Here's a question for those who are pro-life. Which society would you rather live in?
A) a society where abortion is outlawed, and those involved in abortions are prosecuted to the full extent of the law? or
B) a society where abortion is completely legal but every last member of society has a personal conviction against it so that no abortions occur?
I consider myself pro-life in a general sense. I'd rather live in society B, but I'm convinced that we're closer to A right now.
Because theology is everybody's task
Friday, August 25, 2006
Jesus: A Man With No Credentials
Gene Redlin at Northern Gleaner posts this about Jesus' higher education:
Maybe the fact that we think we need so many Doctors in the modern church in America is because we really are SICK.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Conspiracy, Conspiracy Theories and The Bible
Recently I've read a few good articles about conspiracies, their theories and the theorists that live off of them. A few were written by Gary North at Lew Rockwell, Andrew Sandlin and James Leroy Wilson.
I've likened conspiracies (especially government conspiracies) and conspiracy theories to what Jesus termed wars and rumors of wars. Conspiracies happen, and the theories try to connect hidden dots to explain what happened. Or they can plainly be fabricated nonsense. But one thing has always interested me is how people react to conspiracy theories. Some think anybody who listens to them are fringe wackos, rejecting all theories outright, some think anybody who doesn't listen to them are brainwashed proles who only help the cause of the conspirators.
I have a circle of friends who are former conspiracy theory nuts and former members of various patriot groups on an endless search for the "silver bullet" that will slay the government beast. I firmly believe that there are many government conspiracies - and their coverups - that occur all the time. Most of them we never hear about.
For me, knowing what they are isn't the most important thing. But as a "bible-believing Christian", I must believe in government conspiracies. Why? Because the bible is chock full of them; and so is history and our newspapers. Pharaoh commanded the Hebrew midwives to kill newborn sons. The Egyptians feared the multiplying Hebrews and conspired to make their slavery a serious hardship. Daniel and his friends were targets of two government conspiracies. In one, some lesser government workers deceitfully petitioned the king to pass laws that they already knew God's people wouldn't obey. The wicked Haman did the same thing to rid the world of Mordecai and the Jews in the book of Esther. David's own son conspired to take the throne. Ahab and Jezebel took Naboth's vineyard in a diabolical eminent domain story. Herod plotted to kill the newborn king. The religious leaders of Jesus' time conspired with Roman involvement to have him killed. Nero burned Rome down and blamed it on the Christians. Psalm 2 is a divinely inspired testament to government conspiracies.
One of my friends formerly committed his life to chasing conspiracies. His insight has been very helpful. He chased paper trails and came up with evidences to various conspiracies. Some were simple. But some were not. When everything lined up, he would pull back the cover to reveal the central conspiracy... only to find another cover. He eventually saw many conspiracies as "onion skin" in composition. Pull back the thin veil only to find another one. He saw that facts quite often fit together, but that the complexity to how they fit was of such a degree that he had to conclude that many "conspiracies" could not have been human in origin. They were spiritual in origin and developed in the heavenly places.
And this brings me to the greatest "conspiracy" of all in the bible. This is recorded in the book of Job. Satan accused God of protecting Job in order to call him a righteous man and dared God to loosen up his hedge around him. God gave Satan authority to plague Job, but not to kill him. One day Job had his world fall apart on five fronts, and messengers brought him the news one after another. The Sabean assault, fire from heaven, the Chaldean assault, a wind storm and boils on his body. If this happened today, the conspiracy theorists would have a field day with the earthly appearances and blame God's providence on mere men. One thing I do know; even if I don't know what is behind the veil or how wickedly men act, God is in control and nobody will get away with anything in the end.
I've likened conspiracies (especially government conspiracies) and conspiracy theories to what Jesus termed wars and rumors of wars. Conspiracies happen, and the theories try to connect hidden dots to explain what happened. Or they can plainly be fabricated nonsense. But one thing has always interested me is how people react to conspiracy theories. Some think anybody who listens to them are fringe wackos, rejecting all theories outright, some think anybody who doesn't listen to them are brainwashed proles who only help the cause of the conspirators.
I have a circle of friends who are former conspiracy theory nuts and former members of various patriot groups on an endless search for the "silver bullet" that will slay the government beast. I firmly believe that there are many government conspiracies - and their coverups - that occur all the time. Most of them we never hear about.
For me, knowing what they are isn't the most important thing. But as a "bible-believing Christian", I must believe in government conspiracies. Why? Because the bible is chock full of them; and so is history and our newspapers. Pharaoh commanded the Hebrew midwives to kill newborn sons. The Egyptians feared the multiplying Hebrews and conspired to make their slavery a serious hardship. Daniel and his friends were targets of two government conspiracies. In one, some lesser government workers deceitfully petitioned the king to pass laws that they already knew God's people wouldn't obey. The wicked Haman did the same thing to rid the world of Mordecai and the Jews in the book of Esther. David's own son conspired to take the throne. Ahab and Jezebel took Naboth's vineyard in a diabolical eminent domain story. Herod plotted to kill the newborn king. The religious leaders of Jesus' time conspired with Roman involvement to have him killed. Nero burned Rome down and blamed it on the Christians. Psalm 2 is a divinely inspired testament to government conspiracies.
One of my friends formerly committed his life to chasing conspiracies. His insight has been very helpful. He chased paper trails and came up with evidences to various conspiracies. Some were simple. But some were not. When everything lined up, he would pull back the cover to reveal the central conspiracy... only to find another cover. He eventually saw many conspiracies as "onion skin" in composition. Pull back the thin veil only to find another one. He saw that facts quite often fit together, but that the complexity to how they fit was of such a degree that he had to conclude that many "conspiracies" could not have been human in origin. They were spiritual in origin and developed in the heavenly places.
And this brings me to the greatest "conspiracy" of all in the bible. This is recorded in the book of Job. Satan accused God of protecting Job in order to call him a righteous man and dared God to loosen up his hedge around him. God gave Satan authority to plague Job, but not to kill him. One day Job had his world fall apart on five fronts, and messengers brought him the news one after another. The Sabean assault, fire from heaven, the Chaldean assault, a wind storm and boils on his body. If this happened today, the conspiracy theorists would have a field day with the earthly appearances and blame God's providence on mere men. One thing I do know; even if I don't know what is behind the veil or how wickedly men act, God is in control and nobody will get away with anything in the end.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Book Meme
Things have been slow in my blogging world for a few weeks now. I've been going to work earlier, working longer days, going to bed earlier, working not only on the kitchen but the back yard too. We've gone to a few more Giants games than normal. Just busier. If this keeps up, my blog will turn mainly to answering tags. But they are usually fun and Mrs. Scott likes to know what I'm thinking.
This time Vache Folle tagged me with a meme about books. I'm not much of a book reader, as my reading tends to be more technical and short article oriented, but I have read a few in my life. Here's my feeble attempt:
One book that changed my life:
Other than the Bible, I can't say that one book has changed my life. Sure there have been some changes in my life as a result of what I read in books, but that is different from having my life changed.
One book I have read more than once:
George Orwell's "1984."
One book I would like to have on a desert island:
"Swimming for Dummies."
One book that made me laugh:
"Baseball Confidential" by Bruce Nash and Allan Zullo. They surveyed baseball players on many subjects and got their opinions. My favorite was Detroit Tigers player Kirk Gibson quoting yours truly as a heckling bleacher bum. Read about it here.
One book that made me cry:
I usually don't cry, and reading a book isn't likely to start that.
One book I wish I’d written:
I think this means any book written by somebody else that I would rather have authored myself than them. But I'm going to change the grammatical emphasis to: any of a number of books I've intended to write myself but never made time. I've started writing books before and have had numerous ideas for writing books but none have progressed past about 30 pages. Most are ideas. From being a bleacher bum to theological topics to the Giants/Dodgers rivalry.
One book I wish had never been written:
Harold Camping's "1994?". The religious radio station president predicted the end of the world and it didn't happen. It did much harm to many lives.
One book I’m currently reading:
I'm not currently reading a book.
One book I have been meaning to read:
John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress." It's the second best selling book in history (if you count the Bible as the first best). I've read the first 40 pages about five times. I need to get those last 260 in sometime soon.
Five bloggers to tag with this meme:
I don't know if I have five readers of my blog, and two that I know do read it have already been tagged. So here's a try. Apologies in advance for my bloggemarketing.
Gene Redlin http://northerngleaner.blogspot.com/
Bruce Gerenscer http://www.hungarian-luddite.net/
James Leroy Wilson http://www.independentcountry.blogspot.com/
The Billy Goat http://hirotao.blogspot.com/
"Uncle Dale" http://www.blogger.com/profile/8304495
This time Vache Folle tagged me with a meme about books. I'm not much of a book reader, as my reading tends to be more technical and short article oriented, but I have read a few in my life. Here's my feeble attempt:
One book that changed my life:
Other than the Bible, I can't say that one book has changed my life. Sure there have been some changes in my life as a result of what I read in books, but that is different from having my life changed.
One book I have read more than once:
George Orwell's "1984."
One book I would like to have on a desert island:
"Swimming for Dummies."
One book that made me laugh:
"Baseball Confidential" by Bruce Nash and Allan Zullo. They surveyed baseball players on many subjects and got their opinions. My favorite was Detroit Tigers player Kirk Gibson quoting yours truly as a heckling bleacher bum. Read about it here.
One book that made me cry:
I usually don't cry, and reading a book isn't likely to start that.
One book I wish I’d written:
I think this means any book written by somebody else that I would rather have authored myself than them. But I'm going to change the grammatical emphasis to: any of a number of books I've intended to write myself but never made time. I've started writing books before and have had numerous ideas for writing books but none have progressed past about 30 pages. Most are ideas. From being a bleacher bum to theological topics to the Giants/Dodgers rivalry.
One book I wish had never been written:
Harold Camping's "1994?". The religious radio station president predicted the end of the world and it didn't happen. It did much harm to many lives.
One book I’m currently reading:
I'm not currently reading a book.
One book I have been meaning to read:
John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress." It's the second best selling book in history (if you count the Bible as the first best). I've read the first 40 pages about five times. I need to get those last 260 in sometime soon.
Five bloggers to tag with this meme:
I don't know if I have five readers of my blog, and two that I know do read it have already been tagged. So here's a try. Apologies in advance for my bloggemarketing.
Gene Redlin http://northerngleaner.blogspot.com/
Bruce Gerenscer http://www.hungarian-luddite.net/
James Leroy Wilson http://www.independentcountry.blogspot.com/
The Billy Goat http://hirotao.blogspot.com/
"Uncle Dale" http://www.blogger.com/profile/8304495
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