Martyrs

Another exmaple of the practice of the religion of peace - as the mainstream news media and politicos here in the U.S. (especially the party currently in power in the House of Representatives) continue to insist Islam really is.

I can't help but notice that whenever a Christian looks cross-eyed at a Qur'an or doesn't show proper deference to Mohammad, or whenever someone in a free press environment draws a clever cartoon lampooning the reality of Mohammadism, the Islamic world erupts into a furor of rioting and protest.

...but as long as it's just three Christians who are slowly, grotesquely butchered (in the name of Allah), all is well.

The double-standard is glaring.

I predict that no prominent Muslim will loudly decry this atrocity. I further predict that the Christian world will not riot, burn cars, threaten to blow up Mosques, etc., etc., etc.

The three men who died for trying to share Jesus with their fellow man are martyrs, heroes of the faith, and examples of giving the last full measure. They are to be honored, their widows and orphaned children are to be prayed for and supported in any way we as their brothers and sisters in Christ can. The wife of one of the martyrs has called for forgiveness for the men who vivisected her husband - echoing the words that Jesus spoke as the Roman soldiers were in the process of driving cruel spikes into His wrists as they crucified Him - "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

The men who perpetrated this unspeakably wicked, overtly demonic atrocity in the name of Allah are to be prayed for. May God grant them repentance.

Blog of note...

Pastor Jon's Blog, Springfield Calvary in Massachussets.

Mac OSX vs. Vista

A very humorous "celebrity death match" betwixt Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows here.

I disagree with their conclusion, of course (I maintain that OSX's usability is far superior to Vista, not a mere tie... and I disagree that it's outperformed by Vista, but...)

Ergun Caner on Allah

Dr. Ergun Caner, a former Muslim who is now president of Liberty Theological Seminary and all-around great guy (all the more so because Calvinists don't like him), discusses an article by his brother regarding the fact that Allah is NOT the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

ECMmers, the Trinity, and Biblical Orthodoxy

ECMmers debate the doctrine of the Trinity and Biblical orthodoxy in this blogpost from (I kid you not, this is actually the title of the blog) Open Source Theology.

And they wonder why us theological conservatives get the willies when reading their stuff...

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Blogpost from Bob Kauflin (Sovereign Grace Ministries) which touches on the issue of the Trinity and its importance to the orthodox Christian faith.

We Advance

http://www.detroitredwings.com/wings/article.jsp?id=6786

http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app?service=page&page=Recap&gameNumber=156&season=20062007&gameType=3

It was a hard-fought series. The Flames went down, but they went down fighting.

And now my Red Wings advance to the second round of the hunt for Lord Stanley's Cup.

A Conspiracy of Vast Proportions

This article is of monumental importance - it raises some very disturbing questions regarding one of the most stunning military upsets in known space.

After reading the blogpost... do you think it was an inside job...?

ARUTZ SHEVA: Memo to BBC

Oh, this is good. Exposes the stunningly brash double-standard that the MSM displays toward the Jewish State, especially RE: the recent abduction of BBC reporter Alan Johnston and the inexplicable desire of the MSM to not offend Islamists by applying the standards of rational discourse to them, while bending over backwards to lambaste Israel.

The first two paragraphs:

f this was the plan - to remove the Jews from Gaza in order to create a paradise for all the world's trash - why then, this plan is operating wonderfully.

Theft, arson, murder, rape, blood-sucking, head-hunting, honor-killing, kidnapping - it's all there in Gaza, where once, thousands of Israelis thrived peacefully and productively. Suddenly, these Israelis were told that it's time to pack up and go to make room for a generation that murders and abducts for fun and for profit.

Two Blogposts of Note

Two blogposts that I've bookmarked in my Bloglines account:

• bob.blog: Geoff on an order of Attractional with a side of Missional...
  
  • Bob blogs on many ECM things (being an ECMmer), and in this blogpost he summarizes and comments on an ongoing discussion betwixt himself and Geoff Surratt on "Attractional vs. Missional."
  
  
  • Good insight into ECM philosophy of ministry.


• Stand To Reason blog has posted an article on Clergy Confusion RE: moral equivalency.

And on the 2,554,543rd day, God made the DVR

Our midweek service, verse-by-verse through the Old Testament, is on Thursday evenings. A holdover from when we were sharing a building with a Church of God (Seventh-Day), since they met on Wednesdays, we met on Thursdays. We kept that arrangement when we moved into our own space, and it's worked out real good - we have several guys who come to the OT study who still go to other churches on Sunday and Wednesday; so it's enabled us to be a greater blessing to the Body at large than what we normally would be.

And it has other advantages; such as, being a "bivoc" (i.e., I have a day job to support my habit), it gives me an extra day in my otherwise very busy week to study to teach the Old Testament.

But on occasion, it creates an odd tension.

Like last night.

We studied Exodus 20, the giving of the Ten Commandments. Now, keep in mind that the very first of the Ten is "you shall have no other gods before Me." Your god is whatever your master-passion is - whatever you'd sacrifice for, whatever you'd get up early for or stay up late for, whatever drives you.

...aaaaaaand Thursday just happened to be the opening game of the playoff series between my Detroit Red Wings and the Calgary Flames, the team that has one of my favorite players, Darren McCarty.

Church starts at seven.

Face-off was at seven.

Your god is whatever you'd sacrifice for.

Some people know me too well; I received many inquires yesterday as to whether or not I'd be teaching last night, given that conflict of time-slots.

Of course, church wins out, without question or hesitation. I can always read box-scores and recaps and the like; but the twin privileges of gathering together with my brothers and sisters in the Lord, and being able to share with them the riches of God's Word, trumps anything else.

...however, I am very thankful for the DVR. I set it to record the game while we chomped through the Word.

And at ten o'clock, when I got home...

What a great game!!!

;D

STR Blog: In and Of the World

Koukle & Krew analyze the Barry Taylor contribution to An Emergent Manfesto of Hope here, and in the review takes on one of the more central - and fatal - aspects of postmodern presupposition.

Good stuff.

Global WHAT...???

Global warming. If by "global warming" you mean "elongated, much colder-er than normal winters," then yes, we have a global warming problem.

After a short warm spell, we're back in sub-arctic weather conditions here on the Glorious West Coast of Michigan. Note the global-warming-caused icicles, warmly freezing as I snap this shot via my ever-ready camera phone.


And then there's the unspeakable joy of shoveling all this greenhouse-gas-emission-created snow off our "decklette", in the middle of April...









You can barely see it in this picture, but my car, after having been snow-free for nary an hour, is now covered in a soft, fluffy blanket of "Oh No The Amazon Rainforest Is Shrinking We're All Going To Die Ahh Ahh Ahhhhh" snow.



And finally, a shot from outside of my "tentmaking," my "day job to support my habit," my secular, "puts-food-on-the-table" workplace.

I know this is an inconvenient truth, but there you go.

Global warming: Just Say No.

It's the most wonderful time of the (hockey) year

Great article here at ESPN.com about the impending NHL playoffs. Some great quotes:

Sixteen teams truly believe they can win it all. The next two months will be like the scrap between Tony Soprano and Bobby "Bacala" Baccalieri from Sunday's "Sopranos" premiere.

It's the time of the season to love hockey like you've never loved it before. It's the time when more of the world sees what we see for nine months out of every season -- these athletes, these players, this game, cannot be matched. Nothing compares to the will, drive, skill and sheer desire we will see every playoff game from every player and coach.

No team championship is harder to win or has greater glory or a more glamorous and mysterious trophy. The NFL and NBA try to give their trophy ceremonies the NHL treatment, but they look like Dodge Neons parked behind a Mercedes.

The recounting of the 2000 playoff match betwixt the Penguins and the Flyers alone is well worth the read. The first round predictions are also for the most part what I would have picked. Even the fact that the first round Wings-vs.-Flames will likely go to seven - but the Wings will prevail. They want it more. We have Datsyuk and Lang and Zetterberg and Schneider and - oh, did I mention that in-net we have the Wizard of Oz and Mr. Slinky-Spine himself, the Dominator?

The anticipation of that first face-off of the postseason is nigh unbearable...

Persecuted Church Blog: Chinese Christians and Church Registration

This is a very insightful article about the issues involved in the whole registered church vs. unregistered church in China. It begins to answer the question as to why most Christians in China refuse to register their churches with the Three Self Patriotic Movement.

Johnny Hart

He will be missed.

Talk about an apropos billboard...

Tee. Tee hee. Tee hee hee.

Kudos to Master Mondok for posting this gem.

Wreaths & Mezuzahs

I actually think this is a good thing.

Firstly, because as a Christian, I have great respect for Judaism (while acknowledging that Judaism as modernly practiced bears very little resemblance to the religion of the Old Testament - but I digress) due to our Hebraic roots.

But also because the whole psychotic secularization trend of the last two decades or so is downright idiotic. I don't have a problem with anybody displaying morally appropriate religous symbology; some Muslim dude wants to put the whole "In the Name of the Moon God - er, I mean, Allah" thing on his door during Eid al-Fitr (for crying out loud, we already have those postage stamps) - more power to him. So long as it's not gaudy (and that extends to gaudy Christmas wreaths - which incidentally have just about nothing to do with Christianity anyway... but again, I digress).

Our government is supposed to be religiously neutral, not religiously hostile. As has been said before, the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, not federally imposed freedom from religion.

So I completely support Richter's case here. Hope her and Acosta win.

Pernicious PowerPoint

Sooooooooooooooooooooo... what do you suppose the implications of this are for the whole "immersive multimedia worship experience" thing...?

BTW - for the record, I don't have any problem with IMWE. I think it's super-spiffy. Some very fine churches that I like bunches do the whole IMWE thing, including the Calvary Chapel affiliate church I was saved and discipled at.

So stop taking yourselves so seriously and getting your undies all in a bunch because I gently chuckled at one of your sacred cows. ECM - I'm lookin' at YOU...

Emerging Glossary

I ran across this actually last year, but realized that I haven't actually posted it to the blog yet.

Here is a post over at Apologetics Index with a tongue-in-cheek handy little "Emergent-to-English" glossary.

Tee hee.

And in case someone (else) wants to beat the breast and bemoan the mean-spiritedness of those of us who are self-confessedly outside the ECM having the temerity to examine it and come to differing conclusions, especially using the vehicle of tongue-in-cheek humor, I give you this oldie-but-goodie blogpost by the Altitudinous Twiggy New Zealander RE: my own Calvary Chapel Movement.

The hue and cry of ECMmers about non-ECM-types chuckling at some of the sillier aspects of their movement falls awfully flat when held up alongside similar ECM treatments of non-ECM movements (like CC).

Mr. Pot, meet Mr. Kettle...

Emergents and Romans

Yes, yes, I know... I can't paint the Emergent side of the Emerging/Emergent Church with a broad brush, it's much broader-er than Brian "the theological John Kerry" MacLaren, what right do I have to comment, I haven't dialoged with every single ECMmer several times over so how can I possibly comment on the non-movement Movement which is really just a conversation, my socks don't match, let's group hug and fingerpaint our feelings about these things while performing an interpretive dance, I'm a big meanie, etc., etc., etc.

Sigh.

But you've got to admit - the bulk of the ECM kind of sticks it to themselves. All anybody really has to do to comment on it is... just quote 'em.

And so, I give you Reading Romans in the Emerging Church by the appropriately named "Open Source Theology" blog.

The first paragraph sets the tone and requires no rebuttal - it's self-scuttling:

It seems fair to say that Paul's letter to the Romans has so far failed to capture the imagination of the emerging church. There are a number of likely reasons for this: the emerging church prefers Jesus and the Gospels; the emerging church does not feel comfortable with Paul's strong stance against homosexuality; the emerging church does not at all like the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement; the emerging church does not want to get into futile and politically fraught debates about the place of modern Israel in the purposes of God; and the emerging church probably finds squeezing the tough and indigestible fruit of Romans far too much like hard work for the little theological benefit that can be obtained from it.

...so much for that "all Scripture" thing there in II Timmy.

To quote the great philosopher, "D'oh!"

Incredible end to an incredible season

With two games left, and both of those against the bottom-of-division Blackhawks, it looks like the Detroit Red Wings are firmly ensconced at the top of the League.

So now the hunt for Lord Stanley's Cup can begin in earnest.

Honestly, folks, this has been an incredible season. This has been a rebuilding period - a brand new team, for all intents and purposes, what with so many of the veterans gone, and the retirement of The Captain, and a new era under the worthy successor (two places removed) from the legendary Scotty Bowman as head coach. And yet, under the leadership of Nicky Lidstrom, the Wings have again ascended to the pinnacle of the professional hockey world.

Now, I like other sports. I'm an American, and it's federal law to be a football and baseball fan. So I of course root for the Tigers (who actually gave us something to cheer about last season) and the Lions (who...ah...didn't).

But there's a good reason why Detroit's not called "football town" or "baseball town."

There's just something about hockey.

Probably the fact that we're way too close to the Old Dominion. It's the cold air. Or maybe the donuts.

Whatever.

But cut me and I bleed red. Or white, depending on which sweater we're wearing, which further depends on which team we're about to go Patty Verbeek on.

But whatever the reason, hockey is indeed the "coolest game on earth."

And if you're a hockey fan - and specifically a Detroit hockey fan - this is the start of the best time of year.

Let the hunt begin.

Global Incident Map

Kinda interesting site - interesting in an "oh, dear..." sort of way.

Thanks, John, for forwarding the link to me...

Comments at WordPress

My Blogger blog gets about twice as many hits as my mirrored WordPress blog; but the WordPress mirror gets three to four times as many comments.

Not sure why; I think it might be a function of the more interrelated nature of the WordPress community. There's some preeeeeeeety iiiiiiiiiinteresting characters over yonder...

Anyway, if'n you're interested, jump on over to the WordPress mirror of this blog to read some of the comments - and sometimes heated comment-discussions.

If you dare.

Wi-Fi in the Sky

This is great news for travellers.

I'm not that much of a traveller; however, during the yearly pilgrimage to Murietta Hot Springs for the Pastors' Conference, I'm in the air for about four to five hours, and I'm geek enough that this proposed service by air carriers comes as very, very welcome news.

I can now look forward to the day that I can still get e-mail while in-flight.

Or blog from 30k feet.

Bu-wah.

Bu-wah-ha.

Bu-wah-ha-haaa...

Stand To Reason: Redefining Christianity

Important blogpost here.

...and some people think we're in the midst of apostasy...

What would ever give you that idea, I wonder?

...so much for the postmillennarian "evahthang's gonna be alriiiiight" eschatological point of view, there, eh?