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| “Or how much curious and loving attention was expended by the first man who looked hard enough at the insides of trees, the entrails of cats, the hind ends of horses and the juice of pine tree to realize he could turn them all into the first fiddle. No doubt his wife urged him to get up and do something useful. I am sure that he was a stalwart enough lover of things to pay no attention at all to her nagging; but how wonderful it would have been if he had known what we know now about his dawdling. He could have silenced her with the greatest riposte of all time: Don’t bother me; I am creating the possibility of the Bach unaccompanied sonatas” (Robert Farrar Capon, The Supper of the Lamb, p. 19 HT to Doug Wilson |
Barb has a long post about a Bible conference at her church, and the second half of it is some very good material on N.T. Wright and Justification.
Some NRO thoughts on the Bin Laden tape, including someone’s observation that they agree with OBL.
The 100 Scariest Movie Scenes of all time.
One of my preaching buddies just stepped in to give me tomorrow off from preaching. Thank God for the community of fellow servants where I labor. I can get some rest and hope this throat calms down.
I am simply too tired to answer the challenge that Tom laid down this morning. I’ll say something about Mike Warnke, however. Though people like Walter Martin and others were anti-Halloween before Warnke, it was Warnke’s tape “A Christian perspective on Halloween” that went through evangelical subculture like fire on dry leaves. He popularized the anti-Halloween stance and brought it to corners of evangelicalism that would never have considered it otherwise. Warnke’s crediblity with his lying autobiography, The Satan Seller, made him a person evangelicals listened to and believed. This wasn’t a fuddy duddy. It was the coolest, funniest guy in evangelicalism. As the book Selling Satan reveals, Warnke used this reputation to raise millions for a home for children abused by Satanists…..a home that didn’t exist. But the damage was done. Tens of thousands of evangelicals took Warnke’s cue, and began reading with open minds the anti-halloween material that was now multiplying everywhere. Occult specialists arose in evangelicalism, warning evangelicals about not only Halloween, but rock music, back masking, Satan worship in their communities, etc. A person like Bob Larson spread this sensationalist message with no regard for truth or authenticity. Hundreds of clones appeared, and here we are. Unable to distinquish between trick or treat and Satanic worship.
No…no one became a serial killer. They did become Marilyn Manson and a lot of other dark-side obsessed former Christian kids who were manipulated by the apostles of scare tactic evangelism. Combined with the end times obsession of the 70’s, this potent mix dominated the mindset of a whole generation of “Jesus People.” It was “Apocalypse Now” in every youth group and at every concert. Today, millions of disillusioned Christians and millions of wasted missions dollars later, we are still stuck in Warnke’s lies.
Why do I get the feeling that if Bush had come to my church we would have our tax-exempt status yanked in a heartbeat.
I’m so glad this will be all over on Tuesday. Well, maybe a Tuesday in December if we’re lucky :-)
This has come up at least twice, so I thought I’d explain, for the benefit of people who haven’t read the essays to which Michael linked, how Warnke so dramatically influenced the American Christian view of Halloween that even those who have never heard his name have been the unhappy beneficiaries.
Consider—apart from an essay I wrote in the fourth grade, I have not had much direct contact with Thomas Edison. Some of you know even less about the man. And yet his work permeates our society in the form of the electric light bulb. There are people all around the world who benefit from his invention who have never heard his name.
Similarly, there are philosophers whose work influenced those who wrote our nation’s founding documents, and while there are an amazing number of people who live in America who don’t know much about those documents, there are even more who have no awareness of those philosophers who influenced them.
My children have never heard the name Mike Warnke, but I have. More importantly, my parents have. They used to celebrate Halloween when I was very, very young, but then stopped. We hid out at local mini-golf courses or church functions for years, and why? They wouldn’t have said it was because Mike Warnke told them too, but clearly his story influenced and entire generation of church leaders, who then developed all of these alternatives we see today. Having connected people with the past, Mike Warnke could even be completely discredited and removed from the loop, but by then the damage was done. People who had never even heard his name had seen the history and enough of it turned out to be real to survive Warnke’s discrediting.
It is my opinion that roughly 5% of the church who now disdain Halloween would have done so in the absence of Warnke’s story. I can say this without feeling that I’m over-stating his influence, because I know for a fact that his influence reached halfway around the world. My family was in the Philippine Islands when we first came cross a Warnke tape; that’s how popular he was among certain groups in his hey-day.
All of this would be more or less beside the point, in somewhat the category of drinking or smoking or other issue that have little to do with daily life, except that the nature of Warnke’s story led to more than just a disdain of Halloween, it led to a direct association of Halloween with the worst sort of anti-Christian philosophy in the minds of those who heard the stories or read the books. If I think that you’re sinning by drinking, after all, than the worst I can reasonably say is that you’re disregarding Paul’s instructions for considering a weaker brother. But I have been told to my face that trick-or-treating is tantamount to worshipping satan, and that’s no laughing matter.
I know someone who just this year has decided that he doesn’t want to participate in Halloween, for religious reasons. I’ll freely admit that I react to that far more strongly than I do many other possible revelations. You have suddenly decided drinking is wrong? Fine. Smoking? Sure, I can see it. But by choosing to associate the American holiday of Halloween with devil-worship, I truly and honestly believe that you are entertaining a dangerous mindset and run the serious risk of embarrassing the body of Christ.
In other words, I over-react precisely because I cannot drive down a road in north Dallas without seeing a sign on a church building which causes people to laugh at Christians.
If you don’t want to participate in Halloween because you don’t like candy, or because you’re too old to dress up, or just don’t like holidays, that’s fine. But to claim that Halloween celebrates pagan rituals and promotes devil worship is beyond stupid, and to think that belief has nothing whatsoever with Mike Warnke is naive at best.
Not that I have strong feelings on the matter. :-)
In addition to BHT rules 4, 4a and 38, maybe those of you who believe the BHT is overly sarcastic should read this and tell me where I’m wrong.
Real Live Preacher does it again. Words fail me (more like I fail words).
There are those who avoid Halloween, but who remain genial and theologically charitable to those who observe it.
I salute and embrace them.
There are those who avoid Halloween, and would shun or disdain those who DO observe it as “ungodly”.
To those, I reserve my unmerciful satire, just like Paul did for the Judaizers. (Rather than satire, I’d prefer to give them a royal 1-finger salute. People like them are a major reason why my wife is not a Christian.)
Frankly, I’m getting a little tired of seeing this constant ranting against people who don’t celebrate Halloween. Although I’m not there anymore, I used to be and I understand the reasoning. I have very good friends who are against Halloween, and I have very good friends who are not against it. I went to a church for years where the pastor did not believe in acknowledging Halloween, and didn’t even believe in an “alternative” church celebration—and, guess what? He didn’t get that idea from Mike Warnke. The fact that everyone who is against celebrating Halloween was influenced by Mike Warnke is just ridiculous, and setting Mike Warnke, admittedly a phony, set up as a straw man for this cause reeks a bit of dishonesty.
You know what I say, that is if you bother to read the WHOLE CONTEXT OF WHAT I SAY AND NOT JUST ISOLATE QUOTES as seems to be the norm by certain ones on this board? Live and let live. If your conscience says don’t celebrate Halloween, then don’t. If your conscience says it’s OK, then put on that Wolfman mask and have at it. It’s a lot like the old “eating meat sacrificed to idols” controversy in the Bible. A mature Christian realizes that the idol is nothing so it’s OK to eat the meat, but those who are “weaker” should not have the meat shoved down their throats. But don’t rag on the weaker ones, let them have their “Hallelujah parties” and “Neewollah” celebrations, and you go dress as Dracula and bob for apples. I really doubt if there are any kids that grow up to be serial murders because they didn’t get to trick-or-treat.
This situation keeps getting sadder and sadder. Everyone has to find their own way, and I sure hope Rob can find his.
Rob—sell DR and get off the net for your own sake, man. This isn’t worth what you are going through.
The actual, real, level-headed, lose-that-fanatical-glaze antidote to ranting anti-Halloweenies. The straight dope from catholiceducation.com on All Saints, All Souls, the Celtic Connection and why you ought to just calm down. It’s a keeper.
Pretty sure I’ve got a fever. These head/chest colds get more vicious every year. Here it is, the day I want to do my pre-election sermon, and I will feel like, sound like garbage. I’ve got a good sermon too: Two Kingdoms, Two Kings, Two Cities, Two Stories. It almost preaches itself. Then I have to teach at 8 a.m. (I’ll really be sounding good then) and interview all afternoon. Sickness doesn’t slow down the machine.
Realclearpolitics.com is showing a lot of breakage towards Bush. Take Hawaii. An 18 point Gore victory last year. Right now, W is up by a point. What’s up with that? Check out the state by state pages. Fascinating stuff.
My son’s pumpkin. What think ye?
I am spending the weekend in Boston visiting some friends. It’s good to be in New England again, particularly for such a time as this. I am hearing very little about the election and a whole lot about the Red Sox. The atmosphere is nuts. Four to five million people were expected to show up in the rain today for the parade. Sadly we couldn’t make it. The festivities here today are sponsored in part by Rolaids – something about finally getting relief after 86 years!
Michael: Like I said, I hope you’re right. I guess we’ll find out roughly Wednesday.
I should also mention that the friend I quoted earlier was attempting to explain his observations of others, though he himself will vote for Bush. Then again, I think he voted for Bush four years ago, too.
Some reasons I am hopeful about the African-American vote:
1) The African American parents I deal with are uniformly evangelical, not liberal, and sound like the kind of people who will vote the conservative Christian line.
2) My African-American students- who are predominantly from D.C. and NYC- are evenly split.
3) The Channel One vote- which is very urban- was a smackdown for Bush.
4) Many more vocal elected black leaders out for Bush. WSJ published a wonderful letter outlining their case. All those people have constituencies.
5) Sharpton went to a big, fat ZERO in the primaries. Remember? Nothing. Nada. That seems odd to me. He went form about 4% to nothing. Hmmmmm.
6) The SBC has clearly made major inroads with black pastors in the last 5 years. It is a big SBC story. A lot of black churches have afiliated SBC since the “apology for slaver” in the late nineties.
7) I think the “smear Condi, smear Powell, etc.” route has really been a loser. I think it has cost them voters.
8) I think the gay marriage amendments are going to “magnet” black evangelical voters strongly to the GOP in some states.
9) I believe the pro-life black vote is stronger every year.
10) I think the media plays up the barking dog- Sharpton, NAACP, Jackson- but misses the black evangelical story. And it is there, and it’s getting larger, not smaller.
Michael: I hope you’re right, but I believe you’re wrong, at least about T.D. Jakes’ church. Four years ago, Al Gore stood on the platform of that church and spoke to the thousands of people gathered there. Jakes may be evangelical, but the best he could do in that case was to invite both Gore and Bush, and Bush happened to not show up. They claim that there was no partisan politics, but I’m aware of how that works.
See, the same year, my church had video messages from both candidates for a particular senate seat. Republican Phil Gramm gave a warm message which addressed the church and the pastor by name, and it was clear that he was “one of us” from the video. The other (whom I don’t remember; he lost) was much shorter and clearly a generic church video, and people muttered about it. The church could claim no partisanship, but the message came through loud and clear regardless.
Now I’ve read reports that things may be changing at Potter’s House, but I won’t hold my breath. As I was told by a dark-skinned friend recently, “I know I’m a Christian, but what I see when I look in the mirror is that I’m black.”
So I’m not the only one who thought the speech had a creepy Michael Moore ring to it. Good grief, people. Wake up.
Mark Shea writes powerfully about those with twisted moral sense in strange times.. Powerful stuff, aptly titled: “If lovin’ you is wrong, I don’t wanna be right.” Short version imo- we have people endorsing Kerry over sex issues. Mostly FCC/Howard Stern/Janet’s boob type issues. What? WHAT??
Head cold/throat infection. The annual attack on the only part of my body that matters began yesterday. Last year, it was a brutal 2-month ordeal. I’m armed with everything I took last year, plus whiskey. Pray I can defeat this, because every year it gets worse and lasts longer. I actually got to the point I couldn’t even teach without having to go hacking and coughing like I was dying. Home remedies welcome: Head cold hits me with moderate symptoms. Throat is scratchy and minorly infected. Soon the cold passes and the drainage in the throat becomes so bad in the morning that it takes about 2 hours to be able to talk at all.
The Greys? I kinda like the idea.
The Great Separation is a blog that features a lot of news from the persecuted church. I’ve added it to bloglines. I needed a source for this sort of “never covered” news, and this is well done.
Here is why I think Mark Steyn may be on to something with Bush and the black vote. The focus of most of the media will be on a certain segment of the black community, but not on the evangelical portion. Who will T.D. Jakes’ people vote for? See…the Dems don’t have what they think they have. In fact, I am going to predict 20% black vote for Bush, perhaps the decisive vote for him.
Get Religion has a big piece on what is clearly the worst week ever in the recent history of the ECUSA. I read somewhere that African bishops are forbidding candidates for the ministry from studying in America. Conservatives….get fired up! (It’s the nature of liberalism to be able to look something square in the face- like the first commandment- and do exactly the opposite, calling it the Holy Spirit.)
Mere Pastoring has a lot of good quotes from the Mark Driscoll book. Remember folks, I endorse this not because of some pomo thing, but because I believe missionary Christianity has always been our best hope for renewal. Read what I said here.
The Gospel, as we all know, is primarily a system of rules that we must follow to show how much better Christians are than the rest of the world. We demonstrate the truth of the Gospel with our liberty in Christ, which is primarily the liberty to distort Old Testament purity codes for our own, modern bigotries. This is why I was so happy when I heard that our Pentecostal brethren here in Romania don’t allow girls to attend church when they’re having their period—nothing could be a better example of how we need to apply the truth of the Cross to our everyday lives in an arbitrary fashion.That’s the ever more ironically armed Jesse writing about Romanian Pentecostals. Read it all here.
We once took a class related to adoption. Since we were being encouraged to adopt trans-racially at one point in time the social worker teaching the course projected a photograph of an angry black man with his fist raised in the air and a “Black Power” banner on the wall behind him. We were told that if we adopted trans-racially that we must be prepared to have a son that “looked like this”. I considered that concept to be a “certain kind of racism”.
That social worker is now running for state representative. Because I experienced 12 hours of her attempts to “socially engineer” my mind I’m voting for the “other guy”.
I’ve listened to enough rap/hip hop music to know I don’t like it, I don’t like a lot of the music that’s presented to the public right now. The post on Evangelical Outpost underscored the pornographic nature of some popular music and how that music is shaping the attitudes and behavior of some people in our culture. It isn’t a “certain kind of racism” that keeps me from listening to such music, it’s because of the pornographic nature and repulsive style. Why would I want to listen to an angry person yelling pornographic words at me (regardless of skin color)?
The lyrics posted were awful, abusive and disrespectful toward women and the wonder of human sexuality. They paint a picture of men being led by their testicles, not really men at all. I agree that this is a bigger issue for our culture than Halloween, but I’ve heard plenty of believers preach about the “ishyness” of rap and rock music.
With this statement I’m not trying to regurgitate the HS vs. PS controversy, please remember that I’m respectful and supportive of the parental right and responsibility to choose either path, but cultural mores such as this have contributed to our decision to homeschool the children we are so dearly hoping God blesses us with. I don’t believe in total insulation from culture for children, I believe that a controlled, progressive and well processed exposure to culture is best. Of course this is all theory as I haven’t been a parent yet…but I’ve got to start somewhere…
I can imagine fewer ministries more important than this.
I am interested in feedback on [this project], either here in comments or at [dftfh].
Well, at least somebody agrees with me:
Good and evil do not exist as Platonic ideals. The tendency of idealists to reject the good alternative, because it is not perfect, is destructive of the achievable good. To the extent that libertarians adopt the Platonic ideal of absolute recognition of all our individual rights, rejecting any good that does not meet this standard even if it’s the best existing choice, libertarianism reduces itself to just one more of the many utopian cults that have appeared and disappeared throughout history.
CBS is doing some piece on the candidate’s faith. They just ran a snippet with Jim Wallis, saying he had “lost faith” in President Bush. Uh…..don’t you have to have something to lose it?
A superb World Series postmortem from Hardball Times, with a great Giamotti quote at the end.
“In 2000, Bush got just 9 per cent of the black vote. Recent polls show he’s pulling about 18 per cent. If that holds up on election day, John Kerry’s finished.”
“My sense is that the 2002 model is still operative, and that the Democrats and the media, talking to each other in their mutually self-deluding cocoon, have overplayed the Bush-bashing. Next Tuesday the President will win the states he won last time, plus Iowa, Wisconsin, New Mexico and Maine’s Second Congressional District to put him up to 301 electoral votes. Minnesota? Why not? Nudge him up to 311 electoral votes. Oh, and what the hell, give him Hawaii: that’s 315. The Republicans will make a net gain of two seats in the Senate, one of which will bring with it the scalp of the Democrats’ leader, Tom Daschle. Despite distancing himself from Kerry and running ads showing him and Bush embracing, Daschle’s floundering in South Dakota, and his lugubrious mien will be even more lugubriouser within the week. Look for a handful of Republican House gains, too. And Democrats tearing their hair out — or John Kerry’s and John Edwards’s hair, if they can penetrate the styling gel.”
The first Libertarian Presidential Candidate endorses GWB. Does every libertarian need to read this?
As a way of getting acquainted, let me just say that I was the first presidential candidate for the Libertarian Party back in l972, and was the author of the first full-length book, Libertarianism, describing libertarianism in detail. I also wrote the Libertarian Party’s Statement of Principles at the first libertarian national convention in 1972. I still believe in those principles as strongly as ever, but this year—more than any year since the establishment of the Libertarian Party—I have major concerns about the choices open to us as voting Americans.There is a belief that’s common among many libertarians that there is no essential difference between the Democrat and Republican Parties—between a John Kerry and a George W. Bush administration; or worse: that a Bush administration would be more undesirable. Such a notion could not be farther from the truth, or potentially more harmful to the cause of liberty.
Are we really listening to the poetry and the lyrics of this culture? Or has a kind of benign neglect (motivated by a certain kind of racism) brought us to the point that we aren’t even hearing what is all around us all the time?
Read this, and tell me what you think. While we are hiding from Halloween one night a year, what about this kind of art all year long?
The Scots demonstrate some common sense. Good for them.
A lot of new OBI pictures at my Webshots site. In the original album and a new one. Look for the great pic of Denise and my best friend, Dan.
Oooh, this is good. Why God is a liberal. All of the scriptures on the poor and why we don’t pay enough attention to them.
Friends and family celebrate with Yasser Arafat after he received first place for his Billy Bob Thornton costume.
Halloween: My celebration of evil holidays has begun with a victory. My workplace held their annual costume contest. Usually, I go with more obscure, creative attempts, such as when I dressed as a Jedi before Episode 1 came out, or when I wore a beanie and went as a nerd. Last year, my Martin Luther getup confused many, so this year, I decided I needed to steer away from “obscure” and go with “downright scary”.
So, I packed a bunch of Krispy Kremes under each arm, smeared my face with Chee-tos, made up my own conspiracy theory connecting Bush to Satan and UFOs, and hoisted my video camera. My “Michael Moore” won the Judges’ favorites award.
Woo-hoo!
Michael, are you preparing a “BHT Myths” document to link on the sidebar? If not, please consider it.
I’m fairly open on the YE issue. There are aspects of both creationism and evolutionism that I find difficult to accept. Both are theories held by many with religious fervor. I don’t consider it an essential issue for a Christian, other than the acknowledgment that we are creatures and he is the author of life…the methodology is inconsequential…meaning I see a lot of room for freedom.
I’ve seen too many incidents in working with people to allow myself to believe that there isn’t some sort of “realm” that’s generally unobservable by humans wherein some sort of spiritual activity is taking place. Some people have difficulty separating fiction from reality and have allowed all sorts of ficticious works to define that realm for them. I love The Screwtape Letters, it’s the work of fiction that best defines my view on this issue ;-)
I imagine that you and I could sit down and create a list detailing our differences, between politics, education, theology, church and cultural issues we’d find plenty of fodder. I’m not a denomination and feel no need for a personal statement of faith, I’d have to shift from “having an open mind learning” to a “closed mind defending”. Ishy (MN saying). Frankly I’m too busy with trying to live out my faith, I have little time for defending a position that I’ll probably abandon in a couple of years anyway. I’m much more interested in hanging out in a tavern discussing “whatever”.
Taverns are about relationships, lubricated by moderate doses of fine beer. If BHT is viewed in this context it all makes sense. If it’s viewed as some sort of “change agent”, the “viewer” missed the point.
Weekend at Yassir’s. I snorted my coffee. Funny.
I feel like this all the time.
Tom: A poorly constructed sentence. His observations are certainly true here in the south.
Proof that God is sovereign
Only could this be by grace.
I went from being a boyfriend to a fianc้ today. My wonderful Anglia said yes to the question I posed to her on the beach tonight. I am looking forward to a lifetime with a great godly woman.
Found out today the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada (the denom I was in before this church) has officially removed the “abstinence” line in the pastoral standards agreement (or whatever it’s called). Wow. I’m stunned. Surely they are on the slippery slope right into this bar!
I posted my first bunch of OBI photos made with the nice camera I received from Phillip and Kurt. The pics are good. I’ll add more. I want to show everyone around where I live. I also wanted to show you my wife eating, free donuts, and kid in a pansy Yankee’s cap.
Internet Monk Myth #22: You can’t be on the BHT or IM forum and differ with me on anything.
That’s just bizarre. Will I speak my mind and challenge you? Yep. But get something straight. If you don’t tell me that I have no choice but to be a young earther, I will have nothing but respect for you. If you tell me it’s your way or I’m not a Christian, I am going to taunt you, and good.
I am not a troll. I don’t go looking for fights. I write essays and I defend my points of view, but I don’t go on anyone’s board or blog and argue. Ever.
I critique the seeker church where it seems to need it. I don’t denounce it. I try to get it off the papal throne and to stop lecturing the rest of us. I don’t reject all things CCM. I speak what I feel and think, and you can to. Tell me it’s annointed and I will taunt you, but you asked for it.
I’m not argumentative….I’m declarative and I’m a critic. “I see stupid peo….uh, evangelicals.” If I argue with you repeatedly, I am probably hoping you will use the F word so I can send you packing :-)
Michael: I can’t say that my views on spiritual warfare or young-earth creationism are quite as ardently held as they used to be, or take the same shape, but I suppose that you could mark me down as a “yes” under both of those columns so long as I’m allowed to give disclaimers later.
I know why you ask though, and I’ve got to say: stop beating yourself up. Certain people read into situations things that simply aren’t there, make faulty assumptions and then blame you for their own choices, and become terrified when confronted by real-life situations and attempt to hide behind mis-characterizations. It’s not you, it’s that other person. Pray for them, be glad things are pleasant enough, and move on. Please.
I mean, think about it. Let’s say that you’re a communist. Just pretend. And then one day you’re confronted with the truth: the human beings are depraved, and that involuntary communism is therefore universally doomed. What do you do? Sure, it’s nice to think that you’d go, well then, so much for communism, but really, you’d probably start to argue that human aren’t depraved, or that hypothetical situations regarding collectivism were simply nonsense (never mind how ripped-from-yesterday’s-headlines they might actually be) and so on, and then flee quickly before proof could be offered against you. To cap things off, you’d probably console yourself with the thought that the person with the crazy hypothetical situations has bad breath and so on and so forth.
That is all.
No wonder the Times doesn’t get it. It’s the Gospel. (Oswald isn’t always this good, so it’s a keeper.) More »
Micheal: I just read your post about the OBI teacher getting flack about Halloween and the dorms restricting TV, and it has inspired my to make my third annual “Even though I miss a lot of things about working at OBI…” statement. Here goes:
Even though I miss a lot of things about working at OBI, the Halloween crap ain’t one of them!
It is striking to me how many people I meet (Christians and non-Christians) who are amazed and confused when I tell them a lot of Christians think Halloween is evil. It is such a kooky idea, they have a hard time grasping it.
When we first moved to OBI in ‘97, my wife (not at all familiar with some of the fundy nonsense that goes on there sometimes) mentioned to a staff member that her fave holiday was Halloween. The staff member responded, deadpan, “We don’t celebrate Satan’s holiday.” My wife, thinking that such a comment HAD to be a joke, laughed, at which the other lady just looked puzzled and offended. They never really hit it off after that. Imagine me shaking my head and rolling my eyes here.
Michael: Sorry I haven’t commented on Halloween yet. It gets way under my skin just thinking about the way peopel get about it. Yeah, my daughter’s going to hell for dressing up like Wednesday Adams and going around getting candy. I guess I’ll be there right alongside her for being a hobo and a brown-paper-bag Indian when I was a kid. Sheesh.
All: Something cool has happened to me. I am at a conference in Louisville, KY. I’m staying at the Galt House, a historic hotel downtown, and I got here so late they had evidently given my room away (the national FFA convention is in town too). SO they bumped me up to the Presidential Suite. It is palatial! Two fireplaces, an elk head on the wall, a parlor, three bathrooms, two huge bedrooms, bookshelves, a kitchenette. Too cool. It’s on the penthouse—only one other room on the whole floor (Presidential West; I’m in East).
So needless to say I am living it up!
Who knows what presidents have slept in my bed? Ooh, now that I think of it that’s kind of frightening!
Mean Dean lists some excellent reasons to use Foxfire and extensions.
I walked past the grill today and looked in the window. There was one of our staff decked out as a witch, having a party for our primary and elementary kids. I put my face up to the window like the kid in Home Alone. Of course, the outrage is starting to circulate. I stopped by her office and gave her a big thumbs up. These little battles. I had heard earlier that the dorms were turning off the TVs for the weekend so the kids wouldn’t see anything bad. A few hours later it appears that decision was partially reversed. If I am turned out to pasture soon, it’s because I cast my lot with Harry Potter.
Generation Why? goes into the current status of the Iraqi weapons story.
I thought I would relink the Pastor Roukas Funeral Message by Bryan Chappell. I’m putting it on the sidebar.
So Texas guys….wanna see the Dead Sea Scrolls? They are in Houston.
Here’s a good article to send around. “Seven Reasons Not To Ask Jesus Into Your Heart.” (OK. I am already imagining the responses from some of you, but send them anyway.) The topic is further discussed here.
Am I correct that at least some of the contributors here at the BHT believe in…a) some version of spiritual warfare and 2) Some sort of young earth creationism and have still managed to survive and thrive?
Scared ya, didn’t I? (sw)
You must all read the comment by KT at the 3rd Annual Halloween Taunt thread. It has given me my dose of joy for the day. Thank God for such brave parents. That is real life, guys. That’s fighting the battle.
Kurt just mentioned that so many of us are just led by our leaders off into these side roads, and thanks be to God for whatever God uses to bring us back to main thing- Jesus. (I almost said “the Cake,” but I don’t want to upset anyone.)
Eric Rigney—Show up and comment on halloween please!!!
If that doesn’t make your day….read this wonderful piece by Phillip Yancey.
aaron: Some good men there, but I wonder if “preaching the Bible,” means that, or if it means preaching the current SBC version of legalism, revivalism and political moralism? The gospel is in danger in the SBC. There are men who love it, and there are men who are obscuring it.
Rick Warren here…....speaking ex cathedra
Jim
On Halloween, I’ve weighed in before; our principle objection is not the occult overtones or some conspiracy theory about Satanism; we just don’t like the idea of our kids going door to door begging for candy.
I hate to call what the kids are doing as begging (although I’ve begged in the past and it ain’t half bad!). It’s an invitation from every house in town (with a light on) to be blessed. The kids that come to my door I don’t see as beggars… unless of course they are dressed up as one. :-)
Joell (aka Rick).
Oswald Chambers (and of course, Bush) examined by the New York Times. Nothing makes ordinary Christians sound like nut jobs quite like a brief article by the Times.
An atheist with some remarkable insights into Southern religion.
Aaron, this is a subject that is close to my heart. I sympathize with Phillip who is pained by the direction his denomination is taking. Even though I am pretty conservative as well, I disagree with almost everything that comes out of Nashville. The BWA split was the final straw for me. From everything I’ve read (from both sides), the SBC basically put forth lies about the BWA in order to justify their withdrawal because of the BWA’s acceptance of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
More »...well, not really. I’m a gracious loser :-) Congrats to the Red Sox. It’s impossible for me to harbor any ill feelings about this WS unless we’re talking Cardinals’ pitching staff. Good grief, guys. Couldn’t you have at least made it interesting? Here’s to the Cardinals not having to wait 86 before their next one!
Good job, Sox.
For the past two days I have attended a leadership conference with my pastor at First Baptist Woodstock, Georgia. The main speakers were Johnny Hunt, Jack Graham, Mac Brunson, Jerry Vines, Junior Hill, and David Jeremiah. Dale Jarrett (my favorite NASCAR driver) also shared his testimony. I consider myself quite conservative on issues in the SBC but over the past couple of years the leadership of our convention has really worried me. It seems to me they have become bullies. They push hard and get things their way. Pulling out of the Baptist World Alliance was one of these issues. So I was very skeptical going into this conference. What I got from these preachers was a charge to preach the Bible. I have often questioned motives but I think the conservative resurgence in the SBC (no matter how brutal) was born out of a desire to see the Bible preached and people come to know Christ. The divisions have been tough but I believe they are worth it. I recently was reading a Millard Erickson book where he studied different issues in denominations. His research showed that churches that became more liberal on their views of scripture, soteriology, and their view of God began doing less mission work. The denominations that were conservative on these issues did more missions work. These last view days have made me reconsider and think deeper on some different issues. I know many in this bar probably don’t line up with the speakers I mentioned or some of my views but I welcome comments and insight from your different perspectives.
“All you need to know about Arafat was that he insisted on wearing a pistol when he addressed the UN General Assembly. And all you need to know about the UN, I suppose, is that they let him.”—James Lileks
Michael, our nation indeed seems to have lost something. Maybe things are too easy for us. I’m hoping to get permission to reprint the article I linked below in a company newsletter hoping it will be an encouragement for caregivers.
It seems to me that one of the things that our generation has interpolated into the Declaration of Independence after Life and Liberty is “freedom from difficulty”. This article is worth reading to the end, it finishes by telling the story of a town of Huguenot (French Protestants) who worked hard to do the right thing; the quote at the end is priceless.
Having Jewish heritage I’m partial to Aish.com, and Sarah Rigler is a skilled writer who has given me much.
I promise there will be something worth reading here later on today. A good writer.
Phillip: It’s clear to me that Anglicanism (the ECUSA in particular) is headed toward a major split and I am confident that Trinity will be on the right side of that. The sooner the better I think.
This evening I attended Evening Prayer at the Anglican Cathedral in Montreal (I am a very odd Baptist preacher!). To my dissapointment they used the Book of Alternative Services (much like the modern american book) rather than the Book of Common Prayer. It was all OK but it didn’t move me like Cranmer’s venerable liturgies always do. I felt jarred, like a KJV1611 person might be upon hearing the 23rd Psalm read from the Message
I just enjoyed a wonderful experience, a true slice of Americana up here in Canada. Here I was watching the game at my parents’ house in Montreal, enjoying every minute of it. But something was missing. My son was back home in British Columbia and I wasn’t sharing this great moment with him. So I phoned home and Owen and I watched the 9th inning and the celebrations together. There’s nothing like Baseball for good father-son bonding. I hope he remembers this all his life. I know I will.
Jim, just another difference between city and rural life. In our “neck of the woods” people loving lavish candy upon children at Halloween, no begging necessary…
Well Bambino, All things must pass. And, in time, all curses must be put to rest. Tonight, things were put right in the field of dreams beyond the center field fence.
Congratulations to the Boston Red Sox, the 2004 MLB Champions. Old men lived to see it, and little boys will never forget it. You have a place in history. One strike away from elimination, you came back and won 8 straight games. Johnny, Manny, Dave, Pedro, Kurt, Derek, Keith….you are immortal in baseball’s memory. For these last two weeks, baseball again fulfilled all its marvelous promise. Thanks for giving us something beautiful to remember as we grow old. Somewhere Ted is smiling.
Now…when is spring training?
>How is any of that better, or more legitimate than the Holy See?
About 50 ways. Whatever Protestants give to their pantheon, it’s not close to the RCC’s view of the papacy. I mean, I know that even when I call Rick Warren “Pope Rick.”
>I must have been going to the wrong churches, then. Quite possibly true. Certainly is in my case.
>I don’t know of a specific case where the Church has refuted one of the Fathers Origien. Tertullian. Just for starters.
Hmm… Maybe I’ll replace my pithy pseudo-zen saying
Never pet a burning dog
with something even more pithy;
Never pet an exploding monk
There are, as far as I can tell, three kinds of people in the world:
The ones who are praying against me appear to be winning.
Scott: I know a bit about Verity. Check your email.
Michael: Permit me a few passing comments, since you’ll be in a good mood when the Sox win in a few minutes:
I stayed away from the Virgin discussion, but now I think I may have been behaving improperly toward it… The problem with Roman Catholicism is that it has no “reverse gear” for errors passed down. Instead, errors must be defended or tolerated because they came from the Fathers. I don’t know of a specific case where the Church has refuted one of the Fathers, but I know that the list of people considered “Fathers” has changed over time. I bet it would be very hard to find any serious Catholic theologian today who would hold that Augustine’s view of sexuality was correct. Granted, the institutional authority of the Church means that transitions are slower and less frequent, but that doesn’t sound like a bad thing generally. Thankfully, sola scriptura frees us from having to put ANY authority on a list on names who believed something. I must have been going to the wrong churches, then. It seems to me that the primary difference between Catholics and Protestants isn’t ecclesiastical authority, but simply where that authority rests. I grew up hearing the Gospel according to Schofield; later, I moved into the “Reformed-with-a-capital-R” world where the Trinity consists of Calvin, Machen, and Van Til; these days, I’m attending a church where people line up to kiss Bill Hybel’s ring regularly. How is any of that better, or more legitimate than the Holy See? Or were you just baiting me?
On Halloween, I’ve weighed in before; our principle objection is not the occult overtones or some conspiracy theory about Satanism; we just don’t like the idea of our kids going door to door begging for candy.
On threats against the US, I’m confused. Just last week, didn’t John Kerry threaten to make 9-11 seem like a nuisance?
I have never heard of one of these things before…yeesh…what is wrong with churches today?
Why vote if you are disillusioned? (John Piper’s pastor’s column this week.)
If you don’t know….I add all publically uttered negative personal comments about myself to BHT rule 36. We need to take note of a recent development of some note.
36. I am: obnoxious, overbearing, heavy-handed, fat, bald, ugly, sometimes rude. I like the sound of my own voice. I am so pro-war I’ve run people off the blog. I’m paranoid. I think I am right all the time. I over-react. I whine. I feel sorry for myself. I sometimes get angry. I sound too intense sometimes. I have a persecution complex. I make insincere apologies. I am a rank hypocrite. I live to frustrate and provoke my enemies. I am an ___________ (insert profanity.) I think everyone should believe like me. I have an ilk. I am too sensitive. I can’t take real discussion. I’m too emotional. I have ire. I am ungracious. I preach that grace is law. I have an explosive, sarcastic and hyper-sensitive personality. I have a writing style that is abrasive, confrontational, and non-productive. These are things I already know because people have said so on the internet, which is always right.The last 6 comments have all been added in the last week. A new record, and one that may stand for as long as it takes the Reds to win the Series again. (Ooops. Sorry :-) A committee is currently studying whether arrogant and falsely pious need to be added.
I just want to thank all the little people who made this possible. Mom…Dad…my third grade teacher, who was the first to call me “explosive.” An animated burning of the Monk in effigy is being planned for the sidebar as a kind of celebration.
The ECUSA story has been updated at CT, and you’ll want to catch up. As painful as this is for PW, I have to say I somewhat rejoice when the lefties go over the fence, because it is wonderfully clarifying of what the problems really are. Machen said it simply: This is a different religion entirely. Let’s hope it fires up conservatives.
It’s good to have a friend.
McManus added: “We’re a part of the insurrection, trying to turn Christianity upside down. We’re an experimental church, God’s research and development arm.”
rooted in the Southern Baptist tradition, seeks to embody a 21st century expression of church life while remaining true to its conservative tradition
Me: Am I supposed to be comfortable with the gathering of Believers (I am not talking about the sermon)? I suppose it’s a culture thing. I find it weird that a bunch of people look at a wall and sing whatever shines upon it. I still do it ever week. Eating flesh and drinking blood is a bit odd but I still do that too. Are adopted into a new culture too?
Scott: At lunchtime today I went home and showed my wife that article, and I stated that had I known about that, I would never have set foot in my current church, Richard Campeau’s recommendation notwithstanding.
Somehow, I dismissed the consecration of Spong as a (retired) aberration and I can dismiss the consecration of Robinson as a New Hampshire issue, but this is the official website of the ECUSA, on which is posted a liturgy which involves the worship of Ishtar and an example of everything I could possibly think of not to do based on Jeremiah.
It’s too late, though, and I can only marvel at God’s grace in making sure that I was deeply embedded in Trinity before this came to light.
All positive thoughts I had about possible progress in the ECUSA are completely gone, though, replaced by utter despair. I’ve emailed my pastors about this already, and I don’t know what else to do. It feels like a kick in the crotch that just won’t quit.
I went to a Bible study last night on I John. The passage that we were studying (and have been for about 4 weeks now) is 2:15-17.
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
(1Jo 2:15-17)
So, the world is not from the Father; therefore, we should not love it. And the desires of the world are not from God, therefore we should resist them. So, here are my questions: What is the distinction between a worldly desire and a Godly desire? The guy who led the Bible study claimed that the church today rarely mentions worldliness or condemns anything as “worldly” so, In your experience, is it true that the modern church rarely mentions worldliness or condemns anything as “worldly”? Does the modern church even recognize a distinction in the world and in Christianity? And, if not, is this the cause of such problems as are happening in the ECUSA or the result thereof?
Found an interesting book over at B&N. Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport
Also Piper may be onto something. His subtitle How to fight for Joy sums up an attitude I wish I had.
Hanson is unbelievable. Please, please, please folks. Don’t think about politics. Think about civilization. Think about history. Think the big picture. Don’t think Republican excesses. Think about Middle Earth, and Evil Empires, and a coming Dark Age.
This quote just chills me.
To a country that lost hundreds an hour at the Bulge and Iwo Jima, 1,000 fatalities in three years to liberate 50 million people 7,000 miles away might seem an amazing achievement; but 60 years later, voters of a far richer society, inundated with political commercials showing the missing limbs or flag-draped coffins of a few, are told that any sacrifice is tantamount to failure
If you are reading Drudge right now, you know that he has a story that an American Al-Queda cell has delivered a video promising to dwark 9-11, and to stun America with blood in the streets. DON’T FORGET WHAT TIMES WE LIVE IN. Please. Don’t forget. The video says it is all because of Bush. Now stop. Think what that really means. Think. Not about Iraq, but about history and the tide of terror. THEY WON’T GO AWAY. We must isolate, exterminate and force change through an idealistic war on these Terrorists.
Read Hanson, please. Don’t let the fog of the media jungle take away your clarity.
The Episcopal Church USA has now decided that promoting homosexuals as Bishops isn’t quite enough to get God good and upset with ‘em. Apparently, some of them have resorted to worshipping pagan dieties.
Phillip – the PCA awaits your membership transfer… :P
Less than a week, and Victor Davis Hanson is pulling out all the stops, and telling it like it is
What do you tell your kids about Halloween and other holidays?
After all, the argument often put forward about Halloween apply more or less to any other holiday we celebrate. All of them are either based in part on pagan rituals or created by Hallmark. The recent Maher article reminded me of how many times I’ve heard people talk about how parents often treat God as they do Santa or the Easter Bunny, and some get very, very worried that kids will reject God as they learn to reject Santa and the Easter Bunny.
One of my daughters asked me last night again whether fairies are real. My wife’s answer was, “We just don’t worry about questions like that, because they spoil the fun.” My answer was, “Nope, but it’s fun to pretend they are, isn’t it?” That’s pretty much the same policy we have had about Christmas/Santa, Easter/The Bunny, and so on down the road. I know some people are convinced that I’ve robbed my children of a certain special kind of joy by explaining that Santa Claus has been dead for hundreds of years, but I note that my kids are extremely excited about Halloween already, and delight in playing fairy-games and so on just like (or maybe even more than) other kids.
What say you?
Geek Question: OK… Here’s a question for the local geeks.
Where I work, we’re looking into search engines for our website. I mean enterprise-level stuff. We’re looking at the Google Appliance, MondoSearch, Verity Ultraseek, Atomz, and Panoptic. Have any of you guys ever had experience with this kind of stuff? Do you have any recommendations, especially based on security?
Thanks!
On Halloween: I spent a lot of my life fearing October 31. I grew up in a home heavily influenced by every wind o’ doctrine, and believed, at age 5 or 6, that Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, Halloween, and Thorvald the Thanksgiving Theonomis were all tools of Satan designed to trick me into dragging me kicking and screaming into the Pits of Hell using toys, colorful painted eggs, and lots of candy. Even as an adult, I refused to participate in giving kids candy because I wanted to prove my good Christianness by not handing out “Snickers”.
Then it hit me.
It took me a while, and I really looked through scripture, and looked and looked for evidence as to the evils of Halloween. And you know what? I have yet to find a single scripture that says “Thou shalt not dress up as a ghost, a witch, or a popular figure from an animated program and collect candy on October 31. Nor shalt thou distribute candy to those children. For October 31 belongeth to Satan, and thou shalt hide thyself in thy home, clutching thy bat and thy copy of the Hoodee-Spitit Men’s Student’s Devotional SuperBible, lest the Devil come and take thee by candy. However, thou mayst distribute Chick Tracts, so that the children know how evil they are, and how they shalt go to Hell for participating in the Devil’s Birthday, October 31, which shall forever be evil. Except that one time with Martin Luther… BUT ONLY THEN!”
Nope. Never found it.
So, a couple of years ago, I tried something daring: I handed out candy to kids on Halloween. Since I’d never done it before, I had many, many repeat visitors who were gathering around the fat guy handing out huge handfulls of caramel cremes and Hershey’s Kisses. And you know what – it was fun. Last year, I went all out, answering the door as Martin Luther and handing out smaller handfuls of candy. This year, I’m going to buy a dozen donuts, smear my face with Chee-tos, put on my ballcap, and grab my VHS video camera (I’m going as Michael Moore) for work, and then doing the Martin Luther thing for my church.
Whee!!!!
The downside is that there’s a lot of my fellow Christians who look at me funny. They’re so addicted to the line that Halloween is evil, that they’ve forgotten the most basic premise of Scriptural Calendaring: This is the day that the Lord has made. God gave us October 31, and if we want to spend it handing out Mary Janes and Peanut Butter Kisses, then daggoneit, we should do it with a joyful heart. Which shows the love of Christ more: hiding in terror from a day that a known liar and idiot called the Devil’s Birthday, or bringing joy to children who couldn’t care less about Satan and who couldn’t care more about rotting their teeth out of their head?
On February 7th, 2002, a diverse group of Christians started a wide-ranging weblog conversation. Today, that conversation continues and you're invited to pull up a chair. Welcome to the Boar's Head Tavern.
“It is better to think of church in the ale-house than to think of the ale-house in church.” - Martin Luther
