News: CIA's Secret Prisons

Washington Post | CIA holds terror suspects in secret prisons

It's nothing they haven't done before, but the truth will hopefully lead to some accountability. I just wonder how far down the torture road we have to go before America realizes we no longer have the moral high ground.

For more on this topic check out my previous post on the CBC Radio 1 documentary, "Ideas on Guantanamo".

10.29.05 Sermon Summary: Patience Of The Saints

Patience is not highly valued in success-oriented Western culture. And Christian' culture often has trouble expressing the Biblical virtue of patience, because the drive to save souls means the sooner the better. But the Bible places a high value on patience. After all "The fruit of the spirit is...patience" (Gal 5:22); "Love is patient" (1 Cor. 13:4); and "Here is the patience of the saints..." (Rev. 14:12).

So what does it mean to manifest the fruit of patience as a Christian who realizes he or she is living in the end times? In his letter the Apostle James shows us that Biblical patience looks like a farmer waiting to harvest his crop (Jam. 5:7). If the farmer takes off the crop too early or too late he will not have a harvest, so he must work along with natural processes to experience success.

Patience is primarily a matter of timing and is specifically the ability to work with God's timing. This applies to His timing for the second coming (2 Pet. 2:8,9) and to the process by which the Holy Spirit works in the human heart. The major symptom of impatience according to James (5:9) is complaining about other Christians.

Two aspects of Biblical patience (based on two Greek words)--holding back and enduring --must be combined in order to truly manifest the fruit of the Spirit. Most of us tend to fall into one of two traps: Either we fail to hold back and angrily jump the gun (i.e. impatience) or we fail to endure and give up (i.e. fatalism). The later is very often confused with patience but really has no Scriptural basis. (The fatalist doesn't bother to harvest; because if it's God will, the grain will find its own way into the barn.)

In the final analysis, "patience of the saints" is actually patience with the saints. We will all have some rough edges before Christ returns, and if in the mean time we are to be His body we must minister patience to one another. And if you feel your patience isn't all it should be, don't get discouraged; because God is patient with you. The Holy Spirit is still working on you and is patiently waiting for you to ask for help.

Don't Touch The Microphone!

CNN.com - Pastor electrocuted while performing baptism - Oct 31, 2005

It's a deadly reminder for baptizing pastors: Don't touch the microphone!

I still have childhood memory of a pastor repeatedly reaching from the baptistery for a microphone and a faithful deacon pulling it away from his grasp. Back then I thought it was funny. Now I realize that he probably saved the man's life.

Review: Serenity

If you know any of the devoted fans of the cancelled TV sci-fi series "Firefly", you're probably familiar with the question, 'Have you seen Serenity yet?' I capitulated to this request some weeks ago and now one movie and thirteen episodes later I have emerged with one question. Have you seen Serenity yet?

It's hard to explain to "Firefly" virgin why the show and the movie that caps it off are so awesome, but that won't stop me from trying. First, it's sci-fi and western rolled into one using the best parts of both genres. Second, it evokes that feeling you got from watching the first three Star Wars films and wished you'd got from the last three. And finally it's set in an anti-Star Trek universe where the bad guys spread 'civilization' riding starships with lasers while those left on the margins suffer and die.

The guy behind "Firefly" and Serenity is the writer/director Joss Whedon of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame (or infamy). I guess he's known for his witty repartee and character development. Judging by the strong script on which this film rests he won't be loosing that reputation any time soon.

The actors are all people you've never heard of, but they come through with great performances. Nathan Fillion, a native Edmontonian, plays the leading role as captain of the titled space ship and is the Han Solo of his generation (last Star Wars comparison, I promise.). If I had to single out another performance it would be Chiwetel Ejiofor's unique and compelling villain, The Operative.

I have hardly any quibbles with Serenity; it is a nearly flawless film. Although you will certainly get more out of it if you have watched the preceding series, it by no means excludes the uninitiated. One could make the argument that by the end Serentiy descends into space-opera camp, but this can be forgiven in light of the moral complexities it explores.

I recommend Serenity to any movie fan who loves great action, dialogue, and characters. However this movie does have some brutal violence. It's not on a Saving Private Ryan or Passion of the Christ level, but you may want to avoid it if you're squeamish. You will also want to avoid this film if you don't want to get hooked on a certain cancelled television series with 13 episodes and about 11 good ones.

FIREFLYFANS.NET is the fansite for all things Firefly.

Our First House

My wife and I are considering buying a house. I reckon that after paying about $7,000 to our landlord it's about time we started putting some money into our own equity. An old pastor in Australia told me that if you put a little equity into a house each place you move, when you retire you'll own your own home. So that's our goal.

Right now we're navigating the confusing array of mortgage options. We figure we'd better move now before the interest rates go up. Any advice for this first time home buyer?

The Bigger, The Better?

I found this to be one of the most interesting results of the Natural Church Development international research project of 1000 churches.

Small churches grow 1600% more
When we compared all of the churches with less than 100 regular attenders (average size being 51 worshippers) with all of the churches that have a regular attendance of more than 1,000 (the average being 2,856), the result was striking. We discovered that "small churches" grow 16 times more than megachurches.

When doing such a comparison, we could not compare one church of 51 people to one of 2,856. We had to compare the results of 56 churches of 51 people each, to one megachurch with 2,856 people to come up with exactly the same number of people, just differently organized. On average, the small church category had a 1,600% higher growth rate. They one 16 times as many people! Interesting results, aren't they? Small churches really have no reason for a low self-esteem. (Color Your World With Natural Church Development, 34, author's emphasis)

Perhaps there is more to this than just helping small churches feel better. Maybe this statistic should tell us something about what size of churches we ought to be striving for. After all, a small church that experiences great growth will soon become a large church that grows more slowly.

Since organisms grow most quickly when they're small and young, the best way for God's churches to grow would be for them to multiply by dividing after they grow too large. As the author points out, it's "the same number of people, just differently organized." Perhaps we should say that they are organized for better growth.

I should say that I'm not totally against megachurches. Some people will be won by megachurches that wouldn't be won any other way. However I don't think that they are the model most churches should aspire to or emulate.

10.22.05 Sermon Summary: Service of Worship

The "Seven Deadly Social Sins" according to M. Ghandi include the sin of "Worship without sacrifice". Some Christians might wonder if this is even a sin. I've worshiped many times without sacrificing, does it matter? When was the last time you saw a animal slaughtered or food burned in church?

In most cultures worship involves sacrifice--indeed even ancient Hebrew culture of the Old Testament. Whenever God would bless his people they would worship by offering sacrifices upon an altar to Him. Abel, Noah, Abraham, and many others expressed their devotion and love to God in this way.

After God rescued Israel from Egypt He instructed Moses to build a portable temple called the tabernacle where His presence would dwell and His people would come to worship Him. The place in this tabernacle where the average Israelite could worship was at the altar of burnt offering. There they could offer animals and grain as sacrifices to be burned on the altar, but a usable portion was given for the priests to eat. In this way the offerings that the Israelites gave were similar to the money we place in the offering plate to sustain the church.

The purpose of these sacrifices was to point towards the sacrifice God made for us, when He gave His Son to die for our sins. He was the perfect sacrifice, and as such we can easily get the idea that sacrifice doesn't play a role in the Christian worship. We tend to worship for what we can get out of the experience, rather then thinking about worship as an activity where we give. Is there still room for sacrifice in the Christian experience

Yes. The apostle Paul wrote: "Present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. (Rom. 12:1)” In response to God's total sacrifice for us, how else can we demonstrate love back to Him? This is what it means to worship--to give every part of ourselves over to God's will.

This sermon was actually inspired by a one of my blogs (Seven Deadly Social Sins), not the other way around.

A Plug For Adventists From National Geographic

Secrets of Living Longer (click on "The Seventh-day Adventists' Way")

Wierd, eh. Evolution's best propaganda machine giving props to the religion that spawned George McCready Price and preaches "worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters (Rev. 41:7)". I guess that's the power of the Adventist health message - one that I believe, but don't always apply as well as I should.

If you attend an Adventist church and are over the age of 30, sign up for "Adventist Health Study 2" and share the benefits of the Adventist lifestyle through research.

(via joie de vivre)

Blog Review: Philobuster

Philobuster* hasn't been updated for awhile, but it has some very cool art. It's actually one of the best combinations of philosophy and art that I've seen. Click on the pictures for the full effect.

I believe the blog was created by a professor on the Faculty of Religion at Pacific Union College.

*This is no longer the same blog I linked to years ago.

Top Five: TV Shows I Miss

I have now been TVless for over a year except for the shows I've downloaded off LimeWire. I'm just to cheap to get one until I get other things I want more (like a digital camera). To celebrate my freedom from the one eyed idol and approximately 400 hours of time better spent (conservative estimate) here's a top five list.

Top Five TV Shows I Miss:

1. Jeopardy
2. Seinfeld
3. News Hour With Jim Lehrer
4. Hockey Night In Canada
5. The Outer Limits

A friend recently offered me a TV. (She's got four and is looking to get rid of one.) I'm still debating whether to take her up on it. On the one hand, I do miss some shows. But do I really want that time-drain temptation sitting in my living room? I didn't call it the one eyed idol for nothing.

Bible Studies 12: The Church

Another Bible study today. I'm starting to run out, so I'm only going to be posting them every other week or so. You can look up the Bible references here, and find the previous study here. The 'answers' are at the bottom. These are a work in progress so your feedback is welcome.

Study 12: The Church

1. The ancient nation of Israel were God’s people through the old c________ [contract] (Judges 20:1,2; Deut. 5:22; Deut. 7:7-11).

2. God’s people today, His c______, are the spiritual nation of Israel through the new covenant (1 Pet. 2:4-10; Heb. 8:6-13; Gal. 3:28,29).

3. As the b____ o__ C______ the church manifests the presence of Jesus to the world (1 Cor. 12:12-20,27; Eph. 1:20-23;)

4. Jesus is the foundation of His living t______, the church (Matt. 16:13-19, Eph. 2:19-22, 1 Cor. 3:6-17).

5. The story of God and His church is a r_______ (Ezek. 16:1-8,15,16,35-39,60-63; Eph. 5:25-33; Rev. 21:1-3).

6. The N___ J_________ is where the members of the church have their citizenship (Gal. 4:21-31, Phil. 3:20).

7. The church is a f______ with the Heavenly Father as our father, Jesus as our eldest brother, and the other members as our brothers and sisters (Gal. 4:1-7, Col. 1:13-15, James 2:14-16).

8. The ‘i_________ church’ consists of all those who follow Christ regardless of what church organization they belong to (John 10:16, Mark 9:36-40).

1. Covenant. 2. Church 3. Body of Christ 4. Temple 5. Romance 6. New Jerusalem 7. Family 8. Invisible

News: God Blogging Conference

AP Wire | 10/15/2005 | SoCal university hosts nation's first "God blogging" conference

What would Jesus blog?

Maybe something like: "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and truth." (1 John 3:18)