A random musing

I'm home from uni for the next few weeks, and thus Blogger is actually accesible.

Today's random bible verse is 2 Corinthians 12:9, because I found a note to self on my phone reminding me of it.

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

As promised: something controversial

I shouldn't be saying this, however I'm very very tired and my ability to reason as to why it's a bad idea isn't working, so here goes.

So I was chatting to some folk on Sunday morning, and as a result of expalining what presbyterianism is I end up explaining why I believe in child baptism, which meant explaining covenant theology, which led to why I disagree with dispensationalism, involving my opinion of the rapture and tribulation and millenial rule as unbiblical, and then I ended up having to give a brief explanation of how the whole dispensational interpretation of Revalation works. I always find it fascinating how I can suddenly lose the fatigue that comes from only a couple hours sleep when I'm discussing theology that I'm really passionate about...


Aaaaanywho, someone made a ncie point to me as to why she disagreed with my summary, namely: "next time why not read revelation to explain it?"

My answer tot his was quite simple: Revelation is heavily symbolic. Trying to put a literal reading onto it, in my opinion based on a reasonable amount of study, is incorrect.

If I really wanted to attempt to summarise my views with labels, I guess I'd say historicist amillenialist, possibly tending towards idealist. But does that really explain much?

As I've said many times before, what concerns me is the present, not the future. Getting too bogged down in prophecy isn't going to make it any easier to fulfill the rgeat commision.

Incidently, if a pre-trib rapture does occur, I'm not going. The idea horrifies me. If there's going to be a tribulation, darnit I'm staying and I'm going to try and guide as many away from damnation as I can in the short space of time left. I mean, taking away everybody that can offer guidance and direction in the end times? That's sadism! SADISM I SAY!

Flame away.

Quick post

This proves I do still exist....

Just a randomaside, I'm working on a big essay on YEC that my dad asked me for. Might post it here when I'm done, might or might not surprise some folk with the conclusions drawn...


Not really easy tho, even if it is mainly a collation of other people's arguments! :p

In other news, I'm thinking of doing an access to heology distance-learning course at HTC. Should be pretty useful, methinks. Expect a sudden surge in posts here as I work my way through it and examine whatever oddness I've been looking at. :p

A sense of urgency

I'm told that I should have a sense of urgency in reaching the lost. I agree. Certain folk tell me that said urgency should come from the fact Christ's return is imminent. Let's talk statistics.

Which is more statistically likely? Christ returns tommorow, or I die tommorow?

Now which is more likely? My premature death, or the death of someone who spends a lot of their time drinking alcohol, taking drugs, generally leading a hedonistic lifestyle?

I know quite a number of folk who fit into that category. And many who are not. I'd class both amongst my friends. I have a sense of urgency in reaching out to my lost friends, because I know there's every chance that they could end up causing serious damage to themselves. I have a sense of urgency because I know that I might not be here tommorow. I have a sense of urgency, because when Christ returns I don't want anyone to be unprepared, but more urgently I don't want them to die unprepared. Because as long as they still live, I have hope...

I wonder what would happen...

...if I said something really controversial here. Not sure what exactly, mebbe some theological point which is bound to mark me down as a heretic to one group or another. One of the issues I tend to avoid but which I have so much to say on...

Maybe I'll try it sometime, but not today. In the middle of getting a new domain sorted, so mebbe once I get to that...

And the greatest of these is love

1 Corinthians 13, taken from the TNIV translation.

1Co 13:1-13 If I speak in human or angelic tongues, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Amen and may God open unto us these readings from his holy word.

Vincent tells me that the gift of tongues is mentioned first in this passage because of the importance the church in Corinth was placing on said gift. Verse 3’s the one that I think’s really very relevant in many ways in today’s church. However, today I do not want to look at either of those verses, but instead concentrate on verses 4 to 8. Now I’m sure most folk are familiar with those verses, in fact wiki tells me it’s one of the most well known passages in the bible. It’s common on Christian websites, I’ve heard it more than a few times at various conferences and youth events, it’s a traditional wedding cliché. But what does it actually say?

A quick lessons in ancient Greek: there are three words for love. Eros, Philos and Agape. Roughly speaking, erotic love, brotherly love and unconditional love. Agape is a love without limits or constraints, a non-erotic love, it can be said to encompass everything from love to mankind to the love between spouses, and naturally it’s the word used in the new testament to refer to God’s love for his creation. I like the word agape, but I do not like the use of “love” to translate it. Somehow it just seems not to accurately bring forward the message. The KJV translates it as “charity”. I’m reliably informed that the Hebrew cognate is “Cheseda”, generally translated as “lovingkindness”. I still don’t think we quite grasp the full extent of what we’re looking at here. How do you define unconditional?

Try putting your on name in place of love. If you’re being honest, you’ll admit that it’s very difficult to do and say it with any conviction. I’ve often said that it only really works if you put “Jesus” in its place, but then I realise, what Paul was saying here is that we should have that same complete, unconditional, often unrequited love. Christ’s words where clear enough, “A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another as I have loved you. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples”. We’re supposed to carry that exact same unconditional love for each other that God extends to us! And it’s not just reserved for believers. We should be extending it to all mankind. We need to be giving this full agape to everyone! Patience. Long-sufferingness. And kindness. Be good to others. Give everything you own to the poor and suffer for your deeds but heaven forbid you do it without lovingkindness! There’s no envy, no hard feelings towards others, we don’t take pride in our achievements or make a big thing about them. Is that really such a hard concept to grasp? No self-seeking, always putting others first and treating them with respect! We shouldn’t be quickly angered when people do us wrong, and we don’t hold grudges. Forgive us our trespasses JUST AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US.

Agape always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Always. How could it be otherwise? With the blessed assurance that Christ will never let us down, that we will be saved from the fate far worse than death which we so assuredly deserve, how can we possibly fail to persevere in extending that assurance to all? How can we lose hope that our loved ones who as of yet are misguided by the god of this world may one day have their blindfolds lifted? How can we be so presumptuous as to fail to trust that it will be as was promised? Love delights in what is good. Love wants to spread that goodness throughout the world.

And finally, Love never ends. All “gifts” will come to an end when completeness arrives –that is when Christ returns-. All things of this life will one day cease. But love is eternal and without ceasing. Agape is unlimited. Cheseda is the central point of our walk with Christ. And that’s something that is all too easy to forget.

my theological aproach

When asked by a student to sum up what was msot important about his life's work and theology in as few words as possible, Karl barth replied, "in the words of a song my mother used to sing me, 'Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so". To me, this rather nicely summarises what theology should be. Now, I'll admit I don't have a firm understanding of Calvin's Institutes. I can't get my head round the idea of election, I don't have a huge interest in Hebrew or Greek and I just don't see where people get some of their interpretations of Revelation from. Neither does it tend to bother me. In Matthew 18, Christ says, "unless you become like little children, you shall never enter the kingdom of heaven". [Note: all references will be taken from the TNIV translation of the Bible unless otherwise noted.] In Luke 10, we see that "[God has] hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children". I feel from this that my aproach to Scripture - that of a small child - is a fair and acceptable one. Can I stand and debate complicated issues? Not really. Do I need to? Only for fun. I'll leave such things to pastors, thanks.
However, here is what I understand, from the scriptures, by just taking things at face value, as they where given.

1)I am saved by grace alone (Ephesian 2)
2)All that is required of me to be saved is that I trust in the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 14)
3)Faith without deeds is useless(James 2)
4)The perceived contradiction there is because you think too hard
5)All are equal in Christ: race, gender, age etc are meaningless (Galations 3/4)
6)My actions are meaningless in regards to my salvation (Epehesians 2)
7)All scripture is innerant (2 Timothy 3)
8)We win(Revelation in general)
9)We don't know and cannot predict when Christ will return(Matthew 24)
10)Jesus loves me, this I know, for the bible tells me so.

That's just a few points that sprung to mind. I think we can all agree that these points can't be argued, non?

Letters to a friend(part 4)

I call it a sermon, but it's more of a short talk really. Guess maybe I could expand upon it, but hey. You don't prepare, you run out of steam...
This final letter was sent to a slightly modified group. The friend mentioned earlier was not included. Actually, if memory serves part of the reason for sending this one was because of the similarities between "Claire" and her. I guess I was trying to encourage the recipients.

Date: 15/01/2008
Subject: Some musings on the parables

So I wrote this sermon on the train this afternoon, full of clarity and detail, and by the time I got home it was gone. However, I managed to dredge it up again, for the most part, and here it is. Enjoy. My original plan was to make a recording, and maybe I will, but right now it's late and it's too short anyway. before reading it, I suggest reading the parables in question: Matthew 18:12-14 and Luke 15:11-32 even though if your churches are anything like the ones I attend you've probably learned them by heart!

As always, feedback is encouraged, welcomed, demanded even. particularly if you disagree with my theology! Also, it goes without saying that you should feel free to do what you like with this - it's creative commons licensed.

- -Stephen

===============================================
I want to start today by telling you a true story, about a friend of mine - let's call her Claire. Now, Claire and I went to school together for five years and I suppose it could be said that we where good friends. Claire became a Christian when we where both in p6, although looking back now I can safely say that I doubt the sincerity of her conviction. In the same way however I could easily say the same of my own - I think we both had some rather daft ideas. Claire was not from a Christian background, and her peers where predominantly unsaved, as where most of her family. By the age of 15 she was definately headed off the rails, and when she started at university at the relatively young age of 17, problems started to show. She took up with an atheist boyfriend, ceased attending church, and generally headed off in the wrong direction entirely.
To end on a higher note, Claire is now regularly attending church again and is a member of the CU. To the best of my knowledge she's also no longer in that particular relationship. However, hers is a story which is by no means unusual in this modern day.

The parable of the prodigal son tells us of an interestingly paralel story. We see the son goes to his father, and demands his inheritance - in other words he states that he wishes his father was dead! As I'm sure some of the more alert amongst you have noticed, this was a rather diret breaking of the 5th commandment - a fact which would not be lost on the Pharises to whom the Lord was speaking. The son set off to squander his money on wild living - he made money his god, breaking the first two commandments and quite likely the tenth. When he was done, his friends deserted him and he was left poor and hungry, living with pigs - animals concidered by Jewish law to be unclean. He'd hit rock bottom, well and truly.

So how does his father react to this? He waits for the son to come to his senses and return to him! And when he does, he's forgiven entirely for his transgresions and reinstated. His father holds no grudges, his son was lost and is now found, was dead to him and is alive again.
Let me repeat that: He waits for his son to come to his senses and return to him. And when he does, he forgives him entirely for his transgressions and reinstates him as his son and heir. He holds no grudges: his son was lost and now is found, was dead to him and is alive again. He waits for him to come to his senses. He doesn't care what his son did, what matters is that he realises he was mistaken.

The parable of the lost sheep has an interesting difference: the shepherd doesn't wait for the sheep to come to its senses and return, oh no. He goes and he looks for it. This is where I start complicating things, so bear with me. The Lord both reaches out to the lost and actively sets out to find them, and at the same time waits patiently, knowing they'll come to their senses and return. This isn't a contradiction in the slightest. the doctrine of iresistable grace states, quite rightly, that while we are bound to sin and totally incapable of turning from it of our own free will, for those of us that God calls it is impossible to resist. God looks for the lost, and they turn to him. He wills that they be saved, and it is so. As such, God knows that those whom he elects will come to their senses, and for them he waits. And it is through God's great grace alone that we are saved. If the shepherd chose to wait with the 99 sheep on the hill rather than search for the one lost sheep, then surely that sheep would have no chance. If the father had chosen, he could have forgotten about his son, refused to acknowledge him on his return. But she shepherd went to look for the stray, and the father waited patiently for his son to come to his senses. This is what God's love for humanity means.

Letters to a friend (part 3)

Not much I can really say about this one.

So you've all no doubt got a bit sick of me talking about the youth
assembly, but bare with me here. This one could be interesting.

So anywho, it actually amazes me to think it was such a short time ago.
Seems like ages. Been thinking a lot about the Sunday morning, actually.
and I'd like to share with you folk what happened, from my point of
view. This might no be the most legible account, I admit, and I'm not
promising I'm going to be completely honest about everything, if only
because I'm likely to get choked up with emotion and not be able to
continue typing at some points.

So we got up in the morning, sat around and had a chat before breakfast.
After breakfast, we all gathered around and we where given a reading.
Hebrews 11:1-3, to be precise. From about that moment on, Hebrews 11:1
became something of a favourite of mine.

/Now Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do
not see. This is what the ancients where commended for. By faith we
understand that the universe was formed at god's command, so that what
is seen was not made out of what was visible.

/We where given a talk on the subject of faith, and then we where told
to go for half an hour to be alone, and to pray to God about what we'd
heard over the weekend. Actually, the first thing I did while everyone
else got up and left was to go speak to the minister. "Hi, ah, I just
wanted to say thanks. Ahm, the girl who gave me this bible put these
bookmarks in with bible verses on them, and if you look, this one has
Hebrews 11:1 written on it. So like, I'd not really understood why that
particular verse at the time, but it makes a lot more sense now.
Thanks." I speak so eloquently!

So anyway, at that point I went outside. I can't remember exactly what I
did, but I know I read some bible verses, I think a few psalms, and then
sat next to the church across the road from the hall we where at, and
prayed for several minutes. Shortly after that, folk started arriving
for church and there where some kids running around so I went indoors
and sat down on a chair in the hall. I did some more bible reading, and
again I can't remember what any of it was now, except for one. I was
basically flicking through the bible somewhat at random. I was looking
through the index, when I suddenly came across Stephen. The index
described him as being "full of faith, wisdom, grace and spiritual
power". For some reason I was drawn to read through Acts chapters 6 and
7 at this point, and after doing so I was filled with shame. Shame that
I share a name with one such as him. I made a prayer at that point,
"Lord, help me to be more like Stephen." Actually it was a lot more
complicated than that, but there's the just of the message. I went on to
pray again that the Lord would send me to do his will, and asked that he
reveal what he wanted me to do.

And God replied. In his cryptic way, he replied. It would be a while
before I'd actually begin to properly understand what I'd actually
gotten myself into, I admit. And that's saying something.

The rest of the morning was a bit of a blur. We did a bible study before
lunch, after lunch we sat and discussed what we want to see changed in
the church, as far as activities for youths go. I was told that I'd be
contacted and never was, exchanged mobile numbers with a couple of folk,
went home.  The experience of the time between breakfast and that bible
study, though, remains as strong as ever in my memory.

Well, I've said it. That was easier than I expected. I'd appreciate any
thoughts you might have.

Thanks for reading.

-Stephen

Letters to a friend(part 2)

I wroted a parable! :3

Date: 20/11/2007
Subject:baaaaah! 

So a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away. He
leaves the other 99 on the hill and he goes to look for that one stray
sheep.
Meanwhile, back on the hill, there are 99 scared little sheep left on
their own. Sheep being sheep, most of them stay right where they are.
However, one or two of them do wander off. Not too far for the most
part, but they do move further away from the flock and thus find
themselves at more of a danger to wolves. Indeed the wolves pick off a
couple.
They even come in close to the pen, and go right up to the sheep,
tempting them away from the flock. Some of the sheep follow them,
despite what sense they have telling them that it's safer amongst the
other sheep. Indeed the other sheep try to tell them this also. Of
course some of the sheep that the wolves try and pick off manage to
escape, back to the safety of then pen, and when the shepherd returns
the wolves
aren't going to be a problem any longer.

When I was at the youth assembly a few weeks back, one of the speakers
commented that nowadays the church seems to be more interested in
finding the lost sheep than in what's happening to the sheep that are
left behind on the hill. I doubt he was referring to the same subject
I just wrote that illustration on, admittedly: the subject of the
conference was all about being called to work within the church, but
nevertheless it did spark off an interesting point there.
So what about them? The fact of the matter is that sheep are in
danger, mainly from an outside influence. Now, I'm not saying by any
means that separation from the world's the answer. That's just stupid,
and Paul warned against it when he wrote to the Corinthians (although
he did say not to associate with Christians who follow an immoral
lifestyle. Sheep are known to be influenced by other sheep, you know).
But at the same time, the rest of the church is something that we have
to stay close to. The closer the sheep are to the wolves, the more
danger they're in. And the wolves can come in sheep's clothing, oh yes.


I'm gonna avoid rambling for the sake of rambling here, so this isn't
gonna be the massive huge essay a lot of my emails are. As always, I'd
be overjoyed to get at least one reply with an interesting discussion
of the points raised, and if anyone agrees, disagrees, thinks they can
expand upon, whatever, they should do.  God bless.

-Stephen

Letters to a friend (Part 1)

Between somewhere in the region of November 07 and January 08, I sent out
a number of emails to a few friends. In particular, most of them where aimed at one friend, who was at the time going through a destinct decline in her faith. She's since turned her back on Christ entirely. While a lot of the emails where either personal or of little interest, there's some stuff here that I felt was worth sharing. It should be pointed out that most of these where off-the-cuff and not properly planned out. Also that they where all originally sent to the same three or four people.
So here's the first of a few copies. Enjoy.


Date: 17/11/2007
Subject: A Few Thoughts on Ephesians

    So I met my dad on the landing jsut now as he was getting ready to
start writing his sermon for tommorow, and I asked what he was doing it
on. Ephesians 4:1-16, aparently, on the subject of unity in the church.
So anywho, I went and looked it up, and here it is;


       Ephesians 4

1I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy
of the vocation wherewith ye are called,

2With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one
another in love;

3Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

4There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope
of your calling;

5One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

6One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in
you all.

7But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of
the gift of Christ.

8Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity
captive, and gave gifts unto men.

9(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first
into the lower parts of the earth?

10He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all
heavens, that he might fill all things.)

11And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some,
evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

12For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for
the edifying of the body of Christ:

13Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of
the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of
the fulness of Christ:

14That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and
carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and
cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

15But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things,
which is the head, even Christ:

16From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that
which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the
measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of
itself in love.


So two thoughts suddenly strike me. The first one's "yaknow, I think we
did a study on this at the youth assembly". I don't think we did,
actually. I think it's jsut that verse 11 happens to be similar to the
passage we did read, which if I had to guess I'd say was from
Corinthians. The second point was "I think I'll cross-reference the
first three verses with my NIV and see what comes up." So, lessee what
does come up.


       Ephesians 4


         Unity in the Body of Christ

1As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of
the calling you have received. 2Be completely humble and gentle; be
patient, bearing with one another in love. 3Make every effort to keep
the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.


Something tells me most of us could do with keeping that one in mind
more often, and I'm not even gonna bother pretending I'm not included
there. "Longsuffering,  forebearing one another in love"'s the bit I
like. Y'have to admit, longsuffering sounds much better than patient.
It's got a certain something to it. Much stronger word. Kinda sticks
with you, in its way, no? I think longsufferingness is something we
could all do with. I admit I find it a lot easier with some things than
others...

Then I noticed 25-32 (at this point I'm gonna stick to the NIV, because
I'm well aware you don't share my love of King James!);


     Ephesians 4:25-32 (New International Version)

25Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to
his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26"In your anger do
not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27and do
not give the devil a foothold. 28He who has been stealing must steal no
longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that
he may have something to share with those in need.

29Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only
what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it
may benefit those who listen. 30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of
God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31Get rid of
all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every
form of malice. 32Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving
each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.


Sure the NIV puts it down as being on a different subject to unity, but
I'm seeing a definite link here that needs explored. For the record, the
start of verse 26 is from Psalm 4. Verse 15 interests me more, tho.
Interesting one there. You ever find you sorta expect others to follow
that one, but at the same time you don't neccesarily feel the need to do
it yourself? Maybe that's just me. It's an unfortunate habbit I'd say.
Falsehood and unwholesome talk: do they neccesarily go together? If the
truth might be unwholesome, how do we deal with that? I guess 31-33
kinda cover that one!  :-)   "Only what is helpful for building others up
according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen", seems
to be a rather odd one. I'm curious what your thoughts are on it,
actually. Is Paul maybe referring specifically when talking to the
unsaved? It doesn't really seem that way to me, but otoh, hmms. I dunno.
I suppose you said it yourself tho, what you say can have the right
effect without you even realising you've said it. Ksh.

I'm aware you've not really got huge amounts of free time, so I assure
you I'm almost finished here. Just a couple comments on Ephesians 5.
I've highlighted a couple of points in the next passage, basically
ebcause they're the ones I want to draw attention to.

3But among you *there must not be even a hint* of sexual immorality, or
of *any kind of impurity*, or of greed, because these are *improper* for
*God's holy people*. 4*Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or
coarse joking*, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5For of
this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is
an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.^[a
]
6Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things
*God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient*. 7Therefore do not be
partners with them.

It's interesting, at least to me, that Paul decided that sexual
immorality and greed needed singled out and everything else got bundled
down as "any kind of impurity". In a way it kinda makes a loss of focus
on said impurity, don't you think? Well it shouldn't! "Obscenity,
foolish talk or course joking" are out of place, and I guess come under
impurity. They're also unwholesome talk, which Paul warned against
earlier. He later in chapter 5 warns "Do not get drunk on wine, which
leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit." Debauchery.
Love that word. It's interesting, the meaning we'd tend to use now would
refer to excess. Heavy drinking, indulging in pleasures of the flesh,
and the like. A more archaic meaning, and the one which I think's
intended in this case, would be "seduction from morality, allegiance, or
duty".  Wow. I'll refrain from making a joke about how surely spirits
are more likely to lead to debauchary than wine, but if you really think
about what he's saying here, and compare with the events in the old
testament it's quite interesting. The number of times folk ended up
sinning against God after getting exceedingly drunk is pretty
impressive. Suddenly it starts making sense. A lot of "impurities" can
lead to sexual immorality and greed, sorta like coveting is the first
step to breaking the other nine commandments. And God's wrath comes on
those who are disobediance. Oh yes! For some reason I can never say
something like that without simoultaenously being filled with fear and
just a bit gleeful. It's terrible really. But God's wrath's pretty
awesome, no?

The rest of the chapter's about wives and husbands, and that's a new
subject entirely, so I'll end here. So anyway, there's jsut a few
thoughts that kinda hit me just now whilst reading through Ephesians.
I'd be pretty interested to see if you'd disagree on any points there.
Fantastic how I managed to go bypass the whole unity thing too, eh?
Guess the bits about how we're supposed to conduct or lives at
christians tend to be a bigger draw for me.

Anywho, thanks for reading this. Send me a reply when ya have the time
will ya? God bless.

-Stephen


   Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

               ~Ephesians 5:17~

This is why the Church of Scotland is a bit of a joke

No real need to read this, believe me.

To sum it up as quickly as possible, a Church of Scotland elder who also happens to be a supposedly trained biochemist has issued warnings about the human embryo bill that's currently going through
- he wants it to stop humans from impregnating monkeys. For the record, I've never met anybody who would want to impregnate a monkey. There's also the tiny detail that, y'know, IT'S HIGHLY IMPLAUSIBLE! It's not even likely to work, let alone something that's even been considered.
But don't let that get in the way of a good rant. Apparently we're going to see monkeys impregnated, and the monkey-human hybrid offspring used for organ harvesting. And we're going to see that as morally acceptable because monkeys are just animals.

For the record, the cheapest way to harvest organs is to grow them yourself, using stem cells.
Doing so does not require you to create and abort an embryo, it doesn't involve killing things, and it doesn't involve mucking about with genetics. Theoretically you can grow organs from tissue samples. If we're going to see organ harvesting in labs, that's a lot more likely than doing it with humonkeys.

Did you know some Chimera embryos got made a few weeks back? Yeah, while the government was still debating a bill on wether or not to ban them. What interests me is, there's been zip all activity from teh church in protest. I mean, there where folk on the TV all the time complaining about it being so wrong, but once it happens, zilch. Ok, so from what I'm aware it was on the Catholic church and certain sections of the Anglican church that had a problem with it, and that seemed to be based on a complete lack of understanding of how the whole thing works, but even so. What happened to standing up for morality? It doesn't just end when people go get away with it, guys!

Trust the documentation

As most folk are no doubt sick of hearing, I'm a very keen computer programmer.
What can I say? I love code.

Now then, writing something totally from scratch is pretty unusual. Generally you make use of libraries that contain code and functions pre-written by others.
You don't tend to actually edit or even touch said code, you just use it.
You're supplied with documentation written by the original author, which explains how to use the code. What it doesn't do is go into every last detail about how it all works: it says what you need to know. Now, sometimes the documentation can be unclear. Sometimes you need to work it out for yourself. This is where problems arise. You can get things wrong if you're not careful. You can assume things that aren't stated, and that can lead to trouble.
If you try to make it do something it's not designed to, you can find yourself with more errors and glitches than Windows. If you make it work the wrong way, you can find yourself with something totally unexpected. Sometimes the errors can be subtle: you can make a mistake, and nine times out of ten it won't even be a problem. It helps to learn as quickly as possible that you don't want to go doing this. You have to learn to just follow what the documentation says, not what you think it says. Keep it simple.

I'm a bit sadistic, so I'm not going to go any further with this one. It's already a bit convoluted. Think about it, see if you can follow it on to a useful surmising about reading the bible. Have fun!
I have some code to get back to...

Well this should be itneresting

So basically here's another of my slightly less geeky blogs. I've not totally given up on working my way through the parables like, I just honestly don't have time for that at the moment.

This blog's going to be slightly different. Rather than spending the time giving my interpretation of scripture, it's going to be a bit of a pick-n-mix. Random musing, sudden ideas, a bit of
attempted scripture commentary, maybe the odd set of lyrics or audio recording if I'm in a creative mood.

Updates will be as unpredictable as ever, schedule wise. Might go months with nothing then make a thousand posts in a day if I'm in the mood. Should be fun, eh?