Should be ready before my generation needs new knees.

at 03/09/10 1:20AM
  • baseballcraz32
    That's so cool!
    by baseballcraz32 at 03/09/10 8:51AM
  • plato
    That is amazing.
    by plato at 03/09/10 11:07AM
  • wberk
    But my insurance doesn't cover termites.
    by wberk at 03/09/10 7:02PM
  • wise
    Gerald asked what are they going to do about termites? :)
    by wise at 03/09/10 8:07PM
  • kailua
    That is most amazing and wonderful. Thanks for sharing!
    by kailua at 03/10/10 12:40PM

Potential enhanced interrogation technique

at 02/16/10 1:17PM *
  • outrank17
    might fall under cruel. definitely unusual.
    by outrank17 at 02/16/10 3:54PM
  • wise
    Man what will power!
    by wise at 02/16/10 5:43PM
  • jabberwock
    You're right about 2.5. What would you think of something along the lines of "See the help of Israel", a la Luke 1:54?

    You're also right about 4.4. However, unless you can think of some way to make a doctrinal point ending in "smile", I am utterly out of rhymes.
    by jabberwock at 03/01/10 8:59PM
  • wberk
    Guess who uses this illustration in what new book?
    by wberk at 03/02/10 6:54PM
  • wberk
    Nope. Not the cookbook. In another recently published book.
    by wberk at 03/02/10 7:11PM
  • garrettw87
    <agree> with trav.
    by garrettw87 at 03/03/10 3:31PM

Love your state, or love your brother?

at 02/09/10 10:16AM
On the back of my car inspection sticker, there is a line that says, "Check the date; love your state."

It caught my attention this morning as I was on my way to the Gregg county courthouse and sheriff's office this morning.

I was going to the courthouse to see what I would have to do to visit an inmate. Turns out, only immediate family are allowed to visit during the regular visitation hours. For a "pastoral visit," the inmate has to submit a request. The request must include the preacher's name, the church's name, its meeting place, and its phone number. Such a request may be denied without explanation.

In fact, such a request has already been denied once. Without being able to visit the brother being imprisoned, my only communication with him is through his family and the mail. His family claims that all charges against him have been dropped, yet he continues to be imprisoned. One thing I know for sure: he has been imprisoned for five months without being brought to trial.

These decisions are being made by the local authorities. Federal officials are not involved.

Here's the point:

Many think that loving the state is an extension of "love thy neighbor" and "love thy brother." It is not. The state is the government, not the people governed. The state at times ignores justice and imposes onerous regulations that interfere with the Christian's duty to love his brother.

Never mind the possibilities of what MIGHT happen when the state is given information about groups of Christians associated with an unlawfully imprisoned inmate. That is a concern for the future. The present problem is with a state that does not expressly prohibit Christianity; it merely seeks to have Christians registered and regulated to the point where those regulations interfere with the activities of Christians. Funds that could otherwise go to needy saints are spent on meeting building codes. Christians are at times prohibited from meeting at the regular place if renovations are being done. Prison visits may be halted on the whim of the local judge. Parents are having their God-given duties to discipline banned by the CPS of some states. Even tax exempt status requires registering the local congregation! We criticize China for requiring churches there to register; we applaud those who meet in secret under such conditions. Yet, our state is not far from theirs.


I must love the state, or I must love my brother. God commands love for one; He never requires love of the other. Obey in the limited areas in which God has given human governments authority. In other areas, let love for God and love for brother reign.
  • plato
    You may want to encourage the family to contact the ACLU. If the man has not been charged for tried he cannot be detained, especially for 5 months! Seriously, someone needs to get involved.
    by plato at 02/09/10 2:12PM
  • baseballcraz32
    Romans 13 thought Zach!
    by baseballcraz32 at 02/09/10 2:40PM
  • puppymaster
    Did they really put a semi-colon in that? It used to be a comma splice and would drive me nuts every time I would...drive.
    by puppymaster at 02/11/10 9:41AM
  • tangsoodotpm
    Great thoughts Zach. I'll pray for the brother.
    by tangsoodotpm at 02/12/10 8:26AM

Insights gained today:

at 01/31/10 7:52PM
1. Forgiveness is an act of mercy intended by the forgiver to free the forgiven from guilt, anger, debt, shame, and grief. Forgiveness that seeks to retain or impress any of these things is no forgiveness at all. Forgiveness is designed to help the forgiver and forgiven move past resentment into a state of mind that seeks to bless God and brother. (Gen. 45:5)

2. The hardest part of submission is trust.

  • diminished_seventh
    and the hardest part of trust is submission.
    by diminished_seventh at 02/01/10 1:05AM
  • puppymaster
    I'll have to get Puppy up so she can listen to this.
    by puppymaster at 02/02/10 10:01PM
  • jabberwock
    I actually had "It shall be" in 2.1. However, I figured that somebody would get all uppity about how the Bible doesn't say that the saints will SING "O grave, where is Your victory", etc. So, yeah, we're asking for permission to sing. Of course, the real reason why 2.1-2.2 exists is to sell out for the rare opportunity at a two-line quote. If you have better ideas about how to sell out, I'm open to 'em.
    by jabberwock at 02/06/10 9:33PM
  • jabberwock
    (laughs) For obvious reasons. I think it would be VERY interesting to sing the two back-to-back.
    by jabberwock at 02/09/10 8:12AM

"If we don't act preemptively, Yemen will be tomorrow's war."

at 01/13/10 10:48PM

Wha...g'huh?!


I have always had a hard time understanding the preemptive war logic:
We should act preemptively by going to war in order to avoid war.


Silly Republocrats. Preemptive strikes only work when you completely kill every last one of them, their wives, and their children so that no survivors grow up to hate us and retaliate. Of course, other countries with similar ideologies would feel threatened and might go to war with us. Really, the only way for a preemptive strike to be effective would be to nuke every square inch of predominantly Muslim territories, then round up and gas the Muslims living elsewhere in the world, then tell all the American kids that we did it to save their lives from terr'rists (preemptively).

What?

You find that morally repugnant?

Yeah. So do I. There are 4 choices:

1. Slaughter every Muslim man, woman, and child.
2. Strike preemptively against a few and incite a generation to grow up hating America for preemptively killing their daddy.
3. Wait until an attack on us, then retaliate. Who knows? The attack may never come from that country. It may come from somewhere else entirely.
4. Issue letters of marque and reprisal against known terr'rist leaders.

I'm a #4 guy.
  • baseballcraz32
    I don't think our politicians even know what #4 is...
    Also, if we act preemptively, doesn't that mean we're going to war?
    by baseballcraz32 at 01/13/10 11:04PM
  • plato
    I love bounties, too. So with the #4 we should either get to keep the spoils of slaying said leaders or receive a bounty for the kill! And make it enough to be worth my while. See you in the sand box!
    by plato at 01/14/10 11:41AM
  • jabberwock
    Technically, I think that letters of marque have to do with privateers, not assassins. I certainly agree about pre-emptive strikes, though. That was one of my least favorite things about the Iraq war.
    by jabberwock at 01/14/10 5:24PM
  • outrank17
    i'm for all four of these. but i think we should start at 1 and progress to 4.
    by outrank17 at 01/14/10 8:56PM
  • plato
    by plato at 01/26/10 11:47AM