anti-drunk dial phone.

read about it here.

you know, they say necessity is the mother of invention.

marvin spectrum

level four of this game owned me twice in a row.

but, believe you me, i was ready the third time.

changes

i recently found this on one of my old blogs:

"sometimes i don't think that people can change.
i'm pretty sure i can't.

rocky changed at the end of "rocky IV". he said (in a punch-drunk drawl) "if i can change, you can change we all can change." but he had just gotten punched in the head a lot by dolph lundgren.

most people i know who have "changed" have really just learned to hide their old habits better than they did before or theyve just gone off of the deep end.

i believe that god can change people. its just the details that i get left behind on sometimes."

a year later, i can say definitively that people can change. i am, in many ways, a very different person than i was a year ago, in a good way.

what i didn't realize then was that it would take so long, and require so much work.

if you want to change you've got to be in it for the long haul. when i made the decision to develop stronger personal integrity and a better work ethic, i made the commitment to myself that everytime i was confronted with a decision that related to those two things, i was going to make the right call. everytime. 

and i'm still doing it. i look at my life every day and see that, though i'm come far, i haven't arrived. but i'm on the path. 

i think that's one thing we all need to remember…in the end, what's important isn't where we are, it's where we're going.

celebrity

it's ok to gossip about celebrities
they're not real people like you and me
it's ok to read tabloid magazines
who cares if it's true
if it's entertaining?

angelina, brad and jen, i don't know what i'd do without them
maybe spend more time with nick and jess
i know i could be like them, i'd be their best friend
if they only took the time to get to know me

i'm ok with nude, candid photographs
what does she expect with a body like that?-
i'm ok with million dollar baby pics
take me to the check-out line so i can get my fix

and i must admit i secretly rejoice everytime
another perfect marriage bites the dirt
'cause who deserves to have that much money or look that good
when my life sucks so much?

god’s time or our time?

i've just listened to the podcast (again), and i had some thoughts on derek's criticism of my "god in the eternal present" argument.

he stated that my argument hinges on the scriptures referring to god's perspective when they actually refer to our perspective of god's work. my first reaction is "is god's perspective not reality?"

i would reassert my argument that these reflect a glimmer of god's work, and that's fine. but if that's true, it makes the picture of god's work incomplete at best, and certainly not worthy of having entire systems of theology built around them.
again, i don't have any more problems with reformed theology than i do with any system of theology. they all have gaping holes, often in their most central tenants.

my problem is the claim of ownership of the whole of our faith. it's not theirs, it's ours. perhaps most outrageous is the way they claim possession of god's sovereignty.

you do not have to be reformed to recognize the sovereignty of god.
these attitudes reflect some of the things i hate the most in our church: divisive stances on doctrine, the refusal to listen or compromise. perhaps above all, i don't understand someone who does not recognize that they may have it all wrong. for a system of theology that has such a low doctrine of man, they sure seem to think a lot of themselves. 

total depravity

after doing a little research, i foud that i missed a facet of total depravity. it isn't as much related to doing moral good as it is choosing to accept salvation.

i'm not sure how much this changes my argument. more in the next podcast.

is God just?

yesterday i was mulling over some of the things we discussed in the podcast (so far i've listened to each one 8 or 10 times), and i was struck by something.

joel was discussing the idea of total depravity. he defined it as man's inability to do anything good, specifically as it relates to salvation. derek asked if it was that men will not do good, or can not do good. joel answered "can not."

i think derek asked a critical question here and, as he often does, nailed the fault line of the argument (i haven't spoken to him about it yet. he may have been thinking something very different than i am now.)

if we are incapable of doing any good, then how can we be held accountable for not doing good? according to this argument, we don't even have the option! atonement must be made for our failings. the elect's tab is covered by the death of jesus, while the rest of the world faces eternal punishment.

if it's true that we are totally depraved, then god is unjust in punishing the non-elect (do the reformed have a term for this?), and in punishing christ.

maybe i'm missing something here, but it doesn't even seem logical to punish someone for breaking a law they could never keep. sovereignty or no sovereignty, that just makes god look like a tyrant.

atlanta’s new christian podcast 2

the new podcast is up. it's definitely better than the last, in all respects. Check it out here. if you're on myspace add us as a friend.

i listened through the podcast, and had a few thoughts. one, i dodged a real bullet from derek late in the session. he almost nailed me to the wall with the idea that my argument hinged on the idea of predestination being only from god's perspective, not ours. as i've thought about it, i don't think it negates my point, but it was very well thought out, and i'm not sure if i would have had a response had joel not interrupted.

speaking of which, poor derek. he hasnt been able to get a word in edgewise for the last two recordings. joel and i need to learn to be better listeners.

i think i'm walking away from this one with a broader perspective, but i still feel strongly that we must recognize interpretation as interpretation, no matter how certain we feel. remember, no one owns the truth!

except for me. and i'm selling it on ebay…….shipping's free.