Review of "Letters From a Skeptic"

Greetings Friends,
At Andy's behest, this entry is about theology. I've finished reading the book "Letters From a Skeptic," which is a collection of correspondence between Dr. Gregory A. Boyd and his skeptical father, Ed.

The book starts with Dr. Boyd imploring his father to expound on the problems he has with Christianity and inquiring of him why he is an atheist. The father, Ed, responds that his lack of faith is not an affirmative position, but rather one based on his inability to reconcile the principles of Christianity with life.

Throughout the book, Dr. Boyd provides explanations to his father's concerns, and slowly throughout the course of the letters, in three years' time, Ed transforms from an avowed atheist to a Christian adherent. The book is described as being put together that it might have a similar impact on other skeptics.

I give this book a favorable review. The questions asked are very elemental concerns that both Christians and unbelievers may have. No doubt there are those who would disagree with Dr. Boyd's answers to all his questions, but he sums up Christianity very concisely: God wants to have a relationship with people. He does this by sending Christ Jesus to pay for our sinful nature. This gift of atonement is readily available to all who would ask for and receive it, whereupon we are given not just life, but that we might live more abundantly. One doesn't have to be perfect to receive the gift, in fact that's why we need a savior in the first place, because we aren't perfect. Only by God's grace may we enter into our Father's loving arms.

Until next time,
Matt

To Twitter, and Beyond!

Hey everyone. I'm testing some RSS feed capabilities. So I'm piping my blog entries into twitter: user edgarmontrose and from there, I'm pulling down updates from Twitter into my facebook profile.

Hope this works! More to come.

Matt

Blackbeard, Part 2

Here's part 2 of my review of the Miniseries "Blackbeard". Angus MacFayden (Robert the Bruce in Braveheart) plays Blackbeard. His character seems oddly reminiscent of Ricky Gervais in the British version of "The Office."

Until next time,
Matt

Blackbeard Miniseries.

So I got this miniseries "Blackbeard" from Mr Movies as they were going out of business in Fairmont. I paid $3.33 for 165 minutes of film, but I may have been overcharged...

Until next time,
Matt

Snow

Advent Conspiracy

Greetings friends.

Please see this informational video about the group Advent Conspiracy.

http://www.adventconspiracy.org/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVqqj1v-ZBU

The Last King of Scotland

First of all, the title is misleading. I hate it when hollywood does this sort of thing - giving a work an obscure title based on some slight phraseology during the course of the film. It might better be called "The life and times of Idi Amin's rule in Uganda."

The story does explain the title, but to paraphrase an old saying in Texas, "don't get fooled again." It is a compelling fictionalized account of a nationalist dictator who believes and in some ways did help the people of his country. In the process, he did rule ruthlessly against those that would oppose him. Machiavelli would have appreciated Amin, although free society may not. This interesting conflicted personality makes for an enjoyable film.

Until next time,
Matt

The Ten Commandments

Over the break I read the lastest in my stack of Worldwide Church publications: "The Ten Commandments." Like so much of the other pamphlets itemizing the now deprecated views of the Worldwide Church of God, this booklet explores each of the ten commandments and insists that we hold not the letter of the law, but also the spirit of the law - to the extreme! Some of these are more insistent than others.

The booklet offers some sound advice on how to apply the ten commandments to everyday living, denouncing materialism, labor unions which abscribe to "steal" wealth from honest employers by not exchanging an honest day's work, as well as the employers who might "steal" an honest day's wage from laborers.

A lot of these things make sense, like don't lie to one another, but that is taken a step further by saying, you shouldn't "swear" to tell the truth in court, but rather "affirm" that you will tell the truth. Really? This semantic difference is going to adhere to or violate God's commandments?

As I have said of this literature before, there is something that can be gained by reading different perspectives, but study what is being declared as truth before believing it as such.

Until next time,
Matt

Road to Perdition

Greetings Friends. Today's entry is a video from my phone. My microphone isn't very good on that, so turn crank it up!

-Matt

The Seven Laws of Success!

Greetings and salutations. Had a brisk weekend in Blue Earth, enjoying the company of family and friends. Now I'm back to the city and enjoying my birthday. I got to work from home today, dialing into our network through the magic of internet, and presto! Its been a happy birthday indeed.

I mentioned in an earlier blog that Grandpa had run accross some pamphlets. I read through another one, this one titled "The Seven Laws of Success" Myself, aspiring to be a successful blogger or something one day, figured it was a good investment of time to leaf through this near-tome. Here's a brief synopsis:

1). Fix the right Goal! This goal must be something that excites ambition so that you strive for it.
2). Education. Get the knowledge you need to accomplish your goal.
3). Good Health. Eat well, sleep, exercise, and think positively.
4). Drive - constant energy and propulsion to accomplish the goal. This is why #1 is important. You can't have a drive to accomplish something you're not excited about.
5). Resourcefulness. Keep calm during crisis, but act swiftly in response.
6). Perseverance. Bad times will happen - push through to see your goal realized.
7). God. Seek guidance and help from our Creator. This most important law will change all other 6 in the author's mind. #1, the right goal, becomes not a physical but a spiritual goal. #2 becomes educating yourself with the Bible. #3 becomes obeying the Levitican laws of what is clean and unclean to eat, etc.

I think the text makes good sense of a few points. The author knew several wealthy bankers in his day, back in the early 1920s. They retired, died, and the people working at their banks no longer remembered them, let alone the general public. Their fame had amounted to nothing. This is an important realization, that if your goal is to have a lasting effect on the country, or the world, after your are gone, then that should shape your goal. Goals of hoarding money or treasures on earth are fleeting - one never has 'enough' and it's worthless in the end. A gold-plated casket is still just a casket.

The point in all this is simply, let us strive for worthwhile accomplishments in life. May it be pleasing to God what we put our hands to, and let him be glorified. In doing so, He will help us with our lives and guide us through the troubled times.

Night

First, I want to point out that gas here in the Twin Cities is down to $1.89. Seems like a good deal compared to the $4.05 we paid not so very long ago. I believe that $1.89 is the same price I paid back on September 11th, 2001 during that mad rush for gas after the World Trade Center attacks. Much to remember from that day, but we all thought it was price gouging the way prices rose and long lines formed to buy fuel. So remember that the next time you're "joyful" about getting 12.977 gallons of unleaded for $24.64.

Perhaps I'm bitter, and I think a big part of that is the book I just read in the past two evenings. "Night" by Elie Wiesel is a gripping memoir of a Jewish teenager's survival of the Holocaust during WWII. The story is one of captivity in a demeaning and brutal environment. I admit I caught myself asking, "Can this be true?" "Can all these events have really happened ?" I don't doubt they all happened, but it seems remarkable that this one boy experienced so much. I could see this as a collection of the horrors of the Holocaust, but if this one boy witnessed and experienced so much inhumanity, then perhaps I do not grasp how terrible this thing really was, for he was, in many cases, spared the terrifying life that so many lived - and died.

I'm not given to tears. I wasn't raised to cry with my emotions on my sleeve - it just isn't the thing to be done. That said, this story made me weep. I bawled to Almighty God as to why, oh why could this have been allowed. To know that such violent disgraces against our fellow man could have been perpetrated, and in the last 70 years! It is inconceivable, and yet I know it to be true.

Perhaps part of what made this book so compelling is that the story is of a boy and his father in the camps of Nazi Germany. Being not very old myself, I related quickly to the boy, as though this were me and my father. It is hard to imagine enduring such a trial, let alone suffering with my Dad.

The book is worth reading, but it very demanding. It is like the scene of an accident that compels you. The important part here is to recognize what terrible actions people are capable of, and to never forget. No matter what ideological, political, or religious differences we have with others, no ethnicity or people group deserves to be treated this way. Jesus commanded his followers to "Love one another" (John 15:12). Let us try harder to get along.

Matt

You don't know what it's like.... to be Steve

Not a lot of news today. Business as usual, I suppose. We did take a moment to visit Steve, but he wasn't around, so we took turns doing our best to see what it's like to be Steve.

"Author"

"Janson"

"Bert"

More later,

Matt

Principles of Healthful Living

Its been snowing and raining today in the Twin Cities. That made the drive home from work worrisome, but not terrible. The new tires held up well.

On an unrelated note, as with many things that Grandpa Alfson left us, is a strange story. Grandpa had a penchant for frugality - if something could be had for nothing, well, then get three! Such is the case with a series of booklets published by the Worldwide Church of God. These innocent-enough sounding booklets account for various of that church's then-peculiar doctrines- I'll get to that in a minute. Titles such as "The Plain Truth About Christmas ", World Peace: How It Will Come , The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, "What is Man?", The Seven Laws of Success, Who was Jesus, The Ten Commandments , and "Principles of Healthful Living."

These all sound of varying degrees of interest, so I gathered them up and scuttled them off to my apartment. Upon reading a few of these titles, I came to wonder what this Worldwide Church of God is? The teachings of not celebrating Christmas due to its pagan roots and the latest volume explaining how the New Testament did not change the law on food between what is clean and unclean food, seem curious to a mainstream protestant mindset. Further investigation of this group finds that there was a division of late, and that the WCG no longer holds some of these exceptional views. Rather, the current head's doctrinal changes to more mainstream views forced several spliter groups to form and that is where the above links will take you. Most of the texts can be found online.

The argument in "Principles of Healthful Living" challenges the view that Peter's vision where God instructed him to kill and eat the unclean animals was literal. Rather, this book maintains that this was a metaphor for the Gentiles as a people. Once they were unclean, but by the grace of Christ at Calvary, even non-Jews can be saved. While I adhere to the view of Gentiles being saved, I also have to balk at the notion of unclean animals not being fit for food. For Jesus himself stated that it is not what enters a man's mouth which makes him unclean, but that which leaves his mouth. (Mark 7:15).

Still, one has to consider the concept. The Israelites were prescribed a diet which did not include certain animals including swine and shellfish. The author here explains a variety of diseases which may come from these animals. Arguing against this point, I would say that the clean animals also pose similar but different health risks.

What can we get out of this? Bacon may be tasty, but it may not be good for you. Let's not throw out the book over the idea of unclean animals, when the admonishments for exercise and sufficient rest and sleep are sound advice.

More to come,
Matt

Theological Q&A

I found this podcast on the Woodland Hills Church website. It is an open theology question and answer session ranging from all over the place. Pretty interesting, a little lengthy, but good. Mostly I wanted to post this ridiculous picture. Discussants are Dr. Paul Eddy and Dr. Gregory Boyd, both of whom pastor at WHC.

Download the mp3 files here: http://www.whchurch.org/content/page_904.htm

Until Next time,
Matt

Tortilla Flat

So I've been reading more than a bit lately, and thought I'd discuss this gem I finished late last night. John Steinbeck's Tortilla Flat, like so many of his works depicts impoverished people trying to get by in the greater Monterrey, California area around the era of the Great Depression. I found the book moves at a dreadfully slow pace and urges one to put the book down and do something fun, over and over again. What can be gained by such a story? Well, while the plot was less than riveting, a few ideas can be gained.

1). The character named "Pirate" has buried treasure. What can we learn? Pirates ALWAYS have buried treasure.

2). Though this story takes place during the era of Prohibition, the characters inevitably trade whatever they have, borrow, or steal, for wine. What can we learn? Legislating against something does not make it go away. People just get sneaky.

3). The author makes light of the fact that the characters are lying, cheating, thieving bums, but have a certain adherence to their Catholic religion. Steinbeck isn't saying that religion is bad, for it does not pose detrimental effects on the characters. On the other hand, they do not gain anything by it, since they ignore basic tenants of the faith by the life they lead. I think what Steinbeck is saying here is that a half-faith is no better than no-faith; believing only when it suits you does you no good. St. James puts it best when he says, Faith without deeds is dead. (James 1:17)

Welcome!

Hey Everybody. Thought it's about time I started a blog of my own. I'll discuss things I deem relevant here. Let me know if there's things you'd like to see here, and I'll try to address them.