too much work and growth to be accomplished in ourselves to devote minute, all-encompassing censure to the perceived foibles of our brethren, who fight the same temptations we fight.
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7:50PM | Congratulations D
 tried leaving a congratulatory comment on his blog, but due to a server error I will instead post acknowledgement here.
When I began blogging, I guess in late 2001, one of the first bloggers I read regularly was David (Davey) Henreckson. I believe he was a contributor to the fine webzine Chasing Hats in those days, and with certainty he edited a theological webzine titled New Christendom, which in its time featured contributions from several notables in the Reformed world. Over time and with the assumption of responsibilities that accompany adulthood, his blogging regularity has decreased, but apparently this is due in part for courtship pursuits. All that work on the side appears to have paid off, as his girl Kate accepted his proposal of marriage this past Friday. I don't know if he'll see this since he must certainly be preoccupied right now, but congratulations to you Davey, and congratulations to both of you.
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5:02PM | A Small Agrarian World Would Be Miserable
'm disgusted by all the controversies between Christians, legitimate or not, that spring up all sudden-like in the public realm due to the self-important self-righteousness of certain bloggers who think they have it all figured out, but really are going about things wrong and making poor choices in picking the battle and the field of battle. I use this as a segui into an "it's a small world" moment. On his blog a couple days ago, Barlow posted an entry that only had a single paragraph on the phenomena of public internet-based controversies between Christians, but in that same entry he made a reference to a situation in South Carolina regarding a specific Clemson student and kinism. I had no idea what kinism is, so I decided to search for "kinists" on Wikipedia. There was no entry for "kinists" so instead Wikipedia listed four or five possible selections for my queried topic. Oddly enough, in the middle of the pack was the Wikipedia entry on Douglas Wilson. For those of you who already know what kinism is, Doug Wilson is not a kinist; rather, as the Wikipedia article mentions, he is a vocal and vehement denunciator of the movement as unChristian, and he is one of those who mockingly calls kinists "skinists". By the way, kinism is a racist movement, no matter which way you look at it, that takes Reformed buzz words such as agrarianism, homeschooling, and Van Tillianism and takes them waaaay too far. That these racists hold agrarianism dear was of particular interest to me. Despite some Reformed books and arguements for agrarianism, my inclinations are not much in favor of agrarianism, even out of the context of kinism. The city is where the future's at, unless you're trying to run away from your responsibility to the Great Commission, or simply trying to leave that work for others.
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S a t u r d a y , O c t o b e r 7 t h
9:51PM | Deliverance To The Perished Seed Of The Ungodly?
couple weeks ago, I argued that believers' infants who die in infancy go to heaven, due to the covenantal relationship between them and their parents with God, and because of God's covenant promises to believers. I will now think publicly and rather unorthodoxly about what happens to the unborn children of unbelievers, whether they perish by miscarriage or abortion.
Continuing to speak upon a covenantal foundation, prior to Christ's coming the children of unbelievers (the Gentile nations) were doomed: they were born outside God's covenant chosen people, and assimilation into God's covenant people was rare, usually coming through slavery, conquest, or sometimes voluntarily (e.g. Ruth). Adam's original sin, the Fall, affected all men, plunging them into the curse and sentencing future human lives to be born into sin. Enter Christ, the New Adam, and the ushering in of a new era. Through His intercessory taking upon Himself the burden of all of our sins, and suffering the just consequence of the Fall in order to atone for our sins, Christ, more influential upon mankind than the first Adam, the heel that crushed the Tempter's head, the One who lead captivity captive and provided mankind a way of freedom from their slavery to sin and from the curse, offered cleansing propitiation for our sins "and not for our's only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:2). This cleansing was all-encompassing, just as Adam's fall was all-encompassing in its disastrous consequences. All people are still born sinners: sin has not been removed from the world, but it is no longer binding: there is a way of escape from the perpetual curse of and bondage to sin. The cleansing and forgiveness accomplished on the cross was sufficient for the sins of the whole world, which means for all people, both living and yet to be born. The ungodly will live out their lives either voluntarily remaining allegiant to the Tempter, or turning away from salvation to the former pleasures of sin. The unborn who die in the womb do not fall away or reject God's salvation, and their death is merciful in a way. Election must still come into play, we cannot categorically claim that God has chosen all unborn children of the ungodly. But under the new covenant, in this new era of forgiveness from sin, neither can we claim that God has not called to Himself any of the unborn infants of the ungodly. After all, throughout history God is One who loves to be the Deliverer of the fatherless, the homeless, the widow, and the oppressed.
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W e d n e s d a y , O c t o b e r 4 t h
11:22PM | Entertainment Tidbits
n 2004, a team won a $10 million prize from the X-Prize Foundation for building and successfully launching SpaceShipOne. This year's prize is called the Archon X-Prize for Genomics, and asks for rapid genetic sequencing, which when done to a large enough sample base and perfected is supposed to enable doctors to determine an individual's likelihood of falling victim to specific illnesses or genetically inheriting diseases. This reminds me of the movie Gattaca, in which people's future and careers were known from birth and determined by genetics: basically, everyone was separated into classes based on their genetics. The BBC story on this X-Prize challenge raises this aspect of genetic sequencing's controversialness: "Public concerns about information privacy, and fears of future discrimination based not on race or class, but genetics, are already said to be slowing research at a significant rate."
Using the reference to Gattaca as a segui, there are two movies that together will be out at the same time once the second hits theatres in Friday of either this week or next, that are both 20th-century war themed and of interest to me. Flyboys is already in theatres, and is a story about American pilots who signed up to fly for the French Air Force in World War I, before the United States had committed to the war. The next is Flags of our Fathers, which I now see comes out on October 20. Directed by Clint Eastwood, this is a story of the WW2 battle of Iwo Jima.
Television is such an idle amusement. I can come home from the gym ten minutes after one of the few shows I watch (LOST) comes on, watch a little bit and then miss a section while I take a shower, and not feel like I lost out on anything important. Channels are so easy to switch and turn on and off, and so is my attention to even the things I find somewhat interesting. TV just isn't very important, and I'm glad because there is not enough time to waste with it.
Hockey season commenced tonight, and the defending champions the Carolina Hurricanes opened at home tonight. Unfortunately, I did not attend this game despite enjoy last season's opening home game, but I already have a sporting event lined up for the week: Florida State visits NC State for a college football game tomorrow night.
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 E l s e w h e r e
Scientists find bugs that eat waste and excrete petrol (link added 06.16.08)
Crude oil is being created from genetically modified bug excretions.
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Pringles can designer buried in his work (link added 06.03.08)
Designer of the Pringles can was cremated and his remains kept in a Pringles can.
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P o e t r y
Contented Wi' Little, And Cantie Wi' Mair - Robert Burns
Contented wi' little and cantie wi' mair,
Whene'er I forgather wi' Sorrow and Care,
I gie them a skelp, as they're creepin alang,
Wi' a cog o' guid swats and an auld Scottish sang.
I whyles claw the elbow o' troublesome Thought;
But Man is a soger, and Life is a faught.
My mirth and guid humour are coin in my pouch,
And my Freedom's my lairdship nae monarch daur touch.
A towmond o' trouble, should that be my fa',
A night o' guid fellowship sowthers it a':
When at the blythe end o' our journey at last,
Wha the Deil ever thinks o' the road he has past?
Blind Chance, let her snapper and stoyte on her way,
Be't to me, be't frae me, e'en let the jade gae!
Come Ease or come Travail, come Pleasure or Pain,
My warst word is:- ' Welcome, and welcome again!'
S t o r y
R e a d i n g / R e a d
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