Saturday, November 26th, 2005 :: 2:44 PM

“The Bible does present us with ‘mute spirits,’ as explanations for a loss of speech, but I believe this is the way an ancient culture explains something that would be explained medically today. If the mute person were examined by a modern western physician, it is doubtful that exorcism would be suggested as a treatment. It is unlikely that anyone today would ask ‘Who sinned? This man or his parents?’ when confronted with a medical problem such as blindness. That Jesus was incarnated into this ancient world and its explanations, and ministered as an exorcist/healer in this world, is appropriate. It shouldn’t alarm any Biblical interpreter. The point of the Gospels is not Jesus’ opinion of ancient medicine or psychology. We do not expect Jesus to be giving modern explanations for conditions that we understand very differently. Jesus was a person of his time, and he viewed and responded to mental and emotional illness as a person of his time.” (>>)

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2005 :: 5:54 PM

“I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.

“I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

“I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.” (>>)

Saturday, November 19th, 2005 :: 4:43 PM

“…sucking the marrow from the broken leg of academia.” (>>)

Saturday, November 19th, 2005 :: 1:43 PM

“Once upon a time the animals decided they must do something heroic to meet the problems of a ‘new world,’ so they organized a school. They adopted an activity curriculum consisting of running, climbing, swimming, and flying. To make it easier to administer the curriculum, all the animals took all subjects. The duck was excellent in swimming — in fact, better than his instructor; but he made only passing grades in flying and was very poor in running. Since he was slow in running, he had to stay after school and also drop swimming in order to practice running. This was kept up until his web feet were badly worn, so then he was only average in swimming. But average was acceptable in school, so nobody worried about that except the duck.” (>>)

Saturday, November 19th, 2005 :: 10:30 AM

“In November 1996, the 25 were brought to the road construction site. Four concentric rectangular rows of spectators were assembled to watch the execution. Interviewee 17 was in the first row. The five leaders to be executed—the pastor, two assistant pastors, and two elders—were bound hand and foot and made to lie down in front of a steam roller. This steam roller was a large construction vehicle imported from Japan with a heavy, huge, and wide steel roller mounted on the front to crush and level the roadway prior to pouring concrete. The other twenty persons were held just to the side. The condemned were accused of being Kiddokyo (Protestant Christian) spies and conspiring to engage in subversive activities. Nevertheless, they were told ‘If you abandon religion and serve only Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, you will not be killed.’ None of the five said a word. Some of the fellow parishioners assembled to watch the execution cried, screamed out, or fainted when the skulls made a popping sound as they were crushed beneath the steam roller.” (>>) [PDF]

Friday, November 18th, 2005 :: 12:38 AM
Suburban Tumbleweed
Wednesday, November 16th, 2005 :: 7:04 PM

“I believed then, and still do believe, that love is a choice. I think perhaps it’s not all that simple, but when you boil it down, that’s what it is. It can be prompted by ‘in love’ feelings, the sort of butterflies and rainbows kind of mush, but it never stays that way. And sometimes, you can blink, turn around to look at it again, and it’s all fallen to pieces, and love was nothing like it was when you first thought you saw it (whether it was ever love back there in the beginning is arguable) – or even, what it was just a second ago, before you closed your eyes. What used to make your heart jump just doesn’t work anymore, and you can’t remember quite why it did in the first place. It’s at these points we choose flight or fight.” (>>)

Sunday, November 13th, 2005 :: 1:24 PM

“Sweet angelic beings used to take me away when I got too scared. That’s how I recall it. I remember flying around the ceiling of the living room and down the stairs, during times when it was intolerable to be in my body. I flew around the neighborhood, soothed by the quiet evening skies as the sweet beings and I soared together over the tops of trees. We sometimes soared over mountain valleys, or over ocean beaches in the moonlight. I think of them as guardian angels. Some people call that dissociating, or dreaming, astral traveling or having an overactive imagination. I don’t think it matters which it was. All I know is that I got some comfort when I needed it.” (>>) (>>)

Thursday, November 10th, 2005 :: 9:44 PM
“Don’t turn to God”

Pat Robertson finally admitted that he’s actually a follower of Satan and his “ministry” is to make sure people don’t turn to God. I’ve suspected this for a long time–I mean, how else can you explain his actions?–but it’s nice to get the confirmation.

Thursday, November 10th, 2005 :: 7:27 PM

“The Walton family believes that they’re a good, Christian family. Not if they’re gonna make billions at the expense of poor workers. Not if they’re gonna make money off the backs of people who are suffering.” (>>)

confessions, stories from both sides

Wednesday, November 9th, 2005 :: 4:45 PM

“Sometimes, when I am working the drive-thru, I daydream about a girl pulling up, getting a double tall soy no whip pumpkin spice latte, having a copy of ‘What Saint Paul Really Said?’ or ‘The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe’ or maybe something awesome like ‘Haroun and the Sea of Stories’ sitting in the empty seat next to her and she is pretty to me, but not in that perfect sort of way (but not in that ugly sort of way either) and she is short and meek and strangely pleased to meet me. Also, she has turn down her radio because she can’t listen to Eisley and me at the same time. Also, sitting in that seat is a tastefully decorated journal in which she reflects and writes magical poetry.” (>>)

Monday, November 7th, 2005 :: 3:58 PM

“Today was a vast improvement on yesterday. I think this has a little to do with the fact I spent more time reading and drinking coffee and meditating on Scripture and God than I did watching E! True Hollywood Story or VH1’s 101 Best Blonde Hairdos EVER.” (>>)

Saturday, November 5th, 2005 :: 11:13 AM

“…who wants to discuss anything with someone so sensitive that merely suggesting a contrary opinion gets them riled up? So I propose a ban on any argument of the form ‘Some position p offends me deeply; therefore not-p and moreover, you holding p is somehow immoral/objectionable/unkind/oppressive.’ ” (>>)

Saturday, November 5th, 2005 :: 9:26 AM

“Scripture, by its own attestation (2Tim. 3:16) and through its use of multiple literary forms and genres, contains more than just propositional revelation. Thus, when we reduce the content of the biblical revelation to propositions we dangerously distort the text with modern philosophical assumptions about the nature of truth and meaning. The sort of postpropositional approach to Scripture I am calling for here is not one that denies that God speaks in Scripture in propositional form, but is an approach that acknowledges that God performs many different types of speech-acts in Scripture, and insists that conveying propositional truths is often not the primary point. There are a variety of revelational media referred to and employed in Scripture (cf. Heb. 1:1-2). A postpropositional approach to Scripture places its confidence in Scripture because of its ability to ‘make us wise unto salvation,’ not because it is a storehouse of universal, infallible true propositions. (This, in turn, suggests that evangelicals need to adjust their truth theories to accommodate the different ways in which Scripture is true.)” (>>)

Thursday, November 3rd, 2005 :: 9:39 PM
Inclusivism Quotes

“All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) This will take place on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.” (>>)

“So I went over much grass and many flowers and among all kinds of wholesome and delectable trees till lo! in a narrow place between two rocks there came to meet me a great Lion. The speed of him was like the ostrich, and his size was an elephant’s; his hair was like pure gold and the brightness of his eyes, like gold that is liquid in the furnace. He was more terrible than the flaming Mountain of Lagour, and in beauty he surpassed all that is in the world, even as the rose in bloom surpasses the dust of the desert. Then I fell at his feet and thought, Surely this is the hour of death, for the Lion (who is worthy of all honour) will know that I have served Tash all my days and not him. Nevertheless, it is better to see the Lion and die than to be Tisroc of the world and live and not to have seen him. But the Glorious One bent down his golden head and touched my forehead with his tongue and said, Son, thou art welcome. But I said, Alas, Lord, I am no son of Thine but the servant of Tash. He answered, Child, all the service thou hast done to Tash, I account as service done to me. Then by reason of my great desire for wisdom and understanding, I overcame my fear and questioned the Glorious One and said, Lord, is it then true, as the Ape said, that thou and Tash are one? The Lion growled so that the earth shook (but his wrath was not against me) and said, It is false. Not because he and I are one, but because we are opposites, I take to me the services which thou hast done to him, for I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. Therefore if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath’s sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then though he says the name Aslan, it is Tash whom he serves and by Tash his deed is accepted… Beloved, said the Glorious one, unless thy desire had been for me thou wouldst not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what they truly seek.” (>>)

“The world does not consist of 100 percent Christians and 100 percent non-Christians. There are people (a great many of them) who are slowly ceasing to be Christians but who still call themselves by that name: some of them are clergymen. There are other people who are slowly becoming Christians though they do not yet call themselves so. There are people who do not accept the full Christian doctrine about Christ but who are strongly attracted by Him that they are His in a much deeper sense than they themselves understand. There are people in other religions who are being led by God’s secret influence to concentrate on those parts of their religion which are in agreement with Christianity, and who thus belong to Christ without knowing it. For example, a Buddhist of goodwill may be led to concentrate more and more on the Buddhist teaching about mercy and to leave in the background (though he might still say he believed) the Buddhist teaching on certain other points. Many of the good Pagans long before Christs birth may have been in this position. And always, of course, there are a great many people who are just confused in mind and have a lot of inconsistent beliefs all jumbled up together. Consequently, it is not much use trying to make judgements about Christians and non-Christians in the mass…” (>>)

“Nor is God far distant from those who in shadows and images seek the unknown God, for it is He who gives to all men life and breath and all things [1], and as Saviour wills that all men be saved [2]. Those also can attain to salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, yet sincerely seek God and moved by grace strive by their deeds to do His will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience. Nor does Divine Providence deny the helps necessary for salvation to those who, without blame on their part, have not yet arrived at an explicit knowledge of God and with His grace strive to live a good life [3]. Whatever good or truth is found amongst them is looked upon by the Church as a preparation for the Gospel. She knows that it is given by Him who enlightens all men so that they may finally have life. But often men, deceived by the Evil One, have become vain in their reasonings and have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, serving the creature rather than the Creator [4]. Or some there are who, living and dying in this world without God, are exposed to final despair.” (>>)

Thursday, November 3rd, 2005 :: 7:07 PM

“I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you…” (>>)

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2005 :: 9:01 PM

“I have refused to accept God’s love and grace for so long now that I don’t know any other way of living.” (>>)

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