I waited until Tuesday night to write this, even though I had every intention of doing so Monday afternoon. Why does our culture so dislike Mondays? Is it because, after a weekend, we’re forced back to the daily grind? If that was the case, the Tuesday after a long weekend should be equally lousy…but it usually isn’t. Perhaps it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy based on our cultural experiences - everyone hates Mondays and expects things to go wrong, and…whoop! Something went wrong! Wow!

I think Mondays are symbolic of all that we’ve come to hate about life. Going back to work after a weekend is just a part of it. Another part of it probably is our expectations of bad things. (It doesn’t help when three straight Monday mornings are cold and rainy.)

My last Monday was one of those days. You know how we’re all supposed to be glad in the day the Lord has made (to paraphrase the Psalm)? Well, I was glad in it…at about 11p when the day was finally over. It started out pretty bad when lightning struck the power generator on campus (or close to it, anyway) and zapped power across campus for ten minutes. I live less than a quarter mile from the generator, but I didn’t hear a thing…and that was precisely the problem. I can sleep through almost anything, including near lightning strikes. But kill power so that my computer fan and the fan next to my bed both go out? I woke up fairly soon after that to discover, thanks to the battery-powered clock at my headboard, that it was 12:45a. I had only been out an hour or less when this happened. Then I wake up at 7:40a for my 8a class…then it was just “one of those days.” It was, all things considered, a typical Monday.

Surely there’s a silver lining here somewhere. I mean, this is all depressing…I’m unloading on total strangers from distant countries who have never met me. For all I know, aliens could be picking up our internet broadcast signals in some distant galaxy and weeping over the peril of one “mounty.” So if there is indeed a silver lining, I’ll be sure to find one (one of these days) and post it for you. Until then, Zokbar-9, keep weeping. And don’t kill me when you invade Earth.

I just found two new nifty toys. Ever since I bought a low-end system from our IT yard sale, I’ve been fiddling with Ubuntu Linux, a derivative of Debian. Ubuntu is quite user-friendly while still maintaining the gist of Linux tweaking that makes it so popular with geeks like me.

The first nifty toy is actually an old toy revisted. Obviously one does not go out and install Microsoft Office on a Linux machine - aside from being extremely flaky at best, the two ideals behind M$ and Linux are so opposite that installing Office on Linux is like stealing a Bible. Sort of. Anyway, I was searching for email clients that could handle IMAP accounts, and I decided to see what Thunderbird 1.0 looked like. You who were there when I first played with Thunderbird know that I almost switched over but didn’t because of two things: color-coded tags to tell me what the message was all about and what kind of action needed to be taken, and the ability to group by, say, date or sender or whatnot. Well, Thunderbird 1.0 has heard my cry and answered - both features are there. I will be promptly dropping Outlook in favor of TBird just as soon as I get back to my room.

The other toy is BloGTK 1.0, a blogging front-end from which I am now posting on my Ubuntu box. Think of it as a replacement for w.bloggar. I installed it through Synaptic, the front-end for apt-get (apt-get is Debian’s package manager, which provides a much easier way to install software in Linux than doing the command line thing). No problems - installed and came right up, connected to my blog, and I’m going to click “Publish” to see what happens next…

:UPDATE: actually nothing happened, and I can’t quite tell why. So I’m sticking this in manually. Never say die, though…

What a week. My car was hit twice while driving; only one of those two times did the offender stop, and in none of the cases was there damage to the car costing money to repair. Sunday a Buick kissed my Escort (I had a stern talk with the Buick after that for trying to rob the cradle by hooking up with so young a car; also there was definite SIN going on with that kiss) on the highway, causing a nice black streak down my door and a loose bumper (that’s being repaired by free by a mechanic on campus who I can only describe as “jolly”). Then tonight, after meeting friends from home, I took their son out for dinner at Subway (since we had both missed dinner). There was some sort of race going on behind me involving an 80s-vintage white Mustang, a 90s-vintage red Porsche, and a ridiculous low-slung white trash pickup. The Mustang and Porsche both got out (or rather swerved out) from behind me as I turned into Subway; the redneck (why was he even getting mixed up in that?) clipped me on my turn in and, in the spirit of true Southern Care and Hospitality, glanced back to make sure I wasn’t spun out before trying to catch up to the Porsche. (See why I hate being down here?!?!?) Jerk. Punk. He was probably from Georgia, too. Wouldn’t surprise me in the least - of all the crazy reckless drivers down here WHO DON’T RECOGNIZE THAT A BRAKE LIGHT AND TURN SIGNAL THAT WAS TURNED ON FIFTY FEET BEFORE AN ENTRANCE TO A RESTAURANT MEANS THE DRIVER IS LIKELY GOING TO SLOW TO A CRAWL SO AS NOT TO BOTTOM OUT WHEN TURNING INTO SAID RESTAURANT, Georgia drivers are the absolute hands-down worst drivers. They make New Jersey drivers look sane.

Yes, I’m being absolutely serious…and that felt really good.

Anyway, this week was also Bible Conference. Some highlights of the week:

• Both Sunday night and Friday night, Dr. Gus tries to set the world record for the amount of time taken to get through one stanza of a song, spending four minutes and sixteen seconds alone on the final “Hallelujah” of “Hallelujah, What a Savior”.
• The Usher Crew, in the spirit of spunk and determination that has always characterized the Usher Crew, transformed themselves into ungainly seventh graders for two minutes…then transformed back after realizing that their heads, like the heads of most seventh graders, were too large in proportion to the rest of their bodies to spin like they usually do.
• Craig Hartman (whose real first name is the Jewish equivalent of Sammy) taught the student body the meaning of the Hebrew word “shalom.” Dr. Berg, not to be outdone, taught the student body the meaning of the Hebrew word “wow.”
• Steven Jones spent the first half of the week sleeping on the couch due to illness. He then spent the second half of the week sleeping on the couch for mentioning that he much prefered the Usher Crew’s girlfriends taking the offering over the Usher Crew guys.
• The campus of BJU spent the week practicing legal extortion. Remember, you can charge anything you want for even trivial items, because “it’s for the Bible Conference offering!” This author moves that the Bible Conference Offering be renamed the Bible Conference Fundraiser, because that’s all it is, anyway. Only visitors put money in the plate during the service. The students know that Desk Dogs and Krispy Kreme donuts (on sale at the Public Safety office while supplies last, generally two mintues) are the real way to raise money for whatever project is in need of four million dollars.

It’s also hard to believe that, one year and ten minutes ago, this author was zooming home in said Escort at speeds approaching 100 miles per hour. :pause: Actually, this author was sleeping in the back seat of said Escort while the driver, who shall remain nameless, was zooming home at speeds approaching 100 miles per hour. I knew things were crazy when he woke me up at 3am, six hours into the trip, to tell me he was tired and needed a relief driver. “Where are we now?” I asked, knowing from experience that we should be just around Richmond, VA, about to merge onto I-95. “Just outside Baltimore,” was his reply. I woke up in a hurry. To do that, he was cruising at nearly 95 mph constant, not including time lost for getting gas, which I assume he got somewhere along the way. Needless to say he hasn’t come anywheres near my car since then.

Also needless to say (but it will be said anyway), this author is not currently driving home, nor does he plan to go anywheres near home until June, when he will be singing in a friend’s wedding and will have the honor and new experience of flying into the teeming metropolis of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. (SCRAN-ten WILKS-Ber-ry). As one would expect, the airport is named “Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport” and has the logical three-letter identification code of AVP. Maybe it comes from the German - Aeroport Vilkes-Barre Pranton - or something.

So, Bible Conference is over. Students are more exhausted and ill than before the week started. Everyone is more poor, including the author, who used his allocated Bible Conference Fundraising money to buy a new computer for $15 (AMD K6-400 with 256mb RAM - will be used to learn Linux without having to dump my current hard drive) and a few accessories (talk about a steal - an internal 250mb Iomega Zip Drive for $2!!!). Of course I don’t have to feel guilty about spending the money on myself, because that money is part of roughly $1,000 that IT raised in our annual Yard Sale of Old Parts No One Wants but Buys Anyway Because It’s for Bible Conference.

For my SharperIron friends, sorry - I missed a majority of the services working to pay my school bill, so you won’t be getting up-to-date reports of each sermon and where each preacher messed up his exegesis. All I gotta say is, Long Live the Organ!!

Just because it’s current, and just because every single person with any ear to the ground is weighing in on this, I figured I’d cast my vote in this wonderful case of Mrs. Terry Schiavo. I think Shakespeare fits here:

“To be…or not to be: that is the question. Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them? To die…to sleep…no more! And by a sleep to say we end the heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation devoutly to be wished! To die…to sleep…to sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there’s the rub! For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil must give us pause.”

Since no one speaks Elizabethan anymore, allow me to paraphrase:

“To live or die…that is the question. Is it better to quietly go along and suffer life’s injustices, or is it better to take action against life’s curves in the hope of defeating them, and perhaps die trying? Is it death, or is it merely sleep? And if it is sleep, and we truly end the heartache and all the weaknesses that come with being human, then death is preferable over life. To die…or simply sleep, and perhaps dream. But what of the dreams? If death is sleep, then the dreams of the afterlife must make us stop and think.”

There are no real facts in this case. No one knows if she truly is in this so-called “persistent vegitative state.” Your people advocating her “right to death” as an unspoken corrolary to the “right to life” on the one hand claim that she’s a vegetable and therefore is alive only on the most basic level. According to them, your gerbil is more alive than she, because the gerbil, however unintelligent, at least can feel outside stimuli. She can’t even do that. In fact, she probably isn’t even aware of her own existance. On the other hand, they claim that removing the feeding tube will be a “painless” death. Well, if she can’t feel pain, then why are you going out of your way to say that it’s a painless death? Are you concerned about that?

Then you’ve got your “right to life” crowd, encompassing conservative agnostics (like Rush Limbaugh, who uses the argument “what’s the harm in letting her live on a feeding tube? At least she’s still alive!”) to your radical right (who use the argument “God decides when it’s time, not man!”). Fact is (I know, I said there weren’t many established facts) both arguments are flawed. The Leftist argument is flawed because there is no such thing as a “right to death” for her to exercise. I’m going to follow the strict view of the Constitution which means that there’s no such thing as an implied “constitutional right to death” or “constitutional right to privacy” or whatever. The argument is in favor of her husband, who wishes to remove the feeding tube, however right or wrong that action may be. After all, he is her immediate guardian and executor of her wishes, and since she can’t contradict him when he says she’d want to go, then that’s that. Before you go all squirrely on me, the right argument is also flawed. Humorously enough, the same people that say “God decides when it’s time” will think nothing of going to the doctor’s office to get flu shots that could save their lives; and they would expect doctors to take every step possible to save their lives if they were ever in a car wreck. But I thought God decided when it’s time? Aren’t you trying to thwart God’s intentions by using a life support machine?

This may surprise my readers who know me, but until this afternoon I was indifferent on this case, leaning towards her husband’s side of the argument. I mean, she’s essentially dead (if not for various machines she would be dead, just as if this had happened twenty years ago instead of ten), and if she wants to die then it’s her choice. If her husband, who theoretically knows her quite well, says that’s what she wants, then it’s very possible that she really wants to die…assuming she has the capacity to even think that at all. But then something someone said jumped out at me, and I’m frankly surprised I didn’t see it earlier. I still believe she is less self-aware and (essentially) less alive than a gerbil. But it doesn’t really matter what she or her husband or anyone else, for that matter, wants. According to I Cor. 6:19-20, Christians at least have an obligation to recognize that they don’t actually own their own bodies, because it has become the temple for the Holy Spirit. If Mrs. Schiavo is a Christian woman, then the argument is closed, and we do all we can with the knowledge that God has given us through common grace to save her life, even if that only means preserving it in a very watered-down form until some way can be found to bring her back among the living. But what implication does this passage (or principle) have for non-believers? If Mrs. Schiavo is not a temple for the Holy Spirit, how does that argument change? We know that all life is created and given by God as a unique creation. We also know that God cares for both saved and sinner alike in that the rain falls on the fields of the just and the unjust. If all life is on loan from God, then it stands to reason that God is therefore the one who decides when to extend and withhold life. Yes, we use machines to keep her from becomng dehydrated and starved, but if God truly wanted to take her life than no amount of human intervention would stop Him from doing so.

Ultimately, all life is in the hand of the all-sovereign Lord and Creator of the universe. It is not for a man to decide when to take his own life, nor is it for man to decide when to take another’s life, whether directly through action or indirectly through negligence. And by removing her life support, her husband is indirectly taking her life through negligence and will be held accountable to God, whether as part and parcel of his other sins, if he is not saved, or as a loss of reward if he is saved.

That said, I think Congress and the courts are starting a dangerous precedent by stepping into this matter. The argument that she is being deprived of “due process” is very weak. The most the courts should be doing is issuing restraining orders to both parties and letting the doctors perform their Hippocratic Oath responsibilities and “do no harm.” Certainly Congress should not be deciding one way or another if Party A can kill Party B (or allow Party B to die, however you want to look at it) against the wishes of Party C.

There. I know you were all dying to know what I’ve been thinking, and it’s been keeping you awake every night for the past ten years. Well, requiescat in pace, my friends. I have spoken.

[Listening to: Requiem for chorus & orchestra: Lux Aeterna - John Rutter - Requiem & Magnificat (07:18)]

I don’t know if this is funny or irreverant, but I know it’s at least funny, if nothing else. Why do we pray like this? Is this how we talk to a friend?

http://www.desiringgod.org/library/topics/word_god/esv.html

Why John Piper uses the ESV. It’s a concise, easy-to-understand presentation in the same style as so much else of Piper’s stuff. Worth a read. Oh, and I also wouldn’t mind the ESV becoming the standard. Unfortunately, at the moment it’s relegated to Bible College/fundy mega-church towns, but that will eventually change.

This week finds Bob Jones University holding its annual Bible Conference, the longest-running such event in the US, supposedly. If not the longest-running, then the longest-running/most-attended such conference by far. Parking is always a problem…which is why the school’s trying to raise just over $4 million to build a new parking garage that will at least double the car capacity on campus. Incidentally, if you wish to contribute $300k or more, you can have one of the four towers of that garage named after the person of your choice. If you’d like to help, I’d be willing to forward your donation on, after taking a modest broker’s fee of 1/10 of one percent of your donation. Just email me, and I’ll give you my PayPal account. No joke.

Anyway, the first message this morning was by Dr. Dave Doran, prez of Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary and pastor of Inter-City Baptist Church in Allen Park, MI, spoke. Given the topic of choice in the fundy blogosphere recently (as well as Dr. Doran’s involvement in that topic, particularly on one site), it wasn’t hard to guess what he was going to preach on. And indeed, he opened to Romans 14-15 and in one hour (that didn’t seem like an hour) systematically explained Rom. 14:1-15 [+/-] [14:1]As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God." So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.:7 in a very clear but precise way. I was coming from work, so I only had my Palm. No notes from mounty’s own head; sorry. But, I do have a lenghty incipit (that’s a contradiction, I know) that was emailed out in the form of “Chapel Notes.” Every day I get “Chapel Notes” from some secretarial staff member; She even has her own rule in my inbox: When mail with subject “Chapel Notes” and received from “*****” arrives, mark as read and move to folder “Trash”. I usually skim through them once a week to get the gist, but I don’t generally have time to sit there every afternoon and read the chapel message of the day. I saved this one, though, because the sermon was that good, and the notes are that helpful. So, without further delay, in all its unedited glory…

Truth today has become entirely subjective. Religious truth has become mired in confusion. You can believe what you believe, but dont tell others what you believe. It has become your opinion. The world is becoming more complex, making it difficult to maintain Bible-believing Christianity. Many claim to be believers, but they want to change Christianity–saying there is no eternal punishment or that the Bible is authoritative, but not without error. This thinking is being paraded as Bible-believing Christianity. This should cause great dismay to real Bible-believing Christians, and we need to know how to respond. There are two characteristics we should have–firmness and flexibility. Know where to be flexible and when, but also know when you need to take a firm stand. We need to know how to maintain firmness and flexibility that is honoring to the Lord Jesus Christ and at the same time helpful to His people. There are areas in which the Scriptures say we need to give each other a little room. Any discussion on Christian liberty almost always includes Romans 14 [+/-] [14:1]As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God." So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.. There is an overarching theme of things that we are obligated to do if were committed to pursuing holiness. We need to understand the truth God has for us. Believers should accept one another as Gods people, allowing room for differing convictions and building each other up for the praise and glory of the Father and Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 14 [+/-] [14:1]As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God." So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.: 1 commands us to receive one another. Receive means to accept or bring close–to welcome into your circle of acquaintances. Just as Christ received us, we should receive those who are weak, allowing room for differences in convictions. There should not be a breach of fellowship over insignificant issues. If you are earnest about the Christian life you will arrive at convictions about life, but not all believers come to the same convictions. You must respond carefully to those whose convictions differ from yours. Allow room for differing convictions–do not despise them. You cannot presume to judge the convictions of others. This should lead to the edifying of one another (Romans 14:19 [+/-] So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.). If your goal is to build other believers up, you will not do things that cause them damage spiritually. The main concern is that the body of Christ (the local assembly) be able, with one mind and one mouth (Romans 15:6-7 [+/-] that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.) to offer praise to the Lord Jesus Christ. That is a nonnegotiable. It is our responsibility to have a cordial, warmhearted relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. If God accepted them, who are we to hold them in contempt or pass judgment on them? There will always be diversity because of our background, what we know and dont know, and our personal experience. This, of course, does not apply to those who have never accepted the Savior or when church discipline has been used. That would be a clear violation of Scripture. There are boundaries in which this command operates–it includes those in faith and obedience to the Word of God, with their lives committed to the unity of Gods people. Ask God to help you respond in a way that is pleasing to God. Be firm, but without forsaking your flexibility.

I think I’ve been trying to say this kind of thing all along, though certainly not as eloquently or exactly as Dr. Doran presented it. So, in the words of Calvin (not the theologue…the other one), “may his orders be heeded and his views be embraced!”

…so who else’s brackets were flattened when KU lost to Bucknell tonight?? Thankfully that’s the only Sweet 16 team I’m missing right now. For the record, the Sweet 16 is: UNC/Florida, Kansas/UConn, Duke/Michigan St., Oklahoma/Kentucky on the one side, and Illinois/BC, Arizona/OK St., Washington/Louisville, and Gonzaga/Wake Forest.

Elite 8 is UNC/UConn and Duke/Oklahoma on one side, and Illinois/Arizona and Washington/Wake Forest on the other.

Championship is Wake Forest (over Illinois) vs. UConn (over UNC), with UConn taking it 85-76.

Yes, I’m guessing all over the place here.

So when do fights and fellowship go together? When you’re at a hockey game, of course! Tonight was one of those nights. Somehow (not sure how) the staff at the Bi-Lo Center here in G-ville asked Concert Choir to come over and sing the National Anthem at a Grrrowl game. The Grrrowl is Greenville’s ECHL team - the AA feeder to AAA Norfolk Admirals and Edmonton Roadrunners, which in turn are feeder teams for the NHL Blackhawks and Oilers. Tonight they played the Florida Everblades, feeder for the Lowell Lock Monsters, feeder for the Hurricanes. (In case you’re wondering, Philly’s AA team is the Trenton Titans, which feed to the Phantoms, which feed to the Flyers…if there was an NHL season to speak of…) Off-topic. Anyway, it was a great game. Florida scored twice in the opening period. There was a fight (!) in the opening period. Greenville scored in the second and again with two minutes left in the third to equalize it. The game went to a five-minute overtime, in which three fights nearly broke out within two minutes. Lots of love out there on the ice, let me tell you. Unfortunately the refs had to step in and break them up. I say that not because I’m a bloodthirsty, testosterone-crazed guy who revels in fights (though I will admit that none of my little group, including two girls, turned away when the first one broke out; I think we were all cheering, actually, since Jenny’s from Detroit [Hockey Town USA right there] and DeAna, while not a hockey fan, still enjoys a good fight in field hockey and lacrosse), but because hockey players, being such a highly charged game, need a little release of tension, and a fight’s just perfect for that. Anyway, OT ended without any scoring, but there were some excellent shots from Greenville, who just would not give in. Unfortunately the “ladies” part of the fellowship had to leave after OT, and they missed the shoot-out. Five players going one-on-one with the goalie, one at a time. Florida went first and scored, then Gville scored. Second and third set no one scored. Fourth set Brodeur (Mike, who was definitely not channeling namesake Martin of the hated Devils) stoned the shot, and Gville put it in to cap the comeback - picture-perfect and otherwise gorgeous triple deke to fake Florida’s goalie out of his pads. From down 2-0 in the first period to winning 3-2 after the shootout. Wow. Talk about a great first hockey game:

• Home team comes back from behind to win
• One real fight and three almost-fights
• One bone-cruching double-team check - two Grrrowl forwards giving an Everblade a faceplant into the boards (absolutely beautiful check)
• Chilling with at least three girls that actually enjoyed hockey, an absolutely shocking revelation for me - there are girls out there that watch hockey? I thought they just went because their boyfriends dragged them out!
• Gilliam and two words: Chicken Dance
• Free parking a block away in a residential area
• And the best part: tickets for one dollar - the original seats weren’t that bad (not really a bad seat in the house), but moving down four rows from the ice right at the faceoff circle - absolutely great seats for watching the action in the offensive zone, and only one dollar (since we were singing, I guess)
• Oh yeah, one more word: Zamboni

I’m definitely going to have to go for more games, especially if the regular seats are only $10. Great price - can’t beat it. And even if Greenville definitely isn’t a hockey town (which it definitely isn’t), it’s the only hockey this fan is going to be watching for at least another year, what with the stupid NHL lockout. Do it for the love of the game, NHLPA!!! Gah!!!!!! It’s unfortunate that the Arena Football League had to nix the Carolina Rhinos, because Arena Football is definitely a cool sport. I’ll not get started…

So, fellowship and fights. A good night. Oh, yeah - the National Anthem went off smashingly.

I think we can officially say that the blog is the new movement among teens and twentysomethings. For sheer power in spreading ideas quickly among a certain list of friends and an uncertain FOAF (Friend Of A Friend) group, nothing beats the power of internet. And let’s face it - the whole email thing is starting to die out as a means of doling out large amounts of information quickly. Mailing lists (especially among missionaries) is starting to take a back seat to a web page. This eliminates the need to keep an address list, and it allows people to send out information to more than just a set group of people. Anyone can search Google and come across my site (and believe me, some of their searches are really wacky!).

All that said, I had a few thoughts last night (they were early, so don’t worry - I’m still trying not to think past 11p!) about how seriously people take these things. On the one hand, I’d like people to take my posts seriously, at least the ones that are meant to be taken seriously. On the other hand, I don’t want them taken too seriously. I mean, people need to take into account that I’m just another twentysomething who, when being serious, is usually just thinking out loud and not necessarily coming to any hard-and-fast conclusions unless I explicitly say so. With that in mind, I’d like to pass along a quote from an email I received from Jonathan Pait, head of PR and webmaster of StackOfStuff.net:

Blogs are reflections of a person’s perception. That perception is not always correct. However, that one misperception can cause me - and more importantly the University - much pain. On the other hand, blogs also offer proof that BJU is not a production center for mindless robots. I just hope that people reading them have discernment.

With regards to this BJBlogger list, that statement is something of a catchall - how to moderate a list where someone can take one comment out of context and use it to judge a body of 7,000 people? On the other hand, the diversity of opinions and positions is testimony against the “cookie-cutter” image people have of the school. So, with that in mind, I have decided that this list shall be open to any BJ student or grad, regardless of how different they are from the school. The original clause, however, of removing someone who starts going off the deep end is still in force, if not for the school’s sake, then at least for mine. As for the rest of the site, this is sort of me. It’s me in that I found the issues I write about interesting and useful to me, but it’s not me in that no 200-word essay can sum up my personality. Take that for what it’s worth.

…getting off of AOL if you have any problem at all with them knowing everything you do online and storing that information. Slashdot ran this story about AOL telling people in those service agreements (that no one ever reads) that using AOL serivces waives any right to privacy (their words). Fun, isn’t it?

[Listening to: Didn’t It Rain - Chanticleer - How Sweet the Sound (03:27)]

I have decided that basketball is a flawed game. Behold my reasoning:

Any sport in which…

1. the officials make over fifty calls per game and are allowed to do so without challenge or replay…
2. the officials have the power to change the course of the game by varying the consistency of their calls (without challenge; see #1)…
3. players can get out of losing possession of the ball by either spiking it off an opposing player or calling a time-out as they’re sailing through the air out-of-bounds…
4. the players can be called for a penalty without actually ever having touched the ball (technical fouls)…
5. the team can be penalized because of the actions of fans, over which the team has no control…
6. the players think the best way to come back from being down three or four points is to break the rules and give free points to the other team in the hopes that they’ll get the ball back…
7. breaking the rules of the game is considered acceptable under certain circumstances…

…deserves to die. Or at least be changed to make it fairer and more objective. So, I suggest the following changes:

1. Calls can be challeneged via instant-replay system.
2. Technical fouls are eliminated.
3. The team that spikes a ball before going out of bounds or calls time out loses posession.
4. The “bonus” foul shot system is eliminated.

These simple changes will make the sport more competitive because it eliminates 90% of the cheap shots and ploys teams use to claw their way to the top. If a team lets itself die over the course of the game, they should not be allowed to play cheap and win the game in the end (although I have never seen a team that resorts to fouling the team in the lead ever win a game doing so…so why do they do it? In the words of one player, “What other choice do we have?” You could try playing better defense!!). In addition, if the refs can be held to task by both the team (booing) and the coaches (instant replay) they will call a more fair game. Also, the refs should probably not be fat, out-of-shape, near-sighted people who get winded their first trip down the court. Ideally they should be retired players themselves so they know the difference between a ball going out of a player’s hands at a crazy angle because he was off-balance and the same thing happening because he was hit as he shot.

In short, there is absolutely nothing captivating for me in basketball…not unless they make it a more objective “he stepped over the line of scrimmage before the snap was called, so he’s offsides” type of game.

This afternoon I was eating at pre-shift. Since it was Friday, there was no chapel; and the radio station on-campus doesn’t broadcast F/S meetings like it does chapel messages. So they were playing music through the 11:00 hour. Normally I don’t pay much attention to the local radio stations - Greenville doesn’t have any decent radio stations (with the possible exception of AM 1330, which is all talk and which I’m starting to listen to a little more each day). WMUU was playing “more beautiful music,” one piece of which was the End Credits suite from Star Trek: The Motion Picture by Jerry Goldsmith. What was once movie music has changed - no longer is it 1979, and this piece has moved out of the realm of soundtracks and into the realm of classical. It was kinda cool listening to music that I know and love on that particular radio station - usually they play all 50s music.

Further proof that culture changes quickly…

I’m happy to report that, unlike the bulk of “fundamentalist” pastors who would immediately dismiss detractors, someone has stuck around to explain himself and stand ready for cross-x. Phil Johnson wrote a response specifically for SI readers who have reviewed his work at the Shepherd’s Conference last week. I didn’t think his work needed justification - people who know his position and his associations wouldn’t be necessarily surprised by anything he said at that conference. But of course some people can’t let it rest, and so he graciously faced his detractors and explained himself in a “take me or leave me; your choice” kind of way. Favorite quote:

That’s precisely why the main point of my message was a plea for independency. If the cost of being “in” the fundamentalist movement is that one can freely fellowship only with others who have formally joined the movement—or if one must dutifully submit to some visible or invisible fundamentalist hierarchy in order to be considered “in” the movement—then American fundamentalism has in effect already abandoned the principle of independency.

Moreover, those who imagine that non-membership in the fundamentalist movement automatically makes one a member of some other movement don’t really even understand or appreciate what “independency” means. In my view, such an assumption is not even really a fundamentalist way of thinking. That, after all, was the concluding point and the punch line of my seminar.

If this was the only thing that his message brought about in our movement, it would be enough, at least for a while. This is the question I’ve been asking for years, even before I started getting into the nitty-gritty of theological discussion - “Why can’t I be neutral? Why can’t I disagree with someone? Why do I have to line up on every last point to get fellowship?”

Interesting story from a few years ago. A few of us Preacher Boys went up to New York City for a few days to sniff out church planting methods and opportunities there in the Big Apple. (And Philly…can’t forget Philly!) While there, Tuesday night, I think, we stopped in at the Times Square Church for a few minutes to see how “the other guys” did it. We left after about 10 minutes - we all found the music vexing to one degree or another. But while we were there, we found the average “New Evangelical” church-goer much more friendly than most Baptist churches we had visited. A few days later we went to (don’t read this if you’re easily offended) The Brooklyn Tabernacle to speak with (we had hoped) Pastor Cymbala. He was unavailable that afternoon, so we ended up spending two hours with one of his assistant pastors, which I still think was time well spent. We asked questions that were along the line of, “How do you get and keep church goers? What’s your discipleship program like?” and so on. Not that we were ready to go gung ho and implement everything he told us…but we went through and took the good from the bad (yes, people “outside” our movement sometimes have good ideas, and we “inside” our movement sometimes have bad ideas). Anyway, back on target. He (the asst.) knew we were from BJU. He was no idiot - he knew exactly what the school believed and stood for (and against). And you know what? He didn’t hold it against us. I heard his testimony. I saw his passion and zeal. His methods were misplaced, I believe, but I don’t doubt his salvation. He saw us for what we were - brothers in Christ - and allowed a blanket fellowship with us on that basis alone. He readily admitted that we disagreed on things, but he still recognized that we were believers, as he was, and that we were worthy of at least some friendship.

Reverse that situation. What would happen if a ministry team from Master’s Seminary (MacArthur’s school) came to the average Independent, Separated, Fundamental, Dispensational, Pre-millenial, (add label here) Baptist church in our movement? At the very best a sizable portion of the church would be holding them at arm’s length, worried that even being seen with them would be hazardous for their testimonies. More likely most of the church members would have publically protested outside their doors about the church bringing in heretical demons.

There’s got to be a middle ground. On the one hand, I feel like Bunyan when asked about singing in church - “While I think it’s a good thing, I don’t know that I’m ready to go there just yet.” While on paper it is logical and good that the universal church should enjoy some measure of fellowship, regardless of their practical outworkings (I mean, we’re talkign about two people in whom the Holy Spirit lives), there has to be some reserve in that fellowship. After all, “Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?” (Amos 3:3 [+/-] "Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?) Does Christian fellowship “just happen” or is it something that happens with good reason? And if it happens with good reason, then what reasons are there for making or breaking fellowship? See, that’s where I am right now. I don’t know where to draw that line. Any suggestions are welcome, but I think that, in the end, this is something that every believer must arrive at in his own time and study.

I can tell it’s getting late and I’m starting to ramble. I just want to give a few closing remarks:

• Any opera directed by Jeff Stegall with supertitles written by Stan Eby is a “rollicking good time.” After all, Donizetti didn’t write “I already heard that. “, and he didn’t set L’Elise d’amore in Milan…Indiana.
• Starbuck’s Carmel Mocha drink is the bomb diggity. (I’m sure I didn’t just say that out loud!) It was bordering on Carnal Mocha, it was so good.
• Finally, I’m pretty sure that BJ isn’t very proud of this graduate, who went through six years at BJ.

Good for a slow afternoon.

MUKLUK!!

Dead Right by Phil Johnson (revised).pdf

I admit that when I read the title, I was at once intrigued and wary. Phil Johnson is in a “doesn’t really fit anywhere” kind of ministry - the fundamentalist movement thinks he and the rest of the folks at Grace Community Church have gone off the deep end into New Evangelicalism, while a vast number of New Evangelicals are glaring at Grace and her staff because MacArthur and Johnson are constantly slamming broader New Evangelicalism by pointing out its many flaws and inconsistencies. It’s really something else - even as I was reading the article, Johnson was taking below-the-belt swats at both the Fundamentalist movement and the flagship puliblication of the New Evangelical movement in the same breath:

Now, I recognize the modern limitations of the word fundamentalism. In the late 1970s, when Islamic ayatollahs took political control in Iran, the word fundamentalism was hijacked by the secular media and turned into a synonym for all the worst kinds of violent religious fanaticism. I suppose it was no great loss, because by then, the term fundamentalism was already pretty badly corrupted by self-styled fundamentalists in America - mostly Baptist ayatollahs - who had already moved far away from the spiritual principles and even the clear doctrinal position of their historic fundamentalist ancestors. So the term was beginning to lose its usefulness anyway.

Likewise, the word evangelicalism has come to mean something quite different from what the word ever meant historically. Thanks to a little help from Christianity Today magazine, the evangelical movement has become so broad and inclusive that the word evangelical is now as useless as the word fundamentalist.

I’m sure the folks in the New Evangelical sphere are thinking to themselves, “With friends like him, who needs enemies?” He is, of course, right in every detail in those two paragraphs. But I must say that, despite his disclaimer at the beginning of his lecture that he was going to have to be very general (”I do recognize that the fundamentalist movement is a large and varied movement. There is not just one fundamentalist movement, but there are many - maybe thousands - of smaller groups within fundamentalism, and most of them don’t get along with each other. So fundamentalism isn’t the sort of monolithic movement that you can critique fairly. I’m going to try to be fair, but I will admit up front that I am painting with a broad brush.”), he ends up being quite specific. One thing he does that is good is distinguish between fundamentalism (the militant belief and defense of those doctrines that are absolutely essential to the Gospel) and the fundamentalist movement. I will use those distinctions in my survey for neatness’ sake. And because it’s probably a good distinction to make.

I was uncomfortable reading because I’m guilty of some of the things he points out. But overall I came away very confident in my beliefs, because the fundamentalism he describes flourish 30 years ago and is now, if not dead, then at least marginalized.

He admits being saved and introduced to the fundamentalist movement’s mindset in the 1970s, which is probably the worst time in history to be introduced to the fundamentalist movement. But he seems to think that the whole of the fundamentalist movement, whatever the differences in those couple thousand factions are, is still in the Jack Hyles and John R. Rice mentality, when that simply isn’t the case. I’m not sure if things are better or worse - after all, the things that those men made unjust issues out of are probably foreign to the ears of the average church person. At least back then Christians could give a working definition of the doctrines they believed in.

That was thirty years ago, but even then, the fundamentalist movement was dominated by personality cults, easy-believism, man-centered doctrine, an unbiblical pragmatism in their methodology, a carnal kind of superficiality in their worship, petty bickering at the highest levels of leadership, deliberate anti-intellectualism even in their so-called institutions of higher learning, and moral rot almost everywhere you looked in the movement….

I speak as someone who loves historic fundamentalist principals, but who hates what the American fundamentalist movement became in the second half of the twentieth century. I have no sentimental, sectarian, or party attachment to the movement. In fact, it seems to me that any movement that could lionize Jack Hyles and produce hundreds of Hyles clones while deliberately exaggerating petty disagreements in order to portray almost every conservative evangelical outside the fundamentalist movement as a dangerous heretic really needs to die. And it would be my hope that whatever takes its place would be less superficial, more sober-minded, more doctrinally sound, and more faithful to Scripture than the party that always dutifully agreed with John R. Rice when he insisted that he was a great scholar.

Frankly, I don’t think this is what characterizes the bulk of the fundamentalist movement in America today. I think he’s talking about a fringe group which splits its base between southeast Wisconsin and south-central North Carolina…not to name names. I think the fundamentalist movement’s problems lie in its people, not necessarily just its leaders (or lack thereof, which he brings out later in the essay). Its problems are:

1. Its people don’t think - they just accept whatever their pastor/professor tells them to believe (cf. Acts 17:10-11).
2. Its leaders (or those who would claim leadership) accept their god-like status as local parish priest and don’t encourage their people to think for themselves.
3. The adherants to the movement believe that true Christians will join the Fundamentalist Movement (and by extension, those that don’t join are not true Christians), making it nearly a cult.

Granted, this is not true of every person who identifies himself with the Fundamentalist movement. Hence the title - those of whom this is not true are the Center of the movement; the Hyles/Rice/SotL crowd are the Dead Right, the Right that deserves marginalization. Those in the center of this movement - not “liberal” enough to identify themselves with New Evangelicalism or even the IFCA (a quasi-Fundamentalist organization that is something of a cross between conservative New Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism) yet not militant enough to line up under people like Hyles or Rice - are alive and well, thank you.

In the end, I found his challenge to those thinkers in the Fundamentalist movement to practice what they preach and do a little separating close to right on - “Those men in the fundamentalist movement who truly love Christ and love his word ought to practice what they preach and separate from their disobedient brethren. Cut the ties with heretics who claim a seventeenth-century English translation of the Bible is inspired and inerrant. Break fellowship with your fellow fundamentalists who refuse to practice biblical church discipline but like to destroy good men’s lives and ministries by spreading rumors and innuendo. Come out from among those who ignore the Word of God and don’t care about good theology, and whose preaching consists of pulpit-pounding histrionics with no biblical substance. Renounce those who like to regulate people’s lives with manmade rules, binding heavy burdens on people’s backs like the Pharisees did. ‘Come out from among them, and be ye separate.’ Practice real biblical separation and stop just pretending to be separatists.” I say “close to right on” because it’s easier said than done.

He raises some good points, but he makes much of marginal Fundamentalism in that the Fundamentalism he preaches against is more or less out the door already. But it’s still no reason not to read the essay. Who knows - maybe God will bring something slightly (or not at all) related to his points to your mind and press you to change those things. Read with discernment, but read with an open mind.

[Listening to: Symphonie No. 41 KV 551 D-Dur / In D (Jupiter) - Allegro Vivace - Leonard Bernstein - Wiener Philharmoniker - Symphonien No. 35 Haffner & No. 41 Jupiter (11:59)]

For the Firefox power users out there, Brade sent me a list of trippy firefox tweaks. A few of my favorites are on here; I downloaded a few more from this list. Download and enjoy.

As a completely unrelated aside, Phil Johnson, the voice of Grace to You, John MacArthur’s radio program, has written an article that was delivered at the annual Shepherd’s Conference in Sun Valley, CA. I confess that I haven’t read it, but (right or wrong) Johnson is a respected voice in Evangelicalism, and the Fundies over at SharperIron thought this worthy enough to post. The article is entitled “Dead Right: The Failure of Fundamentalism.” Don’t immediately go defensive before you read the article, because, whether you agree with his persuasion or not, the simple truth is that he’s on the outside looking in, which gives him an objectivity that is not easily found in Fundamentalism. That said, the other side of the coin is true - there are things that, as smart as he is, he probably doesn’t understand about the movement, and what he sees as unnecessary excesses are taken by us on the inside as essentials. So keep that balance in mind as you read; and if you’re predisposed to something, predispose yourself to think of this as a second opinion. A person is not in the wrong just because he doesn’t agree with you. I’m eagerly awaiting Scud’s thoughts on the speech, as no chapel bells is live in Sun Valley as I type. Well, he might be flying back by now, depending on how much homework he has to make up. Wait…it’s not yet 7p out there, so I imagine he’s in whatever closing program they’re having. So expect an article in a few days. I’ll keep my eyes peeled and link to it as necessary.

[Listening to: Nelson Mass - Qui tollis - Joseph Haydn - Nelson Mass, Te Deum in C Majo (4:58)]

I’m getting more and more ammo to justify a total switch to Linux…at least a dual-boot setup. Today’s grunt comes from an attempt I made to download Media Player 10. Purists will yell at me for ripping all my CDs as high bitrate VBR WMA (Windows Media Audio) files. I do this because I absolutely hate listening to a CD burned from MP3s ripped at 128kbps (or, even worse, 96kbps). Sensitive hearing, I guess - I can hear all the little shrill squeals of a file whose bitrate was upgraded before burning. Nasty sound. Anyway, I’ve been having troubles playing MP3s in WMP 10. They start playing, but slow down slightly after about five seconds, depending on bitrate. If the bitrate is above 360kbps or so, it doesn’t drop the speed. So I figure that option number one is reinstalling WMP.

I go to Microsoft’s site (probably my first mistake) and navigate to Windows Media Player 10 download. Here I’m told that I should verify my Windows installation. (It’s not necessary, at least not yet.) I figure, sure, I installed this from a volume license from the school. Shouldn’t have a problem. Wrong. M$ thinks I have a pirated copy of XP. :smack: “We’re sorry…you may be the victim of piracy. But don’t worry! For $200 you can buy your own copy of XP and get rid of this warning!” So I browse back a few steps and download the file anyway, wondering why I wasted five minutes of my evening.

Well, this thing has been getting a bit bloated recently. I’ll probably grab my XP SP2 cd from my office and just redo the system some Saturday. But that’s irrelevant, bordering on a “mind dump.” Point: I may yet just find a VBR Ogg encoder and prep this thing for going to Linux. Just one more way to get away from Microsoft entirely. Betcha SuSE would absolutely scream on this machine…

Firefox 1.0.1 was recently released. My humble apologies (accompanying the beating of my chest and sobs of lament) for not reporting this sooner. You can download the actual install file from here. It’s my understanding that a handful of bugs were fixed in this version. As for external support, all my numerous extensions and my favorite theme still work even with the version change, so that’s cool. SwitchProxy, ForecastFox, Adblock, and the developer’s toolbar all work just fine…and that’s all I really care about. On the request from my dad, I used my machine at work as a guinea pig. The install is quite painless - just run the .exe and choose the default options. It’ll install right over your original install, and all your profile information will be kept safe. Just a note - I’m on a 10mb LAN connection with an outgoing T3, I think, and I’m getting all of 9.3KB/sec. I think the download site is swamped. Any mirrors to this would be appreciated.

:runs to school’s internal open-source mirror where he can download it in five seconds:

Yeah, four megs per second. That’s more like it. I wonder why we have .torrent files on our server? It’s not like we’re swarming it anywhere. Whatever. Anyway, download away and just install like normal. It doesn’t even require a restart, unlike some other browsers!