i am catholic

You scored as Roman Catholic. You are Roman Catholic. Church tradition and ecclesial authority are hugely important, and the most important part of worship for you is mass. As the Mother of God, Mary is important in your theology, and as the communion of saints includes the living and the dead, you can also ask the saints to intercede for you. Roman Catholic 82% Emergent/Postmodern 79% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 71% Neo orthodox 68% Reformed Evangelical 61% Classical Liberal 54% Charismatic/Pentecostal 50% Modern Liberal 39% Fundamentalist 14% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

royals win two in a row!

kansas city 4, detroit 3, 10 innings
kansas city 11, minnesota 7

christian school to host gay activists

report from the boston globe


gordon college
soulforce

ahh spring

warm sunshine, green grass, flowers blooming.
what's not to love

we walk by faith

we walk by faith
and not by sight;
no gracious words we hear
from him who spoke
as none ever spoke;
but we believe him near.

we may not touch
his hands and side,
nor follow where he trod;
but in his promise
we rejoice; and cry,
"my lord and god!"

help then, o lord,
our unbelief;
and may our faith abound,
to call on you
when you are near,
and seek where you are found:

that, when our life
of faith is done,
in realms of clearer light
we may behold
you as you are,
with full and endless sight
- henry alford

i am justin martyr

You’re St. Justin Martyr! You have a positive and hopeful attitude toward the world. You think that nature, history, and even the pagan philosophers were often guided by God in preparation for the Advent of the Christ. You find “seeds of the Word” in unexpected places. You’re patient and willing to explain the faith to unbelievers. Find out which Church Father you are at The Way of the Fathers!

remembering dietrich bonhoeffer

(4 february 1906 - 9 april 1945)

"action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility."

"one act of obedience is better than one hundred sermons."

"the ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves for its children."

"a prison cell, in which one waits, hopes -- and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of advent."

"a god who lets us prove his existence would be an idol."

"the mark of solitude is silence, as speech is the mark of community. silence and speech have the same inner correspondence and difference as do solitude and community. one does not exist without the other. right speech comes out of silence, and right silence comes out of speech."

"to endure the cross is not tragedy; it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to jesus christ."

"gratitude changes the pangs of memory into a tranquil joy."

"time lost is time when we have not lived a full human life, time unenriched by experience, creative endeavor, enjoyment, and suffering."


more info:
international dietrich bonhoeffer society
wikipedia
us holocaust memorial museum
the internet encyclopedia of philosophy
center of theological inquiry
speaking of faith: ethics and the will of god

does the christian god exist?

here is a debate held in st. joseph, mo between j.p. moreland and my professor clancy martin.

the thing that i kept thinking about was that it seems as though moreland and clancy were in a different conversation. i think traditional evangelical apologetics needs to rethink what and how they do things. and even rethink who their audience is.

moreland and clancy debate

reo speedwagon, van gogh, and john the baptizer

so there i was enjoying my coffee at the starbucks on the plaza after enjoying the royals victory over the red sox. so all of a sudden i looked up and kevin cronan of reo speedwagon is adding milk and sugar to his coffee. i thought to myself, this a trip because i just saw him on tv while the speedwagon was at the royal's game.

so i started singing "keep on loving you," and he came over and sat down to chat with one of his fans.

actually no, i only recognized him because he was just on tv, and no one else there seemed to recognize him. i couldn't even think of any reo speedwagon tunes at the time and i really was not a fan. but it got me thinking, why did i get a funny feeling when i saw a rock star getting coffee. why would it have been considered cool if i would have gone up and said something to him, or to have tried to get an autograph?

why do we have such a fascination with celebrities? they really are no different than us regular guys who don't get on stage in front of thousands of people. my philosophy professor, clancy martin, always tells us when we are struggling through the works of philosophers, to remind ourselves that these geniuses are no different than the rest of us, they just happened to work harder and take more risks.

now today i went on a field trip to the nelson-atkins art museum. i haven't been on a field trip in over a decade. and my wife didn't even pack me a sack lunch with a can of pop wrapped in foil.

and it was weird, i had a spiritual experience in front of a van gogh painting. i think i should have expected it, considering all of the reading i have done in aesthetics now. but it still caught me off guard. staring at the curved of the paint, looking at it from the side to see the texture, and imagining van gogh's paintbrush move across the canvas. i couldn't tell you if learned any lessons from the painting, but i all i can say is that my soul was stirred.

after the class left, i stuck around to do more exploring since this was my first time at nelson-atkins. they have a fascinating collection of early medieval works that reveal a lot about the spiritual practices of the day. the item that intrigued me the most was john the baptizer's finger. well it was a display of a reliquary that at least used to hold a bone from john the baptizer's finger. if this is still the same bone, i don't know. but how cool if it was.

so here i am again at the issue of celebrity. is it cool that it's john's finger just simply for the fact that he is quite famous? how would i react if the john the baptizer walked into a starbucks? maybe this is a completely irrelevant question to compare kevin cronan with him? or it could be irrelevant because maybe he wouldn't like coffee.

do not be afraid

genesis 15.1 :: after these things the word of the LORD came to abram in a vision, "do not be afraid, abram, i am your shield; your reward shall be very great."

genesis 21.17-18 :: and god heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of god called to hagar from heaven, and said to her, "what troubles you, hagar? do not be afraid; for god has heard the voice of the boy where he is. come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for i will make a great nation of him."

genesis 26.23-24 :: from there [isaac] went up to beer-sheba. and that very night the LORD appeared to him and said, "i am the god of your father abraham; do not be afraid, for i am with you and will bless you and make your offspring numerous for my servant abraham's sake."

genesis 46.1-4 :: when israel set out on his journey with all that he had and came to beer-sheba, he offered sacrifices to the god of his father isaac. god spoke to israel in visions of the night, and said, "jacob, jacob." and he said, "here i am." then he said, "i am god, the god of your father; do not be afraid to go down to egypt, for i will make of you a great nation there. i myself will go down with you to egypt, and i will also bring you up again; and joseph's own hand shall close your eyes."

exodus 14.13-14 :: but moses said to the people, "do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the LORD will accomplish for you today; for the egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. the LORD will fight for you, and you have only to keep still."

deuteronomy 2.21 :: see, the LORD your god has given the land to you; go up, take possession, as the LORD, the god of your ancestors, has promised you; do not fear or be dismayed.

isaiah 43.4-5 :: because you are precious in my sight,
and honored, and i love you,
i give people in return for you,
nations in exchange for your life.
do not fear, for i am with you;
i will bring your offspring from the east,
and from the west i will gather you

luke 1.12-14 :: when zechariah saw him, he was terrified; and fear overwhelmed him. but the angel said to him, "do not be afraid, zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. your wife elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him john. you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth."

luke 1.30 :: the angel said to her, "do not be afraid, mary, for you have found favor with god. and now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him jesus."

matthew 1.19-21 :: her husband joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. but just when had had resolved to do this, an angel of the lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "joseph, son of david, do not be afraid to take mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the holy spirit. she will bear a son, and you are to name him jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."

luke 2.9-10 :: then an angel of the lord shone around [the shepherds], and they were terrified. but the angel said to them, "do not be afraid; for see--i am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people."

matthew 10.29-31 :: are not two sparrows sold for a penny? yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father. and even the hairs of your head are all counted. so do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

luke 12.22-34 :: [jesus] said to his disciples, "therefore i tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. for life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. consider the ravens . . . . consider the lilies . . . . do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. sell your possessions, and give alms. make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

john 12.12-15 :: the next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that jesus was coming to jerusalem. so they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting,
"hosanna!
blessed is the one who comes in the name of the lord --
the king of israel!"
jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written:
"do not be afraid, daughter of zion.
look, your king is coming,
sitting on a donkey's colt!"

john 14.27 :: peace i leave with you; my peace i give to you. i do not give to you as the world gives. do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

matthew 28.1-10 :: after the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, mary magdalene and the other mary went to see the tomb. and suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the lord, descending from heaven, cam and rolled back the stone and sat on it. his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. for fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. but the angel said to the women, "do not be afraid; i know that you are looking for jesus who was crucified. he is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. . . . so they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. suddenly jesus met them and said, "greetings!" and they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. the jesus said to them, "do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to galilee; there they will see me."

acts 18.9 :: one night the lord said to paul in a vision, "do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent."

revelation 1.17-18 :: when i saw him, i fell at his feet as though dead. but he placed his right hand on me saying, "do not be afraid; i am the first and the last, and the living one. i was dead, and see, i am alive forever and ever; and i have the keys of death and of hades."