The Value of Religious Conviction

This needs no further explanation:
I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said 'Stop! don't do it!' 'Why shouldn't I?' he said. I said, 'Well, there's so much to live for!' He said, 'Like what?' I said, 'Well...are you religious or atheist?' He said, 'Religious.' I said, 'Me too! Are you Christian or Buddhist?' He said, 'Christian.' I said, 'Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?' He said, 'Protestant.' I said, 'Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?' He said, 'Baptist!' I said, 'Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist church of god or Baptist church of the lord?' He said, 'Baptist church of god!' I said, 'Me too! Are you original Baptist church of god, or are you reformed Baptist church of god?' He said, 'Reformed Baptist church of god!' I said, 'Me too! Are you reformed Baptist church of god, reformation of 1879, or reformed Baptist church of god, reformation of 1915?' He said, 'Reformed Baptist church of god, reformation of 1915!' I said, 'Die, heretic scum,' and pushed him off. --Emo Phillips

Heretics, Inc;

Last night was a defining moment in my search for truth and freedom in Christ. Chaplain Roy and I met with George (Howell), Melting Paradigms for dinner in Dallas. What an experience! I had Geo all to myself for about an hour before Chaplain Roy arrived. Geo and I discovered how much our journeys parallel. We talked about the freedom we have found that cannot be taken away. I found Geo to be so accepting and loving of his fellow man. His insights are fantastic and I will certainly benefit from all of them. Words just can't express the joy that filled me as we talked and shared our lives and experiences. I can't wait for Geo's next trip to Texas. If you ever have the chance to meet Geo, DO NOT MISS IT! Bruce, SteveW, I envy you greatly!!

The Wages of Sin is Death

Our friend Roy brought up a very interesting point about that familiar verse of scripture, Romans 6:23

23 For the ration of Sin is death, yet the gracious gift of God is life eonian, in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

I had thought the verse was talking about the result of Adam's sin. That is, the fact that we all will die because Adam's failure. Then, it hit me. Roy is right in his assessment of the verse. We live on this side of the cross. Those who lived on the other side were burdened with the result of Adam's sin. However, because we are on this side of the cross, the death that is spoken of is not our death, but the death which befell our savior, Christ Jesus. He took the result of Adam's sin, and all ours as well, on Himself. That's a whole new way of looking at the verse. He faced death for all sin and erased the effect of sin forever. Praise be to God!!

Roy's blog is:
http://roysblog.blog.com

Update on Martin Z.

I recently received an email from Martin Zender. I had emailed him inquiring how he was feeling and that we all missed his good words. The following is an excerpt from his response:
I'm feeling better since I got allergy testing two weeks ago. I had 8 1/2 hours worth of testing done, and I ain't done yet. But I'm injecting a serum three times a week, and avoiding certain foods. I'm feeling about 70% better, it seems.

I hope this is it.

Thanks for caring, and for letting others know what has been happening.

God bless you.

Martin

We can be thankful he is much better and hopefully will be creatively active again soon. Pray God's will be done.....We miss you Martin. God Bless You......

Recharged

Back home again from a great holiday in the Texas Panhandle with the wife, my mother-in-law and family. We had a great time. I'm ready for another 40 years of married life with my wonderful wife!
Wonderful news....This week Chaplain Roy and myself are meeting in Dallas with Geo of Melting Paradigms for a heretics dinner on Tuesday evening. I am really looking forward to time together with Chaplain Roy and Geo.

Time Off - Reconnection

I'm taking a week off for the holiday period. My wife and I will be reconnecting. She works in Houston, about 250 miles from our home. We only see each other every two or three weeks. After nearly 40 years of marriage, this is a time which is not that easy on either one of us. It's a great opportunity for her to show the company she works for just how good a manager she really is. I support her completely. This week will be a time of reconnection for us. I really look forward to this time together. She does not share my joy in believing in the true gospel of grace. That's OK. I pray she will detect a change in me that will draw her to this gospel.

Everyone have a great week. See you soon!

T-Shirt Truth

I saw a T-shirt in a catalog today that I would gladly wear, with one small change. It said, "It is what it is". I would change it to read:



"He Is What He Is"

An Empty Shell of Faith

Chaplain Roy called me to recommend a read from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, our local newspaper. This is an article ALL of us need to read. When I read it, I thought, "how did this get in our newspaper". You have to remember that Fort Worth is the home of Southwestern Theological Seminary, a Southern Baptist seminary and one of the largest, most conservative in the country. Please read this:

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/opinion/15988200.htm

Christianity+Paganism=?

Steve Jones posted on his blog a story about:"The Pastor- Where Did He Come From". It deals with how the role of the pastor, shepherd, priest, whatever, has changed from the earliest period of Christianity. It's a good read from Frank Viola's site and can be found here: http://www.ptmin.org/thepastor.htm
Frank said something which reinforced what I had been finding in my own studies of early Christianity. Namely, that pagan influence was much greater than most people think in the times following Constantine's conversion. That renown historian, Will Durant, is quoted by Frank Viola here: "Under Constantine, Christianity was both recognized and honored by the State. This blurred the line between the church and the world. The Christian faith was no longer a minority religion. Instead, it was protected by Emperors. As a consequence, church membership grew rapidly. Truck loads of new converts were made who were barely converted. They brought into the church a wide variety of pagan ideas (emphasis mine). In the words of Will Durant, “While Christianity converted the world; the world converted Christianity, and displayed the natural paganism of mankind.” The world converted Christianity, and displayed the natural paganism of mankind. WOW! How true that is. The ancient fathers of Christianity, like Paul, would hardly recognize today's Christianity........

The U.R. Debate Goes On.....

Over the weekend, I was rereading articles on U.R. and came across this website which supplies you with lots of reading material concerning the debate. I am constantly amazed at how theologians and church "scholars" just can't let go of Godly wrath, post-resurrection. These articles make for good reading. It is true that not everything can be explained exegetically to everyone's satisfaction to "prove" U.R. How about trusting the spirit's lead. Listen to your heart. You know who resides there. Why is it that these theologian-types and theologians/scholars require scriptural proof of U.R. when their own beliefs are faithbased, open to interpretation. Yet they will require scriptural agreement to even be open to the concept of universal reconciliation. It's "a mystery" to me. All I can conclude is that their livelihood (read paycheck) is based on remaining constant and faithful to religious beliefs of their assemblage. They are slaves to religion, whatever the variety they choose. They seek the approval, assent, endorsement, sanction, of man (the ones in their particular faction). I believe ascribing to a new, often radical, position, would, in their view, isolate them from all they hold dear. How very sad.

Here is the link to the various articles, if you are interested:
http://fireandrose.blogspot.com/2006/07/universalism-in-blogosphere.html

The Futility of Debating Grace

One of Harry Tick's blogs, "Heretics 'R' Us", had a great post from 2004 on the futility of arguing about Grace. I believe it bears repeating. By the way, I'm constantly amazed at how thoughtful and well written are the posts from our blogging community. Here's the link to Harry's post:

http://hereticsrus.blogspot.com/2004/11/futility-of-arguing-about-grace.html