Head-dibs

John Cage (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992), a contemporary American composer, believed that the universe is impersonal by nature and that it originated only through pure chance. In an attempt to live consistently with this personal philosophy, Cage composed all of his music by various means of chance. He used, among other things, the tossing of coins and the rolling of dice to make sure that no personal element enters into the final product. The result was music that has no form, no structure, and for the most part, no appeal. This is a video of one of his most well-known piece, called "4'33"": Though his professional life accurately reflected his belief in a universe that has no order, his personal life did not, for his favorite pastime was mycology, the collecting of mushrooms. Due to the potentially lethal results of picking the wrong mushroom, one cannot approach a mushroom on a purely by-chance basis. Concerning that, Cage stated, “I became aware that...

"Evangelism is the systematic use of propaganda promoting a religious ideas for the purpose of gaining converts. Fliers, tracts and "witnessing" techniques are marketing tools to advertise a product." There is a movement within so-called "atheist" circles called "Atheist evangelism" that promotes these kinds of ideas; however, if so-called "atheists" are concerned that "Evangelism is the systematic use of propaganda promoting a religious ideas for the purpose of gaining converts," then they must find another name and means to deliver their message. So-called "atheists" are doing the very thing that bothers them the most through conferences, seminars, websites, blogs, books in order to "counter-evangelize." Immediately one cannot help but wonder why a so-called "atheist" would use the term "evangelism" to describe their anti-Christian movement. The English word "evangelize" ...

Three umpires were debating their philosophies of umpiring. "There's balls and there's strikes," says the first, "and I call 'em the way they are." "No!" exclaimed the next. "That's arrogant! There's balls and there's strikes, and I call 'em the way I see 'em." "That's no better," broke in the third. "Why beat around the bush? Why not be realistic about what we do? There's balls and there's strikes, and they ain't nothin' 'till I call 'em."

"If Dr. [John A.T.] Robinson is right in saying that 'God is teaching us that we must live as men who can get on very well without him,' then the church has no need to say anything whatever to secularized man for that is precisely what secularized man already believes." (E.L. Mascall, 1905 - 1993) ************ "Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergymen or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven on earth." (John Wesley, 1703 - 1791)

"Our method of proclaiming salvation is this: to point out to every heart the loving Lamb, who died for us; to never, either in discourse or in argument, to digress even for a quarter of an hour from the loving Lamb; to name no virtue except in Him, and from Him and on His account; to preach no commandment except faith in Him; no other justification but that He atoned for us; no other sanctification but the privilege to sin no more; no other happiness but to be near Him, to think of Him and do His pleasure; no other self denial but to be deprived of Him and His blessings; no other calamity but to displease Him; no other life but in Him." (Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf 1700 - 1760)

In his post on February 20, Filmmaker’s Company Name Rejected Due to Blasphemy Laws , Hemant Mehta rightly (though mockingly) describes hell as "an imaginary concept — a scary one." At the end of the blog, he states, "There’s nothing wrong with Hell" meaning there is nothing wrong with using the word "hell." To a point, I agree with the thrust of the blog--there is nothing wrong with using the word and the action that he is responding to is certainly questionable; however, noting the responses of his readers, I was drawn to how others were responding to this scary "imaginary" concept of hell itself: "When told that I would be going to hell, I always replied, 'That’s ok. That’s where all the fun people are.'” "If Hell is the absence of God, then yeah, it seems alright to me, at least at the moment. Though I could do with a sandwich." "Hell’s a cool place, especially in the summer. It’s about 30 minutes NW of Ann A...

Says Mr. Shelby to Mrs. Shelby in H.B. Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin.": "I must say these ministers sometimes carry matters farther than we poor sinners would exactly care to do. We men of the world must wink pretty hard at various things, and get used to a deal that isn't the exact thing. But we don't quite fancy when women and ministers come out broad and square, and go beyond us in matters of either modesty or morals, that's a fact." ************ "What makes teaching the Word of God difficult is that you have to say things that you know people aren't going to like. It is inevitable that people will be offended about some of the statements in the Bible. But I dare not neglect to teach passages that are confrontive. Some people say that they can't tolerate my preaching because I am opinionated about what I believe. I often receive criticism for my apparent lack of love. But I realize that I have to say things that can wound peop...

Listen to (or watch ) John Piper's biographical sermon on "The Life and Ministry of George Whitefield: Living and Preaching as Though God Were Real (Because He Is)." Read the transcript here .

Друг мой! Позвольте задать вам самый важный вопрос на свете, от ответа на который зависит чем будет полна для вас вечность - радостью или тоской. Этот вопрос - получили ли вы спасение? Речь идет не о том, хороший ли вы человек и принадлежите ли вы к какой-нибудь церкви, а о том, получили ли вы спасение? Уверены ли вы, что попадете после смерти на небеса? Follow this link for an English translation.

One night in a church service a young woman felt the tug of God at her heart. She responded to God’s call and accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior. The young woman had a very rough past, involving alcohol, drugs and prostitution, but the change in her was evident. As time went on she became a faithful member of the church. S he eventually became involved in the ministry, teaching young children. It was not very long until this faithful young woman had caught the eye and heart of the pastor’s son. The relationship grew and they began to make wedding plans. This is when the problems began. You see, about one half of the church did not think a woman with a past such as hers was suitable for a pastor’s son. The church began to argue and fight about the matter. So they decided to have a meeting. As the people made their arguments and tensions increased, the meeting was getting completely out of hand. The young woman became very upset about all the things being brought up about her ...

" For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen ." (Romans 11:36) “The gospel comprises indeed, and unfolds, the whole mystery of man's redemption, as far forth as it is necessary to be known for our salvation: and the corpuscularian or mechanical philosophy strives to deduce all the phenomena of nature from adiaphorous matter, and local motion. But neither the fundamental doctrine of Christianity nor that of the powers and effects of matter and motion seems to be more than an epicycle . . . of the great and universal system of God's contrivances, and makes but a part of the more general theory of things, knowable by the light of nature, improved by the information of the scriptures: so that both these doctrines . . . seem to be but members of the universal hypothesis, whose objects I conceive to be the natural counsels, and works of God, so far as they are discoverable by us in this life.” (Robert Boyle, 1627 - 1691)

Brad , no I confess I did not research the video titled “ Richard Dawkins Stumped By Creationist’s Question .” I was not aware of any resources “behind” this video. Thank you for pointing them out to me. Here’s what grabbed me about the clip: it was not his being caught off-guard and silence in searching for an answer that seems to be portrayed. What grabbed me was the answer itself. I hear Dawkins support micro-evolution as opposed to macro-evolution; in other words, that every life-form descends from it’s own ancestor: fish from fish, people from people. At :32 he discusses the “popular misunderstanding of evolution which says that, uh, fish turned into reptiles and reptiles turned into mammals” and in turn “look at our ancestors . . . to see the intermediates . . .” The misunderstanding, according to Dawkins, is that we would expect to see fish becoming reptiles. But we don’t. We see fish becoming fish, mammals becoming mammals, people becoming people—all from our ancestors ...

Brad , as there is no other way to contact you, I will respond to your comment you left at “ What Goes Through An Atheist’s Mind On the Brink of Death? ” through this post. My apologies for any offense concerning the title. I was merely attempting to stay in the spirit of Hemant Mehta’s title, “ Atheist Thinks of Her Life on the Brink of Death .” Just curious, but what does this have to do with the fact that you will face God on Judgment Day?

I would like to take a moment to thank Brad, over at Dimensionless , for taking the time to respond to four of my posts. Unfortunately, there is no way for me to respond directly to him (which is causing me to rethink how to go about nurturing further dialogues), so I will do so here in this post. First, on “ Christians are Communists ?” Thank you for sharing Ebonmuse’s real name. The fact that he does not post his name is of no incident, just an observation. You said, “The Bible is portraying a small instance of communism. Caring for the needy implies distribution of wealth - although not anything systematic or top-down. It is not, however, proscribing it for all its followers, nor necessarily condoning it for the masses as a viable form of economy or politics.” The root question that seeks to be answered here seems to be “what is normative?” Looking at passages like Deuteronomy 15:7-8 and Acts 2:45-46 and 4:34-37 we can determine an ethical response for “the masses” by co...

"The Father imposed His wrath due unto, and the Son underwent punishment for, either: 1. All the sins of all men; 2. All the sins of some men; or, 3. Some of the sins of all men. In which case it must be said: a. That if the last be true, all men have some sins to answer for, and so none are saved; b. That if the second be true, then Christ, in their stead suffered for all the sins of all the elect in the whole world, and this is the truth; c. But if the first be the case, why are not all men free from the punishment due unto their sins? Your answer: because of unbelief. I ask, is this unbelief a sin, or is it not? If it be, then Christ suffered the punishment due unto it, or He did not. If He did, why must that hinder them more than their other sins for which He died? If He did not, He did not die for all their sins!" (Dr. John Owen, 1616-1683)

Someone dropped me a line that said to the effect (I accidentally deleted it): " I did not ask to be saved. How absurd that God should go on a scape-goat blood-bath for me when I did not ask for it. I don't want to be saved. I love my sin ." Here's a thought from Charles Spurgeon: "There is no other reason why God should save a man, but for his name's sake; there is nothing in a sinner which can entitle him to salvation, or recommend him to mercy; it must be God's own heart which must dictate the motive why men are to be saved. One person says, "God will save me, because I am so upright." Sir, he will do no such thing. Says another, "God will save me because I am so talented." Sir, he will not. Your talent! Why thou drivelling, self-conceited idiot, thy talent is nothing compared with that of the angel that once stood before the throne, and sinned, and who now is cast into the bottomless pit for ever! If he would save men for their tal...

In the today's post, " Little-Known Bible Verses: Communism ", Ebonmuse (he does not post his real name) attempts to make that case that communism is a biblical idea. Edonmuse writes, "In the Book of Acts, chapter 2, verses 44 to 45, we hear a bit about how the first Christians lived following the departure of Jesus: 'And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.' This is communism in a nutshell - common ownership, no private property, redistribution of resources based only on need. The first Christians were communists." Communism is not what the Bible is portraying at all. What Acts shows is a how early Christians held onto their possessions lightly, ready to help as needs arose. 2:45 says they sold their possessions to care for the needy, not for equal distribution. Consider also 2:46; 4:34-37. I found it intriguing that the "Daylight ...

"From heaven’s perspective, those who break God’s Law are vile and worthy of all loathing. They are a wretched lot, justly exposed to divine vengeance, and rightly devoted to eternal destruction. It is not an exaggeration to say that the last thing that the accursed sinner should and will hear when he takes his first step into hell is all of creation standing to its feet and applauding God because He has rid the earth of him. Such is the vileness of those who break God’s law, and such is the disdain of the holy towards the unholy. Yet, the Gospel teaches us that, 'Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us -- for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree."’ Christ became what we were in order to redeem us from what we deserved." Paul Washer, on " The Cross of Christ ."

I've always been curious to know what goes through an atheist's mind while on the brink of death. Well, now we have an idea of what some actually thought (warning: watch out for "language.") Here's a thought from A.W. Tozer: "Were all human beings suddenly to become blind, still the sun would shine by day and the stars by night, for these owe nothing to the millions who benefit from their light. So, were every man on earth to become atheist, it could not affect God in any way. He is what he is in himself without regard to any other. To believe in him adds nothing to his perfections; to doubt him takes nothing away.” ( Knowledge of the Holy, p. 40 )

Or to as Robert A. Heinlein puts it, "Ancestors are just people." “The evolutionists seem to know everything about the missing link except the fact that it is missing.” (G. K. CHESTERTON)

Posted Thursday, February 12, 2009 on Fox News : "A new poll released just in time for Charles Darwin's 200th birthday found only 39 percent of Americans say they "believe in the theory of evolution" and just 24 percent of those who attend church weekly believe in the explanation for the origin of life. The Gallup survey , released Wednesday, found a quarter of those polled do not believe in evolution, and 36 percent say they don't have an opinion either way." Read the full article here .

Today is "Darwin Day." More than 350 locations around the world are celebrating the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin. Many universities and even the National Geographic and Discovery Channels are planning to celebrate. I don't see what the big deal is: there is no Darwin to believe in. Is there anyone out there who can provide proof that Darwin existed?

"Long before I believed Theology to be true I had already decided that the popular scientific picture at any rate was false. One absolutely central inconsistency ruins it; it is the one we touched on a fortnight ago. The whole picture professes to depend on inferences from observed facts. Unless inference is valid, the whole picture disappears. Unless we can be sure that reality in the remotest nebula or the remotest part obeys the thought--laws of the human scientist here and now in his laboratory-in other words, unless Reason is an absolute--all is in ruins. Yet those who ask me to believe this world picture also ask me to believe that Reason is simply the unforeseen and unintended by-product of mindless matter at one stage of its endless and aimless becoming. Here is flat contradiction. They ask me at the same moment to accept a conclusion and to discredit the only testimony on which that conclusion can be based. The difficulty is to me a fatal one; and the fact that wh...

Let's try a little experiment to see (and I am sure that's no creationist sitting in the chair):

George Bernard Shaw (1814-1885) is perhaps the most renowned in the world as a freethinker and liberal philosopher. In his writings, he says, "The science to which I pinned my faith is bankrupt. Its counsels, which would have established the millennium, led instead directly to the suicide of Europe. I believed them once. In their name I helped to destroy the faith of millions of worshippers in the temples of a thousand creeds. And now they look at me and witness the great tragedy of an atheist who has lost his faith."

Last week I received this question via e-mail from a reader in Nairobi, Kenya, "How can you help me to fully commit my life to Jesus without turning back?" My response: A boy went to spend a few days at the river with His father. The father told the boy not to go in the water because of the crocodiles who lived in the water. Day after day they went down to the river and day after day they fished. The first day the boy noticed a boat nearby, and the father saw the boy looking at the boat. He told the boy that he must not get in the boat, but stay on the bank--do NOT go in the river, and do NOT get in the boat. The more they visited the river, the more the boy wanted to get in the water. One day, the father was not looking and the boy got in the boat and drifted to the middle of the river. One of the crocodiles saw the boat, swam alongside and flipped the boat over, throwing the boy into the water. The father saw what happened and dove into the river. The father turned the boat...

The British nurse who was suspended without pay for offering to pray for a patient's recovery has been reinstated and will return to work in the next few days. Caroline Petrie, an evangelical Christian from Weston-super-Mare, was subjected to disciplinary action by North Somerset Primary Care Trust even though the patient was not offended and made no complaint. Petrie, who was supported by the Christian Legal Centre, was summoned last week to a disciplinary hearing on the charge that she had failed to demonstrate a "personal and professional commitment to equality and diversity." Read the rest here on Fox News .

Eldredge proposes that we need "permission to be what we are--men made in God's image” and develops his point through twelve chapters of “discovering the secret of a man’s soul.” Chapter 1, “Wild At Heart” extends an invitation with incomplete and out of context scripture references for men to live as God intended: “with ferocity.” The readers should be aware of the obscure and questionable sources of the author’s quotes and pagans who in their own writing use “God” and “Mother Nature” interchangeably (the reasons become obvious in Chapter 4). His many examples and stories used throughout the book regarding the undomesticated nature of men’s hearts are speculative and contradictory; consider one example here in the first chapter: if Adam was "was created outside the Garden of Eden, in the wilderness . . . born in the outback, in the untamed part of creation" then this explains why (according to Eldredge) that, "boys have never been at home at home indoors, an...

Yesterday at the National Prayer Breakfast, President Obama gave the following speech wherein he made some very particular comments. USA Today also carried a concise run-down: Regarding the history of the Prayer Breakfast, the President said it "strikes me that this is one of the rare occasions that still brings much of the world together in a moment of peace and goodwill." The President said, "There is no doubt that the very nature of faith means that some of our beliefs will never be the same. We read from different texts. We follow different edicts. We subscribe to different accounts of how we came to be here and where we’re going next – and some subscribe to no faith at all." The " Friendly Athiest " remarked, "It’s strange hearing a politician mention non-religious people in a positive, inclusive way. I could get used to this." The President went on to say, "But no matter what we choose to believe, let us remember that there ...

Yesterday, I posted a link to a conversation going on over at " Friendly Athiest ." Richard posted his thoughts on the comment I left, but he did not leave a way for me to contact him in reply, so here it is: ************ Thank you for taking the time to write a response to my comment and thinking with me. I said in my comment, "AA does not work because of the absence of God as Objective Personality" to which you replied, "Let me guess. And that “Objective Personality” is only described in the Good Book, right? But we do have to have that description filtered through a human being’s subjective interpretation, right? Someone like perhaps………..you?" Why call the Bible the "Good Book?" Where did you get that idea? The Bible records stories of people being burned alive, children being torn from the womb, mass killings, cannibalism, heads being cut off, hangings, stonings, rape, incest, adultery, lust, prostitution, bodies being eaten by worms, “me...

Cuatro Leyes Espirituales 1. PRIMERA LEY Dios le AMA, y tiene un PLAN maravilloso para su vida. (Los textos de las Sagradas Escrituras contenidos en este folleto, de ser posible, deben leerse directamente en la Biblia.) El amor de Dios"Porque de tal manera amó Dios al mundo, que ha dado a su Hijo unigénito, para que todo aquel que en El cree, no se pierda, mas tenga vida eterna." (San Juan 3:16) El plan de Dios(Cristo afirma) "Yo he venido para que tengan vida, y para que la tengan en abundancia" (Una vida completa y con propósito). (San Juan 10:10b) ¿Por qué es que la mayoría de las personas no están experimentando esta "vida en abundancia"? Porque...

Meu amigo! Faço-te a mais importante pergunta desta vida. Tua alegria ou tristeza por tôda a ETERNIDADE depende dela. Eis a pergunta: Estás SALVO? Quer dizer ... ESTÁS CERTO de que irás para o Céu quando morreres? Não te pergunto se és membro de alguma igreja, mas ESTÁS SALVO? Não te pergunto se és pessoa de bem mas ESTÁS SALVO? Ninguém pode gozar das bênçãos de Deus ou ir para o Céu, sem estar salvo. Jesus disse a Nicodemos, em João 3:7 - "Necessário vos é nascer de novo." Deus nos deu na Sua Palavra um ÚNICO plano de Salvação. Esse plano é simples. Podes ser salvo HOJE. O Plano Simples De Deus Para A Salvação Follow this link for an English translation

Hemant Mehta, over at “Friendly Atheist” posted a thought-provoking blog, ” Alcoholics Anonymous Not As Helpful as Secular Alternatives ”. In the event he chooses not to publish my comment, I offer it here for your perusal: ************ You said, “God seems to just make the problems worse.” AA says that one can “make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.” The first problem is God has not made any problem worse, but one’s understanding of Him. If one “understands God” to be one way and someone else “understands God” another way and both are wrong, then that is not a failure on God’s part. Also, please make certain that atheists who also attend these meetings and choose to disbelieve (a god of their own understanding) are also caught up in the same failure rate. AA does not work because of the absence of God as Objective Personality. Another problem is that mere decision does nothing for any individual for he can make one decision one d...

1. They know that time never erases a crime . 2. Can he handle the job ? 3. Five "things" evangelism is NOT . 4. Five reasons to turn it down .

From the American Center For Law And Justice (ht: Tim) BREAKING NEWS : Stimulus Bill Discriminates Against Religious Activity Our legislative team has unearthed a little noticed provision in the economic stimulus bill that is simply unacceptable. There's a provision in Section 803 of the measure that provides money for the modernization of university facilities. However, as written, the stimulus bill would prohibit schools that accept this funding from allowing religious activity to take place in those facilities. Here's the language included in the stimulus bill: "Grants awarded under this section shall be for the purpose of modernizing, renovating, and repairing institution of higher education facilities that are primarily used for instruction and research. . . ." Funds may not be used for the "modernization, renovation, or repair of facilities--(i) used for sectarian instruction, religious worship, or a school or department of divinity; or (ii) in which a subs...

神は私たちを愛しておられ、個人的に神を知ることができるように、私たちを造ってくださいました。 神の愛 「神は、実に、そのひとり子をお与えになったほどに、世を愛された。それは彼を信じる者が、一人として滅びることなく、永遠の命を持つためである。」(ﾖﾊﾈ3:16) 神の計画 「その永遠の命とは、彼らが唯一のまことの神であるあなたと、あなたの遣わされたイエス･キリストを知ることです。」(ﾖﾊﾈ17：3) では、私たちが神を知る上で、妨げとなっていることは何でしょうか? More here .