The Creed for the Modern Thinker

I heard this article on a Ravi Zecharias podcast. It is by Steve Turner, an atheist and English journalist. It was published in a secular paper, and I have copied most of it here...

Here is the creed for the modern thinker:

We believe in Marx and Darwin.

We believe everything is ok as long you don't hurt anyone to the best of your definition of "hurt" and to the best of your definition of "knowledge".

We believe in sex before, during, and after marriage.

We believe in the therapy of sin.

We believe that adultery is fun.

We believe that everything's getting better despite evidence to the contrary.

The evidence must be investigated and you can prove anything with evidence.

We believe there's something in horoscopes, UFOs, and bent spoons.

Jesus was a good man just like Buddha, Mohammad, and ourselves.

He was a good moral teacher, although we think basically his good morals were really bad.

We believe that all religions are the same - at least the ones that we read were. They all believe in love and goodness, they only differ on matters of creation, sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.

We believe that after death comes nothing because when you ask the dead what happens they say nothing.

If death is not the end and if the dead have lied then it's compulsory heaven for all except perhaps Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Khan.

What's selected is average, what's average is normal, and what's normal is good.

We believe that there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed.

Americans should beat their guns into tractors and the Russians would be sure to follow.

We believe that man is essentially good - it's only his behavior that lets him down.

This is the fault of society, society is the fault of conditions, and conditions are the fault of society.

We believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him, and reality will adapt accordingly - the university will re-adjust, history will alter.

We believe that there is no absolute truth except for the truth that there is no absolute truth.

We believe in the rejection of creeds and the flowering of individual thought.

PS - If chance be the father of all flesh, disaster is his rainbow in the sky. And when you hear "state of emergency", "sniper kills ten", "troops on rampage", "youths go looting", "bomb blasts school" it is but the sound of man worshipping his maker.

The God who Avenges

I heard about a guy that put out an ad for a babysitter on craigslist, then killed the girl when she got there. What can man do against such reckless hate? Do they think God can't see?

"O LORD, the God who avenges,

O God who avenges, shine forth.
Rise up, O Judge of the earth;

pay back to the proud what they deserve.
How long will the wicked, O LORD,

how long will the wicked be jubilant?
They pour out arrogant words;

all the evildoers are full of boasting.
They crush your people, O LORD;

they oppress your inheritance.
They slay the widow and the alien;

they murder the fatherless.
They say, "The LORD does not see;

the God of Jacob pays no heed."
Take heed, you senseless ones among the people;

you fools, when will you become wise?
Does he who implanted the ear not hear?

Does he who formed the eye not see?

Does he who disciplines nations not punish?

Does he who teaches man lack knowledge?
The LORD knows the thoughts of man;

he knows that they are futile."

Folk with cool names

Today's post won't be very deep, but it will be very useful if you happen to be looking for a bunch of cool names. You see, my daily assigned reading is in Chronicles, which I assume was put into the Bible for the sake of cool names:P So here I list my favorites as I read:

Kenan

Javan

Asshur

Shammah

Ethan

Nahshon

Jotham

Tirhanah

Joash

Amon

Jether

There are the coolests. So if you're looking to name a guinea pig or a chihuahua, or if you're a writer always in need of names (like me) maybe these picks will help you out.

And I found out something interesting... David named two of sons Eliphelet! TWO of them! I mean, creativity people - please!

Were you ever confused about this one?

Did you ever wonder why the people in Jerusalem cheered and welcomed Jesus with a parade, then shouted "crucify him!" at his trial? I certainly have. Our pastor had an interesting idea about it this morning - when Jesus was standing there all beaten up by the Romans (who he was supposed to conquer by the sword) the people were shocked! The Messiah would never have that happen to him! He was supposed to whoop up on the Romans! He was a phony! I might have felt a little betrayed too - I tend to put a lot of faith into people when they know something's expected of them. So they were happy when he came, but when they found out that he was a "fake" they were furious!

Anyhoo, I think this is plausible, but apparently our dear pastor is the only one who ever thunk of this... :)

Random Instructions

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil."

I like these staccato bursts of information! Let's look at them!

"Be joyful always"

This one is self-explanatory! ALWAYS - not just when things are the way you like.

"pray continually"

Don't stop praying while you're flitting about daily life! And if you need to remember to pray right now, it's Jared M, Jordan B, and Eliza S's birthday today! Hence, it's their pray-day on my calendar:)

"give thanks in all circumstances"

We don't like to remember THAT one, do we?

"Do not put out the Spirit's fire"

Whoa. Do not put it out? How would we put it out? This one made me think - how often do you feel like the Spirit's fire is just not in you? Are you the one that put it out? Don't discourage or grieve the Spirit!

"Do not treat prophecies with contempt"

They've all come true so far! Sometimes I despair that Jesus will ever come back for us - I mean, if not now WHEN???

"Test everything"

Don't assume anything is prolly right because it sounds good - weigh it against the Bible!

"Hold on to the good"

Even when things or people circumstances are bad, think about the good of it. It makes things feel better too.

"Avoid every kind of evil"

But it's ok to dabble in a LITTLE bit right? If you see something that you're doing that leads to evil, stop doing it. And there's no "just a little bit bad" - it's evil or it's not.

These little paragraphs are fun to dissect! Think about them today and pray happy birthdays!:P

The Gift of Prayer

Last night we had some friends over and Dad was flipping through a book and it mentioned something about the "gift of prayer". Have you ever heard someone pray aloud just magnificently? I really appreciate it, since I'm praying those beautimous words as well that I could've never thought of. I never really thought about prayer being a gift, but I know when I pray aloud it's just not the same as other people. I don't have the gift! When I pray in my head, I don't use many words. I start out that way, but when I can't think of the word I just use the idea, since God knows what I mean. And sometimes I use phrases like, "Well, gosh!" or "kinda weird" and that's fine for me, but when you're leading other people in prayer it doesn't work as well, ya know?:) So I don't have the gift, but I appreciate it in other people!

So have you ever thought about prayer as a gift? Now that you have? Do you have it? I just thought that this was an interesting thought... who'd have thunk?

Weird Stages

Fencing, for example. I just got done with the beginner classes where I actually attended every class, and hence was better than everyone else. But there is no intermediate class - next you get dumped in with everybody who fences in all the tournaments and such. So last night I was basically in shock - the only new kid, a bunch of drills I didn't know, working 10 times as hard as before. Getting stomped by all the awesome fencers was weird, especially since I couldn't even see what they were doing... there was just a horrid "BEEEEEP!!!" The instructors kept telling me that every fencer goes through it - where everybody's better than you and you have no idea what's going on. But it's a weird place to be.

Also I had a friend tell me she's in a weird stage in church. She just got too old for the youth group, but she still wants to be in it. There's no intermediate for that either - you're in with the kids or you're in with the grown-ups and that's it.

I'm in another rather curious stage in school - I'm done with my high school credits, so I'm technically graduated. I'm doing college prep, but I'm not in college. It's not any trouble, but it is hard to explain.

Not that I'm sure what the point of saying all that was. I guess I just never thought about any of it before, and now I'm wondering how to get past awkward or inconvenient places.