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I just finished reading Family Driven Faith: Doing What It Takes to Raise Sons and Daughters Who Walk with God by Voddie Baucham. I found it to be a very challenging book.

I think most Christians are aware of the troubling statistics regarding children leaving the faith. Between 70 and 88 percent of Christian teens are leaving their faith by the time they are in their second year of college. The vast majority of Christian teens do not hold a Biblical world view.

There are many efforts being made to rectify the situation, but these are all "inside the box" type solutions; Build better Sunday school programs, Build better youth para-church organizations etc. While there is nothing inherently wrong with these efforts, Baucham notes that there is no Biblical charter for their existence.. The Bible tell parents that it is their responsibility to disciple their children. Deuteronomy 6:7 tells us that we need to teach God's word at home.

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

It is not an easy solution. It is not an comfortable solution. It is not the "take a pill" or "take a seminar" and everything will be better in the morning kind of solution that we love so much. It requires a lot of work. But it is the right thing to do.

I began seriously investing in my kid's spiritual development a few months before I got the book. I started reading 2 or 3 chapters of the Bible per night to my kids. Julia understands some of it. She is 6. Nathan doesn't seem to understand much. He is 4. I still do it, as I know that it is teaching him that his Daddy reads the bible at least 20 minutes a day, and that Daddy cares enough about his spiritual well being to invest 20 minutes per day. Oddly enough, Julia doesn't seem to care if she misses it, but Nathan begs me to read it to him every night.

Teaching is quite rewarding for me as the Daddy, and I plan to make it more central in our family traditions. After reading the Family Driven Faith book, I think we will try to incorporate a some worship songs and hymns, and some more general theology/doctrine lessons in addition to bible reading.

Some of Baucham's teachings tend to be quite controversial. He is critical of the age segregation that is normal in today's churches. He has advocated that the SBC find a way to pull their children out of the public school system. He is a homeschooling advocate. His arguments are quite compelling, but politically incorrect enough that they are very difficult for the Christian establishment to swallow.

Luckily the solution is not to change the world one denomination or one church at a time, it is to change the world one family at a time - Starting with my own. I am the leader of my family, and it is my responsibility to be their shepherd. Life change is contagious, so by changing my family, it is likely to encourage and exhort those we fellowship with.

Overall, I find Voddie Baucham to be quite prophetic. His words seem to be laced in biblical truth. He proposes a pretty radical prescription that many people are not going to want to swallow. I think every parent and church leader should be exposed to the ideas in this book, and should reconcile their resistance with the teachings of scripture.

I am not sure I am comfortable with ending age segregation in Church, but I do think that we need to work really hard to encourage parents to disciple their kids. Sunday School should be a supplement to home teaching, not the other way around.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 9:20 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I have been personally convicted that I should abstain from all wagering.

I feel that wagering is by it's very nature covetous and the bible tells us "thou shalt not covet."

I believe that wanting to get something from somebody and to give them nothing in exchange is stealing, and this is also a "thou shalt not" Stealing by mutual consent is not any different than murder by mutual consent in a duel. It is still murder, and it is still theft.

I believe that gambling is distinctly different then investing, as you receive ownership in a security when you invest, and generally the money invested is used for productive means. It is not the risk that makes gambling immoral, it is the heart condition that you are cultivating -- wanting something in exchange for nothing.

The Television, Radio, Billboards, and every store in my community have state sponsored signs teaching us "It is good to play".

So my question is when a good Christian invites me to engage in one of these wagering activities, what is my proper response?

Posted by Josh Reighley at 7:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Human engineering is an imperfect science. It is interesting to hear all of the Calvinist/Armenian debates erupt over the bridge collapse in MN. Mostly centered around John Piper's insistence that God is sovereign over catastrophes like this.

I think that God gives us the freedom to engineer. He however does not usually supplement our engineering efforts with miracles. Why did God allow the bridge to collapse? Most likely because the human effort to overcome the laws of physics failed.

How often do we place our faith in human efforts, then turn and blame God when our own efforts fail us?

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Quest Aircraft shows off their recently type certified Kodiak airplane. This aircraft is designed for missionary aviation, and is being built in Sandpoint Idaho. (Not to far from here)

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Joshua Bell becomes a sermon illustration.

HT: ThinkChristian

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Jeremiah 4 starts out with another invitation for Israel to turn it's heart back to God.

Verses 3-4:

For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:

"Break up your fallow ground,
and sow not among thorns.
Circumcise yourselves to the LORD;
remove the foreskin of your hearts,
O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;
lest my wrath go forth like fire,
and burn with none to quench it,
because of the evil of your deeds."

I see that as a challenge for myself as well. Where am I sowing among the thorns? What ground have I left fallow? We tend to invest a lot of effort into gaining stuff that God already promises to provide for us. When we do this, we are practicing a form of idolatry. We are seeking to gain something that God can only give from something that is not God. We spend less time investing in our relationship with Him, and thus are violating the first commandment "You shall have no other gods before me." Rather than sowing the field that God blesses, we sow fields that god has not blessed. When we plant among thorns, we get lust instead of love, wealth instead of security, pride instead of peace. It takes great faith to plant in the place of blessing because the place of blessing is also a place of humility and dependence.

Verse 9 is also quite interesting:

"In that day, declares the LORD, courage shall fail both king and officials. The priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded."

When the tests come, we often fail not in the areas where we are weak, but in the areas where we feel strong. Prophets should not be astounded, Priests should not be appalled, and officials should not lack courage. Many of God's men failed in unexpected ways. Peter, one of Jesus most faithful prophets denied him. David was a man of great self control, but he lost control. Moses was a man humbly dependent on God, but he took some of God's glory. When our righteousness becomes self righteousness, it fails under pressure.

As the chapter wraps up with some prophetic images of the Exile of God's people. in verse 27 God says: "The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end" Sometimes God takes us to rock bottom. He brings us to our knees. He brings us to dependence. Or pain is not the end, it is actually a new beginning. He strips away all of the thorny land we have grown so fond of, and leaves us only with the fallow ground that is our relationship with him to sow on.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Pastor Grant preached an excellent sermon at Liferoads this weekend.

Listen in!.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 3:56 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Jeremiah 3 seems to paint a very nice portrait of the Gospel of Grace.

We are sinners. We have walked away from God, and sought to feed ourselves though the worship of other things. Jeremiah 3:1-5 compares the nation of Israel to a wife who leaves her loving husband to pursue a life of prostitution. This desecrates the relationship.

Originally the northern kingdom of Israel rebelled first. And God “divorced her”. The southern kingdom Judah followed Israel away from God and into ‘whoredom”. Sin is seductive. We do not learn from others mistakes, but are instead seduced by their adventure. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 2:23

In spite of this, God invites Israel back. He says that he is merciful and will not remain angry forever. He asks them to confess their rebellion and return to him.
He does the same for us. “While we where still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 1 John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

If they return, God promises them leaders who will feed them knowledge and understanding. He promises them a new method of worship without the need for the Ark of the Covenant. Nations will gather to worship in Jerusalem to worship God.

When we return, we also have teachers and counselors that help to restore us. Jesus and the Holy Spirit now fill those roles. They feed us knowledge from the Gospel teachings of Christ, and through the continuing counsel of the Holy Spirit. We now worship in Spirit and in Truth, without need for the Ark of the Covenant.

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Technorati now searches videos when you search for a phrase. I happened accross this, which was pretty cool from Liferoad's Easter service this year.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 7:18 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

In Jeremiah 2:1-3 we see Israel compared to a young bride to God. She was devoted to Him and trusted in Him and he redeemed her from slavery, protected her from her enemies and gave her an opportunity to be holy in Him. God's church is his bride. This was true in the old testament times as well as new testement times see Ephesians 5:23-24 God is the same yesterday, today and forever. I see this as a challenge as a husband. My relationship with my wife is a model of God's relationship with his church. When my kids read these verses, I want them to understand God a little better. This means that I should be a protector of my wife. I should be a courageous leader, leading my family away from the bondage of sin and into the freedom in Christ. I should protect my wife from those who would hurt her or deceive her.

As we move on to Jeremiah 2:4-20 we see that Israel rejects serving God, and tries to replace him. They abandon Spring of Living Water and instead build their own cisterns that are unable to hold water. I think it is easy for us to do this today. We can build faith in the business wisdom that we read in a Seven Habits book, or relationship advice that we see on Oprah or Dr. Phil. Human wisdom can help us cope with our fallen state, but they will not transform us into a less fallen state. When we live within God's invitation, he sustains us and transforms us, and we no longer need crutches to cope. See John 4:13-14 Verse 20 wraps up this section with a rather pornographic analogy:

For long ago I broke your yoke
and burst your bonds;
but you said, 'I will not serve.'
yes, on every high hill
and under every green tree
you bowed down like a whore.

When we serve idols, it is adultery against God. We defile ourselves to pay the bills that God already promised to pay. Where am I trying to gain something that God has already promised? Am I not defiling myself in the process?

In the concluding verses, Jeremiah 2:21-37, we see the nature of the defilement brought upon ourselves by our sin. We soil the image that that God has made us in. All of our effort to cleanse ourselves still leaves us reeking of lust. We try to explain away God by saying that we descended from trees and rocks (or monkeys). We call on God only when we want something from him, and we offer no love or obedience in exchange. God tries to correct us, but we rebuff his efforts and kill his prophets.

Verse 33 was quite interesting, as it seemed to indicate that women learn to be wicked as a result of our corporate rebellion against God. God's relationship with His people is like that of a husband to a wife. When God's people seek deliverance from many gods, women tend to seek love from many men. A perverted view of God perverts our sexuality while a right view of God sanctifies our sexuality

Out of this final section I can ask myself these questions: Am I seeking cleansing through faith in Christ? Is my faith true enough that I will allow Him to discipline me, or will I rebuff His efforts and oppress the prophets that he sends to me?

Posted by Josh Reighley at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

My BSF study of Romans is over for the year. Until September, I am pretty much on my own. I figured I should publish my notes on the Blog to keep myself accountable.

I decided to delve into the book of Jeremiah. This looks to be an interesting book, and I don't hear a lot of preaching on it. If anyone feels up to joining me in the challenge let me know, and I will cross link your blog. Also feel free to leave me comments if you think I am misguided or missed something big.

Out of Jeremiah 1:1-5;, I see that God put Jeremiah in a particular place in the history of Judah, and that he had work for him to accomplish in that context. Ephesians 2:10 tells us that as Christians we have a similar mission that God has set up for us to accomplish. What is my mission?

From Jeremiah 1:6-10, we see that Jeremiah feels inadequate to do the mission that God is calling him to, but God puts the words into his mouth, and gives those words authority. When I work within my mission, do I look at it as my work, or do I look at it as God's work? Where do I put my faith? Do I need faith to accomplish what I am trying to do? If not, perhaps my goals are set too low.

From Jeremiah:11-14 we see that God warns Jeremiah that opposition will come, but assures him that God will protect him from it. Am I bold it the face of opposition? Do I avoid it, cower in fear? Do I avoid speaking the truth because somebody might be offended? Battles will come, but God's truth will always prevail. Is there anywhere in my life that I am fighting a hopeless battle against God's truth? We also notice that Jeremiah doesn't immediately fully understand what God shows him. He sees an image, then dialogs with God to understand it. Do I investigate the odd feelings and visions that might come into my head through prayer?

Posted by Josh Reighley at 9:21 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

There is something about your college town that sticks with you. Especially with a small college town, it seems like you should know everybody. My college town had a pretty tough week. Even though there have probably been 100,000 people that have passed through that town since I left, I still found myself trying to figure out how I was related to the victims and the gunman.

If you are willing to shed a tear or two, take a glimpse at this slideshow.

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"Give evil nothing to oppose and it will disappear by itself"

Comments???

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You scored as Reformed Evangelical. You are a Reformed Evangelical. You take the Bible very seriously because it is God's Word. You most likely hold to TULIP and are sceptical about the possibilities of universal atonement or resistible grace. The most important thing the Church can do is make sure people hear how they can go to heaven when they die. Reformed Evangelical 86% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 79% Fundamentalist 75% Classical Liberal 64% Charismatic/Pentecostal 57% Neo orthodox 57% Emergent/Postmodern 50% Roman Catholic 46% Modern Liberal 21% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

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Donnie Johnson, one of the Pastors at Liferoads, has been posting some really good stuff at his Blog...

Check it out!

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I guessed on some, and used elimination on others, but I squeaked by...

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"I tell you what, better than taking the path of least resistance is waking up and seeing a redeemer in the mirror. that is what you men want to aspire to." Mark Driscoll, Redeeming Ruth, Part 3

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One of the local churches frequently puts up signs with little explanation. This week it says "Macho should be dead"

Anyone care to discuss?

Posted by Josh Reighley at 7:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

This summer Voddie Baucham preached a series of sermons about marriage at Northpoint church. He talked about the extra-biblical wisdom that parents and the rest of society pound into their children. "Haven't you read in second Hesitations where it says 'Thou shalt not marry until after college'?" His response is worth hearing:

"So, here is what you are asking him to do. You are asking him for the next year to two years to be stronger than Samson, more godly than David, and wiser than Solomon. 'cause all of them fell into sexual immorality. He wants this woman, God has designed a relationship where in he can have this woman in righteousness and holiness, but you would rather ask him to be stronger than the strongest man in the bible, wiser than the wisest man in the bible and more godly than the godliest man in the whole bible, so that he can finish school first. Help you."

When from the outset we subordinate marriage to second or third priority in our lives, is it no wonder that they fail?

Posted by Josh Reighley at 3:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I really wish that Mark Driscoll's critics would listen to more of his sermons. Most of the bloggers who I hear criticizing cherry pick certain quotes taken out of context and paint him to be a raging chauvinist. Any typical point in a Driscoll sermon takes a couple of minutes. He is not the preacher of people with 10 second sound byte attention spans. Here is an example, from this week's audio.

You can get in a lot of danger if you only say one thing that the bible says on a subject and don't clarify that it has other things that it says on that subject as well.

I will give you one example that I deal with frequently. We believe in male headship in the home, we believe in gender roles, and a the submission of the wife to the husband if he is obeying Christ, and all of those things, But for example if the men who are going through Colossians and Ephesians and such only hammer you know, 'wives submit to your husbands' they could miss that very important verse in Genesis 2 which the purpose of the wife for the man is to be what? Helpful. Helpful. So we are not talking just about complete and utter obedience to the little god in the home named husband. We are talking about her respecting him in such a way that she is helpful. So many wives are submissive, but they are not helpful. There are certain women that never say anything, and their husbands are idiots. It would be helpful if they where not disrespectful, but helpful.

I have met with many wives, and they say my husband is doing this, and that, and the other thing, and everything is a mess, he's got this dumb business idea and our finances are sideways, but I am trying to be submissive. Well, also be helpful. Like if he is an idiot, and you are not, you should help him! And the bible says it is not good for him to be alone 'cause he is an idiot, he needs help, that is why you where made. Help him!

That is my simple illustration of if you just say what it says in one place, but if you don't import some other things that it says, you could end up having an extreme position that isn't mitigated by the rest of what scripture has to say.

My wife and I had this discussion some years ago. There where some things that she saw in my life that she thought I needed to work on and she never said anything. And I said "Why?" She said "I was trying to be submissive." But I said " Your also supposed to be helpful, Now I need you to be helpful, not just submissive. You need to be submissive, but in a helpful way. And if you are a respectful wife, then when you speak to me, I will actually listen, because I know that you are not that dripping faucet that proverbs speaks of, you are this crown on my head like proverbs speaks of."

Now the 10 second sound byte version that gets ratings would be "if he is an idiot, and you are not, you should help him! And the bible says it is not good for him to be alone 'cause he is an idiot, he needs help, that is why you where made. Help him!", The cliff notes really leave out a good portion of the lesson, don't they?

Posted by Josh Reighley at 2:00 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Bus riders get gifts from Secret Santa - Yahoo! News

Pretty cool eh?

Posted by Josh Reighley at 7:16 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

The Mondok Blog is running a cute series on "I am a Mac, I am an MD"

Took me a minute to figure out the Parody, but I get it now.

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Mars hill now has embeddable sermons. This one was one of my favorites from the current series. The last 5 minutes or so blew me away.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 4:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It seems like the Spokane area has more than it's share of bizarre murders.

In 1999, Robert Woods Killed his son Christopher. He set fire to their house, blamed the missing kid, and tried to claim the insurance money. He was busted in part because a local photo processing shop alerted authorities to the before and after insurance shots on the same roll of film. Mr Woods hung himself in jail, avoiding trial.

Also in 1999, Brad Jackson killed his daughter Valiree. He buried her in a rural area. Police suspected he was the murderer. They tipped him off that they had narrowed down the location of her grave. Then they tracked his truck's movements as he dug up his daughter, and relocated her body.

Robert Yates hunted prostitutes on the streets of Spokane between 1996 and 1998. He is convicted of 15 murders, but is suspected in several more. When he plead guilty to several of the murders, he agreed to lead the authorities to one of the missing bodies. Which was buried right outside his bedroom window.

In 1996, Tom DiBartolo, a Spokane County Sheriff's deputy shot and killed his wife, Patti. He also inflicted a superficial gunshot wound on himself in order to substantiate his story that they where mugged in a park. He had taken out a life insurance policy on his wife, and he moved in with his girlfriend shortly after the murder.

Last year, Joseph Duncan kidnaped two children Shasta and Dylan Groene, after murdering their mother, brother and their mother's Boyfriend. He later murdered Dylan Groene in the Montana mountains before being captured eating a midnight snack with Shasta in a Denny's resturaunt in Coeur d'Alene.

Last week, Richard and Teresa Kim where murdered by their 18 year old son, Bryan. Apparently Bryan strangled his mother with zip ties, and stabbed his father to death. When the parents employers reported them missing, police went to their home and found their body's in the bucket of a Bobcat.. Bryan was apprehended at his high school.

So, is there something in the water here? Or is this normal?

Posted by Josh Reighley at 12:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Imagine that you built a robotic machine to vacuum the floor in your house. You turn the machine loose, and it does what it is supposed to do for a short time, but then it begins neglecting it's duties. Worse yet, instead of cleaning, it tears apart your carpet to reduce it's workload. It doesn't care about your other tools either and often runs over them. Soon they too are unable to complete their tasks because of they are badly damaged.

Should you let your fancy vacuum it continue it's rampage? I would think not. It is time for the plug to be pulled.

God created us with a purpose in mind. Not only do we do a mediocre job of fulfilling the work that He has given to us, we tend to create our own purpose. We pursue our own goals without regard to the other people who we have to run over on our way. Not only do we damage ourselves by going off course, but we often interfere with others, by hurting or making them confused with lies.

I think this is what the Bible means when it says "The wages of sin is death" Like my wayward vacuum, we deserve to be powered down, and thrown into the scrap heap.

Eventually, God will go ahead and destroy all of his creations that are hell-bent on creating havoc. But he loves us enough to offer us another solution. If we come to Jesus, He will pay the penalty for the damage that we caused. Not only that, but He will rebuild us, repair us, and reprogram us, so that we can be all that he created us to be.

I think that is pretty darn kind of him, Don't you?

Posted by Josh Reighley at 2:39 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I have been pretty annoyed with the Blogshere's reaction to Mark Driscoll's comments after Ted Haggard's downfall. Many blogs and alternative newspapers are taking one of his comments totally out of context and assigning it a headline like "Blaming Gayle Haggard"

Mark begins his post by recapping the news of that day -- Ted Haggard's fall. He uses that as a reminder to the pastors who he leads that they need to be on their guard. "As every pastor knows, we are always at risk from the sin in us and the sinful temptations around us." From this point on, he has clearly transitioned away from the Haggard topic to more general advice for young pastors on how to avoid temptation. His advice is not about avoiding male prostitutes and methamphetemines. It is geared towards protecting against the less sensational run-of-the-mill heterosexual temptation that all men are exposed to.

He gives 12 bullet points. Most of them are very sound advice. They are all worth reading, and heeding. It is important to note that 11 of these points are geared toward men. By and large, men have a problem with sexual temptation. He offered 11 specific things that men can do to manage their temptations.

The firestorm was set off when Mark mentioned 1 thing that women can do to help. I am going to dissect his comment a bit.

Most pastors I know do not have satisfying, free, sexual conversations and liberties with their wives.

At the risk of being even more widely despised than I currently am, I will lean over the plate and take one for the team on this.

He saw the storm coming and he decided to say what he had to say anyway.

It is not uncommon to meet pastors’ wives who really let themselves go; they sometimes feel that because their husband is a pastor, he is therefore trapped into fidelity, which gives them cause for laziness.

Pastor Mark likely knows a ton of pastors, and a lot of pastors wives. I bet he knows quite a few of them very well. Does this happen? I bet it does. Looking at the general population, after marriage, it is very common that people put on weight once they have their mate locked in. As a matter of fact, Here is a scientific study showing that people gain weight after marriage, and lose weight after divorce. I would guess that the amount of time spent in sweat pants has a similar correlation. The fact of the matter is that pursuing our mate is hard work, and once we don't have to, we get lazy about it.

A wife who lets herself go and is not sexually available to her husband in the ways that the Song of Songs is so frank about is not responsible for her husband’s sin, but she may not be helping him either.

Most bloggers ignored the part about the wife not being responsible for her husband's sin. They ignored the other 11 points in the article, that squarely put the responsibility on the man. They insert Haggard into the context, when Driscoll had totally changed the subject.

But what is more important is to analyze this teaching against scripture. Compare this statement to 1 Corinthians 7:2-5:

But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

It seems to me, that Paul is making pretty much the same point that Driscoll was making. If we do not have satisfying, free, sexual conversations and liberties with our wives then Satan will tempt us because of our lack of self-control. If Driscoll wants to lead people away from Satan's traps, wouldn't it be a pretty big oversight to not mention this truth? The context of the bullet points has already established the men have a lot of work to do. Since a healthy marriage requires effort by both the husband and the wife, it seems reasonable that he would encourage wives to be aggressively intimate. I wish Pastor Mark had cited 1 Corinthians 7 so that this argument was framed around scripture, rather than Mark Driscoll.

While Driscoll calls women to aspire to a physical intimacy with their husbands, he also in a later point calls men to an emotional intimacy with their wives. "Pastors must speak freely and frankly with their wives about their temptations. Without this there really can be no walking in the light and sin always grows in darkness."

Usually, I do not think that men have difficulty being physically intimate, and women do not have trouble being emotionally intimate. So he does hit both genders with advice on how to improve the intimacy in their marriage.

Anyway, this type teaching is what I really like about Pastor Mark. He calls us obey parts of the bible that would be widely ignored by the more cowardly preacher. He doesn't avoid the tough topics. He calls it as he sees it, and doesn't apologize for our culture's offense at God's Word.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 2:17 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

After a bit of contemplation, I feel I owe Pastor Phil a bit of an apology. I knew I only had half of the story, and seeing some of the other bloggers comments, I felt that they where not giving the denominations leadership the benefit of the doubt on an issue that would be pretty unprofessional for them to talk about publicly.

Based on the information in the article and the content of the church website, I could understand why leaders would be concerned. This Church is on a valiant mission deep in dangerous enemy territory. It is not surprising that folks would want to keep a close eye on their mission, and their focus. Sometimes units can get so involved in a battle that they undermine the war. If we focus too much effort on befriending the culture that that becomes more important than honoring and glorifying Christ, that is exactly what we do. That is a danger to every church, no matter who they reach out to.

Anyway, being a careless sleep deprived blogger can hurt people.. I definitely shouldn't have put the word "fame" in my headline. That was speculating as to his motive, and it was out of line. He can speak for himself. As he did in the comments. In my effort to slow a rush to judgment, I stepped on a man who was down. That isn't very nice.

I guess sleep deprived graveyard bloggers oughta save the send button for the morning.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 9:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Pastor Phil Wyman responded to my comments over on John Armstrong's Blog.

I noticed several blogspot blogs run by Pastor Wyman, If you want a better feel for his ministry, check them out, and form your opinion.

The Why Man

Squarenomore

Lessons in Christianity from Witch City

Posted by Josh Reighley at 4:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

One of my co-workers (non-Christian) pointed out an article in the on the cover of the Wall Street Journal today about Phil Wyman, an Evangelical pastor who was expelled from his denomination because of his outreach to the pagan community in Salem MA.

The story in the newspapers is fairly one sided. The Foursquare denomination declined to comment, correctly in my opinion. They probably see this as an internal matter, and treat it with a certain amount of care and respect. Mr. Wyman on the other hand is using this incident to generate a ton of publicity for his ministry.

It looks like a lot of bloggers are rushing to judgment and supporting this guy based on the information in the article.

Searching the The Gathering website for the word "Jesus" yields very few results. It is only mentioned on one of the 4 front pages. I dug pretty deep into the website, and didn't find anything too obvious outside of the "What we believe" page, which mirrored the denomination's doctrine.. Witches are people too, and they need the message of Christ, not a loaner stage for their festivals.

Looking at the pastor's musings, many of them are fictitious extra-biblical stories about God. I don't see any direct teaching from the Bible. For Halloween, the church was hosting a seminar on Dream Interpretation. Obviously some biblical heroes where gifted in this area, but I would be interested to know what Salem gathering teaches in these sessions.

It is unclear what the specific charges against this pastor are. It is clear from the article that his church was loaning equipment to the local Halloween festival. It is clear from the website that they promote the traditions that cross over easily from Witchcraft. (Dream interpretation, Meditation, etc.) The pastor describes himself as a practical mystic.

Looking at the "what we believe" parts of the website, there is no doubt that they subscribe to the Christian faith. (I am fairly sure that they lifted these tenets directly from foursquare.) Hopefully their ministry is fruitful. There is no reason that their overly apologetic and accommodating approach should be endorsed or supported by a denomination that is not ashamed of the name of Christ.

It will be interesting to see if the denomination responds. I wouldn't blame them either way.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 8:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Blogrodent was right, Voddie Baucham's sermon was "out-of the-park"

Posted by Josh Reighley at 3:41 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Spent the last 3 days at a church conference. It was very good to stop and take a break from the everyday grind and worship like crazy. I am ready to go. All fired up.

Took Nathan to the airport the other day during a conference break. We saw the Fuel truck pull up to deliver the 100LL aviation fuel to the pumps. Nathan was pretty excited to watch all that activity... The folks at the FBO came out and made some measurements on the fuel to make sure it was up to spec..Nathan asked "Daddy, what they doing?" I replied, "they are mesuring the density of the fuel. It is important that airplanes don't get bad gas. They are using a hydrometer, can you say hydrometer??"

Nathan loves to play chess. He is starting to get it.. Although he always opens with moving his rightmost pawn forward one space, then thee second pawn then the third etc. It is kinda funny... I have learned that I have to challenge him somehow to break up the pattern, because if you let him continue, you get a big traffic jam on the board. Often we trade sides. What a mess!

Julia is liking chess too. She gets it pretty well, but doesn't keep her focus too well. That is okay. She is 5, and her brother is 3, so I can't expect too much.

Sprained my ankle yesterday chasing the kids at the park.

Had to move my cubical today.Hobbled from one end of the floor to the other, shuttling my stuff.. It wasn't much fun. My new cube almost has a support pillar in it. (One of the walls is punctuated). They haven't stolen my stapler yet, and I am still getting paid..

Posted by Josh Reighley at 6:31 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Apparently NBC's version of "The Veggie Tales" has been stripped of any "God talk". Phil Visser is quoted as saying that he is only continuing to work with them in hopes that some parents pick up a real veggie tales movie at WalMart.

Bozell's News Flash: NBC Slices and Dices 'Veggie Tales' | NewsBusters.org

It’s truly sad that this anti-religious hypocrisy would emerge. Today, no one in network TV fears what the children are watching – unless it makes them think about God.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 1:21 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Blind to death, he walks through his day.
Working for nothing, playing for nothing, loving emptiness

Seeing nothing, he invents meaning.
And begins his journey to the mirage.

His parched body hungers, and longs for loving touch.
Having never been satisfied, he doesn’t comprehend his pain.

As he marches, he gets no closer.
The monotony of his journey becomes his prison.

Inflicting pain on himself becomes his escape.
Adrenaline courses through his veins.

He only feels alive while participating in his own destruction
Scars form on his body and on his heart, and he rejoices in them.

A touch, a sip, or a bite would set him free.
One real experience and his delusions would be vanquished.

But nobody shares a touch, a sip or a bite.
Should a scarred man on a journey be interrupted?

So the pain of the journey continues indefinitely.
Until he falls into the lake of fire.

-JDR 8/16/06

Posted by Josh Reighley at 3:34 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

One of the local newspaper blogs, Huckleberries online posed the question "What's Wrong With Saving It For Marriage?" Apparently a couple saved their first kiss for marriage, and that had caught a lot of interest by the audience.

Predictably some of the comments where fairly negative on the idea:

"Foolish"

"Test Drive!
Test Drive!
Test Drive!"

"that which is worth waiting for is probably cool to get really early too"

"I never buy a pair of shoes without trying them on first."

"Would you buy a car without test driving it first to see how it handles?"

My comment was "If you need a test drive, you are testifying to your spouse from the beginning that your love is conditional."

Coincidentally, I last night, I was listening to a Mars Hill sermon where Pastor Mark Driscoll suggested three criteria for selecting a wife. Is she breathing? Does she love Jesus? Will she put up with me?

I wonder if much of our crisis in marriage isn't caused by overexposure to romantic story lines in media? If we marry a girl because she meets 20 or 30 items on our criteria list, isn't our love pretty conditional? Is it really love at all? Or are we just entering a contract in order to gain something that we want?

The culture that we live in most likely sees unconditional love as foolishness. After all a husband's love for his wife is supposed to be a picture of Christ's love for his church. (Ephesians 5:25) If the message of the cross is seen as foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:18), should a biblical marriage be seen any differently?

So, what do you think? Is unconditional love foolish?

Posted by Josh Reighley at 9:16 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

I have become a bit addicted to the Mars Hill Church Podcast.

Pastor Mark Driscoll seems just gritty enough to annoy the fundementalists and conservative enough to annoy the liberals. Since he teaches in the young, trendy, and mostly agnostic City of Seattle, he tends to teach on controversial subjects most of the time. As an added bonus, he is totally unapoligetic about it.

Here is a slightly tame sample:

powered by ODEO

Link: Mars Hill Feeds

Posted by Josh Reighley at 2:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I always liked Jon Kinta when he was playing in Seattle. There was nothing flashy about him, he just did is job, and was an all around good guy. I was sad to see him go. I am glad he is getting another chance!

Kitna discovers faith during reckless college years

HT: Brad Leach

Posted by Josh Reighley at 2:31 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Apparently Myspace is now the most viewed website on the Internet. Quite honestly, it kinda creeps me out whenever I go there.

Imagine if some old friends who you had not seen in several years invited you out to eat with them so you could catch up. You get the the restaurant, and you find that it really isn't a restaurant, but more of a seedy bar. It is so loud, that you really can't have a meaningful conversation. You are constantly being interrupted by people of both genders hitting on you. Then the strippers come out and start dancing on the tables. You feel really uncomfortable being there, but you would also feel uncomfortable walking out on your friends who you haven't seen in a long time. Oh, another odd thing, why are all of these underage kids hanging around a seedy strip club??

That about sums it up for me. I have a profile out there, that links here. Not too excited about spending much more time there.

Yahoo 360 is somewhat better. Not a ton better, but somewhat

Posted by Josh Reighley at 4:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Andee and I have started to spend a little time each night studying the bible together. We started this week with Philippians.

We are using the homiletics method taught by BSF. In a nutshell it is a 5 step process for preparing to teach a bible passage. Step one is to list the content of the passage. Step 2 is to divide the content into 2-4 divisions. Step 3 is to write a summary sentence for the entire passage. Step 4 is to define the main idea that you want your audience to take away from your teaching. Step 5 is to write real life applications based on the divisions that you created in Step 2.

We are really pleased with this method. It forces us to actually immerse ourselves in the scripture and think about what we are learning from it. It also teaches us to express what we are learning to each other. Each study is generated from scratch, so we know that what we are learning is what the scripture is teaching us. I like being able to trust God to teach me what he wants me to learn rather than answering leading questions to teach me what the author of the study material thinks I should learn.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 11:06 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

I believe that we spend way to much on the here and now. We spend so much energy trying to improve ourselves, that we fail to invest in those around us. When all is said and done, our legacy on this world is not defined by who we are, what we did, and what we had. It is defined by how we effected those who are around us.

The world around us bombards us with the language of justice all of the time. "You have the right", "You deserve it", "You earned it", "You shouldn't have to put up with that". When we accept these messages as being true, we often find ourselves quite self centered. Many times the world would be a much better place if we passed on our "rights".

The currency of Love is our acceptance of injustice. Giving our hard earned money to help those who are in need is accepting injustice. Forgiving our spouse for something hurtful that they did is accepting injustice. Being willing to not get credit for the things that we accomplish is accepting injustice. Letting the Joneses win is accepting injustice. Certainly loving your enemy is accepting injustice.

I find it amazing to go to funerals of people who get this. Often, the entire community turns out. Hundreds of people have had their lives changed just because they had a few interactions with somebody who is absolutely ordinary in every other way.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 3:35 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Not quite sure what to think of this one:

mu''a'vo' mu' - A Klingon Word from the Word

Posted by Josh Reighley at 11:03 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Junglepop posted an interesting question yesterday in his post:  Missionaries, Those Welfare Christians

He basically compares the scrutiny that we give to folks buying junk food with their food stamps to the scrutiny that missionaries feel when they spend their donated "Salaries" on certain indulgences.

I think that it is likely that if we where to get to know one of the welfare recipients, and take them shopping, they would probably use much better judgment with our money than they do when they are using the Government's money.  The transaction has a lot more meaning when you can see the person who is giving it to you.  It has a lot more meaning when you see their motives in giving it to you.  When a check comes in the mail every week from an anonymizing bureaucracy, that love transaction is lost.  The beneficiary feels entitled, and the provider feels taxed.

I think that missionaries like Joe are quite conscious of their supporters, and try to use their money wisely. (thus the post)   That made me think.  As Christians, aren't we all missionaries here? (John 17:14-18)  Are we treating our provider as an anonymous bureaucracy?  Or are we treating him as our generous friend? 

Posted by Josh Reighley at 12:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

One of the Church signs in town has the following statement on it this week:

 "Sin is selective compassion"

It took me about 5 minutes to figure out what they meant.

I don't support this definition, but I am curious:  Are there some forms of Sin that cannot be labeled as "Selective Compassion"? 

Posted by Josh Reighley at 10:57 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Well,  I have had a bit of a down week.   Not sure what happened, but I just got kinda gloomy..  Nothing really went wrong, but nothing really went right either.   By Saturday, I was really grumpy, and couldn't really put my finger on why.

 Sunday morning during worship, I think I figured it out.  For months, we have been struggling pretty hard financially.  We do crazy things like put five dollars worth of gas in the car at a time.  We  scrounge for stuff to sell to get enough money to go to a resturaunt.  We are not poor by any means.  We have just enough, and nothing more.  Cashflow is very tight.

 Last week, we where not broke for the first time in a very long time.  I had decided in advance to be more disciplined with the money.  In the past, we have always blown our windfall money.  This hasn't been healthy.  I thought things through, and decided not to go take a flying lesson or do anything else that would wet my appetite for money.  I paid some bills, invested in some useful classes for my wife and myself, and bought some groceries.  Overall we behaved ourselves..

 I didn't really pray much all week.  I prayed with the kids when I went to bed.  Those where honest prayers.  But I didn't really break out of the routine at all.  I created a law, stayed in the law, and forgot all about why I was doing what I was doing, and not doing what I was not doing.

I have been robotic..  I programmed the course, and turned myself on..  As I excecuted the program, I failed to notice that I had pulled my plug out of the wall..  While I am still able to follow my course, I am quickly getting tired, lethargic, and apathetic.   I lost my power source! 

Posted by Josh Reighley at 2:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Posted by Josh Reighley at 5:21 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Here is a rundown of some other blogger's analysis of the BattleCry Youth convention protests in San Francisco:

Private Radio � San Francisco: the new totalitarianism

Cotillion: A Badge of Honor

Marturia.net - Liberals scared of teens?

If you would like to see the liberal bloggers viewpoint check out Technorati, as I don't want to link to them.

Their reaction is fairly comical. Basically the only complaint that is based on reality is that they disapprove of the "Battle" language. Grown men and women are shouting inflamatory names at teenagers who are praying, and we are supposed to think that the teens are the agressors? Then they brag about it on their websites. Beyond that, some of them suggest a Denial of Service attack should be initiated against Battlecry's website. Hint: When you verbally beat up on people who are on their knees praying, don't expect them to believe that there is no "Battle"

Posted by Josh Reighley at 4:42 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Purity is not welcome?

Looks like San Francisco is begining to realize that they did their city no favors by opposing a prayer convention of Junior high and High school students in thier city:

Intolerant City

Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, was quoted telling counterprotesters Friday that the gathering Christians were "loud, they're obnoxious, they're disgusting and they should get out of San Francisco." On Monday, however, Leno struck a more reasoned tone, acknowledging that his rally cry was "not one of my prouder moments." He said the youth group was "welcome in San Francisco," even though he does worry that its religious rhetoric could "under a cloak of love" feed a "fearful world's appetite for hate."

The city supervisors passed a resolution condemning the convention. Checking Battle Cry's website, it appears that they are trying to encourage kids to stay off drugs, alcohol, and sex. Apparently the leaders in San Francisco find this offensive.

Not only did this create a huge wave of publicity for the organization. It also removed any doubt from validity of their message. This culture is opposed to our youth staying pure, and will fight to corrupt them in every avenue available: Television, Music, Internet, Advertizing, and now apparently City board resolutions.

I think that Battlecry's approach is very good. They are encouraging youth trust in God's promises and remain pure. They fight this battle one heart at a time. They also work to train these kids to become leaders in their community, loving other kids, and setting a pure example.

Thanks to Junglepop for the heads up.

Comment Contest: New City slogan for San Francisco?

Posted by Josh Reighley at 9:54 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

The other day I was leaving my church after doing some computer work, and a gentleman was waiting outside and asked me if I could give him a ride home. He was not somebody I knew, but was with another group that was using our facility that evening. I asked him where he needed to go, and it was about 2 miles in the opposite direction of where I was going. I sent an arrow prayer, and felt that I should give this guy a ride.

We got moving, and I tried to strike up a conversation. He asked some questions about the meeting that evening, which I knew very little about. After a few seconds of awkward silence, he said, "You know, I have a lot of fear issues."

"Really?" I asked. "What kinds of things are you afraid of?"

"I really can't put explain it. I am just afraid"

"We all have some fears" I said.

"You have fear too?"

"Well sure, everyone fears some things. I try to trust God to watch over me and protect, but sometimes I fear quite a bit. It is always a battle to remember that God is in control"

A few minutes passed.

"Am I going to Die?" my passenger asked.

He was a pretty clean cut guy. Tall, lean and well dressed. I could tell he smoked a lot of cigarettes, but other than that he seemed pretty healthy.

"We all die" I replied. "But you look like a pretty healthy guy, you probably still have quite a long life ahead of you. Is there something wrong?"

"No, I can't really explain it, I just think I am going to die."

He asked more questions about the meeting.. I told him a little about our church.

"Did I do something wrong?" he asked.

"Not that I heard about" I assured him.

As we neared his neighborhood, I got quite confused as to where he lived. He didn't give me very good directions.

He asked me again about fear, and I told him that I though the best way to deal with fear was to pray.

"You pray?" He asked.

"Yes I do."

"Who do you pray to?"

This question through me off a bit. I am not sure why. "I pray to my heavenly father, God. And my Savior Jesus. Do you know Jesus?"

"Yes" he said.

I was lost.. "Do you live on the other side of the river?" I asked. We where pretty much stuck on a one way road going across the river.

"No"

"Oops, I will turn around as soon as I can"

"Now I am getting worried." He replied. "Are you going to kill me?"

"No sir, I am your friend, Just trying to get you home safe."

Unsure that he really understood the point of our earlier conversation, I told him that if he trusted in Christ, he really didn't need to fear death. I told him that this life is hard, but God has work for us to do here. After we pass away in this world, we will live in a world without sin and disease, and our eternal life would be wonderful.

Shortly after this we arrived at his place, and parted ways.

Obviously this guy was a bit confused, but after reflecting and praying about this encounter a bit, I came to realize that his questions are the same as everyone else's.

"Did I do something wrong?" All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God - Romans 3:23

"Am I going to die?" For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 6:23

"Who do you pray to?" - You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. John 14:14

"I am afraid" - Perfect love drives out fear - 1 John 4:18

"Are you going to kill me?" Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. - Heb 12:14

Most people don't ask these questions, but they certainly are thinking them. To be honest, that last question crossed my mind a time or two during that trip.

God certainly used this gentleman to prepare me to be ready to answer these questions. I wonder who He will send my way next?

Posted by Josh Reighley at 3:58 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

What would our world be like if this where not a infrequent enough that it became a national top story whenever it happened?

Pregnant Teen Waitress Gets $1,000 Tip - Yahoo! News

"It involved a lot more than good service at a great restaurant," Dogan told the Times. "I didn't need it. It helped someone who ... needed it. God put us there together. God answered my questions."

I think this is what it is all about. We should be no doubt that something is radically different about us.

Do you figure Amanda Newkirk feels loved? If the state had had to pick up her medical bills, do you figure she would have felt the same amount of love? It likely is a similar amount of money.

If Mrs. Dogan had spent the cash on new clothing it is doubtful that she would even remember spending the money a few months down the road. I doubt she forgets this!

Posted by Josh Reighley at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

The Word "Anger" is used 270 times in the NIV bible. 257 times in the old testement, and 13 times in the new testement. Two of the quotes in Hebrews are direct quotes of the Psalms.

In Mark 3:5, Christ is Angry about the legalism of the Pharisees. "He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored."

The word "Angry" has a simularly lopsided distribution being used 110 times in the old testement, and 10 times in the new. Most of the new testement references are either parables discribing people, or encouragement not to become angry.

Basically my understanding is that Anger is God's job, not ours.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 4:30 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

"When Would Jesus Bolt?" by Amy Sullivan

I have been saying for quite a while that the Media has overblown the Evangelical church's relationship with the right. I believe that the Christian Right is bound to the GOP based on one or two non-negotiable issues. Once those issues are resolved or settled, all bets are off as far as who they will vote for.

There is a lot in the Republican platform that doesn't have much appeal from a Biblical worldview. There is quite a bit in the Democratic platform that does. I think most Christians would be significantly more liberal than the GOP, but they are not willing to sacrifice the lives of innocent unborn babies to aid the liberal social causes.

Political victory can cost you. Satisfied constituents are less committed constituents. Odd but true.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 3:04 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Blog post not to miss:

Jungle Pop: Sometimes Theology's Like This

Posted by Josh Reighley at 4:53 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Kid: Daddy, I have to go to the bathroom.
Daddy: Oh, it is through the kitchen, Take a left, and then immediately take another left.
Kid: Grrrr... I KNOW DADDY!

Daddy: Touch my nose.
Kid: moves finger in the direction of daddy's nose.
Daddy: Jerks his head and says, No, that is Daddy's chin!
Kid tries again, no, that is Daddy's ear. Kid tries again. No, that is Daddy's forehead.

I am sure there are a lot more that I am missing!

Posted by Josh Reighley at 7:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I finished reading the The Heavenly Man yesterday, and I was quite impressed with the book.

The book is about Brother Yun, a Christian house church evangelist in communist China. The book reads a lot like the Acts of the Apostles, with Brother Yun traveling from one church community to another evangelizing, teaching and encouraging the believers as the government chases him. Several times, he does get caught, tortured, and imprisoned, but Brother Yun's witness is consistently strengthened by his suffering.

After the whole James Frey fiasco, every time you read a book like this, you have to wonder about the truthfulness of the story. Of course anyone who claims that God does miracles today is going to be challenged by certain factions within the western church. A quick internet search confirms the controversy. I believe Brother Yun is truthful. His arrests are well documented as are the conditions of the house church movement in China. God's method of aiding his suffering church is well documented in the Bible. Many of us in the west are not privileged enough to suffer, so we begin to doubt. The God that we read about in Acts is alive and well, and has not changed. Paul Hattaway has a detailed rebuttal of the criticisms on the asiaharvest website.

Brother Yun's teaching is biblical, challenging, and inspirational. In the west we have so much. I have 5 or 6 bibles at home, several more available on demand 24/7 through biblegateway.com. In Spokane, I can scan my AM/FM radio dial and find pastors preaching on 3 or 4 channels pretty much 24 hours per day. I have hundreds of churches I can choose to go to, and can find services at a time that is convenient to me. Brother Yun and many other Christians in China often have none of this. They have the ability to pray. If they are very lucky, they can get their hands on a bible. They can covertly meet with other believers, at the risk of imprisonment and torture. Despite this massive imbalance, I believe that their faith is often much healthier than ours.

Brother Yun describes how well meaning churches sent literature along with bibles into china, and their denominational teachings caused a great rift between the different house church movements. Sometimes less is more. "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." - 2 Corinthians 12:9

There are some very admirable things about Brother Yun's character exposed in the book. Whenever he was able, he would memorize a chapter of the bible every day. When he was in prison, he had a massive collection of God's word available right in his heart.

In every situation, he was looking for a way to be a witness for Christ. He rejoiced in his suffering, and his cellmates and other people that he was in contact with took notice.

He acknowledges his failures in the book as well. When he wasn't in prison, he would work until he was totally burnt out. He would neglect his family. He is thankful for the suffering that God used to remedy his disobedience.

Because of disobedience and disrespect for the Lord, my wife, and my co-workers, I went to prison for a second time. The Lord saw I was exhausted in the ministry, so he graciously allowed me to rest in him behind bars for a while and learn about inner spiritual life.

I highly recommend this book. It is quite an inspiring and challenging.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 12:55 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I desparately need a flashdark.

You know, one of those small handheld wands that you point at something, and it creates a beam of darkness?

If you see one for sale, please let me know.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 2:53 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I grew up in Washington state, but it seems like every friend or acquaintance I have made over the years has been a huge Steelers fan.

Out of convenience, (the Hawks usually stink) I have been sucked along on the bandwagon more times than not.

This year, I don't really have the luxury of rooting for the Steelers, but still, this is pretty darn cool:

Cowher's Prayer

Posted by Josh Reighley at 3:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

One of those interesting things that God does... I was browsing through the bible trying to find some biblical answers for my friend when I stumbled across this scripture, which was an answer to a question of my own:

BibleGateway.com - Passage Lookup: Titus 3:9-11;

But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.

I am often irritated about the venomous Christians that tend to troll blogsphere searching for people to condemn. Sometimes it makes me ashamed to be associated with Christian blogs at all.

I think I will walk away from such controversies from here on out. I will call the venom what it is, and if people still want to bite, I don't need to be involved. Nothing good ever comes from argueing with somebody who has a hardened heart.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 6:37 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

It may be the Open Source movement's inflence on me, but I have always had difficulty with the idea of copyrights on religous teaching.

Vatican 'cashes in' by putting price on the Pope's copyright - World - Times Online
For the first time all papal documents, including encyclicals, will be governed by copyright invested in the official Vatican publishing house, the Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

The edict covers Pope Benedict XVI�s first encyclical, which is to be issued this week amid huge international interest. The edict is retroactive, covering not only the writings of the present pontiff � as Pope and as cardinal � but also those of his predecessors over the past 50 years. It therefore includes anything written by John Paul II, John Paul I, Paul VI and John XXIII.

Many religous teachings are copywrited. Pastors often purchase their sermons from companies like sermons.com or creativepastors.com and use them in their churches. In general, I think this practice is good, as it allows them to present a more carefully crafted message than they could if they started fresh each time.

Some Bible translations (notably the NIV) have fairly restrictive copyrights on them. It is difficult to give away a computer program that has the NIV translation in it.

In general, I don't think that God's Word, or the related discussions should be unavailable to anyone. We should want this message copied and spread to as many people as possible.

Does God want people to have to pay to learn about him? I certainly would be interested in people's opinions on this.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 1:35 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Studied Genesis 16 at BSF yesterday... At first glance, the application seems pretty easy.

Even if my wife says it is okay to have babies with her maidservant, it is likely not a good idea.

I don't think I will have much trouble behaving myself there...

Then I think about other places where my wife can be nicer than she should be. Buying cars, watching sports etc...

Lets re-write the application: Even if my wife says it is okay to... (put your own selfish desire here).... It may not be a good idea..

Not so easy is it???

Posted by Josh Reighley at 6:36 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I like Shaun Alexander a lot. He seems to have his head on right.

Seahawks expect Alexander to practice Wednesday, play in NFC title game Sunday - NFL - Yahoo! Sports

His entire weekend was bad. He had a bad cold all week but refused medication until just before the game. He said he then took "tons" of medicines, and felt somewhat strange when he started the game.

On Seattle's first drive, Alexander lost a fumble without getting hit -- his second lost fumble in two games after none in 350 carries in 15 games this season.

"Medicine's good for some people," he said. "Not for me."

It is so hard for anyone to stand up against the drug culture today. Every little ailment must be treated with a pill, our you are considered a Sado-masachist by those around you.

I think most people take so many drugs today, that they wouldn't know if they where truely feeling good or bad.. They have no baseline to measure from.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 2:26 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Well I had to call all of the bookstores in town to track down a copy, but I am reading The Heavenly Man. Seems like I have seen several Blogs quoting the book over the last few weeks, and Junglepop highly recommended it.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 4:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Oprah is defending James Frey, the author of her book club book: A million little pieces

My Way News

"He's said he's had many conversations with my producers who do fully support him and obviously we support the book because we recognize that there have been thousands and hundreds of thousands of people whose lives have been changed by this book."

My wife finished the book yesterday, and wants me to read it. I read through the Smoking Gun's extensive audit of the book, and it looks quite apparent that this book is pretty well rooted in fiction.

The question is, Does it matter? The author apparently did go through a rehab program, so he likely has experienced life as an addict. He maintains that the Memior is "emotionally true".

I suspect that it does matter. The ends don't justify the means. If you change lives with lies, those lives are not really changed, just fooled. Sad, but true.

James probably made a fortune off of this book, and Oprah's endorement. All of this controversy will probably make his book even more noticed. There is no such thing as bad publicity when you have a product to move.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 1:21 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

II name this the thought provoking post of the week:

Random Thoughts and Associations...: Christians, Gay Marriage and Poverty

How much different would the world be if those who professed to be Christians actually left their selfishness behind made sacrifices to help those in need?

Are out unnegotiable political stands actually and a way of appearing religious without having to make any sacrifice?

Posted by Josh Reighley at 7:41 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I had a brainstorm yesterday regarding the Trinity as a parenting model.

The Heavenly Father provided the world that we live in, and all that we need for life. He set out the law, guiding us in how we should live. His integrity is unwavering. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He disciplines us when we rebel.

The Son, was willing to sacrifice everything in order to bring us into a right relationship with God. He loves us even when where are unworthy.

The Holy Spirit Lives within each of us , guiding and strengthening us.

In a traditional family the role of the father corresponds with the example laid out by the Heavenly Father. He sets the standards for the family. He enforces the rules, he provides. (See Hebrews 12:7-11)

The mother should follow the model of the Jesus. (See Romans 5:8-11) Affirming the authority of the father, but loving the children even as they are. She is the source of abundant Grace. She is the healer. Her job is to encourage the children to strive for righteousness, believing in them and supporting them each day as if they where a new creation. As Christ Reconciles us with God, A mother should reconcile her children with their father.

The child will accept or reject the teachings and the examples that the parents have given him. The legacy of our interaction with our children corresponds with the role of the Holy Spirit. (See John 16:7-11) They have to choose to accept our influence in order to benefit long term. If they do, they will have our counsel to guide them on their journey even after we have departed.

Without all three parts, the system doesn't work all that well. If the parents provide a model of righteousness, but do not show grace, the child will be discouraged based on their failures. The will feel rejected by their parents, and will seek approval elsewhere.

On the other hand if you accept your children as they are, and do not challenge them to become more righteous, they will be undriven, and unguided. They must understand their shortcomings in order to recognize the true value of your love.

In the end, the child has to do their part as well. All of the best teaching in the world is useless if it is ignored, just as God's gift of salvation only helps those who choose to believe.

I suspect this parenting model would work very well, and I intend to implement it to the best of my ability within my family. It is quite a challenge though. I am not unwavering in my integrity. I cannot provide like God provides. We do keep a record of wrongs. I may not be able to love in quite the same way as God loves, but I still believe that my attempt will make my children have a better understanding of who He is.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 12:49 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Interesting post by Margaret Friedenauer, an embedded reporter in Iraq: Reporting from Iraq � Blog Archive � The view from on the ground

Iraq is a real place, and is populated with real people. These people have conversations, transactions, and interactions every day with our soldiers. Our soldiers are often making friends with these locals, and have real relationships with them. The quantity and quality of these relationships are likely the real story in Iraq. When you watch the nightly news, you hear the bodycount update, but rarely do you get to see the real story.

The real story is almost always embedded in people and relationships. When you report about a crime, a fire, a crash, or a war, it is quite sterile and empty if you don't get a glimpse into the human impact of the story.

In life this is true as well. If you sell somebody a good or service, the actual product is basically a commodity. They likely can get your product or service from any number of people. What provides the flavor of life is the relationships tht are built between people.

How many stories do we miss when we simplify the story down to a metric of some type?

Posted by Josh Reighley at 5:04 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I have been noticing my political convictions weakening over the last several months. I am not sure what all of the factors are that contribute to this mellowing.

I suspect that it has something to do with Hebrews 12:1-3 Becoming a driving force in my life. Politics are a distraction. Even if the correct folks won every policy debate, this world would still be entangled in turmoil.

I believe that each of us have a risk tolerance in each area of our life. In finances, in relationships, in our health, etc. We tend to engage in every activity until the consequences become too scary. We are going to find a way to live on our edge. Politics and policies can change the consequences, but it doesn't really change the nature of the human. People are still going live dangerously, and they are still going to occasionally pay for their brinksmanship.

Christ paid the penalty for the sins of those who trust in him. This means you no longer have to be defined by the person who you have been, and the things you have done. Your debts have been paid, and you are no longer a slave to the tangled web that you have woven over the course of your life. See 2 Corinthians 5:16-21. You are a new creation, the old has gone, and the new has come!

The cool thing about faith we can experience the same risk, but with a much better consequence. For some people, staying sober feels like stepping off the ledge, and falling into the great unknown. Others may get this feeling from giving up the materialistic drive that defines them. Still others will get this adventure by putting their family in front of work on their priority list. Giving up any selfish priority in your life is an adventure, and God is inviting you to set out on that adventure. He is there to guide you and encourage you. One step at a time. Each step of obedience is an adventure, with all of the risk and reward that your spirit longs for. While we where once slaves to sin, we are now slaves to righteousness. See Romans 6:17-18

Why do we invest so much energy arguing about where the boundaries need to be? It doesn't matter where the boundaries are, people will test them, and people will be hurt by their risky lifestyle. Our endorsement or opposition of political solutions, often undermines our testimony regarding the true solution, which comes through reconciliation with God, one changed heart at a time.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 4:00 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

One church in North Carolina is spending 11k on television advertising encouraging retailers to acknowledge Christmas in their holiday sales.

WFMY News 2 Greensboro, NC

I personally don't see a lot of benefit from coercing atheist or agnostic organizations into pretending to be Christian. I would rather they do what is comfortable, and be seen for who they truly are.

Every time a government official participates in the lighting of a "Holiday Tree" there is a controversy that ensues. I have searched through my bible several times, and I don't see the part where it tells us to chop down a tree, haul it in our house, hang lights and do-dads from it. I also can't find the part about the omni-present fat man with his elves and reindeer.

We need to realize that Christmas has been co-opted. Insisting on re-attaching Christ's name to cultural traditions does nothing but cheapen Christ's name.

As Christians, we should focus on Christ, and let our culture be our culture. We are foreigners here. We should not be surprised that the culture doesn't reflect our values. We should actually be pleased that we are not being deceived into accepting theirs. Or are we?

Posted by Josh Reighley at 12:53 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Okay, this is just sick and wrong:

Eat Hufu - The Healthy Human Flesh Alternative!

I wonder if this is a "gateway" food. The website sure does spend a lot of effort glorifying the cannibalistic cultures.

Weird. Lets leave it at that.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 1:20 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Sometimes God evangelizes people directly. One such story, out of Iran is featured on the Persecution.com website.

Arfooz was praying to her God, Allah, the god of Mohammed, begging him for relief from the pressures of her life.

Much to her surprise Jesus Christ appeared to her and inspired her to write in her native language "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Later a friend showed her that verse in the Christian bible. (Matthew 11:28) And she became a Christian.

God does still perform miracles here on earth. He can call us out of the darkest places.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 2:34 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

day 5

Day 6

Posted by Josh Reighley at 12:29 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Here is an interesting blog entry I ran across today.

in the outer

I wonder why they get so emotional about this. I don�t think it matters whether or not the ten commandments are posted, in public buildings or elsewhere. For what good is it to post it in all of the public buildings if the Spirit from Whom the commandments came isn�t posted in the hearts of the people who occupy these buildings? Perhaps more effort ought to be exerted to figure out how to post the Spirit in more hearts, starting with those within our own communities, churches and families.

It seems to me that Christians spend a lot of energy getting worked up over symbolic battles, when we are losing the spiritual battle at most every turn. I frequently hear that Gay marriage is going to destroy the institution of marriage. Actually divorce is destroying the institution of marriage, and Christians are participating in divorce at the same rate as the rest of the population. Why are we worried about preserving the sanctity of the marriage certificate, while we are neglecting to preserve the sanctity of the marriage?

Does it really do any good to have children mindlessly utter the words "under God" each day when they don't know who God is, or what he has done for us?

Does it matter if a judge walks past a ten commandment monument each day, if he sees it a piece of furniture?

I don't see the value in making our government pretend that it subscribes to our God's teaching when it really doesn't.

I think we should use our voices to speak the truth about these issues, but these issues should not be our main focus. Our focus should be on Jesus. If we walk in his ways, God will shine through us, and others will see God's love. If we focus on the battles, our behavior appears to be just another form of idolatry.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 11:57 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Joe is back in blogsphere, this time as Jungle Pop

I really enjoyed his blog. It is thought provoking, humble, mysterious, and human all at the same time.

Worth checking out!

Posted by Josh Reighley at 3:08 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I think the Southern Baptists are correct on this one:

News-Sun, Evening Star & Herald-Republican

Dr. Robert Reccord, president of Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, is strongly opposed to reimbursements for Katrina aid. His organization, the nation's third largest disaster relief agency, has provided 5 million hot meals and vital services to Katrina victims.

"Volunteer labor is just that: volunteer,"� Reccord says. "We would never ask the government to pay for it."

Matthew 6:24
"No one 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."

I think the reason faith based programs are so effective is because they are done out of love, with God as the boss. When they are done out of contract with the Government as the boss, then they cease to be faith based.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 2:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Blake Bergstrom is a pretty good sport. He emailed Kevin Rossen discussing his newly found infamy

kevinrossen.com � Pitch Your Tent Guy

Thank God for His GRACE!!!� After talking with God about this whole thing, He let me know that when it happened� all of heaven fell to their side, they started beating the ground, with tears streaming down their face, and Lot was running around pinching himself, and all the heavenly hosts roared with laughter�just like you did!!!!

Posted by Josh Reighley at 2:20 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I love this guy's expression when he realizes what he said...

Pitching Tents - pitching_tents.wmv @ ZippyVideos.com - Free Video Webhosting

via Monday Morning Insight Weblog

Posted by Josh Reighley at 2:48 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Tip for all Christian bloggers: Be sure to keep an eye on the ads served by Google's adsense. Many Christian blogs are now running ads for a book claiming that Christ was invented after his death.

I put www.authorhouse.com on my adsense block list.

Whenever I see an inappropriate ad, I plan to click through and make sure it is innappropriate, and then alert the blogger to it's presence. This way I can get the URL to ban from my blog, and I get the blogger a few cents for his trouble.

Probably a bad advertizing stratagy for these companies in the long run. They are paying to get themselves blackballed.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 4:42 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

When the City, State and Federal Governments are hopeless to help, the local church does not fail. This story is starting to shine through even in mainstream media reporting that I have seen.

Monday Morning Insight Weblog: Rick Warren Tackles Katrina

"I believe God can bring good out of bad any time," he says. "He turns crucifixions into resurrections. And I think we're seeing that here. I'm seeing three major things as I looked yesterday in Houston, where we were actually, on the floor of the Astrodome. There were 20,000 people there, but the 20,000 people there aren't the real story. There are 150,000 being assimilated into Houston right now by churches."

Posted by at 2:05 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

I feel bad posting this, but I cannot resist.

I wish more people where willing to put their lives on hold to help. Mr. Penn should be commended for his efforts. On the other hand, He should probably work with a professional, and leave his cameraman at home.

Herald Sun: Sean Penn's rescue bid sinks [05sep05]

With the boat loaded with members of Penn's entourage, including a personal photographer, one bystander taunted the actor: "How are you going to get any people in that thing?"

The Monday morning quarterbacking from the media is out of control. This is a very messy situation, and It is not easy to evacuate a city when the entire supporting infrastructure has been destroyed.

The only decent coverage I have heard on this disaster response has been from Moody radio. They have interviewed a lot of people who are in the trenches fighting the battle. Love and compassion still exist in America, and it is flowing to the victims of this tragedy.

Venomous finger pointing is not going to change the past, and it is going to fuel bitterness and divisiveness. Everyone needs to work together to make an impact on the lives of those effected.

Posted by at 12:33 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I have posted my first entry as a contributor to Thinking Christians. If you are interested in my religious posts, please subscribe to that blog.

I really enjoy writing about my spiritual life, and what God is teaching me through prayer, study, and interaction with others. I am glad to have a place where I can put those entries where they will not be drowned out by politics, technology, family life or other more trivial matters.

Posted by at 4:44 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Today I was driving around downtown, and I had to stop my car to wait for a woman to limp across the road in front of me. She was jaywalking, and could only take one painful step at a time. She was wearing high heel flip flop type shoes, was about 5'11, and looked like she may be a prostitute or drug addict.

After parking my car, I was walking to my destination restaurant, and I ran into her in a parking lot. She asked me if I had a car.

Re-runs of "Cops" came flashing through my head. How many times have I seen them arrest somebody with the story "Yes, Officer I gave this woman a ride. I don't know her name."? I told the lady I couldn't help her, and I continued on my way. As I looked into her eyes, I could see that both of them where fairly bruised. She looked like she had been badly beaten recently.

There is little doubt I should have done something. I did nothing. I didn't even talk to her more than I had to. I could have called her a cab, or gone to get a friend so that it would be more appropriate to give her a ride to a shelter or a clinic. I didn't even find out what she needed.

As I left my dinner, I felt quite guilty walking through the parking lot again. Of course the woman was nowhere to be seen.

Posted by at 11:28 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

I finally received my Under the Overpass : A Journey of Faith on the Streets of America book by Mike Yankoski on Thursday afternoon. finished it Friday afternoon.

This is an amazing story. Mike felt called to go experience life on the streets. Along with a friend, He took time off from his upper-middle class college student lifestyle to find out what it is like to be homeless on the streets of 5 American cities.

The courage and strength exhibited throughout this book is inspirational. Mike and Sam stood firm on their Christian principals in spite of their circumstances. They accepted this mission in spite of it's inherent dirtiness, danger, and lack of glamour.

It is amazing how much blessing you can give to somebody just by acknowledging that they are human. How often we look at another person, made in God's image and treat them like they are a piece of furniture or garbage? For most all of us, the answer is probably way too often.

BibleGateway.com Passage Lookup: Luke 10:25-37

25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

26 "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"

27 He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

28 "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

30 In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'

36 "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"

37 The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."
Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

Unfortunately all too often Christians are behaving like the priest and the Levite in this story. When we are obedient and respond like the Samaritan, the results are moving, and glorify God. Mike's book has come to set us straight. He exposes both forms of behavior within churches that he met on his journey. I pray that the Church gets the message and mends it's ways.

Posted by at 4:46 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Left this link off my last post..

Welcome to UnderTheOverpass.com

Posted by Josh Reighley at 4:10 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I am still anxiously awaiting the "Under the overpass" book's arrival at my doorstep. I think I may have to cancel the order and go to the local Christian bookstore.

I further fueled my hunger for the book by listening to Mike's hour long talk on this website:

Michael Yankoski's Online Media : Client Profile : Ambassador Speakers Bureau & Literary Agency

His talk shows an amazing amount of wisdom and insight for a 22 year old kid. There may be something to be said for giving up your entire life for a few months and focusing solely on your ability to trust God.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 4:04 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I ordered 3 books last week from Amazon.com I expect to recieve 2 of them tommorrow. The other one is back ordered.

I ordered Created for Commitment by A. Wetherell Johnson, Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer, and Under the Overpass : A Journey of Faith on the Streets of America by Mike Yankoski.

I heard Mr. Yankoski on the radio, and was inspired to buy his book. He voluntarily became homeless for 5 months, and wrote a book about his life and how people treated him during that time. This book is back ordered. hopefully I will get it next week. Check out the excerpt at Amazon, and I bet you will place your order too.

Once I order one book, I am always inspired to order more to save on shipping. Miss Johnson was a missionary to China who founded Bible Study Fellowship. I hear her life story is quite inspirational.

I keep hearing about this A.W. Tozer guy from every preacher who I respect. Figured I better check it out for myself.

Check back over the next few weeks for reviews. Hold me accountable if I flake.. ;-)

Posted by Josh Reighley at 2:45 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

'Evangelical' is a dirty word in a lot of people's minds. It shouldn't be that way. I think the church has been defined by 2 or 3 social issues. Our mission is much bigger than that. Philip Yancey discusses this in a very good article in Christianity today:

A Quirky and Vibrant Mosaic - Christianity Today Magazine

When I return from such trips and read profiles in Time and Newsweek about U.S. evangelicals, I feel sad. Many Americans view evangelicals as a monolithic voting bloc obsessed with a few moral issues. They miss the vibrancy and enthusiasm, the good-newsness that the word evangelical represents in much of the world. Evangelicals in Africa bring food to prisoners, care for aids orphans, and operate mission schools that train many of that continent's leaders. There, and in Asia and Latin America, evangelicals also manage micro-enterprise loan programs that allow families to buy a sewing machine or a flock of chickens. About a third of the world's 2 billion Christians fall into a category to which the word evangelical applies, a large majority of whom live outside North America and Europe.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 8:50 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Sunday was in interesting day at church. Our founding pastor announced that the Lord had called him to a new and exciting ministry, and he would be leaving next month.

The emotions flow at a time like that, and it is interesting to try to balance your fleshly reaction with your faith.

The truth is that the bond deepest bond I have with this pastor is the Holy Spirit that lives in both of us. Nearly every Sunday, his words are dead-on applicable to my life. When there are 200 other people in the room and most of them feel the same way, I know that that is not his skill, but the miraculous inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Emotionally, I don't think I recognize this truth. I grieve. Intellectually I do understand this, and I am excited for what God has planned ahead.

Hopefully experiencing such a transition and witnessing God's provision for the church will make us all more focused on Christ.

In my random wanderings this evening, I came across this teaching:

brucedjohnson.com: There is No Growth Without Loss

Dead-on, exactly what I needed to hear.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 4:15 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I have found quite a few good Christian bloggers out there. Reading these blog entries are usually thought provoking, and encourages you to open your bible. Unfortunately reading the comments on these blogs can drive you crazy. Nearly every church, every pastor, and every ministry has some critic out there who is absolutely convinced that they are the the devil incarnate.

BibleGateway.com Passage Lookup: Acts 18:24-28;

24 Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor[a] and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.

27 When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. On arriving, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. 28 For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ

I wish the critics would think a little more like Priscilla and Aquila. There are a lot of believers and pastors out there who are quite passionate and persuasive. The fact that they leave something out or 'glossed over' some truth doesn't mean that they should be discarded. They should be respectfully encouraged and challenged.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 2:35 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Really... I don't know what to Say about this..

Trinity News: Clown Eucharist Video: Participant Reaction

Posted by at 9:18 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

I am really annoyed by the Extreme makeover home edition show on ABC. While generousity and caring for the hurting is a virtue, doing so to excess sends a message of salvation through materialism.

It would be interesting to be a fly on the wall a few weeks later. I bet the pain remains, and all of the new stuff is just stuff. The television viewers get to see the initial joy, but don't see the huge letdown after all of the new stuff leaves them empty months later.

Does anyone else feel this way? Or am I just a cold hearted jerk?

Posted by at 2:23 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

I have noticing some negativity and hostilitiy toward large churches within the Christian Blogsphere. I think there are advantages and disadvantages to all church sizes, and I don't think we really have that much control over how big a church gets.

Some folks argue that preachers who run megachurches are doing so for egotistical reasons. I disagree.

BibleGateway.com Passage Lookup: Acts 2;

37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"

38 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off for all whom the Lord our God will call."

40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

Peter ran a Megachurch of sorts. I don't think his church is a bad example to try to follow.

Other folks express fear over megachurches because if many people are going there, it must be the wide road. Really even megachurches are attended by a small percentage of the community. The pastor doesn't drive his congregation through those gates, he can only point to one and give it a label. Each person needs to chart their own course. Many Church attenders are on the wide road. We shouldn't judge the road based on the number of people that are on it, We should judge based on the Word of God. Many Mega-Churches teach the true Gospel. Some do not. Many small community churches teach the true Gospel, while some do not. I don't care how many people are believing something, I want to know the truth as God defines it.

Critics say that these MegaChurches should plant churches rather than expanding. On the surface this sounds like a good idea, but it really is not an either/or proposition. If a large church plants a successful new church, perhaps 10% will leave. Of those perhaps 5% will stay gone for the long haul. When a church is growing at an exponential rate, this is hardly adequte to substantially curb growth. There is a church in my neighborhood that has a 194% growth rate over 3 years. They planted a daughter church last year, but they are still growing faster than ever.

A good teacher is going to attract people. This is a good thing, not a bad thing.

I attended a large church for quite some time. I chose to join in one of it's church plants because I felt that I could better serve in a smaller church. In my mind, the ideal size for a church is big enough that there are plenty of needs to serve, but small enough that people are not comfortable as spectators.

Posted by at 1:12 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Monday Morning Insight Weblog: The Tithing "Money-Back Guarantee"

I think that God often blesses us in ways that are difficult to recongnize. God may often be leaving my wallet empty so that I don't have the opportunity to spend that money on something that would be appealing to me now, would be pointless from an eternal perspective.

Often some of the richest experiences in life happen when you have nothing, you take the family to the park, you play in the back yard, You bake bread together and spend time with one another. Those times are a blessing.

Tithing is a useful habit because it puts your priorities straight. God is more important than money.

Unfortunately campaigns like this often trivialize the concept. They teach that you should give because you get. While this may be true, it is not the reason you should give. God sees our heart, and a selfish gift is seen for what it is.

The way I see it, it is all God's money anyway. He will Bless me, because he promised to bless me.

Jeremiah 29:11

11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD , "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

God's blessings don't always feel like blessings, but they are.

Hebrews 12:7-11;

7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

I started tithing years ago, and didn't notice an bugetary impact at all. I have always had what I needed, and little more. This was true before and after I started the tithing habit. I see that as a blessing. 90% seems like 100 percent, plus I get to be part of an awesome community of faith that is leading hundreds of people out of despair and into hope.

Posted by at 6:46 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Just added this Blog to my Bloglines account:

Bill Clinton Daily Diary

I have often wondered what is going through Bill Clinton's head. Now I will know.

I was surprized at his honesty. It appears that he really wants to share his life struggles.

It�s very hard to put these demons to rest. I talk to myself and I talk to myself. I�m not a nice guy. I have demons in me. We all do. Maybe mine are a bit bigger than other people�s, because I went through hell when I was a little boy, but I fought back.

You know what happens when you shave off your beard? It grows back, stronger than before. The harder I fought to free myself from the hell I lived in, the harder the demons fought back. I won. That�s what I thought. I won, but at what cost?

If someone is willing to be that honest about personal matters, I will be sure to read what they are stuggling with and Pray for them.

-- Update ---
So, Is it a hoax? I would guess so, but it is hard to tell for sure. Likely so. I will stay subscribed anyway.

Posted by at 8:03 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

When I was on Jury duty a month or so ago , I made a note about how I felt that what happened in the courtroom had as much consequence on the outcome than the actual choice to commit a crime. In my case, our defendant took the stand and said some things he shouldn't have said. If he had not said those things, I would have had a hard time voting to convict him. Although he was certainly guilty, and deserved the sentance that he recieved. I was a little uneasy with the notion that his sentance was more a consequence of the desision to put him on the stand than it was his choice to wrestle with a cop.

Steve Sailer: iSteve.com Archives: Inside Story on Schiavo Case

In essence, the finding that Terri Schiavo would want to die came down to the subjective opinion of one overworked trial judge who was confronted by a very sharp, experienced right-to-die attorney on one side and a young, quasi-pro bono lawyer on the other.

Terri's case is likely not much different. Court cases have enormous consequences. Once something is decided it is pretty hard to overturn. I guess the moral of the story is to make sure you do it right the first time.

Posted by at 9:09 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

A great post over on Evangelical outpost regarding the Terri Schiavo case.

the evangelical outpost: No-Fault Death:
Terri Schiavo and the Absurdity of Marriage Laws

Florida is also a "no fault" divorce state, which means that a history of infidelity is of no concern to the courts. While adulterous conduct might be used in determining the "moral fitness" of a parent seeking custody, it apparently can't be used as evidence of lack of 'moral fitness' to be a husband. Even though he has committed adultery, sired illegitimate children, and openly shares Terri's marriage bed with another woman, he is still considered fit to undertake his role as a ''husband." By giving Michael Schiavo guardianship over his 'wife', the Florida courts have exposed the absurdity of marriage laws.

I think Terri should have the right to make her own decision on weather she choose to keep fighting or not. If she made that decision, she did not write it down. Now we are forced to take the word of her cheating husband that that is what she wanted. Those who believe that marriage vows mean something see this as a travesty. Those who don't believe "until death do us part" means what it says, don't understand what the rest of us are so upset about.

The biggest threat to traditional marriage is not gay marriage, it is divorce. In today's world unconditional love is a foreign concept. the culture considers you to be crazy if you love some people. Unconditional love needs to be unconditional love, otherwise it is just a selfish marriage of convenience.

Posted by at 6:55 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Apparently some enterprizing folks in South Dakota started selling candles smelling like Jesus.

His Essence -- Creations to Comfort the Soul

I am a bit unsure about the Patent Pending notice. Especially since the Prior art is sighted right in the product description.

Posted by at 1:54 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

It is interseting to see the ripple effect of Ashley's Smith's courage. It is indeed inspiring. Here are a few examples of people mentioning their desire to check out "The Purpose Driven Life"

Ashley Smith: Her Faith Got Her Through by Steve Bowers

I've heard of the book The Purpose Driven Life and heard it was good but never bothered to check it out myself. Likewise with the Bible. As a preacher's kid, I got the Bible stuff so much growing up that I welcomed to opportunity to get away from it as an adult. But it's quite obvious to me that this young woman's faith-based purpose-driven live is the reason why she's alive today. I think that maybe it's time to put The Purpose Driven Life on my reading list. And it might not be a bad idea to open up the Bible again. It seems to have worked for Ashley Smith.

MyWestTexas.com - Local News - 03/15/2005 - Sissom: Amid headlines of violence, America witnesses miracle of hostage reading to captor

Wow! Just one day before, I had stumbled across that very book gathering dust in my living room while cleaning and placed it in my desk for storage. It was a gift from a dear friend that I had never gotten around to reading, being the late-night TV news junkie I am.

As the hostage read to her captor, a human being emerged from what was perceived by the world as a complete monster. He wanted her to read more....

But tonight, I'm going to do something different.

I think I'll finally read that book my friend gave me.

The nice part of this kind of Evangelism is that iLove is what Christ is all about. Ashley gave Brian Nichols love that he didn't deserve. She mad him pancakes, she asked about his family, whe told him that he had value, when everyone else in the world overflowing with hatred for him.

This ounce of love transformed him rrom a rampaging murdorous madman to a human being, hanging curtains for a friend. At least for a bit.

So often Christianity is portrayed as a bunch of old men telling others what they are doing wrong. Every one of us is doing some selfish thing that is hurtful to others and offensive to God. That should be so obvious that it doesn't need to be pointed out. The real message is that even thogh we don't deserve it, God loves us.

We should love others in the same way. Even though they don't deserve our love, only good can come of it. Evangelism is most effective when it is done by leadership. Toss off the entanglements of this world and follow God. If we do this, nobody will miss the effects. They will be compelled to follow.

Posted by at 7:39 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Ashley Smith shows us what can happen when we love our enemy.

Hostage reads 'Purpose-Driven Life' to alleged Atlanta courthouse killer - (BP)

"He needed hope for his life. He told me that he was already dead," Smith told reporters. "He said, 'Look at me. Look at my eyes. I am already dead.' And I said, 'You are not dead. You are standing right in front of me. If you want to die, you can. It's your choice.'

"But after I started to read to him, he saw -- I guess he saw my faith and what I really believed in. And I told him I was a child of God and that I wanted to do God's will. I guess he began to want to. That's what I think," she said.

When he was hungry, Smith made pancakes for Nichols and they talked more about God.

"I said, 'Do you believe in miracles? Because if you don't believe in miracles -- you are here for a reason. You're here in my apartment for some reason. You got out of that courthouse with police everywhere, and you don't think that's a miracle? You don't think you're supposed to be sitting right here in front of me listening to me tell you, you know, your reason here?'

"I said, 'You know, your miracle could be that you need to -- you need to be caught for this,'" Smith continued. "'You need to go to prison and you need to share the Word of God with them, with all the prisoners there.'"

A little love can go a long way. What a monster this guy was. A serial murderer stopped in his tracks by the Grace and Peace of God.

Posted by at 1:50 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Yahoo! News - Neuheisel Disputes Former AD's Testimony

"If there's a lesson in this, it's definitely to be truthful at all times because these things have a way of coming back to haunt you,"

Funny how he can say that, then sue the University for firing him for lying.

When you lie, you hurt your credibility. Now he has to go before a jury, admit to them that he is a liar, and then attempt to convince him to believe him.

Posted by at 6:41 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I had Jury duty this week. It was a pretty cool experience. There where some things that really impressed me..

When you take 12 people and lock them in an unusual situation together, the social network builds pretty fast. Soon, you know where people went to school, all of your mutual aquintances etc. I have heard some other people make this observation as well. When you have 12 people working towards a common goal, and you are given limited guidence in how to reach that goal, it is pretty amazing how well people bond.

It is hard to see how unloved the criminal element in our society is. There is nobody there for them. In the case that I was on, the defendant's own brother was testifying against him. I about cried. Not because it was wrong for the brother to do, but because when your own brother given up on you, you have to be a very lonely helpless man.

I was surprized that 3 cops, can witness the exact same incident, and tell three very different stories. Human perception is a very blurry lens. Especially when the cameramen are engaged in a battle for their lives.

Sometimes an instantanous decision can effect the rest of your life. This is why it is important to have principles. If you are not in the practice of doing the right thing, you could make one selfish desision in a 5 second series of events that can cost you dearly.

Finally, Sometimes consequence comes from absolutely irrational sources. If a defendant testifies on the stand can have a huge impact on whether he is convicted or not. Is the just consequence that a defendant faces a consequence of doing the crime in the first place, or is a consequence of saying the wrong thing on the witness stand? Sometimes unfortunately it is the later. I find peace in the fact that God's hand is working in this process.

Posted by at 8:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yahoo! News - Ga. Evolution Stickers Ordered Removed

These Stickers said absolutely nothing about Religion. They stated a simple fact. Evolution is theory not fact. The schools should have academic freedom to teach that science is a work in progress, and that we don't know everything.

The way I see it, this Judge is calling the doubt expressed Heresy, and is establishing Evolutionary theory as a unquestionable creator.

Posted by at 9:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Science or Miracle?; Holiday Season Survey Reveals Physicians' Views of Faith, Prayer and Miracles

I wonder if folks will say it is just because they are uneducated and ignorant?

Posted by at 8:07 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

That you didn't win the $314.9 million jackpot..

Yahoo! News - Jackpot Winner's Granddaughter Found Dead

Doesn't sound likea dream come true for this guy, two dead young ladies, 2 DWI's, and sexual harrassment lawsuits, just to name a few of his troubles.

Posted by at 10:02 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

I love the story of Jehoshaphat from 2 Chronicles 20

2chron20:15-17;

15 He said: "Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the LORD says to you: 'Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's. 16 Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert of Jeruel. 17 You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you.' "

It seems that often we do not trust God with our battles. We either storm onto the battlefield, or we run away. We are not patient to see how God's plan works out.

I had a friend when I was in college named Bart Wilcox. Bart was a very likeable, friendly and smart kid who's life really testified to the Love of Christ. To meet Bart was to know Bart. He was authentic with everyone. People like him are very hard to find. Bart planted some seeds in the few months that I knew him that flourished into a relationship with God once my heart was softened years later.

I distinctly remember Bart standing his ground on one occasion or two. Our fraternity was engaging in activity that Bart didn't approve of. Bart was the only member out of the 70 or so who stayed home. I think that most of the members respected him for his courage, even if they did not agree with his position. He didn't make a fuss about it and attack anyone for thier belief. He didn't compromise his own convictions and go with the flow. He stood his ground, and let the truth speak for itself.

Jesus prayed

John 17:15-19

15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

Knowing that we have the Son of God praying for our protection, we should have courage to stand our ground as well. We should not run from this world, but stand firm against it.

I haven't seen my friend Bart in nearly 14 years. During spring break the year I met him, he decided to devote his life to God, and has broken off communication with everyone he knew. Last I heard, he was a nomadic wanderer going by the name Zephaniah. He travels the country with members of his fellowship, discussing the bible with college age kids, and trying to get them to devote themselves in the same way that he has.

In many ways I really respect Bart. He was willing to give up everyting to serve Christ. He is reaching out to youngsters and exposing them to the Word of God.

I love my church for many of the reasons I love Bart. There are a lot of young idealistic people who live by faith. Many of them left their communities and moved to Spokane to start the church. One of the church's values authenticity, one of the main traits that attracted me to Bart.

What greives me about Bart's current situation as I understand it is that the steadfast willingness to stand his ground that I admired so much is gone. His group is nomadic because they fear persecution and they fear temptation. They are constantly on the run from their families.

If we are effective servants, Satan will find a way to tempt us. There is no avoiding this fact. Avoiding temptation is a temptation in and of itself, and if we fall for this temptation, Satan can use our fear to herd us and manipulate us. It is hard to have an effective ministry if we are constantly on the run, or are trying to remain anonymous.

The Godly response to temptation would be to stand firm, and put on the full armor of God,

Eph 6:10-18;

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

Posted by at 1:49 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

I am quite irritated by the Washington state lottery these days. They have put big yellow vending machines with the lie "It's good to play" in nearly every store that I visit.

Today, I heard a radio ad where they where telling stories of thier winner's generosity to others.

The kicker was the story of a lady who shared her 50k winnings with her family. It mentions that she borrowed the money to buy the lottery ticket from her Brother.

So the message from Washington State: "If you want to be good, borrow money from your relatives so that you can buy lottery tickets, get rich, and pay them back"

Posted by at 2:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My Way News

The annual report on Americans' health found that just over 44 percent of all Americans take at least one prescription drug, and 16.5 percent take at least three.

Nearly 25 percent of children under 18 are medicated as well.

I would like to know what these percentages would look like if we included over the counter drugs.

Posted by at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

From The Papers of George Washington

By the President of the United States of America. a Proclamation.

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor--and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be--That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks--for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation--for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed--for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted--for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

and also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions--to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually--to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed--to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness onto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord--To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us--and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New-York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

Go: Washington

Amen.

Posted by at 3:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Yahoo! News - Birth Rate for Young Teens Lowest Since 1946

CDC researchers said the drop in births among girls aged 10
to 14 might be a sign that programs emphasizing abstinence and
other forms of birth control were having an impact on this
high-risk group.

Posted by at 10:14 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Call me a conservative wacko, but this is way too wrong:

Horse baptised for church funds

Posted by at 7:25 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Lots of good discussion about how taxes, the welfare system and the like relates to faith.

Radical Congruency � Jesus on Income Redistribution

Posted by at 10:30 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

This is good news I think:

Yahoo! News - Supreme Court to Hear Commandments Case

It seems to me that if you can take a science fiction writer's teachings and make a religion out of it, as people have done with L. Ron Hubbard, and some are attepting to do with George Lucas then all secular writings should be banned as well.

Every writing comes from a worldview. All worldviews either include some form of God, or exclude some form of God. It is impossible to discuss moral issues and issues of justice without having a worldview.

I don't think that there is much of America left that values the 10 commandments. Adultry is not a crime. Coveting is a core American value. It is difficult to honor the father and mother who are absent, or unknown. We are expected to lie nearly all of the time. Most every business is open on the sabbath. It is considered intolorant if you don't accept that there are other Gods who are equally worshipable. I would guess that the vast majority of the time that the Lord's name is used in this country, it is being used in place of a swear word.

America seems to look at the 10 commandments as a checklist of rebelous actions to take.

Putting up a monument does not a religion establish.

Posted by at 8:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Guardian quotes Justice Scalia as saying "I even take the position that sexual orgies eliminate social tensions and ought to be encouraged."

Sex creates tension. It doesn't releve it. I agree with Scalia on most issues. I hope he clearifies this statement. Sex without permenent commitment is nearly always destructive to the psyche and to the soul. It is something that can never be undone.

Update. As I should have suspected, this quote was taken out of context... Here is SfGate's version of the quote:

"Let me make it clear that the problem I am addressing is not the social evil of the judicial dispositions I have described. I accept, for the sake of argument, for example, that sexual orgies eliminate social tension and ought to be encouraged," Scalia said with a smile.

Posted by at 9:22 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

One day when I was in college, I wanted to do something but couldn't because I had a 3 hour job to do at my fraternity house..

Levi Kettle took my duty. Never asked anything in return. I knew that Levi was a nice guy, but he wasn't one of my best friends or anything. I would see him in the hall, and at fraternity functions, but we didn't usually run around together. I don't remember ever doing any big favors for him. I remember trying to negotiate a trade, but he wouldn't hear of it. As far as I can tell, this was just a totally selfless act.

I don't remember what it was that I wanted to do that night. I don't remember who I was with, I don't remember the weather, I don't remember the time of year. I don't remember if I had fun. 12 Years later, the only mark left from that night is the one left by Levi's selfless favor.

Selflessness is a rare virtue these days.

Posted by at 10:31 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Very strange story coming out of my favorite football program.

Yahoo! News - Two Arrested in Fatal Idaho Shooting

If I am going to post about 48-8 loss, I figure I better post about this much bigger loss. Seems so totally senseless.

Posted by at 12:25 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

In an otherwise fluff article in my local business newspaper Spokane Journal of Business, I see this lead paragraph:

Cora Glass' divorce might well have been a blessing in disguise. After her split, the Spokane administrative assistant decided to try something new in life.

It is amazing to me that we treat divorce so casually. I don't know Ms. Glass or her family, but I think divorce is rarely a blessing. I am slightly offended (But not surprized) that the Business newpaper would casually indicate that trading Dad for an eclectic Dance hall/restuant/consignment shop was a good trade. Especially without elaborating. Leave that sentence out.

Most people probably won't even notice. They may remember the message when they are having family problems however. We probably hear little subtle comments like this nearly every day.

Update: I am worried about this post being taken the wrong way. I do not want to venture any opinion about the subject of this news story. I don't know their situation. The problem that I have is with the reporting, which I feel trivializes the pain of divorce by mentioning it in such a casual and positive way.

One of the missions of this Blog is to expose the cultural erosion that is evident in the media and culture of today.

Posted by at 7:48 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Newsday.com - Money and Careers

Increases in the American standard of living in the last five decades haven't produced a corresponding change in surveys of depression and contentment, Diener said. And the study noted some very poor nations score high on the emotional well-being scale.

It is funny to watch my kids with their toys. Once they have had a toy for a day or two, it seems that it's main purpose becomes something to fight over.

Really our big kid toys are not much different. Once we have had them for a week or two, the usually don't bring us nearly the happyness that we thought they would.

Posted by at 8:46 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

A friend forwarded this Ben Stein column to me by email, so by now most people have probably recieved 300 copies of it. Most people know I often delete this type stuff without reading it, so I am outside of the gossip-superhighway. Still worth reading if you haven't.

Monday Night at Morton's - 12/20/03 - Page 1 of 3

Posted by at 8:40 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I have been confronted quite frequently with questions about the Christian view on war. Tonight I see a interesting study posted at Radical Congruency on the toplic.

Radical Congruency � What Jesus Said About Violence, Nonviolence, Pacifism, etc

It is too late at night for me to add my two cents, but this looks like something worth sharing.

Posted by at 12:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

California man's HIV diagnosis turns out to be wrong

Jim Malone spent years battling depression and losing weight, expecting to die at any time.

If somebody can be mis-diagnosed with AIDS you wonder how often people are mis-diagnosed with other more subjective diagnoses such as Schizophrenia, depression.

If you are able to lose weight psychosomatically because of a label that some doctor gave you, certainly you could be depressed or irrational.

Posted by at 8:53 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I think that there is a very big problem that is created by the massive amount of litigation and finger pointing that takes place in our society today.

It seems that whenever anything bad happens it is somebody's fault, and somebody should have to pay.

This is not really true. Entropy happens. Leave anything alone, and it is eventually going to break down. Accidents happen. A by-product of being alive is the certainty of death.

I think people tend to behave in a manner in which they are rewarded to behave. When the worse you feel, the bigger the settlement you will receive, you have an incentive not to feel good. It may not even be a conscious decision.

We have 3 classes of people in today's society. The victim class, that is paid to be miserable with insurance settlements, Lawsuit settlements, and disability payments. The working people, who work hard for their money, but have to relinquish a substantial portion to pay for the insurance, litigation and government obligations being consumed by the victim class. Finally you have the lawyers and lawyers and politicians who are supported by this whole process.

In the end, nobody wins except the lawyers.

It would be interesting to see a study of how long it takes people to recover from injuries in foreign nations where accidents are looked at as bad luck, and are rarely given financial reparations. I would bet that people recover much faster, and are happier in the long term than they are here.

Posted by at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

If Abortion is not wrong, you shouldn't be offended by this.

WorldNetDaily: Aborted baby's head left inside woman

If every parent who had an abortion saw something like this, do you figure their hearts would change?

Thanks to Steve H. for the link.

Posted by at 6:46 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

I haven't read all of this story (It is long), but I have read enough to know it is relevant and interesting. A senate staffer had affairs with 6 or so relatively powerful men, and posted about it on her weblog.

Blog Interrupted (washingtonpost.com)

"I feel really bad for the guys," Jessica says. "They didn't deserve this."

She lost her job (And her boyfriends), but scored a book contract, a playboy spread, and 15 minutes of fame.

I suspect that she was fired for blogging about her attitude about her job and her employer, not for telling about her dirty habits. Bashing your employer in a Blog is not a good way to keep your job... Even if you are telling the truth.

The article discusses the morality of the situation quite a bit.

Posted by at 7:24 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I think it is interesting how many people depend on science for their belief stucture, but the truth provided by science seems to change every few years. Yahoo! News - Solar System May Be Unique After All -- Astronomers

Sceince is pretty good at looking at things right now and trying to understand them. The problem is outside our our solar system, Things are not 'right now' what we observe right now in the sky happened a long time ago.

Speaking of time, I don't think we understand time at all. Every scientific observation is time dependent, and makes the assumption that time flows at the same constant rate that it is flowing right now.

If I remember my high school physics, almost every formula had a 't' in it representing time. If time accelerates, do objects fall faster, slower or the same? We can hypothisize, but the only way to find out is to speed up time and see what happens.

Einstein's theory of relativity suggests that time does not flow at a constant rate. Objects experinence time at different rates based on their speed and mass.

So, when scientists say that the earth has been around for x number of years, based on erosion carbon dating or other techonolgies, This is a guess based on assumptions that time flows at the same rate as it flows right now. Not a safe assumption.

Posted by at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Just to be a rebel, I think I am going to side with the employer on this one.

local6.com - Problem Solvers - Woman Fired For Eating 'Unclean' Meat

I think employers should be allowed to live by their faith, and hire people with the same values that they have. The law of the land disagrees with this viewpoint.

I believe that it is wrong for the government to force a employer to tolerate something that is repulsive to them for religious reasons.

Catholics are being forced to pay for birth control. I think this is also very wrong.

If I am running a company, do I trust somebody who cannot keep a commitment to his wife and children to keep a commitment to me? Do I have to hire somebody who is untrustworthy? There is not a law against adultery in most states. If I discrimate against somebody openly engaged in this activity, I could be sued for religious discrimination. I believe that discrimination against un-repentant sinners should be allowed. The courts often disagree.

When it comes down to the bottom line, Most of our laws and social norms stem out of biblical teachings of some sort. Workplace rules should be up to the employer. Things will get very hairy if the government starts micromanaging trivial workplace rules.

What happened to the free exercise clause of the first amendment? Basically today, that seems to give people the right to sing and listen to a sermon once a week. If you try to run a company based on 2COR 6:14; you are on very dangerous legal ground. If you ignore that passage, and trust your affairs to agents who do not willing to follow biblical based rules, your company is likely to have a lot of evil problems that the rest of the culture has.

Fun Dilemma eh?

Posted by at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I find it upsetting how governments are actively engaging in encourageing a destructive sin.

Yahoo! News - Addicts Are Overlooked in Gambling Boom

The bible says "Thou shall not covet". I do not see a market for gambling unless people are violating this commandment.

Most of our culture has declined to look at the bible as a foundation for right and wrong. From a libertarian point of veiw, Gambling is not wrong. People have the right to make bad decisions and ruin thier lives, and the lives of their families.

I think that the core problem is that the Government not only took the Libertarian side, but they went way to far. They sold gambling as a good thing. The advertize their lotteries, and encourage people to gamble.

The fruits of a gambling culture are pretty sour. We have people who are addicted to gambling that are betting nearly everything they have, driving their families into financial crisis and often divorce.

People's work ethic is also corrupted. The state is selling it's citizens on the dream of getting rich quick. People are constantly waiting for thier Lotto numbers to come up instead of saving their money for the future.

Most means of aquiring wealth create value. Gambling winnings create no value. They take money from one person, and give it to another. Since no product or service is created. The economy gains nothing. Somebody gets sometihng for nothing, and everybody else gets nothing for something.
The lottery is a regressive tax. Enticing the poorest portions of our society pay massive percentages of their income.

If you gamble please ask yourself why. If you win, it means somebody else loses. Do you really want to take money from poor and desparate people? In effect if you support the gambling industry, that is what you are doing.
it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble.

Posted by at 7:23 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

A big thankyou to Troy Kirby of Eastern Washington University's student newspaper for having the courage and commitment to research and publish the story of our friend, April Strader. The Easterner Online - Before and after the trust was broken

When I met my wife, Andee, she was a very successful and proud sociology student and EWU. She wanted to fight the injustices of the world, and believed that her education would give her the knowledge and convictions necessary to fight the battle.

One of her professors was William 'Dan' Purdue. She was quite impressed with the lessons he taught about how power is abused, and how the people at the top often get away with all kinds of crimes and injustices.

She was absolutely devastated when she found out that Dr. Purdue had raped one of her friends. (allegedly) Everything that she had learned from him was cast in a totally different light. As the scandal rumbled on, she saw many of the professors that she knew and trusted being either totally indifferent to the situation or rallying around the alleged perpetrator.

Actions speak loader than textbooks. She felt like her professors taught an idealism, but when the issues Hit home, they did not live by the values they espoused. Andee quickly became totally disillusioned with sociology, EWU, and her degree.

To be fair, Andee was a friend and confidant of April's and knew the whole story, pretty much how it is published in the Easterner article. Many of the professors probably where not privy to the details, and only saw the potential damage that the scandal would bring upon the university and the department. They probably trusted their friend and co-worker much as Andee knew and trusted April.

April was a person with a very kind and idealistic heart. She had a passion for seeking and exposing the truth. She was an outstanding editor of "The Easterner" According to the testimony quoted in the article Perdue had been victimizing women since at least 1975 at EWU. Thank God, that April had the strength and courage to put an end to that.

It was very sad to watch her slip deeper and deeper into her illness. We lost track of her several times as she moved from home to home... We lost track of her for a final time about a year ago. Today, we ran into one of the sociology professors and heard that she passed away.

This article is a fine tribute to April. It exposes the truth that has been hidden for so long, and it raises awareness of the injustice that continues to this day. As a journalist and a sociologist, I think it would make her quite pleased.

It is so sad that she had to die before anyone would write it.

Posted by at 10:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Yahoo! News - Bigger Breasts for Free: Join the Army

The New Yorker magazine reports in its July 26th edition that members of all four branches of the U.S. military can get face-lifts, breast enlargements, liposuction and nose jobs for free -- something the military says helps surgeons practice their skills.

Free is a good price I would suppose, but I suspect that plastic surgery rarely makes people happy for the long term. It is impressive to see how popular this fad is becoming with all of the reality TV shows.

I think it would be cool to do a reality TV show 2 years or so after the event. See the effect that being on "The Batchelor", "Extreme Makeover", or "The Swan" has on people in the long term. It is pretty easy to see that winning "The Batchelor" is not all that it is hyped up to be. I would bet that these "slice and dice" reality shows are equally unfullfilling for the contestants in the long term

Posted by at 2:44 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Notice how many times she uses the word "I".

The New York Times > Magazine > Lives: When One Is Enough

(Free Registration required)

Posted by at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Tell you daughters to stay away from Kenny Hall. According to the L.A. Daily News, he is a cheater.

L.A. Daily News - News

Apparently you can now join alibi and excuse clubs via your mobile phones, and people all over the country will call and lie for you.

Reading this article, I noticed how it mentioned the immorality of these services twice, but had a totally dismissive tone.

Funny how liars cannot trust other liars.

"I didn't want him hitting on her or telling her what I was up to," Hall said. But now he is a believer in the power of the cell phone assisted alibi. "It worked out good, actually."

Well Kenny, It worked out good until you told the newspaper reporter about it I would suppose. Now the gig is up. Nobody can trust you anymore.

Posted by at 2:30 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Sometimes it is dangerous to follow the crowd.. Every political issue that I hear about, I like to test against scripture. Often, we can see the whole picture, and want to change something in the big picture. If we compromise our beliefs in the means in which we try to accomplish our higher goal, the ends will not be what we expect them to be.

Regarding communion: Christ allowed Judas to take communion although he knew the sin that he was about to commit. In LUKE 22:21; Christ says "But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table. "

I don't understand the Catholic tradition of communion enough to get into this too deeply. I can understand treating an unrepentant sinner as you would a pagan or a tax collector. What that means is probably a whole different study.. Without doing adequate study, I would venture to I say it means that we should pray for them, and avoid being corrupted by them.

Regarding Faith based initiatives:

Bible Gateway : MATT 6:24;

24"No one 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.

Faith based programs work. I think that much of the reason that they work is because they only exist based on God's providence, and love. Government money will drive out love as the motive for these ministries.

I feel that many of the social problems exist because the church has abdicated many of it's roles to the government. The Goverment's cold, inefficient mechical touch cannot change hearts. (At least not for the better.)

The church needs to reach out to the community and give to everyone, not just to it's own. The motive should be sharing the love, not growing your congregation, or garnering headlines or making yourself feel good.

Posted by at 8:23 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

More evidence that we live in a drug culture:
ABCNEWS.com : Dad Investigated for Taking Son Off Meds

I think that chemical dependancy is chemical dependancy. There may be some cases where it is the best option, but those cases are probably quite rare. Chemical dependancy is sad. It is selling yourself into bondage in order to remove an annoying problem. Our culture doesn't look at it that way, but it is true.

We face challenges for a reason. If we mask all of our problems by taking pills, our journey still awaits us, We just don't have any road signs left to guide us.

Posted by at 4:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Drudge posted this link today: Remarks at an Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast in Dallas, Texas It is from a Reagan Speech at a prayer Breakfast in 1984

I think Reagan had this issue pretty much dead on. It is amazing to see how intolorance of faith is growing each day in this country.

A couple of choice quotes:
"Religion played not only a strong role in our national life; it played a positive role. The abolitionist movement was at heart a moral and religious movement; so was the modern civil rights struggle. And throughout this time, the state was tolerant of religious belief, expression, and practice. Society, too, was tolerant."

"Without God, there is no virtue, because there's no prompting of the conscience. Without God, we're mired in the material, that flat world that tells us only what the senses perceive. Without God, there is a coarsening of the society. And without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under."

I think that the courts have definately forgot where they sit in the heirarchy. If we continue to allow the courts to legislate from the bench, it is only a matter of time before this self-rightousness becomes acceptable and normal.

Posted by at 8:30 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Looks like another govermnent is forgetting about the first amendment: CNN.com - Public baptism sparks controversy - Jun 2, 2004

The first amendment says: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

It amazes me that goverment places so much effort into heeding the one clause, while pretty much ignoring the rest.

Posted by at 8:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I think that a good portion of the problems in our culture stem from our strong aversion to pain. Pain is really a good thing. It is meant to tell us something is wrong. And that we need to change something, to correct a problem.

Rather than treat the problem, our society tends to take a pill to make the symptom go away. This provides instant gratification, but the underlying problem remains. The result is addictive behavior. People keep treating the symptoms, but the problem will not go away on its own.

I find it quite impressive to watch TV commercials these days. It seems like every one is either a drug commercial of some type, or another product being sold using the "it will make you feel better" drug pusher approach.

If a child grows up in a culture where every time they have discomfort they are given a drug to make it feel better, doesn't it seem obvious that when they reach the discomfort of puberty, they are going to want to take something to make that go away?

Hard work is painful, childbirth is painful, sacrificial love is painful. Some of the best joys in life come through persevering through pain. We need to learn to deal with pain in order to have the courage to live our lives the way they where intended to be lived. If we have no tolerance to pain, we will avoid living life.

I see a lot of people out there who are averse to living life. They will not commit to a relationship. They are not having children. They are not pushing themselves to hard to succeed. It is a pain free life, But the pain of loneliness and emptyness will catch up to them eventually.

Posted by at 6:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This story comes to me from my friend, Matt Stull. The Seattle Times: Local News: More modest clothing, please, girl asks Nordstrom
It pays to let people know what you think!

Posted by at 11:43 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

My BSF class finished for the year today. It was a great study "Isreal and the minor prophets"

I have noticed when I study the Bible, No matter which part I am readingI tend to get the same message every week. Then when I finally step out in faith and obey the lesson that I am being taught, I begin to hear another lesson every week. God seems to transform me one step at a time.

Some of the interesting lessons God taught me from this year's studies:

Compromise leads to more compromise. We should stand on the Truth of God's word, and not compromise. Once we compromise, one sin tends to lead to another.

Trust God, and act in your faith. In order to experience God's love, you have to give up control to him. It is difficult to measure God's presence in your life if you don't allow him to control anything. If you don't make any leaps of faith, you will not have a baseline to measure against, and you will not notice God's influence in your life. You must live faithfully in order to experience his faithfulness.

I find it astonishing how the prophesies of Christ are scattered throughout the old testement, and are so well fullfilled by Him. The Bible all fits together as a perfect puzzle, pained over thousands of years, with every piece showing us a part of Christ our Savior. To believe that all of these prophecies would coinidentally be fullfilled takes by far more faith that to believe that they where fullfilled because they where placed there by an all knowing all powerful God.

Posted by at 10:52 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Okay, another radical management method:Fast Company | Here's a Radical Idea - Tell the Truth!

Funny how all of the Radical ways to manage your company and your career can be found in the bible.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 6:21 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

The Holy Observer: Church Sign of the Month - March 2004

Posted by Josh Reighley at 2:04 PM | Permalink | Comments ()