I hurt

There's a saying (at least, I assume that there's a saying, since people always say so) that people who like sausages or the law should never watch either being made.

I'm starting to think that the same is true of church policy.

I'm on a committee at church that is considering a new church covenant and by-laws. (The church was incorporated in 1904, and hasn't needed any until now. The IRS may be - and may not be, opinions vary -requiring them for older churches as well as new ones, so we decided we needed to put some together, in order to be sure of staying in compliance with the tax laws and so forth.)

We had a long meeting tonight to go over the proposed by-laws, which are being written by a guy who's a retired preacher. He's proposing a number of changes, mostly to the things that I think are good about the church. There will be a new way of doing things, a self-perpetuating committee that will oversee all aspects of church life, and many many restrictions.

Two of the committee members I expect this from; they're old, hard-line Baptists, and they've seized on this as an opportunity to crack the whip of what they believe to be true. If they believe any of it; there's a lot of cynicism and underhandedness for a group that is supposedly led by God.

The other two are going along, not arguing, just smiling and nodding. I ask questions, the two older guys shoot them down, and the others smile and nod.

On the way home tonight, I told my wife that we need to be praying to see if we should stay in this church or not; I don't know if I can.

The thing that hurts is that I love this body, I love how I've grown through it, and I love many of the people in it. (There are also, sadly, many that I don't know very well. I should work on that.) I truly respect the pastor, and the more I find out about him, the more I respect him. He lets God speak (most of the time - he is human) and I almost never go away from hearing him without feeling like I've learned something, or been challenged in some way. Every time I attend another church (if I'm out of town on Sunday), I'm reminded of how much I appreciate him. I love teaching Sunday School; I love working with the youth. I hate the thought of giving all of that up.

On the other hand, the thought of staying and fighting is just so ... draining. I can't tell you the stress I've been feeling, the trouble sleeping, the anger, the pain ... I don't know if I can face it. I don't know who to talk to; I've managed to lose the time I had to discuss this sort of thing with one of my friends who would understand, and the other one is serving as a missionary in another country, which makes him somewhat unavailable.

Father, if there was ever a time I needed your wisdom, it is now. If there was ever a time that I needed your love, it is now. Father, I pray your guidance for my church. Father, I crave your forgiveness for my unjust anger and bitterness - help me to see others as you see them, not with my eyes.

You down with DVC?

Hey, you know me.
Roger Ebert likes The Da Vinci Code, which makes him practically unique.
Empire doesn't, though, claiming that it's "inert and borderline dreary."
Neither does Slant magazine. They describe it as "A marriage made in mediocrity" between a "middlebrow filmmaker" and a "convoluted piece of historical fiction twaddle".
Variety thought it was pretty bad as well. In their extended coverage of the film's showing at the Cannes film festival, they noted that the audience sometimes laughed at dramatic moments, and that no one applauded when it was over.

I may have been wrong when I assumed the film would do well - word of mouth may kill it.

Barbara Nocolosi's "othercott" is starting to look better all the time ... although I still disagree with most of her statements. She claims that there's no possibility for dialogue with DVC believers, because all of the questions "start with Satan's presumptions". According to her, any attempt to discuss will only lead to being shouted down. She's right, insofar as discussion with the type of fanatic she describes is generally useless; but she's wrong to extend that to anyone who's asking questions based on the film. She's angry over the lies in the book, and that's not wrong, but her anger is pushing her into anger at people, not at ideas, and it's making her want to disengage from them. It's an easy attitude to have; we get angry at something like the Da Vinci Code, or gay marriage, or whatever, and we lose sight of our opponents. We don't fight against Dan Brown, or GLAD, or liberals, or conservatives; we fight against the darkness and evil that stands behind them. Our enemy hides himself behind those he uses, cloaking his actions in theirs, tempting us to hate the ones we can see - and far too often, we do. This is what love is; while I was still a sinner, Christ died for me. While you were still a sinner, Christ died for you. While any man or woman on the face of this earth are still sinners, Christ died for them. This is what love is. Remember that when you get angry with someone who doesn't know Christ. Don't fall into the enemy's trap; don't hate, don't demonize, don't disengage from people. The ideas? Those you can safely hate. As C.S. Lewis said, some ideas are damned nonsense; "nonsense that is ... under God's curse, and will (apart from God's grace) lead those who believe it to eternal death.." Fight those ideas and the one who inspires them, but remember that the people he uses are still those for whom Christ died, no matter how obnoxious they may be.

The worst revival preacher ever.

Our pastor’s been on sabbatical now for about two months. In the interim, the pulpit has been filled by several different speakers. We have several retired pastors in our congregation, who have taken turns, our youth minister has spoken, and so on. Last week, we had one of those oh-so-Baptist traditions, the revival.

Now our church has changed over the years since auntlada and I joined (1995). Back then, it was a typical small-town/country Baptist church; we had every year, in the spring and in the fall. It was part of the changing of the seasons, an immutable law of nature, like the earth’s rotation. Twice a year you went to church for a few extra services. You could expect an old-fashioned fire and brimstone preacher who would tell you all about the moral decay of today’s society and your particular role in producing that decay. You could expect 15 to 20 minute invitations, where the piano and organ would play 300 verses of “Just As I Am” or “I Have Decided To Follow Jesus” while the preacher exhorted you to “Just step out from your pew and come to the altar. Jesus is waiting for you now. Are you tired of living in sin?”

That’s how revivals worked. And a significant amount of what worked at a revival was the appeal to emotion. The preacher (always from outside; your regular preacher isn’t capable of leading a revival, apparently) was generally of the classic Baptist preacher type: homey, even folksy in style, fundamentalist in theology, manipulative in delivery. Stories of how dreadfully sinners mistreat those around them would be a prominent part of the sermon. These tales of an individual’s slide into depravity would be eagerly devoured by the congregation, who would hang on every lurid detail. If possible, the preacher himself would have a “testimony” of how he was a hard-drinkin’, hard-livin’ womanizin’ cuss until he met Christ. (I’m not knocking the ability of God to change people; but it seems odd that every revival preacher has this testimony …). Much would be made of this: “If Jesus can save me, he can sure save you!” After several days of this, the “Revival” would be over and the numbers – those all-important numbers - would be announced during a Sunday service; so many “salvations”, so many “rededications” and some number of “other decisions.”

We didn’t get one of those.

Dr. Greg Frizzell came and spoke, and I can clearly say that he was the worst revival preacher ever. He didn’t rant or rave. He didn’t tug at heartstrings. He didn’t do any of the things that revival preachers are supposed to do. He certainly didn’t try to create a revival.

Instead, he talked about the conditions that need to be met to produce a revival. He spoke of how important prayer is; not hurried, wish-list prayer, but prayer that spends time with God, that builds up a relationship. Prayer that changes the person praying. He spoke of what it takes to achieve that kind of prayer, of the need to have a clean heart, and to have forgiven others. He spoke of getting close to God’s heart.

He didn’t preach a revival, in the sense that I’m used to. Instead, he preached about what it takes to be revived by God. I never got a sense of the arrogance that many revival preachers have from him, that arrogance that says “we have revival twice a year, whether God likes it or not.” As befits a man who has studied the revivals of history, he spoke about how to hear God, how to seek God, and how to be close to Him and to each other – the conditions that led to the Great Awakening, the revivals under Wesley and Whitefield, the Welsh revival of 1904-5.

He was the worst revival preacher I’ve ever heard – and that’s the greatest compliment I know how to pay him. He didn't preach revival; he preached Christ.

Gospel of Judas

Mark Daniels has some good thoughts on the Gospel of Judas. He points out that it's not exactly new, that it's an example of the Gnostic writings, and that it's not really very relevant. The thing I think is most useful to us as historians (amateur or pro) is that it seems to reinforce the idea that Irenaeus is a reliable source, since he talked about the gospel. Worth reading, check it out.

And Michael Spencer has a great look at how this sort of thing compares with US History. Funny, biting and well-written. The Stupids Do New Testament 101 - go read it. Now. I'll wait.

Christianity Today has a good wrapup as well. Collin Hanson does a good job of pointing out the fallacies of those who are trying to show this as some sort of gigantic change in the understanding of Jesus. It's especially interesting to me because I've lately been seeing the other side of the coin; that is, those Christians who overstate the value of archaeological finds in order to "prove" the Bible. It's nice to see that this sort of fanaticism extends to the atheists as well. I'm not saying that there's not a LOT of archaeological evidence for the Bible's veracity, because there is; I just get annoyed by those who seize on one little insignificant find and blow it out of proportion. Anyway, CT has a good article. Lisez-le. Lese es. Read it.

Tru Pimpin' (Things I think about as I walk across campus)

(Icy Hot!)*

Is there anything more ghetto than a rich white kid in his dad's Chevy four-door blaring rap music? 'Cos if there is, I'd like to see it.

Why does the girl handing out blood drive fliers look like a vampire? It kind of creeps me out. "Come to ze library lawn und give blooooood! Hear ze children of ze night - vot beautiful music zey make!"

Why do people walk out in the street when they're 10 feet from a crosswalk? Are they going to be late for class if they don't save that extra 2.27 seconds? And why did that one blonde girl flag the bus down 15 feet before it got to the bus stop? It's not like she was running for the stop, either - she was just wandering along in the other direction and suddenly thought "A bus going the opposite direction! Just what I was looking for!"

Should I be concerned that they're gradually blocking all the entrnces to campus? Is the next step the one where we build a wall around the place, and then we all drink the kool-aid and get on the flying saucer?

*If you know the Stuntaz, you should get the reference.

The Cool and the Stupid

The Death Star Home Theatre:
Dillon Works will apparently install any sort of home theatre setup you want; their portfolio includes this amazingly cool Death Star themed setup, which even includes a THX sound system. (I should note that, in the interests of geekiness, the stars in the starfield displays shouldn't twinkle; "twinkling" is caused by atmospheric interference with the light waves, and there's no atmosphere in space...) Still, a way cool design.

Amazing Race Placemarks in Google Earth:
This is cool if you're a fan of The Amazing Race ... and if you're not, then please leave quietly before you embarass yourself further. There are links to threads with the placemarks for Seasons 6, 7, 8,and 9. Check it out.

Most Egregious Misuse of POV tech to date:
Pimpstar LED rims for your car. They have a wi-fi connection so that you can update them from your laptop, and then you have glowing images on your rims. "Our favorite rim image from the video has to be "Hey Baby, Call Me". I can imagine the mad-dash for the cell phone when a lucky girl happens to see that on your rim." Heh. Nonetheless, take a look at the video.

The City Manager of Tuttle, OK? Is an idiot:
He thinks that the OS on their webserver is something a hacker put on, and threatens to get the FBI involved. If I had been the guy from CentOS (and had had access to the machine) I would have removed my software, just like he demanded - then let him figure out how to boot it up again. Seriously, not recognizing the page he was getting I can understand; not everyone is technical enough to spot what that is. But after the guy at CentOS explains it to him and tells him to contact his IT guy or his ISP, and the manager doesn't, that's when he slid into idiocy.

Abdul Rahman has been freed

The charges against him have been dropped for lack of evidence. I suspect that "lack of evidence" is the code the Afghan government is using to get out of a sticky situation. They've been facing a lot of pressure to release him from other countries, and there was a very real chance that proceeding with his execution would have resulted in a signiifcant loss of foreign aid.

Note that he is still in prison; it is quite likely that when he is released he will be in danger from muslim fanatics. I'm not sure if he will be able to remain in Afghanistan, or if he will have to leave.

The Star-Telegram has more details.
from that article:

"'I am serene. I have full awareness of what I have chosen. If I must die, I will die,' Abdul Rahman told the Rome daily, responding to questions sent to him via a human rights worker who visited him in prison.

'Somebody, a long time ago, did it for all of us,' he added in a clear reference to Jesus.

'In Peshawar I worked for a humanitarian organization. They were Catholics,' Rahman said. 'I started talking to them about religion, I read the Bible, it opened my heart and my mind.'"

Dean has some thoughts on the matter:

"...the elected government of Afghanistan felt that it should answer to not just its nearby theocratic neighbors, but, also to its fellow democratic nations, including governments from places like France, Germany, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Think on it: President Karzai of Afghanistan actually felt the need to take phone calls on this matter from the Canadian Prime Minister. And the American Secretary of State. And the German Prime Minster. And the leaders of many other democratic nations."

LaShawn Barber has some good thoughts as well:

“Christians, unless you live in the Middle East or Africa or anywhere Muslims rule, it’s doubtful that you’ll be murdered for believing in Christ, but remember the saints who are. Pray for them to remain strong and encouraged. Ask God to give them a calm heart and mind, knowing that he can use even evil for his divine purpose.”

I think he's left out a good part of the world - India, Vietnam, North Korea, China spring to mind - but overall he's right. Many of us are safe, and it's so important that we "Remember those in prison as if [we] were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if [we ourselves] were suffering."
[UPDATE]
The publicity surrounding the case has apparently sparked interest in Christianity among Afghans. Hussain Andaryas, an Afghan Christian leader living in the US, says that emails to his group have increased to the point where 13 people are tasked with dealing with them.

"The majority of emails are negative and many are abusive, coming from Muslims who felt that Rahman and other apostates -- including Andaryas himself -- should be severely punished.

But there also are many messages of support, he said.

And then there are emails coming from Afghans wanting to know more about Christianity, asking where they can get a Bible in the Dari or Pashto language, or sharing the news that they had become believers in Jesus Christ.

Among the most stirring messages are those from Afghan Muslims marveling about a faith for which a man was willing to die and wanting to study the Bible further.

'I strongly believe God is using this situation for His glory,' Andaryas said. 'One man's bold step has shaken the world.'"

The Koran says (Surah 8:30): "And when the unbelievers plotted to imprison you, or slay you, or drive you forth, they plotted well; but God plotted too, and God is the best of plotters." It wouldn't surprise me greatly to see the Afghan Christian movement strengthened by this. If the Bible could open Abdul Rahman's heart and mind, it can do the same for his fellow Afghans.

The Weird and the Cool

There is a time for therapy. There is a time for healing a relationship. And there is a time for establishing a DMZ with Marine enforcers. (I note that the story comes from an Australian newspaper, but is about a Mexican couple ... may not be 100% accurate. The Diario de Yucatan did have an article about a Juan Espinosa being jailed for the attempted murder of his ex-wife, Irma Contreras, but it has expired and isn't cached anywhere I could find.)

Some people shouldn't have guns. Some people shouldn't have kids. This woman should have neither. Fortunately, she's the one who paid for it, and not her son. I would like to point out that this took place in Minnesota and not somewhere in the South, proving that redneck is a state of mind, not a geographical location.

I don't *always* follow the rules about setting off fireworks. Sometimes, I'm not as careful as I ought to be, although I've never seriously injured anyone else or caused a lot of property damage. But maybe that's because I never made a habit of letting them off inside the house. Don't do that; it turns out to be an amazingly bad idea.

Want to know how to measure the speed of light? Sure, we all do. But many of us think that we don't have the equipment that we need. Well, it turns out that you can do apretty decent job of measuring it with nothing more than chocolate chips and a microwave. (And a ruler. And a plate. And a calculator. Or a lot of paper.) If anyone needs a science fair project, here it is.