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Romans 6:23 tells us that ‘the wages of sin is death’.  A story from China today, I believe serves to illustrate this point well:

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese man dropped dead after playing Internet games for three consecutive days, state media said on Monday as China seeks to wean Internet addicts offline.

The man from the southern boomtown of Guangzhou, aged about 30, died on Saturday after being rushed to the hospital from the Internet cafe, local authorities were quoted by the Beijing News as saying.

“Police have ruled out the possibility of suicide,” the newspaper said, adding that exhaustion was the most likely cause of death. It did not say what game he was playing. (Full story)

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This is the message from the New Life Center in Cedar Grove, WV, a small community just outside of Charleston, the capitol of our humble little state.  Evidently, some folks are offended by the display, here’s the scoop from the Charleston Gazette:  Satan hates a Kanawha County church, and the church has a billboard that says so.

Now personally, I’m not offended by the message.  I would be honored for the Devil to count me and my congregation as an enemy, after all… the Devil is bad.  A radical message to put out?  Maybe, but Jesus was pretty radical with the messages He put out too.  So am I supporting this church?  Well, as a Christian who tries to live by the precepts of the New Testament, one of which says “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities (Romans 13:1),” I feel obligated not to support this group’s advertisement.  You see as one who is asked by God to obey the laws laid down by the civil authorities of the day, I cannot support the New Life Center’s sign, due to this civil rule:

WV Code: §46A-6-102. Definitions (M) The act, use or employment by any person of any deception, fraud, false pretense, false promise or misrepresentation, or the concealment, suppression or omission of any material fact with intent that others rely upon such concealment, suppression or omission, in connection with the sale or advertisement of any goods or services…

So as a citizen of WV, I can’t support such false advertising tactics as this church is using ;)

Maybe I could buy the next billboard down the road and put something like this up:

Praying for the true enemies of Satan everywhere,

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Well, no one is arguing with me, which either means I’m on the right track or no one is reading… At any rate, I’m going to argue with myself a bit… and compare God with the roadrunner (meep! meep!)

In the first article in this little series (this being the third), I began the subject of ‘why do bad things happen to good people’ by speaking of the recent death of Jim Shaw.  I then went on to say that something like this is most certainly not a part of God’s plan.  I meant that, and I believe that, but I would like to now append a caveat. 

I was looking at some of my brethrens’ blogs on a popular social blogging site and ran across the site of a family member of brother shaw’s.  In a post speaking of the tragedy, she had posted the lyrics of a song which says “… and it surely is a part of God’s great plan.”   Well, that seems to go right against what I said earlier, but in reality it does not.  I believe that both statements are true, so stick with me and I’ll attempt to explain how this seeming contradiction coexists. Read the rest of this entry »

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No, it is not part of the free love movement gone sci-fi, it is the newest scientific method for explaining away us Christian types that don’t buy into the evolutionary worldview.

In a recent article titled, “Why do some people resist science?”, psychologists Paul Bloom and Deena Weisberg grope for some psychological problem to explain…. me.  A grown-up-who-ought-to-know-better still believing that things have purpose… kinda pitiful, ain’t I?   Here is an excerpt from their article that will explain the title of my post:

…One significant bias is that children naturally see the world in terms of design and purpose. For instance, four year-olds insist that everything has a purpose, including lions (”to go in the zoo”) and clouds (”for raining”), a propensity that Deborah Kelemen has dubbed “promiscuous teleology.” Additionally, when asked about the origin of animals and people, children spontaneously tend to provide and to prefer creationist explanations.

A ’significant bias’?  You have got to be kidding me.  In a world of biases, at least Christians like me admit our bias upfront, that bias being, “God said it and I believe it.”  But am I supposed to believe that these two scientists, while talking about those with a bias towards creationism have no bias of their own?  Why would they have entered into such a study in the first place, I wonder?  I am willing to stake a picture of Ronny Wade with an afro (a priceless posession), that if these two were intellectually honest, they would answer that, in their minds, the only explanation for ‘promiscuous teleology’ among those who ‘prefer creationist explanations’ is some dimwitted childhood psychological phenomenon that we have failed to grow out of… a significant bias, if you ask me.

Now come on everyone, let us hold hands, sing Kumbaya, and “persuade children and adults that the institute of science is, for the most part, worthy of trust (see the last sentence of their article).”  I actually agree with that statement, it is just the activist scientists out to prove evolution is 100% true and religion is a mental disorder that I have a problem with.  Phooey.

Sticking with my pathetic 4-year-old worldview in which things have purpose,

/Here is the convenience-age explanation of what this article is about, written in text-message-ese and graphics for those that can only digest information in tiny misspelled chunks.  (I strive to cater to a wide audience)

//I have not forgotten the series on ‘why bad things happen to good people’ this article just distracted me, must be that 4-year-old ADHD that I also haven’t grown out of…

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So after all the blame of his three friends, assuring Job that no one is punished unless they had it coming to them, and Job is unable to figure out why such horrible things are happening to him, he challenges God to speak already and show him what terrible thing he did to bring this punishment down upon him.

So God speaks.  Read the rest of this entry »

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I’m sure the madness and wickedness of this world has peaked in the minds of many of my brethren this week as they heard of the deplorable murder of a dear brother in Christ.  Jim Shaw was 73 and while I never personally met him, I have heard his name come up on several occasions and know he was/is well loved by his brethren and was a diligent worker for the Kingdom.  I also know assuredly that such a violent death was not owed him. 

What sense does it make that the person who robbed him had to kill him?  Surely if they could overpower him to take his life, they could have easily overpowered him and restrained him instead, leaving him hurt and frightened, surely, but leaving him alive… and yet the attacker made the choice to take another man’s life, altering the lives of many, shattering our feeling of safety, perhaps shaking our faith a little too?  Or a lot, even…

If you are trying to puzzle out what sense this makes and what part it plays in God’s plan, I have some advice for you.  Don’t.  There is a mistaken belief out there that every little thing that happens is part of God’s plan and I for one do not buy it.   Read on –>

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